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A SIMPLE FORMULA FOR REACHING LOTTIE MOON GOAL

December 25, 2020

By Paul Chitwood
President, International Mission Board

The 2020 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal is $175 million. That number is significant because 2020 marks the 175th anniversary of Southern Baptists sending workers to the nations. 

The annual offering makes up almost 60 percent of the International Mission Board’s revenue and helps to support 3,535 missionaries and their families. Going back to 1888, the year Woman’s Missionary Union launched the offering, Southern Baptists have given over $4.7 billion through the offering. 

Simply put, our company cannot exist without the Lottie Moon offering and this year’s offering goal is a God-sized goal. We’ve never had a $175 million dollar offering goal and never had a $175 million offering. Last year’s offering, the third largest in history, was $157 million. The largest Lottie Moon offering ever was $165,798,000. That falls almost $10 million short of this year’s goal of $175 million. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: IMB, international mission board, Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Paul Chitwood

IMB MISSIONARIES AND STAFF GIVE MORE THAN $800,000 TO LMCO

December 20, 2020

By Ann Lovell
IMB internal communications director 

IMB missionaries and staff pledged $802,700 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering through an internal campaign that began Sept. 23 and ended Nov. 30. The campaign, which allowed missionaries and U.S.-based staff to make their pledges confidentially, indicates their high level of commitment to the Revelation 7:9 vision and sets an example for Southern Baptists, said IMB President Paul Chitwood.

“Our IMB missionaries around the world and our stateside support staff wanted to lead by example as we asked Southern Baptists to give more generously than ever before to get the gospel to the nations. And I’m proud to say that is happening!” Chitwood said.  [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, SBC Tagged With: IMB, international mission board, Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

TAKING THE GOSPEL’S HOPE TO ITALY

December 1, 2020

Editor’s Note: Charlie and Shannon Worthy are the featured missionaries on Day 6 (Dec. 4) of the Week of Prayer for International Missions (Nov. 29-Dec. 6). The Worthys have strong ties to Tennessee with family in both West and Middle Tennessee. Charlie Worthy is a graduate of Union University in Jackson. They worked closely with Tennessee Baptists during a partnership with IMB personnel from 2010-2017. Two of their four children are attending a Tennessee Baptist university this fall — Micah at Carson-Newman in Jefferson City and Emma at Union in Jackson. They are currently on stateside assignment and will be living in the Woman’s Missionary Union missions house on the property of the Missions Mobilization Center in Mount Juliet until  next summer when they return to the field.

IMB News Office

Shannon Worthy tells the Easter story to a group of classmates of Ben and Alessia Worthy. The Worthys are IMB missionaries in Italy.

MOUNT JULIET — The Worthy family recognizes the importance of developing relationships in the Italian culture. For more than 17 years, Tennesseans Charlie and Shannon Worthy have invested their lives and ministry in Italy as IMB missionaries.

They describe the spiritual climate of Italy as ambivalent towards religion. Italians are warm, loving and open people; however, most don’t know they need Jesus as Savior. Evangelical Christians in Italy number roughly 1 percent, and most Italians are nominal Catholics at best. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, SBC Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, missions

MISSIONS, LOTTIE MOON AND LEADERSHIP

December 1, 2020

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

On Sept. 15, 1887, a diminutive woman named Charlotte Digges Moon, known to Southern Baptists as “Lottie,” sat at a rough hewn table in a modest hut in China and penned a letter that would forever transform the Southern Baptist Convention.

In that letter, Lottie called for prayer and financial resources that would ensure the advancement of the gospel. At the time, the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) had a limited number of global missionaries, but Lottie was thinking bigger — much bigger. She envisioned a day when Southern Baptists would present the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world, but she also knew it would take significant financial resources to do so. With prayer and generosity in mind, she wrote: [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, missions

LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERING TOTAL EXCEEDS GOAL AT $159.5M

October 13, 2020

By Leslie Peacock Caldwell

Baptist Press

Missionary Doug Derbyshire meets physical and spiritual needs as a medical doctor in Thailand. — IMB photo

RICHMOND, Va. — The International Mission Board is reporting a 2019-20 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering total of $159.5 million, the second highest offering in history. This total exceeds by $4.5 million the 175-year-old organization’s budgeted goal of $155 million. IMB also received $97.2 million from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program for 2019-20.

“I’m thrilled to report that the Lottie offering is growing again,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood. “A growing Lottie offering means that more lost people, not fewer, will hear the Gospel and be saved. A growing Lottie offering means that more hurting people, not fewer, will be helped and offered hope. A growing Lottie offering means more missionaries, not fewer, will go to the ends of the earth to carry the Good News. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for growing the Lottie offering!”

The offering reflects the commitment of Southern Baptist churches to support international missionaries and reach every language, people, tribe and nation with the Gospel. One hundred percent of gifts given to the offering is used for the support of missionaries. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, SBC Tagged With: IMB, international mission board, Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

LOTTIE MOON’S HOME CHURCH REINVIGORATED TO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION

December 18, 2019

By Ann Lovell
IMB offices

IMB President Paul Chitwood thanks the church for continuing the legacy of their most famous Southern Baptist missionary, Lottie Moon, in a sermon Dec. 15. Moon was baptized by Pastor John Broadus at FBC Park Street Dec. 22, 1858.

Missions is alive and well at First Baptist Church Park Street in Charlottesville, Virginia. This should come as no surprise, given that the church, founded in 1831, is home to one of Southern Baptists’ most famous international missionaries — Lottie Moon.

Charlotte “Lottie” Diggs Moon was born Dec. 12, 1840, in Albemarle County, Virginia. Charlottesville is the county seat. In 1857, John Broadus, pastor of First Baptist Park Street, preached a revival service at the Albemarle Female Institute, which he founded. A young, rebellious Lottie Moon attended the service and surrendered her life to Christ. She was baptized at FBC Park Street, Dec. 22, 1858.

God continued to work in Lottie’s life, and in 1873 she sailed for China where she served as a Baptist missionary until her death in 1912. In 1888, at Lottie’s encouragement and under the leadership of Woman’s Missionary Union, Southern Baptists started an annual offering for international missions. In 1919, the offering was named The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® in Lottie’s memory. In 2018, Southern Baptist churches gave $157.3 million to the annual offering to support nearly 3,700 IMB missionaries serving around the world.

But First Baptist Park Street doesn’t intend to rest on the 150-year-old legacy of Lottie Moon or John Broadus. Instead, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Rob Pochek, the church has been reinvigorated to move forward in giving to international missions and sending missionaries to the nations.

“At First Baptist Church, we are humbled that God brought Lottie Moon to faith in Christ under the ministry of Dr. John A. Broadus while he served as pastor here,” Pochek said. “Being Lottie Moon’s ‘home church’ is a legacy we desire to keep alive, not in order to gain some glory from it for us, but to motivate us to raise up the next generation of missionaries who will take the gospel to the ends of the earth.”

REINVIGORATED FOR THE GREAT COMMISSION

Since Pochek arrived in 2016, the church has commissioned three families to serve in countries around the world, said Daniel Chambers, the church’s director of communications and connections. The church is also involved in evangelistic efforts around Charlottesville and regularly sends mission teams regionally to southwest Virginia and internationally to Guatemala.

Dr. Rob Pochek (foreground), senior pastor of FBC Park Street Charlottesville, prays for the nations during the Dec. 15 morning service with IMB president Paul Chitwood and deacon Chuck Ward.

Through their annual Vacation Bible School, children in kindergarten through sixth grade also collect offerings to help fund the church’s missions efforts. Last year, the church received almost $3,600 in VBS offerings for projects in Guatemala, Chambers said.

And then, there’s the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Last year, FBC Park Street set an ambitious goal of $50,000, Chambers said. They exceeded that goal by more than $30,000. This year, the church decided to double last year’s goal — to $100,000. Within the first two weeks of the December emphasis, church members have already given more than half that amount.

“Practically speaking, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is one indispensable tool that keeps the cause of international missions before us and helps us support those who are currently living out Lottie’s legacy,” Pochek said.

THANK YOU!

Speaking in the church’s morning service Dec. 15, IMB President Paul Chitwood thanked the church for giving and going to the nations.

“It is a blessing for me to come here and say, ‘Thank you,’ on behalf of 3,700 IMB missionaries and their 2,880 children, who are taking the gospel to the nations by way of your support,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood affirmed the importance of the legacy of Lottie Moon while also reminding the church of the work yet to be done to reach a lost world with the gospel.

“Even this year with such a lofty goal of $100,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the legacy of mission faithfulness that was to some degree birthed here in this church among Southern Baptists … has not been lost,” Chitwood said.

“It continues to be lived out, and that’s important because there is still work to do. There are among the nations 155,252 lost people who die every single day. That’s obviously not lost on you as you pray and give and go.”

Preaching from Isaiah 56:1-8, Chitwood challenged the congregation to examine the question: “Why are you here?” and focused on the plight of unbelievers and the promises and purposes of God. He reminded the congregation that Christians remain on earth after their salvation for a reason — to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him.

IMB president Paul Chitwood addresses the crowd.

“I’m thankful for a faithful pastor who held a revival service at an all-girls school,” Chitwood said, referring to Lottie Moon’s salvation experience. “John Broadus had no way of knowing that one of the young ladies who listened to his sermon would trust Christ that night and go on to become the most famous missionary in the history of the IMB. But he knew the plight of every girl and every boy without Christ.”

And then, there’s the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Last year, FBC Park Street set an ambitious goal of $50,000, Chambers said. They exceeded that goal by more than $30,000. This year, the church decided to double last year’s goal — to $100,000. Within the first two weeks of the December emphasis, church members have already given more than half that amount.

“Practically speaking, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is one indispensable tool that keeps the cause of international missions before us and helps us support those who are currently living out Lottie’s legacy,” Pochek said.

THANK YOU!

Speaking in the church’s morning service Dec. 15, IMB President Paul Chitwood thanked the church for giving and going to the nations.

“It is a blessing for me to come here and say, ‘Thank you,’ on behalf of 3,700 IMB missionaries and their 2,880 children, who are taking the gospel to the nations by way of your support,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood affirmed the importance of the legacy of Lottie Moon while also reminding the church of the work yet to be done to reach a lost world with the gospel.

“Even this year with such a lofty goal of $100,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the legacy of mission faithfulness that was to some degree birthed here in this church among Southern Baptists … has not been lost,” Chitwood said.

“It continues to be lived out, and that’s important because there is still work to do. There are among the nations 155,252 lost people who die every single day. That’s obviously not lost on you as you pray and give and go.”

Preaching from Isaiah 56:1-8, Chitwood challenged the congregation to examine the question: “Why are you here?” and focused on the plight of unbelievers and the promises and purposes of God. He reminded the congregation that Christians remain on earth after their salvation for a reason — to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who do not know Him.

“I’m thankful for a faithful pastor who held a revival service at an all-girls school,” Chitwood said, referring to Lottie Moon’s salvation experience. “John Broadus had no way of knowing that one of the young ladies who listened to his sermon would trust Christ that night and go on to become the most famous missionary in the history of the IMB. But he knew the plight of every girl and every boy without Christ.” B&R

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Filed Under: News, SBC Tagged With: Lottie Moon, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

GOD WORKING THROUGH SBC MISSIONARIES

December 10, 2019

By Paul Chitwood
President, International Mission Board

Paul Chitwood

Looking back on my first full year as your IMB president, the words that come to mind are: “Thank you.”

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving souls across the globe daily amid hardship and persecution, and for upholding Your servants as they go forth to share Your gospel.

Thank you, Southern Baptist family, for placing your confidence in me to lead our missionary force. It is an incredible privilege to lead the choice servants of God whom you have sent out.

This year has been marked by many victories but also by massive cyclones in Sub-Saharan Africa, political and humanitarian crises in the Americas, and large-magnitude earthquakes in Southeast Asia. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, missions

SPECIFIC WAYS TO PRAY FOR MISSIONARIES

December 10, 2019

IMB Communications Staff

The 2019 goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering is $165M. For information on how to give, visit IMB.org.

RICHMOND — IMB president Paul Chitwood came home from a recent trip to East Africa with a plenty of memories — and 1,000 snapshots.

He knew missionaries faced challenges in taking the Gospel to the unreached. He knew the logistical and spiritual struggles could be intense for those on the front lines of pushing back the darkness.

But while he was in Africa visiting with IMB missionaries, every ride down a dusty road and every walk down a city street was a reminder that each missionary faces unique challenges.

And every single prayer for missionaries matters — he says it’s so important that missionaries know they are loved, remembered, and prayed for. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: News, SBC Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, missions

MOON’S LIGHT STILL SHINING

December 10, 2019

Lottie Moon offering still impacting lives

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector
ddawson@tnbaptist.org

The Stormer family, members of Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville, are serving as missionaries in Brazil. In the photo above, Aaron Stormer (back row, third from left), his wife, Melissa (second from left) and their children Aiden (far left), Gavin (front row, left) and Astrid (front row, right), share a smile with some ministry partners in Brazil. — Submitted photo

CLARKSVILLE —  There are trends that come and go in the Baptist culture, but the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions has remained a vital part of the Baptist fabric for more than 130 years.

The ministry has remained unchanged throughout its existence, holding steadfast to its exclusive purpose of supporting missionaries who serve abroad.

The continued significance of the LMCO, which started in 1888, can be seen in the faces of the Stormers — a five-member family from Clarksville who have been serving as missionaries in Brazil for the past two and a half years.

The Stormers, who are members of Hilldale Baptist Church, Clarksville, are stationed in São Paulo, a mega city of over 20 million people. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Tennessee Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, missions

STAYING FOCUSED ON OUR PASSIONATE PRIORITY

December 10, 2019

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

Randy C. Davis

There are two distinctives that bind Southern Baptists together. The first is our shared biblical belief system. Unfortunately, the Bible can be mishandled in many ways and our Southern Baptist forefathers recognized that, so in 1925, they took the providential step to clearly define what Southern Baptists believe about the Bible.

That document is known as the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) and became our “statement of the historic Baptist conception of the nature and foundation of confessions of faith in our religious and denominational life.” The BF&M was updated in 2000 and reaffirms what we believe theologically and why we believe it.

The second distinctive that binds Southern Baptists together is our Great Commission calling to missions, and specifically our historic commitment to rally around international missions. We have always been, and we must always be, a “going” people. [Read more…]

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Filed Under: Opinion Column Tagged With: IMB, Lottie Moon, missions, Randy C. Davis

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