Julie McGowan

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- The International Mission Board began the search for a successor to David Platt to lead the SBC entity during their Feb. 28-March 1 meeting in the Richmond, Va., area. Platt, the mission board's president, reiterated his desire that the 173-year-old Southern Baptist entity stay on course for taking the Gospel to the world's darkest, hardest-to-reach places. To that end, IMB trustees approved the appointment of 20 new fulltime, fully funded missionaries. Trustee chairman Rick Dunbar named a 16-person committee to find Platt's replacement.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Omar Loza accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior in his home country of Peru, and then he shared the Gospel with his friends and family. A few years after reading that God wants believers to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, he visited an Andean town. "I saw Aymara people worshipping God in their own language and culture," he said. "God put in my heart a desire to see many different people groups worshiping Him." Omar's wife Tia said she also has known she wanted to make Christ known to others since she surrendered her own life to the Lord's leadership. The Lozas of La Respuesta-Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., plan to serve God in the Americas. They are among 20 new full-time, fully funded missionaries appointed by International Mission Board trustees Feb. 28 and recognized during a Sending Celebration near Richmond, Va.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Southern Baptists' support of international missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is 4.1 percent ahead of the same time frame as last year, according to a report by Rodney Freeman, IMB treasurer and vice president of support services. At the end of December 2017, IMB had received $15,221,629 for the 2017-2018 campaign, which began Oct. 1 and continues through Sept. 30. The total is $600,027, or 4.1 percent, ahead of last year's October-December pace.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- Missionary Greg Wood, who spent 11 years sharing the Gospel in an indigenous village with his family in Mexico, died Tuesday, Dec. 5, from aggressive brain cancer. He was 48. "Greg was unwavering in His love for the Lord, his family and for the unreached people of northern Mexico," said colleague Charles Clark, IMB's affinity group leader for the American peoples. "In the midst of serving with his wife Missy and family in some of the most dangerous areas of Mexico, his passion and joy in sharing Jesus never wavered," Clark said. "His passion for the unreached was contagious as he walked alongside and mentored national believers to continue the missionary task.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- As a preschooler in Mission Friends, new Southern Baptist missionary Amy Jones learned about God's desire to gather people from every nation, tribe, people group and language by His grace and for His is glory. "It became real when my mother returned from England with stories and a tea set," Jones recalled during a Sending Celebration Nov. 16 that marked the appointment of 32 new International Mission Board personnel at the IMB's office in Richmond, Va. "Europeans are fascinating peoples, but too few follow Christ. So I began to pray for them."

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) -- International Mission Board trustees gathered at Ridgecrest Conference Center Sept. 11-13 to celebrate more than 25,000 years of service by emeritus missionaries while approving the appointment of 51 new personnel to take the Gospel to unreached people and places. The fall meeting near Asheville, N.C., also included orientation for 11 new trustees; approval of a balanced budget for 2017-18; and concerted prayer for specific needs representing every region of the world.

PHOENIX (BP) -- How many missionaries could be sent from just a fraction of all Southern Baptist churches today? At the International Mission Board dinner June 12 in Phoenix, IMB President David Platt and the crowd of approximately 1,350 Southern Baptists estimated that their congregations, right now, have a combined potential of 28,551 missionaries. Those in attendance compiled the number of students, singles, husbands, wives, moms, dads, kids and grandparents in their churches who might take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the billions of people who have yet to hear it.

The International Mission Board is in a stable financial position, "setting the stage" to send more missionaries to share the Gospel, IMB President David Platt reports to the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix. He also relayed firsthand reports from missionaries around the world.

Messengers rejoiced with a "Sending Celebration" of 31 new missionaries during the SBC annual meeting June 14 in Phoenix. The newly appointed IMB personnel, sent by Southern Baptist churches, will take the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.

PHOENIX (BP) -- Through Southern Baptists' "faithful, generous and consistent giving" of more than $98 million to the Cooperative Program and approximately $153 million to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the International Mission Board has reached financially stability, IMB President David Platt told the entity's trustees June 12. "That's breathtaking: over $250 million given from Southern Baptist churches for the spread of the Gospel among the nations," Platt said. "And as a result of that giving, I am glad to report to trustees and the broader SBC that IMB is standing on firm financial ground."