International Mission Board

Yacouba couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. He heard there had been an attack on his brother-in-law’s village by a terrorist group. They hadn’t been able to get in touch with him, so he and his wife went to the village to search for her brother.

It took weeks of research, both online and in person, to come up with a guess on where the Sys people lived in South Asia. Even then, the information contradicted itself. One finding listed 300 people among the group while another had 230,000. There was not even a digital footprint for International Mission Board missionary John Pratt to follow in his search for this unengaged, unreached people group.

RICHMOND, Va., (BP) -- Sending people to the nations is what we do as Southern Baptists. We go to those who have yet to hear the Gospel. This year has been filled with stories of how, together, we address lostness as the world’s greatest problem.

Colson Brooks learned the importance of taking just one step during the two years he spent as a Missionary Explorer for the International Mission Board.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (BP) — Alex Lyons was touring the International Mission Board’s training center in late April, lagging behind the group, when he spied the life-sized, black-and-white Lottie Moon cutout familiar to many churches. And as Lyons is prone to do, he had an idea and acted on it.

MOORE, Okla. – The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is an important part of the Christmas season for Southern Baptists all over the world. It not only allows them the opportunity to honor Moon’s legacy of mission work and give to international missions, but it also gives them opportunity to inspire the next generation of missionaries.

Southern Baptists first arrived in Nigeria when it existed as independent kingdoms. Now, 175 years later, Southern Baptists continue to serve in the West African country home to diverse ethnic groups.  

I still remember placing my gift on my church’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering tree as a child. At the time, I didn’t understand the scope of global missions or the cooperative effort behind it.

My journey to international missions began in the most ordinary of places – a middle school Bible study at Hoffmantown Baptist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” I have read that verse of Philippians 1:6 countless times over the years. I’ve preached on it in Louisiana, prayed it over people in joy and sorrow, and leaned on its truth in difficult seasons of ministry. But never have I felt its power more tangibly than I did standing in the war-scarred cities of Ukraine.