SBC Life - Spring 2023 (Vol. 31, No. 2)

The PostCOVID Church CHURCHES REFOCUS ONLINE SERVICES RELIGIOUS LIBERTY MISSIONS SEMINARIES

SPRING 2023

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Table of Contents 6

SBC Life is published by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.

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SBC President—Bart Barber F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E S

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COVID Challenges Brought Refocus to Many Churches

12 Pandemic Catalyzes Churches to Cast Evangelistic Net with Online Services

16 Religious Liberty Affirmed by Courts During Pandemic

20 COVID Pause Left No Long-Term Changes in Southern Baptist Missions

24 COVID’s ‘Residual Effect’ Still Felt at SBC Seminaries

S B C U P D AT E S

28 African American Leadership Institute Set to Launch in 2023 36 Send Relief Celebrates Opening of Puerto Rico Ministry Center 40 National CP Giving Tops $200 Million for First Time Since 2008 44 ‘It’s a God thing’—Louisiana Church Witnesses 58 Straight Weeks of Baptisms

50 Matt Carter of Houston’s Sagemont Church Named Mobilization VP of Send Network 54 Lifeway Campers Give More Than $540,000 to IMB, NAMB 57 Lottie Moon Offering Reaches Historic High, Proves Commitment to Revelation 7:9 Vision 60 SWBTS Student Narrates ‘Jesus’ Film in Its 2,000th Language

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46 Leatherwood Named ERLC President

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32 NAMB

Jonathan Howe Brandon Porter Executive Editors Andy Beachum Creative Director SBC Life is published three times per year: Fall, Spring, and Summer. It is distributed to pastors, ministers of education, ministers of music, full-time denominational workers, chaplains, missionaries, and vocational evangelists.

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SBC Life (ISSN 1081-8189) Volume 31, Number 2 © 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee

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The Post-COVID Church

BY BART BARBER

I

travel more these days. This morning marks my eighth consecutive day to awaken in a hotel room. Every one of those hotel rooms has featured a TV remote control enclosed in a plastic bag. No hotel ever did that before COVID. Precautions such as this were very common in the early days of the COVID pandemic, when doctors suspected that it was transmitted primarily by contact with contaminated surfaces. And yet it was more than two years ago when researchers concluded that COVID primarily spreads through the air. Nonetheless, we still have plastic bags around our remote controls. They may not do much to prevent the spread of COVID, but they’re relatively inexpensive, and they make guests feel like a hotel is serious about room sanitation.

I’m not angry about the plastic bags. They probably do some good, since hotel remotes are likely unsanitary. For me, the plastic bags are simply a reminder that the COVID pandemic provoked changes, some of which were temporary, and some of which have endured. Those bags remind me that the difference between the temporary changes on the one hand and the lasting changes on the other hand may have as much to do with feelings and economics as they have to do with any cogent rationale.

This applies to churches as well as to hotels.

FBC Farmersville has a weekly livestream of our 8:30 worship service. Before COVID, I resisted having any sort of TV ministry. “I’m not trying to send my sermons out to search committees, we want local people to COME to our worship services instead of watching from home, and there aren’t many people outside of Farmersville who

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are interested in watching our worship services,” I said. But along came COVID-19, and then a weekly livestream became our primary way of staying connected with church members who were quarantining.

No COVID-related impact remains in Farmersville that would justify our having a weekly livestream of our worship service, but we still have it. Why? Well, economics are a factor—we spent a lot of money on that equipment, and we’re not going to let it collect dust. Also, it has taken the place of a pre-existing ministry to shutins, so it still serves a ministry purpose.

Throughout 2020, some people were saying that everything had changed forever. That turned out not to be true. COVID provoked a lot of changes in our churches, to be sure. Some of them were temporary. Some of them endured.

There’s no logical formula that could have predicted which changes would last and which ones would fall by the wayside. That may leave you, the member or pastor of a local church, a little bewildered by it all—perhaps even a little frustrated.

My major takeaway from the COVID experience, now that we are on this side of it? I am more confident today about the importance of our local church gatherings than I have ever been before. At least three truths undergird for me this sense of the vital role played by the local assembly of believers.

First, I have seen how much believers can suffer spiritually and emotionally without a local church home. Just a few weeks into the pandemic, and not long before our local schools reopened, a senior adult lady stopped me near the

drug store and said, “My son needs to go back to church.” His father had died before the pandemic, so he was grieving. He also was trying to navigate estate-related issues as well as the added stress of trying to adapt to online education for his school-aged children. “He’s going through a lot, right now,” she begged, “and he can’t handle it well without his church family.” We soon resumed our in-person worship services.

Second, I have seen how much the regular preaching and teaching of the Bible can help us stay grounded in the truth while we sort out how to think about vexing questions in politics and society. We may (and do) differ with one another about who kept their sanity during all of this, but the one thing all Americans agreed about was that some of us lost our way during the COVID pandemic in terms of being able to conduct gracefilled, civil conversations with one another that helped us find good answers to hard questions.

Quarantine, whatever else it accomplished, put a lot of people into their living rooms to watch TV for hours on end. Deprived of face-to-face conversations with real-life people who might see things from a different angle, we hardened in our opinions and rehearsed the harshest ways of viewing people who thought differently.

To be sure, a New Testament church is not a meeting of the Free-Thinkers Society. We exist to harden opinions about eternal truth. And yet, the preaching and teaching of biblical truth also, by focusing people upon eternal truth, serves to help them to put into eternal perspective the hot-button question of today that will be gone tomorrow.

If Francine in your Sunday School class chooses to wear a mask, the fact that you think her mask is ineffective or unneeded is not a very good reason to interrupt a lesson about how the gospel is the good news of God’s deliverance from an eternal Hell, right?

Third, when a lot of other things stopped working during the height of the pandemic, I was encouraged to see that the simple things were what proved to be the most effective. Biblical preaching, prayer, personal conversation and

When a lot of other things stopped working during the height of the pandemic, I was encouraged to see that the simple things were what proved to be the most effective.

Biblical preaching, prayer, personal conversation and encouragement, face-to-face discipleship, and targeted outreach beyond the walls of the church building are as effective today as they were two millennia ago.

encouragement, face-to-face discipleship, and targeted outreach beyond the walls of the church building are as effective today as they were two millennia ago.

I offer one final word, especially for younger pastors in our Convention: I hope that your COVID-era leadership has given you confidence in the Lord of the churches, not timidity. You have survived an ordeal—maybe your first ministry ordeal. When the next one comes, you’ll know that you have a powerful and faithful God by your side. Jesus Christ is Lord, not just of our churches, but of everything in the universe from the largest galaxies to the smallest viruses. We are here to serve others in His name, for His sake, with His authority, and under His protection. Even when you can’t see how, that always works.

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F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

Members of Haw Bluff Baptist Church in Kelly, North Carolina Image Courtesy of Haw Bluff Baptist Church

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COVID Challenges Brought Refocus to Many Churches

BY BRANDON PORTER

C

ollege basketball fans know the third month of the year as March Madness.

Fans fill out brackets and college teams compete for their one shining moment.

For pastors, March 2020 will be forever remembered as a time of madness, but for very different reasons. COVID-related mandates and executive orders forced businesses, schools, churches, and community resources to cease public gatherings for months. Even NCAA basketball shut down.

Three years later, pastors are reflecting on the impact of the pandemic.

Larry Robertson, director of church health and evangelism with the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania and South Jersey, said the pandemic led churches to “evaluate everything”.

He says it started with the pastors themselves.

As they preached into a camera in an empty room or sanctuary for weeks on end, they were forced to reevaluate their ministries.

“I’m encouraging our pastors to be thankful for who you have and pour into them,” Robertson said. “Believe you can still make a huge difference in your world and community.”

Robertson, also pastor of Great Commission Church in Philadelphia, wrote a book, The Pastor’s Diaries, to encourage pastors during the pandemic.

Of the approximately 350 churches he serves in his state network, Robertson said he personally knows of 10 to 15 that didn’t survive the pandemic.

He said church members being disconnected from weekly in-person gatherings forced some churches to permanently close their doors. In his network, churches stayed connected using technology, but he said, “you had older churches who just could not make that switch.”

Many churches invested in technology and learned on the fly how to start a livestream to conduct a weekly service.

Steve Schenewerk, pastor at Community Baptist Church in Winston, Oregon, says his church scrambled to get online and has enjoyed some unexpected benefits.

“It’s opened up some connections with people that would not have otherwise come to church,” he said.

According to its Annual Church Profile, Community Baptist reported an average weekly attendance of 50 in 2018. In 2022, that number was 30.

Despite a decrease in the number of people meeting in person, Schenewerk said members worked hard to grow the church’s Facebook community. As of February 13, there were 136 members subscribed. In a town of just more than 5,500, the pastor says that is significant.

Community Church also experienced a physical toll.

“Most of our leaders either had it (COVID) themselves or someone in their immediate family had a massive health challenge,” Schenewerk said.

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More than 2,500 miles away, the virus took a serious toll on Lakeside Baptist in Birmingham.

Greg Corbin, Lakeside senior pastor, said the church has had “a number of senior adults who passed away or their health deteriorated to the point they couldn’t return.”

In addition, several adults near or around retirement age decided to relocate to be closer to family. This affected not only the church but the neighborhoods surrounding the church as well.

Younger families moved into those homes, and the church has become a younger congregation.

Corbin said Lakeside “isn’t a small church, but it isn’t a mega-church either.”

Pre-pandemic they relied on typical church programs. Now leaders are taking a closer look at everything and being even more intentional with events, meetings, and programs.

Corbin is encouraged by the way relationships were built in neighborhoods during the pandemic. “People got to know their neighbors again,” he said.

“People walked in the neighborhoods. People helped one another.”

He believes this gave church members a greater outward focus.

But make no mistake, they missed worshipping and studying together, according to Corbin.

“One of the things that we consistently heard from our folks was we really miss worship with our church family and we really miss our Sunday school class,” he said.

While leaders were quick to get those gatherings reassembled during the pandemic, they were a little slower in restarting midweek Bible studies. And when they returned, he says they looked a little different.

The church began offering a Bible study and prayer time on Wednesday mornings for those who aren’t comfortable driving at night. The Wednesday evening activities shifted to much more of an “equipping focus” for adults and children.

The shutdown offered time for leaders to ask “is this really effective?” when discussing the church’s ministries.

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An increased willingness to ask hard questions is what Adam Mathews, senior pastor at Nolan River Road Baptist Church in Cliburn, Texas, says his church is taking from the pandemic.

“We just became more streamlined on a lot of our decision making,” Mathews said.

Most Southern Baptist churches have meetings as they make decisions. Mathews said the church discussed how many meetings were needed before reaching consensus.

He said they found some of the meetings were happening out of habit, not effectiveness. “ . . . [W]hen you find out we can do this without these meetings,” the meetings go or are at least scaled back, he said.

Like the other pastors, Mathews said the members at Nolan River Road Baptist missed meeting together for worship and fellowship, but they also looked for new ways to care for elderly members who didn’t return after the pandemic.

Not only did it renew the zeal of the church’s deacons, students are now playing a role in caring for their church family.

“We’re intentionally trying to be a multi-generational church,” Mathews said. One of the ways that is being expressed is through an intentional care component in this spring’s DiscipleNow. The students still plan to gather for worship, study and fun activities, but they also plan to visit elderly members who need a caring touch.

The pandemic will be remembered for shutdowns, social distancing, facemasks, vaccine debates, and toilet paper shortages.

But it will also be remembered as a time when churches found new ways to connect with one another and their community. And, when life began returning to normal, most churches made a point to focus on the basics of Bible study, corporate worship, and caring for one another.

BRANDON PORTER is associate vice president for Convention news with the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, Tennessee.

F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

Photo Illustration by Andy Beachum

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Pandemic Catalyzes Churches to Cast Evangelistic Net with Online Services

BY TOBIN PERRY

O

f all the years to plant a new church, most people would likely put 2020 on the bottom of the list. But when God clearly called Frank and Maria Urroz to start a new church to reach the growing Hispanic population of Gallatin, Tennessee, how could they say no?

The couple had heard William Burton, who serves on the church planting team at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, preach on the Great Commission at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Burton had challenged the congregation not to let the pandemic dissuade them from answering God’s call to fulfill the Great Commission.

“We both felt like it was a sign from God,” Frank Urroz said. “We knew there were a lot of Hispanic people in Gallatin who weren’t fluent in English.”

With the pandemic still flaring, Urroz started Hispania Gallatin Iglesia Bautista online, leveraging relationships his family had through Facebook and WhatsApp. In time, the church’s online presence reached around 700 people each week. Most of those participants were outside of Gallatin.

“We had a lot of friends and acquaintances that we only knew through WhatsApp,” said Urroz, who is originally from Nicaragua. “We wanted to give them the opportunity to listen to a sermon through Facebook Live. Even if they weren’t in the country, they could still keep up with the sermons.”

Hispania Gallatin Iglesia Bautista now meets in person at First Baptist Church of Gallatin.

They still share the sermons online—and have even added a podcast.

Urroz’s church isn’t the only one continuing the benefit from lessons learned about online ministry during the pandemic.

CHURCHES FORCED ONLINE

Research shows COVID-19 changed how most do churches ministry online. According to a 2021 Lifeway Research survey, 45 percent of Americans said they watched church online during the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes 15 percent of respondents who said they didn’t normally attend church prior to 2020. A previous Lifeway Research survey conducted prior to the pandemic showed that 41 percent of U.S. churches didn’t livestream any portion of their worship service or post their service online.

By April 2020, 97 percent of churches had provided some type of online worship services or sermons. An early 2021 Lifeway Research study showed that 85 percent of Protestant churchgoers said their church offered livestreamed worship services. Three out of four churches posted a video of their sermons online for later consumption.

Frank Bennett, pastor of Lake Point Church in Emerson, Georgia, says his church had wanted to improve the quality of its online worship services, but the pandemic sped up the process.

“COVID set it up and made it more valuable,” Bennett said. “This isn’t just something to do in case people want to check us out. This is a service. It isn’t just a ‘Hey, let’s check out Lake Point Church so we can go there on the campus. Let me see what the service is like.’ No, there are people who won’t set foot on our campus. This is their

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service. We have people who have never set foot on our campus and that is their church service. We weren’t thinking about that before COVID. Now, we’re constantly trying to figure out ways to make it better.”

The church treats its online ministry like a campus. At one point the church considered hiring an online pastor to shepherd that campus, but Bennett says they’ve given that role to one of the associate pastors.

“It did make us more aware,” Bennett said.

“When I preach, it’s always both/and not either/ or. I’m talking to people who are in attendance and those who are online. I’ll say that periodically. Many of the mega-churches already had their online presences. Now, everyone should have that mindset. It doesn’t matter how small you are.”

Bennett says that the pandemic provided churches an opportunity to improve their online presence and reach more people.

“I think God allowed this to happen so the church would respond and get us out of this mindset that the church is just the people walking onto our campus,” Bennett said. “That’s not the church. The church is so much bigger than that.

It’s almost like, when Jesus had disciples who were fisherman. They would fish by casting their net. Now the Holy Spirit wants us to literally cast our net over the Internet. He wants us to broadcast and catch more fish. That’s helped us tremendously. It’s more of a mindset.”

AN ‘ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT’ EXPERIENCE

Yale Wall, who pastors Living Faith Church in downtown Indianapolis, already had a background in technology when he started the church eight years ago. Wall had a web design background and experience in videography and graphic design. Because they were trying to reach a young community, they had been active on social media from the beginning. Until COVID-19, the church had never live streamed its worship services.

When the mandatory lockdowns began in the spring of 2020, Living Faith’s small groups moved online, and Wall says continued operating

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smoothly. They also moved some of their classes to Zoom. But Wall didn’t believe it made sense for the church to do its online worship services in the same way it had done them while in person.

Living Faith scrapped its current series and began what it called “living room” sessions.

“We took a room in our church and just made it into like a living room and broadcasted it on Facebook Live to where people could respond during the conversation,” Wall said. “It would be me and one other person every week, either digitally or in person.

“Luckily, my wife and I had a college student and one person out of college who were living with us. So, they kind of helped us produce all that because we were all in the same house anyway. We did something really interactive, where we would talk for 45 minutes or so. But people would comment on Facebook, and I had a laptop in front of me. We would actually talk with the audience. It was an altogether different thing.”

Living Faith cut out its live online worship service after the pandemic, particularly after some of the online interactivity slowed. The church still records its services. Because of some of the equipment the church obtained during the pandemic, the quality of those recorded services is better than it would have been.

But Wall says the church learned a lot about interactivity during the pandemic. The church had always made an effort to include interactive elements in the service. The pandemic helped them take this even further.

“I think anyone can shoot a podcast and put it up and have three people watch it,” Wall said. “I don’t think that’s really worth your time for most people. But to do something that actually pulled in the church and mobilized them, while they weren’t able to go anywhere, was really the key for us. I think the thing that we learned is it actually takes the view off of the pastor and the leadership and puts it onto our volunteer leaders.”

TOBIN PERRY is a writer and member of Center of Hope Church in Evansville, Indiana.

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Religious Liberty Affirmed by Courts During Pandemic

BY TOM STRODE

T

he COVID-19 pandemic provided challenges to the religious liberty of Americans and their churches, but court rulings during the crisis actually affirmed the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

Beginning in March 2020, most Southern Baptist churches and other religious bodies throughout the United States canceled in-person worship gatherings in cooperation with public officials to help prevent the spread of the virus. Some state and local governments adopted reopening restrictions, however, that treated churches and other religious groups less favorably than secular organizations such as businesses.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and other religious freedom advocates objected to the disparate treatment, and, ultimately, the US Supreme Court and lower courts issued opinions rejecting the unequal policies.

In hindsight, events during the pandemic underscored the right of churches and other religious groups to gather and to minister without discrimination by the government, defenders of religious liberty said.

“As we reflect on the COVID pandemic and what a difficult season that was for many of our churches and pastors who sought to love their neighbors, both physically and spiritually, we are reminded of the embodied nature of our faith and the vital role that churches play in our

communities,” said Jason Thacker, director of the ERLC’s Research Institute.

“More than anything in our lifetimes, that trying time reminded us that churches must never forsake gathering together or working to fulfill their mission,” he said. “At the same time, we also learned new lessons about the importance of pastors and churches working alongside civic leaders for the health of their communities.”

Thacker said the pandemic also “reinforced the fact that governments must always respect religious freedom and protect our rights to assembly, free expression, and religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. Ultimately, for many Christians, the pandemic strengthened our resolve to reach our communities with the good news of Jesus Christ and to seek the good of our neighbors and communities.”

Becket President Mark Rienzi said in an email interview, “The courts got the church closure cases right. It was wrong for governments to treat churches and synagogues as unimportant, while malls, casinos, and liquor stores were allowed to open. The courts eventually got those cases right, and the First Amendment did its job.”

Becket is a leading defender of religious liberty for all people.

Those COVID-era opinions should prove helpful in the future, Rienzi said.

“The court rulings over COVID restrictions on religion made clear that government officials

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cannot use an emergency as an excuse to discriminate against religious people and religious institutions,” he said. “Those rulings should stand as reminders to state and local governments that they must respect our constitutional rights, even in an emergency.”

The Supreme Court’s November 2020 ruling regarding New York’s pandemic restrictions on religious gatherings proved pivotal. The high court blocked enforcement of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s limitations, finding they “single[d] out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment.” The justices applied that opinion in December 2020 orders involving restrictions in California, Colorado, and New Jersey.

The ERLC filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in support of an emergency application by Orthodox Jews challenging the restrictions. In the brief, the commission said Cuomo’s order “imposes a substantial and disparate burden” on religious free exercise and “falls far short” of the high court’s previous decisions.

While not all court decisions supported religious freedom, especially early in the pandemic, here are some other significant legal victories for churches and other religious groups: • The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco cited the Supreme Court’s New York order in a unanimous opinion in December 2020 that stopped enforcement of Nevada’s pandemic limitations it said treated such entities as casinos, bowling alleys, retail stores, and restaurants “significantly better” than worship gatherings, which were limited to 50 people. Before the decision, the ERLC filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court seeking an expedited ruling for Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, the church that challenged the restrictions.

• In February 2021, the Supreme Court halted California’s ban on indoor worship services in most of the state. The high court invalidated in a 6-3 decision the state’s prohibition of indoor worship in Tier 1, the category for the highest risk of COVID-19’s transmission, and substituted

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a limit of 25 percent capacity. Most of California was classified as Tier 1, resulting in a nearly statewide ban on indoor corporate worship.

• A federal court ruled in October 2020 the District of Columbia could not prohibit Capitol Hill Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, from meeting outdoors during the pandemic with proper safety measures in place. Federal Judge Trevor McFadden said the district’s limitations “substantially burden[ed]” the church’s free exercise of religion and likely violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The district agreed later to pay $220,000 in a settlement with the church.

Though various states and localities imposed discriminatory policies regarding religious gatherings, early in the pandemic the federal government recommended public officials take the First Amendment right of religious liberty into account when they institute reopening policies.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued interim guidelines in May 2020 that said no church or other religious group should be called on to enact “mitigation strategies” stricter than those requested of “similarly situated entities or activities.”

During the pandemic, the ERLC said it recognizes God has given government the authority to enact broadly applied limits on public gatherings during a national health crisis. But in addition to its public comments, the commission said it also repeatedly advocated with the 50 governors’ offices and city halls around the country for churches to be treated the same as similar businesses, spaces and activities.

The overwhelming majority of churches and other religious bodies abided by government policies during the pandemic, which resulted early on in such alternatives as online and drive-in services instead of in-person, corporate worship.

TOM STRODE is Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.

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While riding a boat up a tributary of the Amazon Basin, an IMB missionary talks with a village leader from the Shuar people group about his culture. A volunteer team joins the missionary and leader on the trip. Image Courtesy of IMB

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COVID Pause Left No Long-Term Changes in Southern Baptist Missions

BY SCOTT BARKLEY

T

he COVID-19 pandemic created shortterm challenges for Southern Baptist mission efforts. But it included the opportunity to re-assess missiological practices while encountering a world re-awakened to its mortality and eternal matters.

No SBC entity faced trickier maneuvering in the late winter and spring of 2020 than the International Mission Board. As COVID rates soared and lockdown mandates varied from country to country, logistics became quite the challenge.

“The most significant impact [was] restricted movement,” said Julie McGowan, IMB spokesperson. “We endeavor to get to lostness every day, to take the Gospel to the people and places where Jesus has not been named.

“We were hindered for a time in sending personnel to their new assignments or in getting them back to their existing places of service. At varying degrees, workers were restricted locally to move about in their places of service (due to lockdowns) or to venture out to those next places which they had identified as part of their strategic outreach plans.”

But those challenges brought forward positive developments, she added, including “greater dependency on Him, deeper connection to the communities and people right where workers live, learning to harness the power of technology in new ways, and increased prayer, just to name a few.”

GETTING CREATIVE CLOSER TO HOME

A general sense of wait and see affected entities and churches alike.

By January 2020, Matt Hadden and others around Porcupine, South Dakota, had been providing several ministries for Pine Ridge Indian Reservation residents. A signed contract for their 150-acre ranch to become a Send Relief center promised new horizons.

Roofing and other materials arrived March 18, with mission teams scheduled for construction projects. By March 20, everything had been shut down. Hadden, associate pastor of Creator’s Fellowship in Porcupine, couldn’t even leave the reservation without a permit.

One morning, tired of waiting, he started framing out a building himself. Friends joined in the coming days. It was still ministry, but different than the grind he’d felt in previous years.

“It was a different kind of speed,” Hadden said. “There weren’t volunteers coming in, people we weren’t ministering to directly. We were just working around the property and with my family.”

MINISTRY GOES ON

Prior to the pandemic, it wasn’t unusual for Grand Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Smith, Arkansas, to take 20-25 mission trips a year.

“COVID pretty much shut us down,” missions minister Scott Ward told Baptist Press last year.

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We endeavor to get to lostness every day, to take the Gospel to the people and places where Jesus has not been named.

We were hindered for a time in sending personnel to their new assignments or in getting them back to their existing places of service.

As we enter 2023, COVID-19 has minimal impact in IMB’s procedures.”

Julie McGowan IMB spokesperson

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The church continued with some mission trips later in 2020, then took only one out of state in 2021. A few more were added in 2022.

“COVID certainly interrupted our plans,” Ward said. “But it benefited us in that it forced us to really work hard on our local mission efforts.”

High View Baptist Church in Woodland Park, Colorado, had active missional partnerships in Asia and Greece that were immediately placed on hold due to the pandemic.

“We’re a fairly small church, but missions has been a tremendous blessing here,” said Pastor Steve Allen. “We designate a pretty big amount toward missions and try and make it to where if you want to go, we’ll offset your cost to make it affordable.”

Some members came home from Asia in October 2019 with flu-like symptoms. COVID wasn’t in the headlines yet, so there was no reason to expect a planned March 2020 trip to be canceled.

The church has yet to return, though its work in Greece continues. A ministry opportunity in Vietnam is under consideration.

The Georgia Baptist Mission Board was in the process of building a new, expanded missions strategy when COVID changed the state convention’s plans. In addition to focusing on six zip codes in the state exhibiting extreme lostness, partnerships were also established with six state conventions and six countries—Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Colombia.

“All of our Central and South American trips were canceled,” said Buck Burch, GBMB missions catalyst. “Even planned trips to partner states were canceled or postponed. It took two years to recover trips to New York City, as they were hit really hard.”

Like everywhere else, remote work became crucial to continue fostering missional opportunities as well as establish new ones.

“Our partnerships remained with online support,” said Burch, noting that partnering states had access to Georgia Baptist IT support and COVID-related resources. “We also continued to

have online meetings with international partners to stay up to date and pray with them.”

Travel fell by more than 65 percent in the first half of 2020 and practically came to a halt in April, the International Monetary Fund reported. Other recent worldwide events such the global financial crisis (travel down 8 percent) and the 2003 SARS epidemic (down 17 percent) didn’t come close.

In the United States, the Northeast witnessed the biggest decline in travel. Four of the conventions with whom Georgia partners—New York, Michigan, New England, and Pennsylvania/South Jersey—were among them.

‘RENEWED URGENCY’

When compared with how it forced on-the-fly adjustments three years ago, COVID’s long-term impact depends on the ministry setting.

“As we enter 2023, COVID-19 has minimal impact in IMB’s procedures,” McGowan said.

“We still must follow any travel restrictions or requirements for entering countries.”

Meeting vaccination requirements for entering a country has always been part of IMB protocol, and COVID was no different. The COVID vaccine is no longer mandated for IMB workers, say leaders, and no other vaccine requirements have been changed because of the pandemic.

Most of the restrictions on missionaries’ travel and local movement have been lifted. But COVID’s biggest impact, McGowan said, is more difficult to measure.

“Missionaries gained a renewed understanding of the urgency of the missionary task,” she said. “We never know what could unexpectedly impact our work at any time, so we make every moment count as we address the world’s greatest problem: eternal lostness.”

IMB workers serving overseas “continue to grow in greater dependency on God, nurturing those connections made with the communities and people closest to where they live, using technology more effectively and increasing their prayers,” McGowan said.

Missionaries have seen a similar awakening among those they’re attempting to reach. “ . . . In the face of horrific deaths and suffering among families and neighbors, many are seeking life’s meaning and responding to the hope found in Christ alone,” McGowan said.

BELIEVERS STILL HEEDING THE C ALL

Church members are responding in like mind.

Grand Avenue Baptist has rebounded to preCOVID levels in terms of missions participation and is expected to take 20-25 trips this year.

“We are actively recruiting for them right now,” Ward said. “All indications seem to suggest that we will fill these trips up.”

In-person contacts and training through the Georgia Baptist Mission Board didn’t resume until the fall of 2021. International travel returned in earnest in February 2022.

COVID also hit churches and other organizations financially, which in turn impacted missions.

“We recognized that a pandemic would affect missions giving, so we had to make spending adjustments,” Burch said.

But the work continued. In 2022, the GBMB sent 408 people through vision or mission trips to each national and international missions partner. Crossover-style evangelistic events in Columbus and Augusta yielded 102 salvations.

COVID brought its obvious share of negatives, but the forced pause also included positives.

“Overall, it was a time to kind of catch our breath,” Hadden said. “Our ministry had been growing so fast the last several years that I hadn’t slowed down at all. My family and I took a threemonth sabbatical, which was long overdue.

“The Lord allowed us to do that, and I’m grateful for it.”

SCOTT BARKLEY is national correspondent for Baptist Press.

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F E AT U R E D A R T I C L E

Image Courtesy of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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COVID’s ‘Residual Effect’ Still Felt at SBC Seminaries

BY DAVID ROACH

W

hen COVID-19 slammed North America in March 2020, the six SBC seminaries took immediate and drastic action. They suspended in-person classes, emptied residence halls, and told employees to work from home.

Three years later, the campuses are bustling with students once again and life appears back to normal on the surface. But beneath the surface, pandemic-driven changes persist.

“Prior to COVID, two-thirds of our instruction was in person and one-third was through distance learning,” said Jeff Iorg, president of Gateway Seminary in Ontario, Calif. “After COVID—and because of high commute costs and inflationary pressures—we now have two-thirds by distance learning and one-third in person.”

Gateway’s five sister seminaries tell a similar story. Increased online course offerings and a modest enrollment bubble that has now burst are among the lingering effects of COVID. Yet thanks to the Cooperative Program (CP), SBC seminaries were prepared for the crisis and felt its effects less than other North American theological schools.

Participation in online courses continued to swell—even after it was safe to return to a physical classroom. At The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, the pandemic accelerated development of new online

degrees. Among them is a fully online master of divinity in biblical counseling, which already was in the works before COVID hit.

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary students also embraced distance education increasingly. Southeastern president Danny Akin said he has met dozens of students at graduation who say it is their first time on the seminary’s Wake Forest, North Carolina, campus.

The pandemic “did not help us in trying to continue having a strong on-campus presence,” Akin said. COVID-era classes were “all done by distance learning and people realized, ‘I can do this. Why should I pick up and move?’”

SBC seminary enrollment peaked during the first full academic year of the pandemic. In the 2020-21 school year, the six seminaries reported a cumulative full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollment of 7,887 graduate students, according to data tables from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), an organization of North American graduate schools of theology. That figure decreased by 6.5 percent in 2021-22 as life returned to normal.

“People had discretionary time, and they were able to take classes or take more classes and graduate sooner,” Akin said. Then “we had a drop-off.”

The trends at SBC seminaries mirrored trends across North American theological schools in

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general. Online education has exploded. In 2017, 52 percent of ATS schools were approved to offer comprehensive distance education. That number has increased to 86 percent today.

General enrollment trends also track with the experience of SBC seminaries. During COVID, ATS member schools “experienced short-term, 1-2 year bubbles of enrollment growth,” ATS executive director Frank Yamada said. But “enrollments reverted back to previous trends” beginning in the 2021-22 academic year.

Historically, enrollment at theological graduate schools has been declining. Between 2011 and the pandemic, 55 percent of ATS schools had declining enrollment. That changed during COVID as 55 percent reported stable or increasing enrollment. Today, however, ATS is back to an enrollment decline at 57 percent of its member schools, Yamada reported.

The trend was less pronounced at SBC seminaries. While the six seminaries cumulatively experienced an enrollment bubble and subsequent decrease, four of them increased their graduate enrollment from 2020-21 to 2021-22 (Gateway, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Southern).

The overall decline “was not a precipitous or alarming decline,” Iorg said. “It’s just the residual effect of COVID.” When it comes to distance education, SBC seminaries already were ahead of their peers before COVID. All six seminaries were approved to offer comprehensive distance education prior to the pandemic. In March 2020, they only had to utilize their online capacities, not acquire new ones.

Theological education observers may wonder how SBC schools managed such stability amid global turmoil. Seminary leaders respond with two letters: CP. SBC seminaries are “a bit of an outlier” from other ATS schools because of “the Cooperative Program and the denomination that gets behind what we’re trying to do,” said Southern Seminary provost Paul Akin.

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“Southern Baptist laypeople, pastors and church leaders believe in the value and the priority of theological education,” he said. The SBC “has set aside designated resources to fund these things we believe in.”

Even at SBC seminaries that received federal government assistance through the Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic, the end of those funds didn’t mean financial need.

Gateway and Southeastern were among SBC entities that accepted federal funds. Southern opted not to.

“We honored what the government asked, but we tried to do it in a way that did not massively impact our operating budget,” Danny Akin said, adding that Southeastern has increased its budget since the pandemic ended.

Short-term government assistance benefited many ATS schools during the pandemic, Yamada said, and “acted as a buffer from financial headwinds.”

Iorg agreed that despite their commonalities with other theological schools, by and large SBC seminaries are an outlier in their resilience from the pandemic.

“SBC seminaries are very closely connected to our denomination of churches,” he said. “Whether times are good or times are bad, the churches still want trained leaders. They’re still sending us people to be trained, and they’re still willing to fund those people to come for training.”

Iorg’s bottom line: “I don’t think [COVID] is a long-term negative that’s going to threaten the viability of our schools.”

DAVID ROACH is a writer and senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Saraland, Alabama.

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A volunteer talks with children outside the city of Kingston in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Former slave George Liele became the first Southern Baptist foreign missionary when he went to Jamaica in 1783.

Image Courtesy of IMB

African American Leadership Institute Set to Launch in 2023

BY DIANA CHANDLER

F

ormerly enslaved African American pastor George Liele planted churches in Jamaica nearly a century before beloved missionaries Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon spread the Gospel abroad.

Two years after the Southern Baptist Convention added a George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism, and Missions Sunday to the official SBC calendar, plans are underway to found a leadership institute in the name of the trailblazer who began his international ministry in Jamaica 1783.

GEORGE LIELE

“In Southern Baptist history, we have a lot of role models but we don’t have a lot of African American role models we have embraced historically

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SBC.NET | SPRING 2023

that have had international impact,” Lanham, Maryland, pastor Bernard Fuller told Baptist Press. “If we’re going to get the Black church involved, we have to show them examples of individuals who look like them.

“And one of those individuals is George Liele, whom we’ve overlooked many years and haven’t brought to the forefront. George Liele is a great example because he fulfills everything we exist for.”

Fuller, pastor of New Song Church and Ministries, is a planning committee member of the George Liele Leadership Institute that the African American Fellowship of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware (BCMD) launched in January 2023 with a Martin Luther King prayer and worship service. Classes are scheduled to

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begin in September. The BCMD is an institute co-sponsor.

“Image is important,” Fuller said. “Not that Lottie Moon or Annie Armstrong were not great missionaries. Our desire is to continue the legacy of his life. It’s something we believe not just African American churches can rally around, but this brings other Black churches, churches of color, (to be) engaged in this, because he went to Jamaica.”

The institute will be designed as an affordable training option for Maryland and Delaware churches of all ethnicities, but will especially focus on equipping African American congregations in the areas of church strengthening, planting, and international missions. In addition to pastors, congregational leaders including deacons, trustees, associate ministers, and women’s leaders will benefit from the institute, Fuller said.

“This is multicultural. Anybody can come,” Fuller said. “The goal of the institute is to equip disciples to make disciples. It’s an equipping institute in every area,” Fuller said. “Our passion is discipleship and we believe that a great commitment to the Great Commander who gave us the Great Commandments and the Great Commission will result in great results.”

Charles Grant, associate vice president for Black Church relations for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, expressed “joyful anticipation” in advance of the institute.

“The African American Fellowship’s emphasis on connecting George Liele’s life and legacy to leadership training is a win for both African American churches and for Southern Baptists in Maryland/Delaware,” Grant told Baptist Press.

“With focus and intentionality, leaders will be developed and educated about George Liele. The prayerful results will be healthy church growth, an increased pool of potential church planters and international missionaries from African American churches.”

The African American Fellowship and the BCMD appointed a planning committee for the

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institute in the summer of 2022. It will not be an accredited Bible college, but that option might be explored in coming years, Fuller said.

Joining Fuller on the George Liele Leadership Institute Committee are African American Fellowship Vice President Victor Kirk, pastor of Sharon Bible Fellowship Church, Lanham; Mark Roy, senior pastor of Good Shepherd Ministries, Capitol Heights, Maryland; and several members of the African American Fellowship’s board, including Vernon Lattimore, senior pastor, First Baptist Church of Mount Rainier, Maryland; Michael Mattar, senior pastor of Hope Fellowship Church in Ashburn, Virginia; Byron Day, senior pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Laurel, Maryland; Nathaniel Thomas, senior pastor of Forestville New Redeemer Baptist Church, Forestville, Maryland; and Monroe Weeks, Hope Fellowship worship leader.

A survey of BCMD pastors found the need for a financially affordable training center for lay ministers, Fuller said, that emphasizes the teaching of core theology and Bible literacy in platforms lay ministers impact. Surveyors also encountered young bivocational pastors who had not been able to receive formal training in ministry.

The logistics of the institute are still being planned, with the goal of a hybrid online and in-person format also utilizing webinars from Southern Baptist educators. The fee will be nominal, Fuller said.

In addition to the January Martin Luther King prayer and worship service, activities preceding the September launch of classes included a February George Liele Missionary Breakfast, an AAF Awareness Conference, and an AAF Planning Retreat.

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on December 14, 2022.

DIANA CHANDLER is senior writer for Baptist Press.

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SPEAKERS: COREY MILLER Pastor Corey Miller is the founder of the ministry Giants 4 Christ and an ordained minister. After a football career at the University of South Carolina, where he was team captain, defensive player of the year, and selected to the All-Time Team, he played for the New York Giants for eight years.

He played his final season of pro ball with the Minnesota Vikings. He then worked in television in New York City and South Carolina, where he hosted a local afternoon drive sports radio show, as well. He and his wife, Missy, have two sons, CJ and Christian. Christian played football for Alabama and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in 2019.

DR. DONDI COSTIN Dr. Dondi Costin retired from active duty in the summer of 2018 and began serving as Charleston Southern’s third president on July 1, 2018, where he leads a team of 250 to develop 3,500 students. A retired major general, he most recently served as the 18th Air Force Chief of Chaplains, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He led an Air Force Chaplain Corps of 2,000 chaplains and Religious Affairs Airmen and was the senior pastor for more than 664,000 personnel. A graduate of The United States Air Force Academy, Dr. Costin holds five master’s degrees, a Doctor of Ministry degree, and a PhD in organizational leadership. He has been married to his wife, Vickey, for more than 33 years.

DR. RON HARVELL Dr. Ron Harvell is the founding director of the Dewey Center for Chaplaincy and also teaches in the CSU College of Christian Studies. He is a retired Chaplain Brigadier General, USAF, and spent 34 years as a missionary with the North American Mission Board serving in the Air Force.

He is the co-author with his wife, Marsha, of The Watchman on the Wall: Daily Devotions for Praying God’s Word over Those You Love (Volumes 1 - 4) and co-author with Marsha and Wendy K. Walters of 50 Steps with Jesus: Learning to Walk Daily with the Lord (Believer’s and Shepherd’s Guides). Harvell holds a doctorate from Asia Graduate School of Theology.

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New Orleans, Louisiana “When you give to Annie Armstrong, you help to make my ministry possible. I could not do what I do here, in New Orleans, if you do not do what you do in your local church.”

VERGIL AND KELSEY BROWN Portland, Oregon

“We get to do this work in large part because of the partnerships that we have through the North American Mission Board. We’re very thankful for it.”

SAM AND JOANNA CHOI

Minneapolis, Minnesota

“Having a truly multi-ethnic church here will be a challenging but powerful witness.”

PHILIP AND ANDI COLEMAN

Anchorage, Alaska

“Without your generosity, our church — and other church plants — couldn’t survive.”

EMANUEL AND IOANA GROZEA

Ridgewood, New York

“God gave us a burden for this church and community — a vision for what it needs to be in our generation.”

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Porcupine, South Dakota

“I had entered a different culture and was in the middle of a different people group right here in my own country. These people had been forgotten, and I knew God was calling me here.”

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“What we’re doing is frontier missions. We’re in a community that hasn’t had the gospel in it since 1892.”

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“The impulse in our hearts is to be missionaries, and the Midwest is greatly lacking in ministry to Hispanics.”

S B C U P D AT E

Josh Benton, Send Relief vice president of North American ministry, cuts the ribbon during the grand opening ceremony of Send Relief ’s ministry center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

Image by Michael Ferrer | Send Relief

Send Relief Celebrates Opening of Puerto Rico Ministry Center

BY BRANDON ELROD

S

end Relief’s grand opening ceremonies for its ministry center in Guaynabo spanned two days on November 8–9, 2022, hosting local government leaders, Send Puerto Rico church planters, local pastors, and disaster relief organization staff.

“Five years after Hurricane Maria, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) along with Send Relief has made a commitment to [establish] a permanent presence in Puerto Rico,” said Jonathan Santiago, Puerto Rico Ministry

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Center director, during the ceremony. “In August of 2018, the hard work of construction began, to begin building a wonderful staff, of whom I’m very proud.”

Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017 as a Category 4 storm, bringing with it devastating winds and catastrophic flooding. Homes were destroyed, residents were without power for months, and the landscape of the island permanently changed. Many people evacuated the island and chose not to return.

Yet, Send Relief, NAMB, and several Puerto Rican Southern Baptists, such as Santiago, felt burdened by the destruction and answered a call to leave their homes and jobs on the mainland US to begin ministering in Puerto Rico through church planting and compassion ministry.

Santiago thanked Southern Baptist churches and leaders from the mainland and Puerto Rico along with local officials for how their combined efforts made ministry and outreach possible, bringing hope to thousands of families.

“It’s been a hard and beautiful work, but we have not done this alone,” Santiago said. “Each and every person, agency but most of all the Southern Baptist [Convention] and churches have made this possible.”

“Our team, not just here but nationally, has a really great relationship with Send Relief,” said Ricardo Agudelo-Doval, a representative with the US Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

“Send Relief is special. It’s an organization that is very committed, committed to those who are suffering and those who are in need.”

David Guadalupe, president of Puerto Rico’s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, described Santiago and Send Relief as a staple during the last few disasters that have hit the island.

“We are hoping to continue the work and collaboration with Send Relief so we can continue the good fruit we have seen here,” Guadalupe said.

Send Relief president Bryant Wright also addressed the audience, sharing how Send Relief had trained hundreds of volunteers to be able to respond to crisis in Puerto Rico.

“It is our hope at Send Relief,” Wright said, “that serving local churches as they carry out the ministry of compassion and concern is always at the forefront of what we do.”

As a part of the ceremony, Send Relief surprised NAMB’s recently retired executive vice president, Carlos Ferrer, by revealing that the business office at the ministry center will be named the Carlos J. Ferrer Business Office.

This center was a vision to train volunteers in Puerto Rico that could do the work of the Gospel in disaster relief and compassion ministry themselves and have all the tools and supplies ready here. .

This past hurricane we saw that vision come to life.”

Carlos Ferrer retired executive vice president North American Mission Board

“I’ve been coming to Puerto Rico for almost 30 years,” said Ferrer. “And I have fallen in love with the people and the island of Puerto Rico, and the need that they have for the Gospel.”

Ferrer’s leadership was key to establishing NAMB’s church planting and compassion ministry in Puerto Rico. Originally born in Cuba before his family was forced to flee Fidel Castro’s regime as refugees, Ferrer served 30 years at NAMB, supporting the ministry that helped his family resettle in the United States.

“This center was a vision to train volunteers in Puerto Rico that could do the work of the Gospel in disaster relief and compassion ministry themselves,” Ferrer said, “and have all the tools and supplies ready here . . . . This past hurricane we saw that vision come to life.”

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During the grand opening ceremony for Send Relief ’s ministry center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Send Relief staff surprised Carlos Ferrer by revealing that the center’s business office had been named in his honor.

(Left to right) Jonathan Santiago, Carlos Ferrer, Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief; and Josh Benton, Send Relief vice president for North American ministry.

Image by Michael Ferrer | Send Relief

Five years after Hurricane Maria, the North American Mission Board along with Send Relief has made a commitment to [establish] a permanent presence in Puerto Rico. In August of 2018, the hard work of construction began, to begin building a wonderful staff, of whom I’m very proud.”

NAMB president Kevin Ezell addressed those gathered on the second day of the celebration, speaking primarily to Send Relief and church-planting missionaries. The best way to see churches planted and needs met, Ezell said, is for the local church to accomplish that ministry.

“We realize that God uses the church to change communities. To change people,” Ezell said. “I’m thankful for what has happened but look expectantly for all that God is going to do.”

To learn more about how churches or mission teams can serve in Puerto Rico, visit the Send Relief mission trip page and click on Puerto Rico.

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on November 15, 2022.

Jonathan Santiago, director Puerto Rico Ministry Center Send Relief BRANDON ELROD writes for the North American Mission Board

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SBC.NET | SPRING 2023

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National CP Giving Tops $200 Million for First Time Since 2008

BY JONATHAN HOWE

I

n the midst of ongoing financial challenges related to the economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Baptists have given more than $200 million through the national Cooperative Program Allocation Budget for the first time since 2008.

Giving for the 2021–22 fiscal year totaled $200,452,607.68, becoming the first time in 14 years that CP giving topped the $200 million mark. The 2008 total was $204,385,592.63 Even in a year full of challenges, SBC president Bart Barber celebrated the milestone saying, “the generosity of our churches this year demonstrates that this model of cooperation still enjoys the confidence and favor of our churches.”

Executive Committee interim president Willie McLaurin echoed that sentiment.

“The local and global reach of every gift is a testimony to the strong cooperative spirit of every church in the SBC,” McLaurin said. “I want to

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SBC.NET | SPRING 2023

express a personal word of gratitude to pastors, associational missionaries, and state conventions for their partnership in advancing the Gospel to the nations and the neighborhoods.”

One state contributing to the growth of giving toward national and international ministries was Iowa. The state saw their giving increase by more than 40 percent this fiscal year.

“In Iowa we love to contribute through the Cooperative Program,” said Baptist Convention of Iowa executive director Tim Lubinus. “The ministry of Cooperative Program entities extends the work of our churches to send missionaries, plant churches, train leaders, and much more.”

That international missions focus of CP-funded ministry isn’t lost on International Mission Board president Paul Chitwood.

“This year’s Cooperative Program offering has bolstered the work of the International Mission Board around the world,” Chitwood said in

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Good News for the Whole World

a statement. “I often talk about the fact that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is used exclusively on the mission field overseas but most of the Cooperative Program dollars that come to the IMB are also used overseas. While the percentage of CP dollars we use in the US is small, that, too, is incredibly significant as it allows all of Lottie to get to the harvest fields. CP makes up one third of our overall budget so, simply put, the IMB couldn’t exist without the CP. I thank God for the generosity of Southern Baptists and for the strong partnership of Baptist state conventions that have increased the amount of CP designated for national and international missions.”

Todd Unzicker, executive director-treasurer for North Carolina Baptists, has made increasing missions funding a priority in his first year on the job, and the churches in North Carolina have responded positively.

“Missions giving is the most practical and unifying act of service in Baptist life,” Unzicker said. “North Carolina Baptists join our partners around the nation and across the globe as we celebrate how God is working through our churches.

Being ‘On Mission Together’ is not just a slogan for North Carolina Baptist churches but who we truly are in Christ, and the giving demonstrates this truth.”

In addition to international missions being funded through CP giving, church planting and theological education are important aspects for many pastors and church leaders. One such pastor is Jon Nelson who planted Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2015.

Nelson called the $200 million total a “tremendous milestone” and remarked how this will continue to allow “multiple churches to be planted and sustained in difficult places.”

North American Mission Board president Kevin Ezell knows all too well how much the milestone means to NAMB’s assignment.

“We rightly celebrate this exciting financial milestone, but I don’t measure the success of the Cooperative Program in dollars and cents,” Ezell said. “I measure it by how Southern Baptists

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are bringing glory to God through every person baptized by our chaplains each year, every new Gospel-proclaiming church started by one of our missionaries, and every life changed by Christ through a Send Relief ministry center. Those things are happening every day because of what is given through CP, and we are thankful for every person who sacrifices to make it all possible.”

Nelson also noted how the faithful giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program has allowed him and countless others to finish their education debt free and follow the call to missions and church planting.

Jeff Iorg, president of Gateway Seminary in Ontario, California, has seen students reap the benefit of CP support for many years.

“The Cooperative Program has provided the financial foundation for Gateway Seminary for more than 70 years,” Iorg said. “Without this national support base, it is unlikely Baptists in the West could have built such a strong seminary. We thank God for the national and global reach of the Cooperative Program. It has made the difference for Gateway.”

The global reach of the CP is why SBC Second Vice President Alex Sands advocates his church’s partnership with churches across the SBC. “Our church participates in the Cooperative Program because we believe we can do far more to reach the lost with the Gospel by partnering with other churches than we can by ourselves,” Sands said. “We have programs and ministries to reach our Jerusalem and Samaria, but the CP allows us to partner with other churches to reach the uttermost parts of the world.”

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on November 15, 2022.

JONATHAN HOWE is vice president for communications with the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee

Ministry Resources from Pastors

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S B C U P D AT E

Senior Pastor Steve James conducts a baptism at Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Since October 2021, the church has witnessed 58 consecutive weeks with at least one baptism. Image Courtesy of Trinty Baptist Church

‘It’s a God thing’—Louisiana Church Witnesses 58 Straight Weeks of Baptisms

BY SCOTT BARKLEY

F

or more than a year, the baptismal waters at Trinity Baptist Church have stirred.

Leaders say the same verb can be applied to the hearts of its church members.

“We don’t take it for granted,” said Senior Pastor Steve James on the experience he calls ‘a God thing.’ “For some reason God has chosen to smile on us. Our folks have been faithful to invite their friends, and so we just share the Gospel and give them opportunities to come to know the Lord and follow in believer’s baptism.”

In late October 2021 Trinity Baptist was still trying to recover from hurricane damage and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the middle of those distractions, though, a continual emphasis on preaching the Gospel began to take shape in a just-as-continual stream of decisions for Christ.

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“It normally takes years to recover from things like the pandemic, hurricanes, and flood,” Student/Evangelism Pastor David Doyle said in June after Trinity had passed 35 consecutive Sundays of baptisms. “But we have experienced growth during the first year we’re back. All glory to God. With Jesus, the best days are always ahead of us. We continue to move forward as a church and look toward Jesus.”

Doyle remarked on something unprecedented for himself and his co-workers.

“Nobody on our staff has seen a baptism every single week over the course of a calendar year,” said Doyle, who himself witnessed plenty of baptisms where he grew up, at Cross Church in Arkansas.

“To see it every single week is something special,” he said. “We cast a vision about a year ago

to our church that revival is not an event you go to; it’s every single week.”

That included training members how to share their testimony and Christ. Those steps, coupled with seeing someone step into the baptistry week after week, had an undeniable effect.

“It just kind of took off,” Doyle said.

The church’s student ministry has tripled in size up to around 300, with Doyle giving credit to God as well as “getting the right people with the right passion in the right position.”

“When you do those three things, things can cultivate for the Spirit to move in a powerful way,” he said.

The number of those wanting to be baptized each week has fluctuated, but there is always someone come Sunday who has expressed a desire to do so.

“There have been weeks we baptized one and others where we baptized seven,” Doyle said.

“Our goal is to baptize them immediately. Sometimes it’s the following week; sometimes longer.

“Seeing this every week has sparked our church and made them want to be a part of it.”

Many in the community wanted to be a part of Trinity after the church’s response following hurricanes Laura and Delta in August and October of 2020, respectively. Other natural disasters followed in 2021. During that time Trinity became a hub of ministry for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief and law enforcement personnel.

In March 2022, Trinity collected more than $90,000 that was forwarded to Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief and, in conjunction with Send Relief, used to purchase emergency equipment, food, shelter, transportation, and medical and hygiene kits for displaced Ukrainians. Church members also contributed more than 1,300 pounds of medical supplies that were likewise shipped to Ukraine.

Locally, individual stories reflect thanks for lives changed and steered from addictions and hopelessness. There are also those who attended church a long time but never made a decision to be baptized.

To see it every single week is something special. We cast a vision about a year ago to our church that revival is not an event you go to; it’s every single week.”

David Doyle, student/evangelism pastor Trinity Baptist Church

Dale Bernard was a 40-year member of Trinity when he began wondering something James consistently peppered to the crowd: Do you really know if you belong to Christ?

One day Bernard, 91 years old, looked at a check box on the church bulletin that said “I’ve been saved, but not baptized.”

“That struck a note with me,” he said. His wife encouraged him to take the step to be sure that “I know what I know what I know.”

James has announced his retirement effective in August 2023, but has no intention of coasting to that particular finish line.

“I’ve asked God that the glory of the latter days be greater than the former,” he said. “I want to finish strong. I want to give glory to God and not receive a pat on the back for me or the staff or the people of Trinity.

“When people come here, they want to look around the church. I show them and say they have to understand something – this is a God thing.”

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on November 29, 2022.

SCOTT BARKLEY is national correspondent for Baptist Press.

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S B C U P D AT E

Image Courtesy of Baptist Press

Leatherwood Named ERLC President

BY BRANDON PORTER

T

he Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission board of trustees named Brent Leatherwood the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy entity in a unanimous vote on September 13, 2022.

“I am honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to serve this historic institution as its next president,” Leatherwood said.

He says he will base his time at the helm on God’s Word and the Baptist Faith and Message.

“Rooted in Scripture and guided by the Baptist Faith and Message, this team will remain fervently committed to carrying out our ministry

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assignment—faithfully serving our churches and growing our convictional presence in the public square on behalf of our Convention. That means speaking with biblical clarity about the issues that matter to Baptists: the inherent value of life, religious liberty at home and abroad, human dignity, and the flourishing of families,” Leatherwood said.

Leatherwood served as the entity’s acting interim president since September 14, 2021.

He follows Russell Moore who left the post in May 2021.

We have made it a priority to come alongside and equip our churches, partner with our state conventions, and support our sister SBC entities. This Commission will continue to do so in this new season because we know the Southern Baptist Convention is stronger when we are cooperating on mission together.”

Brent Leatherwood, president The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Leatherwood said he’s learned much about leading the ERLC over the last year. “True leadership begins as service,” he said. “That has been the heart I have brought each day to the ERLC these past 12 months. And it is that same heart I will continue to bring as this new chapter begins.”

Moore brought Leatherwood on board in 2017 to serve as the director of strategic partnerships.

Leatherwood is a deacon at The Church at Avenue South, a Nashville church plant of Brentwood Baptist Church. He says he looks forward to opportunities to serve churches and state conventions in the ERLC role.

“We have made it a priority to come alongside and equip our churches, partner with our state conventions, and support our sister SBC entities, he said. “This Commission will continue to do so in this new season because we know the Southern Baptist Convention is stronger when we are cooperating on mission together.”

Leatherwood served as the executive director of the Tennessee Republican Party from December 2012 to December 2016. There, he managed the organization’s campaign apparatus at the federal, state, and local levels. Under his guidance, the Tennessee GOP helped elect more than 800 candidates, including several to statewide offices—believed to be the most in any four-year timeframe in the organization’s history.

He also has worked on Capitol Hill as a senior legislative aide to former Rep. Connie Mack, R-Florida. In that role, Leatherwood guided the domestic priorities for the congressman on the House Budget Committee and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on September 13, 2022.

BRANDON PORTER is associate vice president for Convention news with the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, Tennessee.

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S B C U P D AT E

Matt Carter, former pastor of Sagemont Church in Houston, announces retirement to his congregation on Sunday, September 11, 2022. He joined the North American Mission Board’s Send Network team as vice president of mobilization on October 1, 2022.

Image Courtesy of Sagemont Church

Matt Carter of Houston’s Sagemont Church Named Mobilization VP of Send Network

BY BRANDON ELROD

M

att Carter, pastor of Sagemont Church in Houston, announced his retirement as senior pastor to his congregation Sunday, September 11, 2022, and joined the North American Mission Board’s Send Network team as vice president of mobilization on October 1.

“I am thrilled to take what I’ve learned through planting one church, as well as pastoring an established church in the next phase of its history, to pour into the next generation of pastors and church planters,” Carter said.

In his new role, Carter focuses on mobilizing churches and church-planting missionaries across North America to help Send Network

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engage more local churches in the process of discovering, developing, and deploying more church planters throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

“I could not be more thankful to have my friend Matt Carter joining the team at Send Network,” said Vance Pitman, Send Network president. “He’s a seasoned church planter with a shared passion for God’s glory among the nations.

I’m excited to co-labor with him in the expansion of God’s kingdom through a movement of churches planting churches everywhere for everyone.”

Pitman said Send Network also plans to announce other new initiatives and leaders in the coming months.

Carter arrived at Sagemont in May of 2020 after serving 18 years as the pastor of preaching and vision at the Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, a church he planted in 2002, which grew into a congregation with more than 8,000 regular attenders.

During his announcement, Carter described how recent health issues played a role in his decision to retire as pastor. Transitioning out of the pastorate allows him to continue serving in ministry in a role that involves less stress than the day-to-day responsibilities of pastoring.

“Over the years, I’ve been thankful for Matt’s friendship and input as an experienced church planter and pastor as NAMB shifted more of its focus to church planting,” said NAMB President Kevin Ezell. “Now, Matt will be leading in this new capacity to engage Southern Baptists in the mission of reaching North America with the Gospel as he and Vance take Send Network church planting to the next level.”

The role with Send Network does not require Carter to move, so he told Sagemont of his plans to remain a resident of Houston and a member of the church where his family serves. In his announcement, he reminded church members that they do not follow a messenger but the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“And so, it does not matter who is in this pulpit, who has the title. It doesn’t matter. We don’t follow a pastor,” Carter said. “We don’t follow a shepherd. We follow the Great Shepherd, and he will never leave you. He will never forsake you as long as you live.”

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“I am thrilled to take what I’ve learned through planting one church, as well as pastoring an established church in the next phase of its history, to pour into the next generation of pastors and church planters.”

Matt Carter vice president of mobilization Send Network North American Mission Board

joined Carter on stage to pray over him and his wife, Jennifer.

“As Matt moves on to NAMB, what a great and exciting opportunity for our church to be a part of raising up the next generation of church planters and mobilizers,” Henson said before his prayer.

“That’s an exciting opportunity for us . . . . We’re going to be a church that’s on the front lines of raising up the next generation of church planters and pastors.”

The church gave Carter a standing ovation as he rejoined the congregation.

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on September 12, 2022.

BRANDON ELROD writes for the North American Mission Board

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S B C U P D AT E

Lifeway Christian Resources President Ben Mandrell (left) presents IMB President Paul Chitwood (center) and NAMB President Kevin Ezell (right) with checks totaling more than a half-million dollars, made up of offerings from campers at Lifeway’s 2022 summer camps. Image by Brandon Porter

Lifeway Campers Give More Than $540,000 to IMB, NAMB

BY MARISSA POSTELL

B

en Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, presented checks totaling $543,300.81 to International Mission Board (IMB) President Paul Chitwood and North American Mission Board (NAMB) President Kevin Ezell on September 19, 2022, during the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee meeting.

“We believe the focus on missions is an important part of discipling students,” Mandrell said. “I’m thankful we can partner with NAMB and the IMB to spread the Gospel both here in North America and across the globe.”

Lifeway, the IMB and NAMB partner each summer through FUGE Camps, CentriKid and Student Life Camp to provide missions education and promote missional giving among kids and students attending Lifeway camps. This summer kids, students, camp staff and adult chaperones at Lifeway camps across the country donated $368,862.11 to the IMB and $174,438.70 to NAMB. “One of the most amazing moments of camp is the opportunity to watch this generation of teenagers give toward the spread of the Gospel,” said Jared Shingleton, Lifeway’s director of Student Life Camp. “In our culture it seems unlikely

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that teenagers would give so generously of their limited resources, but that’s exactly what we’re seeing happen at camp.”

Lifeway camps are designed to include experiences that fuel campers’ hearts for missions. As their hearts for missions grow, their actions begin to reflect that passion. And each week at Lifeway camps, campers have the opportunity to put into practice the action of giving to missions.

“Lifeway camps have been taking up a missions offering for the IMB and NAMB since the very early years of our programs,” said Joe Hicks, manager of FUGE Camps. “I love that missions education and teaching students to live a life of generosity is at the heart of our Lifeway camps.”

INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS EMPHASIS

FUGE Camps and CentriKid focused their missions education and giving on two areas—the Embera people group in South America and the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The Embera, a group of unreached peoples spread throughout the mountain and river regions of Colombia and Panama, live in fear, believing all material objects are inhabited by spirits that must be appeased. During CentriKid and FUGE Camps, students heard first-hand testimonies of how the Lord has transformed lives through a diverse missionary team including IMB missionaries, Colombian Baptist partners and Cuban and Panamanian missionaries.

“It’s an honor and privilege to partner with Lifeway to tell the story of what God is doing among the nations and sharing how they can play their part in seeing the vision that Jesus will be worshipped by every nation, tribe, people and language become a reality,” said Andy Pettigrew, IMB NextGen team leader. “It’s exciting that students at Lifeway camps are playing a part in reaching the nations as they pray for unreached peoples and give generously to advance the mission around the world.”

In May 2022, the IMB reported that the first known believer was baptized among the Embera people of Colombia.

“God uses many ways to make His name known, and we thank God that campers played a role in seeing that become a reality,” Pettigrew said. “More than 52 percent of the world remains unreached, but we are thrilled to partner with Lifeway camps to see more and more of the next generation hear and respond to how they can play a part in fulfilling the Revelation 7:9 vision.”

Student Life Camp’s missions emphasis was on Santiago, Chile, where Landon and Megan serve as IMB missionaries and are planting a church alongside national partners in the eastern sector of the city. More than a million people—mostly white-collar workers—live in this sector of the city, and very few churches exist to reach the large community.

“God really burdened me with the fact that there are rich people who don’t know Him and are just as lost as those who don’t have resources, and Santiago is a place that has that need,” Landon told

campers in a video that played each week at camp.

“God opened a door for us to come and really convicted me that it was the call He had placed on our lives—to make Jesus known to those ‘who have’ according to the world but don’t have the most important spiritual thing in their lives: Jesus.”

NORTH AMERIC AN MISSION EMPHASIS

This past year, Michael and Traci Byrd were FUGE Camp’s featured NAMB missionaries in St. Louis.

Several years ago, Send Network, NAMB’s church planting initiative, helped the Byrds start Faith Community Bible Church in Baden, the inner-city St. Louis community where Traci was born.

“Every believer has a role to play on the mission field. We are so grateful that, each summer, Lifeway helps instill that vision in the students who attend camps. Nothing is more encouraging than seeing students with a heart for taking the Gospel to those in need,” said Mike Ebert, executive director of public relations for NAMB. “We are grateful for Lifeway’s longstanding commitment to

making missions a key focus for students attending its camps and helping mobilize a new generation to the mission field.”

Through their gifts this summer, campers are helping missionaries like the Byrds and churches like Faith Community provide the basics of life to people in their communities. They are also helping provide Bibles, supplies and other necessities for new churches to get up and running.

“But it’s not just about financial resources,” Michael Byrd said. “This summer, we had a crew of students on a mission trip attend our church one morning. They encouraged our hearts. That kind of support does a world of good for us as we’re serving and ministering in some pretty difficult places and seeing more churches planted.”

They don’t have to wait until they are older.”

The IMB and NAMB train a mission mobilizer on every Lifeway camp team on the camp’s mission focus for the summer and equips them with tools and resources to mobilize others. The missions mobilizer trains other staffers on what they learned and focuses on equipping campers to take their next steps in missions—whether that’s to pray, give or go. Bible study leaders also incorporate “Missions Moments” into their time with campers each day, further cultivating in students a heart for missions.

“We’re grateful for this fruitful summer,” Mandrell said. “And we’re eager to see the longterm impact of these camp experiences as kids and students take what they learned at camp and apply it to their everyday lives.”

DEVELOPING A HEART FOR MISSIONS

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on September 20, 2022.

“We want students to be global Christians by making them aware of the people across the world who are in need of the Gospel,” said Amanda Rhein, FUGE Camps coordinator. “We want them to know they can be a part of the Gospel story now.

MARISSA POSTELL is a writer for Lifeway Christian Resources.

S B C U P D AT E

Lottie Moon Offering Reaches Historic High, Proves Commitment to Revelation 7:9 Vision

BY TESSA SANCHEZ

T

he International Mission Board is rejoicing at God’s work through the generosity of Southern Baptists, who gave $203.7 million to the 2021-22 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. This is the largest offering in the 177year history of the IMB. Missionaries serving on the field are aware of the significance of this record-breaking total and the impact every dollar has on reaching the lost.

“We want to thank you for giving to the Lottie Moon offering,” said Travis and Beth Burkhalter, serving in Medellín, Colombia. “Without that, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. We’re able to focus on our ministry. We don’t have to worry

about raising support, and we’re able to dedicate all of our time to sharing the Good News to people who’ve never heard.”

Phil and Becca Bartuska, serving in Vienna, Austria, shared their thankfulness. “Because of your generous giving, we are able to share the light of Christ to the nearly 2 million people who don’t know the Good News. So, thank you for giving to the Cooperative Program and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering so that our family can live here, gather locals to study God’s Word and plant new churches.”

Gifts to the offering sailed past the original goal by nearly $20 million.

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How grateful I am to Southern Baptists for their incredible generosity. The Great Commission is indeed imprinted on our hearts.

Now we pray diligently for a rich harvest for the sake of the Gospel.”

Sandy Wisdom-Martin executive director and treasurer Woman’s Missionary Union

“I came to the IMB four years ago praying God would grant a new season of growth,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said. “Growth in sending hinged upon growth in funding, and growth in funding hinged upon growing relationships.

“As we’ve invested in new and renewed relationships with pastors, churches, and givers, we are seeing God grant a new season of growth. The increase in giving is astounding and wonderful.”

The $185 million goal for 2021-22 was set in partnership with Woman’s Missionary Union.

The $203.7 total includes gifts to specific projects, often referred to as Lottie Moon challenges or Lottie giving projects.

“Each and every day we enjoy God’s abundant grace toward us,” said Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director and treasurer of the national WMU. “The historic record receipts of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering means more will have the opportunity to hear and respond to this message of grace.

“How grateful I am to Southern Baptists for their incredible generosity. The Great Commission is indeed imprinted on our hearts. Now we pray diligently for a rich harvest for the sake of the Gospel.”

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One hundred percent of gifts given to the offering and directly to the IMB are spent each year in direct support of overseas operations. Southern Baptists also gave generously to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program in 2021-22. IMB received more than $100.4 million from CP giving to support the Great Commission.

These historic offerings will continue to make it possible for Zack and Jennifer Dove and their two sons to serve in Norway.

“Lottie enables us to live here and focus 100 percent of our time on serving the Norwegian church in different cities all over Norway,” Zack said. “It enables us to reach out to those who don’t yet know the true Gospel message and to teach those who have just started to believe.”

Norwegian men and women are hearing the Gospel because of the gifts of Southern Baptists, and the Dove family’s needs are met so they can meet the spiritual needs of Norwegians.

“Each day, we are incredibly thankful for each Southern Baptist who gives so that we can be

here, have food on our table and share the love of Jesus with those around us,” Zack said.

The gratefulness the Doves expressed was echoed by missionaries across the globe who shared how blessed they are by the generosity of Southern Baptists.

Chitwood echoed his thanks for the commitment of those ready to reach the nations, together.

“The world’s greatest problem demands our greatest resources.”

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a registered trademark of Woman’s Missionary Union.

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on October 6, 2022.

TESSA SANCHEZ writes for the International Mission Board

S B C U P D AT E

Mang Siing (second from left) receives a framed still of the Jesus film as a gift for helping translate the film into its 2000th language.

Image Courtesy of Mang Siing

SWBTS Student Narrates ‘Jesus’ Film in Its 2,000th Language

BY TIMOTHY COCKES

S

outhwestern Baptist Theological Seminary student Mang Siing recently became a part of history when he served as the narrator for the Zo language translation of the world-famous Jesus Film. The effort marked the film’s 2,000th available language.

“Jesus” depicts the life and ministry of Christ, and is the world’s most translated film, according to Guinness World Records. Since its release in 1979, it has been viewed by billions of people around the world and resulted in more than 600 million decisions for Christ, according to statistics on the film’s website.

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Siing, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in missions with a minor in evangelism at SWBTS, was approached through a connection with the evangelical organization Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) about leading the translation project for the film in the Zo language.

Mang Siing, seen here with his family, pastors a Burmese- and Zo-speaking church in Fort Worth and is pursuing a Ph.D. at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Siing, who is from Myanmar, said Zo is one of more than 50 different dialects of the Chin people group, and was of the last of the Chin languages to

receive a biblical translation. The New Testament translation of Zo was completed about 10 years ago, followed by the entire Bible in 2018.

Aside from the Bible and a few Christian hymns, Siing said there is a lack of Christian content or resources in Zo. Many tribes do not even have access to the internet.

He is thrilled the translation of the Jesus Film will change that forever.

“I was so excited, and our people were so excited,” Siing said. “I thank God for the opportunity and God has blessed our community with this.

“We don’t have any movie or film in our language, much less The Jesus Film. We were all excited, and we really know that Jesus is our King and Savior, so for Him to speak our language is a great opportunity. This is a milestone for our people group.

“Jesus will speak our language, and he will speak to us directly. Just as the Bible said God remembered Abraham and he remembered Noah, God also remembers us and He doesn’t forsake us.”

Siing worked with representatives from the film to begin the recording process, and Cru assisted by renting a local recording studio to complete the voiceover work.

The role Siing played with the voiceover was providing the lines for the film’s narrator. He also enlisted 28 other people from the Zo community in Fort Worth to provide voices for other characters, including Jesus, Mary and several children’s voices. The full recording process took around 16 hours for Siing, and a full week of days and nights overall.

The local Zo community was so excited about the project that they partnered with both Southwestern and representatives from the Jesus Film to host a premiere showing on the school’s campus in October.

Nearly 200 people attended the celebration, and Siing was presented with several gifts including framed artwork with Scripture (including Revelation 7:9), and a framed still of the movie.

Siing wishes to continue to partner with Cru’s Jesus Film Project, which focuses on translating

the film and transporting it to be played around the world. Showings of the film in Zo in various Myanmar communities are in process.

Beyond the film, Siing also ministers to Burmese-speaking refugees in Fort Worth, where he pastors International Harvest Church and Ministries, a church with services in both Zo and Burmese.

The church was planted with the support of the Southern Baptist Convention of Texas (SBTC) and meets at Grace Fellowship Baptist Church near Southwestern’s campus.

Siing said he is grateful for the ministry education he receives at SWBTS, and the spiritual fruit being borne among the Chin people in the community.

“I enjoy school very much and this is the right place for me and my family,” Siing said. “I’m very proud of Southwestern.”

Siing is praying this monumental moment will have eternal ripple effects.

“I will utilize this film to reach out to not only our people group, but also other people groups

who do not know Jesus,” Siing said. “It is a great strategy and material in which people can learn the Gospel in a visual and verbal way.

“This is significant and remarkable for me and our whole people group because it will last forever, from generation to generation. It is an eternal thing. I pray and believe that through the Jesus Film, many of our people will be revived spiritually and also some will come to a personal relationship with Christ.

“I pray that Jesus will speak to us through the film, and there will be revival and transformation.

I pray He will empower us by His Holy Spirit and the Word of God to be disciple makers across the globe. That is my prayer, my desire and my expectation through the film.”

A version of this article was published in Baptist Press on November 17, 2022.

TIMOTHY COCKES is a staff writer for Baptist Press.

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