[1]Georgia Baptists look to reach ‘Everyone, Everywhere’
By Henry Durand/Christian Index
ATLANTA – Nearly 890 messengers convened at First Baptist Atlanta Nov. 9-11 for three days of celebration and encouragement, as the Georgia Baptist Convention held its 203rd annual meeting. This year’s theme was “Everyone, Everywhere,” drawing attention to the problem of lostness in the state, where an estimated 7 million do not know Jesus.
At an inspirational service on Sunday evening, more than 20 church planters were commissioned and prayed over. Ryan McCammack, director of Send Network Georgia, the partnership between Georgia Baptists and the North American Mission Board, said the partnership is already bearing fruit. Right now, he said, Georgia has about 80 church plants five years old or younger. On a typical Sunday, about 6,000 people worship in those congregations, and this year those churches have baptized some 500 people.
The convention recognized a pair of centennials, as the Cooperative Program and Baptist Collegiate Ministries on Georgia college campuses reached 100 years. A panel of pastors [2] celebrated the Cooperative Program’s success and urged churches to keep their commitment to missions through the Southern Baptist shared funding channel. Later that evening, current and former BCM staff and alumni gathered [3] to remember how God has used the ministry to reach generations of college students.
This year, for the first time, an evangelism conference was held in conjunction with the annual meeting. Bartholomew Orr, Jason Britt, and Anthony George told attendees that evangelism starts by having a heart for the lost and a heart for Jesus [4].
On Tuesday morning, Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director Thomas Hammond was joined on stage by GBC Executive Committee Chairman Stephen Fountain, Financial Services Committee Chairman Greg Benfield, Administration Committee Chairman Chris Humphries, and GBC President Steve Browning. The convention showed its commitment to international missions by presenting International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood with a check for $500,000. Those funds, Hammond said, are intended to be used to strengthen the IMB pipeline, which moves missionary candidates through the process from application to deployment to the field. Chitwood shared that there are 1,600 candidates in the pipeline, a number not seen in nearly 20 years.
In his executive director’s report [5], Hammond rallied pastors around the long-term, statewide evangelism initiative that he introduced last year. He displayed a chart showing baptism numbers from 2000 to 2024. Though the convention recorded 35,000-plus baptisms at the start of the century, it saw a significant decline, accelerated by the COVID pandemic, before bottoming out in 2020. Since then, baptisms have rebounded, and Georgia Baptist churches reported 25,651 baptisms in 2024, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. “We so desperately need it to continue,” he said, noting that “we’re still not keeping up with population growth.”
[6]Hammond also shared with messengers results from a GBMB-commissioned study [7] by Lifeway Research on Gospel invitations.
Ty Salter, chief financial officer of the GBMB, presented the 2026 budget, which was approved without dissent. The budget calls for just under $62 million to be distributed. Cooperative Program giving is projected to be $33.5 million, 2 percent less than in 2025. Georgia Baptists are anticipated to give $16.8 million to the International Mission Board and nearly $9.4 million to the North American Mission Board in 2026. The amount forwarded to national and international SBC missions and ministry remains 40 percent.
Georgia Baptists reelected Steve Browning [8], lead pastor of First Baptist Church Alpharetta, as president. Trea Brinson, lead pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, was elected first vice president, and James Oney, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Fayetteville, will serve as second vice president.
Georgia Baptists passed resolutions [9] opposing any expansion of gambling in the state, as well as urging greater restrictions on marijuana and hemp-derived products. They also expressed their appreciation to Gov. Brian Kemp and the state legislature for enacting the Religious Freedom Act in 2025.
Next year’s annual meeting will be held at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins on Nov. 9-10 with an evangelism conference on the 9th.
All the sessions [10] of the 2025 annual meeting can be accessed on the ACTS2 website.
SBCV members ‘Advancing the Gospel Together’
By Timothy Cockes
ROANOKE, Va. (BP) – The SBC of Virginia (SBCV) celebrated “Advancing the Gospel Together” during its Annual Homecoming at First Baptist Church of Roanoke Nov. 9-11 with more than 1,300 messengers and guests in attendance.
Forty-one churches requesting partnership with the SBCV were approved by messengers, bringing the total number of SBCV affiliated churches to 905.
In their sermons, Virginia pastors James Taylor and Jim Booth, who also serve as convention officers, called churches to boldly and fearlessly advance the Gospel together. Brian Autry, executive director of the SBCV, shared from 2 Corinthians 9 about cooperative partnership.
“It is not just about giving, it is about fulfilling our calling as people who are deeply convictional,” Autry said. “It comes from our confession of the Gospel of Christ.”
“We’ve heard from so many across our state who have been blessed by your generosity and on behalf of so many, hear me clearly, thank you.”
Autry then encouraged churches to continue the generosity they have shown. “Don’t stop reaching our neighbors and the nations,” he said Autry then asked messengers what might be possible if churches gave $1 million more towards advancing the Gospel. “So, thank you for giving, don’t stop, and I challenge you to ask, ‘what if,’” Autry said.
The convention celebrated another year of healthy giving and significant financial milestones.
SBCV churches gave $10.3 million through the SBCV’s Cooperative Partnership, $1.3 million toward the Annie Armstrong Easter offering and $4.2 million toward the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.
All-time giving through the SBCV’s Cooperative Partnership/Program has now surpassed more than $226 million since the convention’s inception in 1996.
Upon recommendation from the executive board, messengers approved the proposed Ministry Investment Plan (MIP) of $10,800,000 for the upcoming 2026 fiscal year.
Of that total, $10.3 million will be Cooperative Program contributions from SBC of Virginia churches. The adopted plan calls for 51 percent to be allocated to national and international Southern Baptist Convention causes and 49 percent to remain in state for SBCV ministries.
Ministry reports during the Homecoming included highlights about international missions, church planting, Hispanic ministry, disaster relief, evangelism, church revitalization, children’s ministry, women ministry, men’s ministry and collegiate ministry.
Ministry updates and milestones included:
- The first evening was dedicated to the missions partnership with the International Mission Board which highlighted that one former unreached, unengaged people group (UUPG) in Africa is now off that list and a new people group was adopted.
- The Send Relief Serve Tour in Virginia Beach had more than 800 volunteers fulfilling 40 different projects. More than 1,200 Gospel conversations and 28 salvations took place during the event.
- 776 salvations reported through church plants.
- SBCV ethnic church plants include 141 churches worshipping primarily in a language other than English.
- The SBCV Hispanic Conferencia Renovados had its highest ever attendance.
- 100 SBCV churches have joined the church revitalization cohort since its inception in 2016.
- Churches involved with the BLESS evangelism strategy have reported 3 million prayers for their neighbors.
- The SBCV Next Gen ministry saw more than 2,000 students attend events in 2025.
- Recognizing pastors Mike Palmer, Don Matthews and Ken Nienke for their ministry service and influence in the early years of the SBCV. Palmer was one of the first pastors to lead his church to give through the SBCV Cooperative Partnership. Nienke led the SBCV’s church planting ministry and planted a church in Salem. Matthews helped the SBCV develop the decentralized regional ministry strategy and become one of first missionary strategists.
Messengers approved new and returning members of the SBCV executive board via recommendation from the nominating committee.
Messengers also unanimously approved SBCV officers for the upcoming year. Two officer positions went to new candidates, and two of the 2025 officers were approved for a second term.
Doug Echols, senior pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown, was named president. James Taylor, senior pastor of Red Lane Baptist Church in Powhatan, was approved by messengers for a second term as first vice president. Dan Ellis, senior pastor of Rileyville Baptist Church, was named second vice president. Daniel Palmer, lead pastor of North Roanoke Baptist Church, was approved by messengers for a second term as secretary.
Joyful times of worship throughout the event were led by praise teams and choirs from First Baptist Church Roanoke, Hillcrest Baptist Church, Northstar Church and First Baptist Church Park Street in Charlottesville. There was also the introduction of a new statewide worship leaders’ network.
Keynote speakers at the Homecoming included Jeff Ginn, senior ambassador for U.S. and Global Relations for the International Mission Board (IMB); JJ Washington, national director of personal evangelism for the North American Mission Board (NAMB); Daniel Henderson, founder of Strategic Renewal (an organization designed to serve and strengthen the local church) and Daniel Ritchie, evangelist and author.
The 2026 SBCV Annual Homecoming will take place on Nov. 8-10 at The Heights Baptist in Chesterfield.
Keynote speakers will be Bryant Wright, former SBC president and founder of Right from the Heart Ministries; Steven Wade, professor of pastoral theology at Southeastern Seminary; H.B. Charles, pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., and Quintell Hill, Black/Multi-Ethnic Network strategist for the IMB.
The 2026 Homecoming will mark the 30th anniversary of the SBCV.
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