Winning the world for Christ means “we must double our efforts, our focuses and our finances,” North American Mission Board (NAMB) chairman Tim Patterson told Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) messengers in Louisville, Ky.
Patterson, speaking during the NAMB report in the final session of the annual meeting, added, “The North American Mission Board must be at the cutting edge of this cause.
“Even though there are many who have been born and reared on North American soil … many do not speak the cultural language that you and I speak,” he said. “All we need to do is step out our own front doors, and we will find ourselves in the greatest and most needy missions field in the world.”
NAMB President Geoff Hammond agreed. “This world is changing. Change has come to America,” he said. “I still believe that the gospel is the most powerful change agent. … Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and we believe that is the greatest change message we can bring to the United States, Canada and the territories.”
Hammond challenged Southern Baptists to embrace NAMB’s new God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) emphasis — “every believer sharing so that every person can hear by the year 2020.”
GPS was introduced during the 2008 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis. Since then, all 42 state conventions, the Canadian Baptist convention and numerous churches and associations have signed up “for this challenge,” Hammond noted. “(They are participating) in the greatest partnership ever seen.”
During the four pilot projects for GPS earlier this year, 8,000 volunteers from 265 churches spent the three weeks leading up to Easter prayer walking communities, inviting neighbors to church and sharing the gospel. More than 600 people made decisions for Christ.
The pilot projects took place in associations in Stone Mountain, Ga.; Riverside, Calif.; Lubbock, Texas; and Philadelphia. About 270,000 homes were touched with the gospel, Hammond said.
“That’s incredible. That’s almost a million people that would be in those 270,000 homes,” he noted. “Just imagine if we were able to join hands all across America in 2010 and we were to do this and just have half of the associations participate. We would be able to touch 32 million homes in the U.S. and Canada. That’s one-third of all the population of North America.”
Hammond said that is something only Southern Baptists can do but they have to “link arms and sow the gospel down together.”
“What a wonderful partnership where we can take these well-thought-out resources and we can put them in the hands of churches and they put them in the hands of those who need to know Jesus,” he said.
Leading a chant echoed by those in the convention hall — church planting, church planting, church planting — Hammond commended Southern Baptists for being the “greatest contributors to church planting,” with one church every six hours. That’s four churches a day, he said.
“There are 50,000 churches in the Southern Baptist Convention,” Hammond added. “Just imagine if all of them were about planting churches. We would see one planted every single hour.”
He noted that almost half of recent church plants are among ethnic and black populations, which is helping reach North America for Christ. “We are planting churches among all people groups in North America, but we must reach the major cities in North America,” Hammond said, noting two-thirds of the population in the United States lives in the largest 100 cities.
Pointing out the fact that more than a quarter of a million volunteers have been involved in North American missions in the last year, Hammond said, “None of this could be done without the generous giving of Southern Baptists.
“The Cooperative Program is still the most efficient and effective way to give to missions,” he said. “We (NAMB) are your strategic missions partner, helping you make the greatest impact for the Great Commission.”
Hammond added that Southern Baptists have remained faithful in giving despite the current recession. The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions in 2008 was more than $58 million, only 2.3 percent below the largest offering in history, he said.
Following NAMB officials’ report to messengers was a presentation of the work taking place across North America through NAMB ministries.
Mingled throughout the presentation were video messages, a live performance by Christian recording artist Mandisa and personal appearances by various NAMB missionaries and people impacted by NAMB ministries.
While each missionary/ministry story presented stirred emotions, it was Danny and Danielle McDermott’s that brought tears to many eyes in the convention hall.
Danny McDermott was a self-proclaimed atheist when NAMB missionary Ben Barfield began reaching out to him. He told Barfield, “If your God is real, then show me a miracle.”
A few months later, he experienced that miracle when Danielle McDermott gave birth to their daughter, Bobbi, who was not supposed to live through the pregnancy. Soon after, Barfield led Danny McDermott to Christ.
“Everything that comes with Danny becoming a Christian is wonderful,” said Danielle McDermott, who was already a Christian and involved in church. “The church has carried us through everything.”
Danny McDermott added, “God has … touched me in so many ways. The strength and courage He gives to me is overwhelming.”
As the video presentation of the McDermotts’ story ended, Hammond announced that 18-month-old Bobbi died just after the video interview with the couple was finished. He then brought the McDermotts to the stage.
“They came tonight for you to know real people are getting saved and Jesus Christ is making a difference,” Hammond said. “Think about the Danny McDermotts in your neighborhood that your church can reach. All it takes is a faithful witness.”
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