Tennessee Baptists establish new record for giving through Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org
FRANKLIN — Tennessee Baptists gave a record $1,920,733 through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions in 2018-19.
The amount is $77,222 over the old record of $1,843,511 which was set during 2016-17.
Tennessee Baptists have come to understand and value that “any way you slice it, Tennessee is a missions field,” said Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
“We are excited and thrilled that Tennessee Baptists have given sacrificially to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in our state where more than 50 percent of the residents are unchurched,” Davis continued.
Vickie Anderson, executive director of Tennessee Woman’s Missionary Union, which helps to promote the annual GOTM offering, agreed. “The churches who give through GOTM see that our state is a missions field,” she said.
Anderson observed that 1,244 Tennessee churches gave the record amount.
One of the challenges as the 2019-20 offering year begins is to encourage the approximately 1,500 other churches in Tennessee that did not previously give this year to catch the vision of how they can help impact lostness in Tennessee through the Golden Offering, Anderson observed.
“We want to continue to tell the stories of how Tennessee Baptists are making a difference in our state through ministries supported by the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions,” she added.
Giving through GOTM has made great strides. This year’s amount was 6.9 percent over last year’s total, Anderson said.
“That’s an amazing achievement in one year,” she said.
In addition, GOTM giving has increased 32.2 percent over the past six years, more than a 5 percent average each year.
By comparison over the same time period, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering gifts have increased 5.4 percent (down 5.02 percent from last year) and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gifts have decreased 0.12 percent, up 0.71 percent from last year).
The goal for the 2019-20 GOTM is $2.1 million. To reach that goal and to break $2 million in giving for the first time, gifts will need to increase 9.3 percent.
If gifts increase by 11 percent over the next five years, Tennessee Baptists will reach their long-range GOTM goal of $3 million by 2024.
