CHARLESTON, S.C. (BP) – International Mission Board trustees approved the appointment of 39 new full-time, fully funded missionaries and unanimously elected the next vice president of global engagement during their Feb. 4-5 meeting in Charleston. Trustees met in conjunction with a Sending Celebration for new appointees hosted by First Baptist Church, Charleston.
Keith Evans, trustee chair from Washington and the Northwest Baptist Convention, presided over the meetings. Carol Pfeiffer, second vice chair from Texas, called the meeting to order and opened it in prayer.
Bryant Wright was recognized for his time as president of Send Relief, Southern Baptists’ global compassion ministry. Wright recently announced his retirement after five years as president. IMB President Paul Chitwood personally thanked Wright.
“We are incredibly grateful for the many ways God has used Bryant and the Send Relief team to get this partnership and ministry off to a strong, mission-focused beginning,” Chitwood said.
Wright spoke briefly to trustees, thanking them for their support of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board working together to address human needs and disaster relief.
“It is my hope for Send Relief,” he said, “that the foundation has been established that it will always be known as a Gospel ministry of compassion.”
Thursday’s (Feb. 6) plenary session included reports from standing committees: administration; global engagement; human resources; logistics, finance, travel and technology; marketing and communications; mobilization; and training.
New leadership
Trustees elected Jacob Boss as IMB vice president of Global Engagement, effective Summer 2025. Boss has more than 15 years in cross-cultural ministry, leadership development and global theological training. He and his wife Elisabeth previously served as IMB missionaries in the role of affinity group leaders, overseeing the work of IMB missionaries working to reach European Peoples. As a city leader in missions work, Boss has developed strategic partnerships and empowered local leaders to engage their communities.
Prior to his work at IMB, he served as vice president of global training at Meridian, where he led work in Gospel advance through international church-leader training and the production of theological resources. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., and a master’s degree from Luther Rice University in Lithonia, Ga. The Bosses have four children.
President’s remarks
Chitwood presented trustees with the 2024 Annual Statistical Report, its earliest release ever. The report included the work of God through IMB missionaries that resulted in:
- 1.6 million people having the opportunity to hear the Gospel last year;
- Half of those who heard the Gospel engaged with the message and messenger enough to be challenged to respond;
- 155,000 professed faith in Jesus; and
- 68,000 were baptized as believers.
Individuals and churches can access the report at IMB.org/ASR or by emailing [email protected].
Chitwood also told trustees that the missionary applicant pipeline has grown to more than 1,500 applicants, hitting an 18-year high this week. Growth of the applicant pipeline positions the IMB to increase the total number of missionaries serving on the field.
Chitwood turned his attention to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, which will be observed in May. Listing how he has personally been supported by CP, he urged trustees to recognize the importance of the future of the Southern Baptist cooperative giving plan.
“The 100th anniversary must be more than a time to celebrate how God has used the Cooperative Program,” he said. “It is also time to cast a vision for how God would have us, as Southern Baptists, cooperate to reach a lost world over the next 100 years. We must be honest with ourselves and with Southern Baptists about the crisis we are facing as a convention and in cooperative giving.”
Chitwood shared that since he became IMB president, the entity has lost 20 percent in CP revenue. That loss is not in actual dollars but in the actual value of the dollars.
“To be clear,” he added, “while CP giving has slowly declined, inflation has dramatically increased and thus cut deeply into the vital resources necessary to fund our missionaries. When basic inflation is applied to year-over-year giving over the past 30 years, the IMB has lost one-third of its CP funding since 1995.
“The time has come for us not only to recommit ourselves to sacrificial giving through the CP but also for us to ask, ‘What does this generation of Southern Baptists expect from their CP dollars, and how can we best use those dollars to reach a lost world?’”
Referencing the 2024 audit report presented to trustees, Chitwood emphasized the IMB received an unmodified opinion by the auditors, which is the highest level of assurance available. He pointed out:
- No property sales were used for operations;
- Reserves were funded at appropriate levels, including commitments to retiring missionaries being fully funded; and
- As always, 100 percent of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering enables Gospel transformation among the unreached.
“We’re thankful for the generosity of Southern Baptists and their faithful giving through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions,” Chitwood said.
“Simply put, the IMB would not exist without them. We are also thankful for the IMB finance team, both abroad and in Richmond. We are blessed to work with many men and women of integrity who love the Lord and desire to see the Gospel go forth to a lost world.”
Evans closed the meeting with his remarks.
“We are a sending organization,” he told trustees. “But I want to remind us that we are a sending people. We are individuals who are sent.”
Referencing God’s call of Abram in Genesis 12, he said, “Our God has always been a sending God.” He emphasized the need for each believer to “leave, go and bless.”
Trudy Crittendon, recording secretary from South Carolina, closed the meeting with prayer.
The next IMB trustee meeting will be May 21-22 in Virginia.
Related posts:
2023 Week of Prayer and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering resources available now 
Fusion program spurs young Christians to make disciples 
32 conversions catalyze new work in ‘Nazareth of Europe’ 
Support of IMB gives home team advantage, Chitwood says 
4 entity heads address messenger questions 
New IMB missionaries part of history as they prepare for long-term service 
New IMB missionaries celebrated during SBC annual meeting 
20 years after tsunami, God still at work
