JEFFERSON CITY – Jayme Milam and his Fellowship Baptist Church FAITH Riders used an MBC Prayer & Evangelism Grant to host a gospel outreach event in Sikeston, resulting in 32 professions of faith.
The Missouri Baptist Children’s Home helped a young woman and her son bridge the gap from homelessness to hope through its Stronger Family Services.
And despite suffering the effects of a brain tumor, Larry Lierman volunteered with Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief to help repair a woman’s house destroyed by flooding.
All of this – and much more – is possible because Missouri Baptists give faithfully to the Rheubin L. South Missouri Missions Offering (MMO). The annual state missions offering supports more than two dozen ministries, including Christian foster care, disaster relief, church renewal, and other projects that help churches transform lives and communities with the gospel.
Later this month, the Missouri Baptist Convention is mailing packets of promotional materials to church leaders across the state to help them prepare for the 2026 state missions offering. The packets should arrive early in July, giving church leaders ample time to prepare for MMO’s fall promotion and week of prayer, slated for Sept. 13-20.
The theme of this year’s offering is drawn from Philippians 1:5, where Paul thanks God for every memory of his Philippian brothers and sisters because of their “partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” He further expresses his confidence that the Lord, who started a good work in the Philippian church, will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Reflecting on this passage, MBC Executive Director Wes Fowler noted, “Like Christians in Philippi, Missouri Baptists have the privilege of being partners in the gospel with one another by contributing to God’s work across our state.”
Last year, 671 Missouri Baptist churches supported MMO, giving $952,530, the third-highest level of giving since the offering was introduced in 1985 and far outpacing the goal of $800,000.
Supporting missions projects
MMO is our state’s annual missions offering, named after Rheubin L. South, the late MBC executive director who pioneered the annual giving emphasis that today supports projects in seven areas of ministry:
- Prayer & evangelism – evangelism and outreach grants; a student evangelism conference; VBS regional training events; discipleship training; Super Summer interns; student minister and children’s minister networks; a students’ preaching lab; and the state fair ministry of the Missouri DOM Fellowship.
- Collegiate ministries – a summer missions mentoring initiative involving more than 50 students.
- Missions mobilization – Cross Center Academy in St. Louis; School to the Nations; international training for pastors; and strategic missions.
- Disaster relief – DR readiness; collegiate DR internships; an emergency food fund; a hunger relief network; and Baptist Builders.
- Church renewal – Resound Network training and development; the Leader Care Network; Discover MBC, a conference for new pastors; Women in Ministry; and associational leader development.
- Entity relations (MBC-affiliated institutions and organizations) – the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home; Baptist Homes & Healthcare Ministries; the Missouri Baptist Foundation; Hannibal-LaGrange University; Missouri Baptist University; and Southwest Baptist University.
- Auxiliary organizations – Missouri WMU; Sports Crusaders; Redemption Ranch Youth Camp; the Missouri DOM Fellowship; the Christian Life Commission; the Historical Commission; and a Pathway journalism retreat.
In addition, 10 percent of MMO gifts goes back to the associations of contributing churches, where the funds support regional mission projects.
Funds raised above the MMO goal are placed in reserve for future mission opportunities. At the same time, 10 percent of gifts above the goal is given to Missouri WMU, which promotes state, national, and international missions in MBC-affiliated churches.
Promotional packets
The promotional packets feature a get-started guide, posters, prayer guide, allocations budget, associational report, clip art, sample giving envelope, and an order card.
Most of these resources are available as free downloads at mobaptist.org/mmo. The move toward electronic resources enables the MBC to significantly reduce postage fees and invest more in MMO mission projects.
There are four simple ways to order MMO materials:
- Complete the order card in the promotional mailer and send it back. All materials are free of charge.
- Click on mobaptist.org/mmo to download materials or to place an order electronically.
- Call 1.800.736.6227, ext. 303, to tell us which resources to send.
- Send an email to cdowell@mobaptist.org.
