ERIN ROACH/Baptist Press BALTIMORE (BP) – Southern Baptists are advancing, not retreating, as they rally to give more through the Cooperative Program to fuel the Great Commission task, Executive Committee President Frank Page told messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Baltimore June 10. “We thank God that two years ago the Cooperative Program stopped its declination at 5.41 percent and last year rose for the first time in two decades to 5.50 percent,” Page … [Read more...]

Erich Bridges/International Mission Board RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – Southern Baptists gave an unprecedented $154 million to the 2013 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, breaking the record for the largest total in the offering’s 125-year history. The 2013 offering, finalized June 5, reached $154,057,852.36. The total represents an increase of nearly $4.8 million over 2012, or 3.2 percent. It tops the previous record, $150.4 million in 2007, by more than $3.6 million, and … [Read more...]

Don Graham/IMB senior writer BALTIMORE, Md. – In his report to the convention, International Mission Board (IMB) Tom Elliff unveiled IMB’s theme for 2014, “One Sacred Effort,” encouraging every Southern Baptist to “find your place in God’s story.” For more information on IMB’s theme and how to get involved go to one.imbresources.org. Elliff’s report detailed the activities of Southern Baptist missionaries in 2013. But rather than highlight the total numbers of new believers and baptisms … [Read more...]

Shannon Baker/Baptist Press BALTIMORE, Md. (BP) – The International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board commissioned approximately 100 during a rare joint commissioning service sponsored by the Woman’s Missionary Union, June 8, at the Baltimore Convention Center. In an emotional service marked by prayer and praise, many were commissioned to serve as church planters, evangelism catalysts, collegiate ministers, refugee workers, chaplains and ministers to people groups in … [Read more...]