TALLADEGA, Ala. — Southern Baptists gave $56.5 million in 2009 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. The amount was 2.7 percent (or $1.5 million) off the previous year’s giving mark and $8.5 million below the stated goal of $65 million.
Richard Harris, interim president of the North American Mission Board, shared the total in an address to the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) board of trustees at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega.
The $56.5 million received in 2009 is the fourth-largest total in the offering’s history.
In a year filled with 10 percent unemployment, a bleak housing market and other distressing economic news, Harris said the amount given to “Annie” was a blessing.
“Only God could do that,” Harris told the WMU leaders Jan. 10, “and only through the faithfulness of people like WMU ladies out there lifting up the opportunities and needs.”
Harris expressed his appreciation for WMU’s year-round efforts to promote missions and missions giving.
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