At the Feb. 5 North American Mission Board trustee meeting, NAMB president Kevin Ezell (right) spotlighted the entity's recently renewed efforts in Pittsburgh. He introduced Rob Wilton (left) who now serves as Send Missionary to the city and will be starting a church this fall in its West Hills area.
Hunt serves as NAMB's senior vice president of evangelism and leadership. The trustee gathering took place Feb. 4-5 in West Palm Beach, Fla., with an emphasis on the Gospel need and ministry that is taking place across South Florida.
South Florida's diversity, unceasing growth, great wealth and extreme poverty can all be a challenge for churches trying to connect with the more than 6 million residents in the region. Dozens of legacy churches are struggling or have shut their doors.
Mark Clifton, national director for church replanting at the North American Mission Board, shared a devotion at the beginning of NAMB's trustee meeting Feb. 5 in West Palm Beach, Fla. "77 percent of churches in the SBC that close each year are located in cities with over 100,000 people," Clifton reported. "We're closing churches where we desperately need churches."
At another stop, trustees heard the story of how a dying church -- Jog Road Baptist -- partnered with Family Church to transition their building to a Spanish-speaking congregation that is now thriving and strongly rooted in its surrounding neighborhood.
The next morning trustees heard more about church replanting efforts from Mark Clifton, NAMB's national director for church replanting.
"Seventy-seven percent of churches in the SBC that close each year are located in cities with over 100,000 people," Clifton reported. "We're closing churches where we desperately need churches."
Clifton's "Revitalize" podcast hosted with LifeWay president Thom Rainer has had more than 250,000 downloads. An upcoming NAMB replant certification workshop for Associational Mission Strategists is sold out with 250 attending, and an upcoming "Am I A Replanter?" workshop has 100 attending. Currently at least 200 Southern Baptist churches are walking through the replanting process.
-- NAMB Chief Financial Officer Matt Smith reported that NAMB's fiscal year spending to date is 7.7 percent below budget and that offering income from both the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering are at anticipated levels for this time of year.
-- Andy Addis, pastor of Cross Point Church in Hutchinson, Kan., and chairman of the Send Network committee, reported that Send Network's Leadership Pipeline has grown from 237 churches in early 2018 to 750 today, with 216 of those churches actively implementing the process and 660 individuals participating.
-- Erin Bounds, chairwoman of NAMB's Financial Services Committee, and a member of North Valley Baptist Church in Odenville, Ala., reported that NAMB's annual end of year audit conducted by an outside auditing firm resulted in "a completely clean audit. The highest rating you can get," Bounds said.
-- Trustees voted to defer a final recommendation on a motion from the 2017 SBC Annual Meeting until they have more time to finalize a response. The motion asked NAMB to alter its guidelines for representation on the NAMB Board of Trustees.
In his report to trustees, NAMB president Kevin Ezell started by stating, "Everything we do at NAMB is about sending the hope of the Gospel."
"Over 60 percent of the churches we helped Southern Baptists plant in 2018 were non-Anglo," Ezell reported. "We plant churches everywhere, for everyone."
Ezell spotlighted NAMB's recently renewed efforts in Pittsburgh. He introduced Rob Wilton who now serves as Send Missionary to the city and will be starting a church this fall in its West Hills area.
"Just last month his church sent a $30,000 check for the Cooperative Program to the Penn-South Jersey state convention," Ezell said. "That makes his church one of the top five Cooperative Program giving churches in his state convention. And he doesn't launch until October.
"So often," Ezell said, "people talk about church plants in terms of what they get, and they don't realize what they are giving, and that's what's so exciting."
"We are dreaming big in Pittsburgh," Wilton said. "I believe this is just the beginning."
Ezell also highlighted the upcoming "Who's Your One?" evangelism campaign NAMB is implementing with current SBC president J.D. Greear as well as the "GO2" initiative, which challenges college students to commit their first two years after school to getting a job near a church plant that they can help get established in North America or abroad.
Information on both initiatives and others can be found at https://www.gospelaboveall.com.
NAMB's next trustee meeting is scheduled for May 21 in Alpharetta, Ga.
Mike Ebert serves as NAMB's executive director of public relations.