IMB Connect

Now you can access IMB’s best practices, projects, training and field information all in one place. Preparing the churches of your association for short-term missions has never been easier. We have developed training and project templates that will help churches have an effective and streamlined experience on their short-term overseas mission. It is all available to Southern Baptist churches and your association. Please go to imbconnect.net to sign up.

Churches Becoming "Missionary Encouragers"

A great way to support missions efforts in your Samaria is to adopt-a-missionary through the North American Mission Board's Missionary Encourager initiative. Individuals, Sunday School classes and even an entire church can be a Missionary Encourager!

Here's an excerpt from a recent Baptist Press article about Missionary Encourager:

"The best thing about having them adopt me was all of their prayers and e-mails," said missionary Jamie Daughtry said. "I was struggling with some things that fall and really going through a hard time. Their e-mails, letters and gifts encouraged me in a way I've never been encouraged before. God proved Himself faithful through those precious people."

Read the entire Baptist Press article here. For more information or to sign up to become a Missionary Encourager visit www.namb.net/encourager.

Dr. Rick Lance: NA Missions Important

(Click on image for video link)

The Alabama Baptist sat down recently with Dr. Rick Lance of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions to ask him about his views on the importance of North American missions and the North American Mission Board. This video offers a taste of that interview. To view the full interview, go to www.ricklance.com/missions.

NAMB Focuses on Panta Ta Ethne

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is focusing on people groups through its new North American People Spectrum emphasis.

“The New Testament gives examples of one-on-one sharing, but in the majority of New Testament evangelism stories, groups, households, even towns came to Christ,” says Mark Snowden, a coordinator of Strategic Planning and People Groups for NAMB’s Church Planting Group.

To lay this out as a way for churches to reach their communities, the North American Mission Board has developed the North American Peoples Spectrum along with other practical resources. The Spectrum is a visual tool illustrating the ways in which people group themselves according to kinship, geography, and interests. To apply this understanding toward evangelism in a community, additional tools such as surveys, people team training, and online databases will assist churches in locating the different peoples in their communities to help members network for evangelism.

“Sharing a full gospel message requires understanding who the people are, and how they might process and understand what you’re saying,” says Snowden. “With a love and concern for the lost we can strip our cultural baggage that may confuse the gospel message and enter their world just as Jesus entered our world to give us life.”

Read the entire article at On Mission magazine's website.

Church Personalizes Missions with Great Commission Connection

Hayes Wicker, pastor of First Baptist Church, Naples, Fla., hopes change the way his church thinks about missions and missionaries by launching the “Great Commission Connection.”

The goal of GCC is to personalize missions and link missionaries and church members, while at the same time boosting support for Southern Baptists’ missions funding mechanism, according to Wicker.

Read the entire story from the Florida Baptist Witness.

NC Church Works the "Acts 1:8 Way"

Dudley Shoals Baptist Church in Granite Falls, N.C. goes with the "tried and true" when it comes to doing church.

Going with what works also is why Dudley Shoals Baptist Church gives 25 percent of its undesignated receipts to missions through the Cooperative Program, says pastor Ronald Winkler. "It still works."

"The Cooperative Program is the lifeblood of our church," Winkler said of the way state conventions in the Southern Baptist Convention work together the Acts 1:8 way -- supporting local, regional, national and international missions and ministries.

Read the entire story about Dudley Shoals Baptist Church on Baptist Press and visit its website www.dudleyshoalsbaptistchurch.org.

Podcast 58: A Church On Mission-Antioch

In this month's Acts 1:8 Challenge Podcast, Danny Sinquefield, pastor of Faith Baptist Church, Bartlett, Tenn., shares a message about the importance of the local church and its role in fulfilling the Great Commission.

A18C Podcast 58 - "A Church On Mission - Antioch," was recorded at the recent Acts 1:8 Summit held in Carson Springs, Tenn.

Download the Acts 1:8 Challenge Podcast today at www.ActsOne8.com/podcastfeed or search for the Acts 1:8 Challenge on iTunes. Direct link: http://tinyurl.com/ax44ak