North American missions boosted by record offering

By Carmon Keith

Baptist Press

Kids Club, the favorite ministry of Reno-based missionary Melanie Lawler, second from left, is geared to children who live in Nevada's ever-growing apartment communities. Lawler is one of more than 5,200 North American Mission Board missionaries aided by Southern Baptists' gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.

By Russell Shively

BP

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Southern Baptists' gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions exceeded the national goal for the second consecutive year, with $59.3 million received, the most ever in the history of the offering.

Geoff Hammond, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), shared the news with national and state leaders Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) leaders at their mid-January board meeting at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Ala.

Hammond noted that WMU is a valued partner in the work of reaching North America. "We cannot do our work without partners. We can't send missionaries without our partners," he said. "We have gratitude to God for your hard work in getting the word out and teaching people about North American missions."

In reaching the $59.3 million record, Southern Baptists exceeded the offering's 2007 goal of $57 million by $2.3 million.

"We are so grateful to all those in our churches who support North American missionaries through prayer and giving," said Wanda S. Lee, WMU's national executive director-treasurer. "We also greatly appreciate the strong and thriving partnership we share with the leadership and field personnel of the North American Mission Board for the cause of missions."

Hammond noted that one of the things he has learned in his eight months as NAMB's president is that "Southern Baptists still love their mission boards because Southern Baptists still love missionaries."

"The North American mission field is becoming increasingly difficult but wonderfully challenging," Hammond said. "God is bringing the nations to be our neighbors. Increasing population, ethnic diversity and secularism characterize the future of North America. Engaging people with the gospel is critical. Our missionaries do what they do so that men, women, boys and girls can know Christ."

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering accounts for 47 percent of NAMB's annual budget, with 37 percent provided by church gifts through the Southern Baptist Convention's Cooperative Program to jointly support more than 5,000 missionaries and their ministries with state Baptist convention partners.

The 2008 offering goal is $61 million, and the theme for the North American Missions Emphasis is "Live with Urgency." The offering will be promoted in Southern Baptist churches in March, beginning with the Week of Prayer for North American Missions, March 2-9.

The national mission offering was established in 1895 by WMU to support SBC missionaries in the United States. In 1934, the offering was named in honor of Annie Armstrong, WMU's founder and tireless champion of missions.

For more information about the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Week of Prayer for North American Missions, visit www.anniesrmstrong.com. Week of Prayer missionaries will be highlighted in the March issue of Missions Mosaic, a publication of WMU, and in the spring issue of On Mission, a publication of NAMB.

(EDITOR'S NOTE - Carmon Keith is promotions coordinator for NAMB.)