NAMB Archives - Page 2 of 6 - Baptist & Reflector

DOES NAMB REALLY NEED TWO DR OPTIONS?

May 30, 2018

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Lonnie Wilkey

For years, Southern Baptists have taken pride in disaster relief. Even when Southern Baptists were known for their infighting among themselves, Southern Baptist Disaster Relief was still viewed with respect and admiration across the nation.

When there was a disaster, the volunteers who wore yellow disaster relief T-shirts and caps were a welcome sight to people who had experienced a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, or any other event that disrupted lives.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief was born in 1967. Today it encompasses 70,000 trained volunteers in all 50 states and 1,550 mobile units for feeding, chain saw, mud-out, childcare, and more. [Read more…]

DR: A STORIED HISTORY AND BRIGHT FUTURE

May 29, 2018

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

An EF5 tornado dropped from the skies five years ago and roared across Oklahoma’s open spaces at 200 mph. It locked on Moore, Okla., then slammed into the modest Oklahoma City suburb filled with middle-class, salt-of-the-earth people. It bulldozed an elementary school. It was over a mile wide and ripped a 17-mile path through the heart of that city. The devastation was comprehensive: 24 people killed, more than 200 injured, and more than $2 billion in damage.

And within hours, Oklahoma and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams swooped in to serve people. Among them were nearly 40 chaplains caring for the emotional and spiritual hurts of people. But the great thing about Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers is that every person goes as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, even if they are running a chain saw. [Read more…]

REFUGEE EXHIBIT CREATES PERSPECTIVE

April 5, 2018

By David Dawson
Baptist and Reflector

Upon entering the refugee simulation, the women were given a number and instructed to put all personal belongings in a trash bag.

GATLINBURG — According to recent data released by the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, there are 65.6 million displaced individuals, or refugees, in the world today. It is the highest number in recorded history and is growing by hundreds of thousands each year.

Sadly, when hearing numbers like that, there is a tendency to forget that there are faces behind the figures. It almost becomes lost that these are real people, with real emotions and real families. And many of them are hurting.

In hopes of shining a light on these dark developments, national WMU has worked with several other organizations to create the “Refugee Simulation Experience” — an interactive, walk-through exhibit that enables participants to better grasp the hardships that many refugees are facing. [Read more…]

A CALL TO REVITALIZE EVANGELISM IN THE SBC

March 22, 2018

By David Leavell
President, Tennessee Baptist Convention
& Alan Quigley
Mobilization Team Leader, Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma

Last year, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) publicly announced that 29 percent of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches reported no baptisms, and 47 percent reported two or less. In the SBC 2017 Book of Reports, NAMB reported that baptisms had fallen to 295,000 in 2016, which is the first time the convention reported less than 300,000 baptisms since the late 1940s. [Read more…]

CARVING A PATH IN A SPIRITUAL DESERT

March 8, 2018

NAMB NEWS OFFICE

Heiden and Neena Ratner, with son, Epaph, planted WALK Church in Las Vegas, Nev. They are featured missionaries during the Annie Armstrong Eastering Offering 2018 Week of Prayer.

Editor’s Note: Heiden and Neena Ratner are church planting missionaries featured in the Week of Prayer for North American Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.® This year’s theme is “On Mission Here and Now.” The national AAEO goal is $70 million.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Established in 1905 near the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, this city that was once a pass-through in the Mojave Desert has become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. Las Vegas hosts more than 42 million visitors each year. The draw includes novelty resorts and casinos with enough lasers and neon lights to make it visible from space, earning NASA’s distinction for Brightest Spot on Earth. But spiritually, the statistics tell a different story. [Read more…]

EC CONSIDERS DC CONVENTION, MISSION BOARD MERGER

February 26, 2018

Baptist Press

Stephen Rummage, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, presided over the EC’s Feb. 19-20 meeting in Nashville. Photo by Morris Abernathy (for Baptist Press).

NASHVILLE — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has given the District of Columbia Baptist Convention (DCBC) 90 days to “secure” the “the removal of any churches from its fellowship that have demonstrated a faith or practice affirming, approving or endorsing homosexual behavior,” according to a recommendation adopted by the EC Feb. 20.

If such churches remain in friendly cooperation with the DCBC after that period, the DCBC will lose its authorization “to receive and disburse Cooperative Program and other SBC contributions,” the EC stated during its Feb. 19-20 meetings in Nashville. [Read more…]

TRUSTEES: NAMB INTRODUCES ‘SEND PUERTO RICO’

February 13, 2018

By Mike Ebert
Baptist Press

Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), addressed members of NAMB’s Board of Trustees at their Feb. 6 meeting in Alpharetta, Ga. — Photo (by Hayley Catt) from Baptist Press.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The North American Mission Board is adding Puerto Rico to its list of special areas that will receive increased attention and resources for church planting, Send Relief ministries and partnership opportunities with Southern Baptist churches that want to minister on the island. NAMB president Kevin Ezell shared the plans with NAMB trustees Tuesday (Feb. 6). [Read more…]

PUERTO RICO RELIEF NEEDS ONGOING VOLUNTEERS, FUNDING

November 16, 2017

Baptist Press

Partnership discussions prompt a handshake between Sam Porter (left) and Luiz Rodriguez linking Southern Baptist and Puerto Rican Baptist churches in ongoing disaster relief. Porter is national director of disaster relief for the North American Mission Board; Rodriguez is pastor of Raham Baptist Church and president of the Convention of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
-Photo courtesy of Sam Porter/NAMB

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) — Southern Baptists continue to serve Puerto Rico’s residents after Hurricane Maria’s devastation in September, creating a nationwide response from the ground up.

“Though the plight of Puerto Rico has started to fade from the headlines,” Porter said, “there are still plenty of needs and places to serve.”

NAMB’s Send Relief outreach has attained warehouse space in Puerto Rico for the collection of food, water and other resources. Items are then distributed to various churches ministering to those in need in their region. [Read more…]

AAEO GIFTS SET RECORD

November 9, 2017

Baptist and Reflector

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Kevin Ezell announced Oct. 19 to the North American Mission Board staff that the 2017 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering totaled an all-time high: $59,648,377. The offering for North American missions beat the previous 2007 high by $185,096.

“We are grateful for every dime we get from Southern Baptists,” said Ezell, NAMB president. “We are thankful for churches, pastors, and denominational leaders who encourage their people to give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.” [Read more…]

MONTREAL — A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE?

October 12, 2017

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector

Larry Robertson, pastor of Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville and a former Tennessee Baptist Convention president, has been a good friend since he served on the staff of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board (then Executive Board) as director of evangelism more than 15 years ago.

He is an excellent pastor and is well respected across the state and the Southern Baptist Convention and he is a frequent columnist for the paper. See his must read column below.

He currently serves as a trustee of the North American Mission Board. Our paths crossed last week in, of all places, Montreal, Canada. Larry was in Montreal for a meeting of NAMB trustees while David Dawson, TBMB communications specialist, and I were there for a NAMB briefing for Baptist state paper editors and staff. The briefing included reports from NAMB leaders and concluded with a tour and celebration of Baptist work in Canada. [Read more…]

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