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The North American Mission Board (NAMB) is the domestic missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It is involved in Southern Baptist church planting and revitalization, coordinating one of the United States's largest disaster relief agencies through the cooperation of state Baptist relief agencies, creating evangelism resources and other programs such as chaplaincy support and pastoral training. NAMB is currently headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.
The President of NAMB is Kevin Ezell. Vance Pitman oversees church planting as president of Send Network, and Bryant Wright oversees disaster relief as President of Send Relief.
The organization was founded in 1874 as the Home Mission Board. [1]
In 1997, the Home Mission Board merged with the Brotherhood Commission and Radio and Television Commission to form the North American Mission Board. [2]
The SBC ceased supporting the cable American Christian Television System in 2003. NAMB ceased radio production in 2005. In 2007, NAMB sold FamilyNet to In Touch Ministries. [3]
In 2021, it reported an operating budget of 99,000,000. [4] It is funded through a combination of the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Offering.
The first NAMB president in 1997 was Robert Reccord. [5] Citing “honest philosophical and methodological differences,” Bob Reccord resigned as NAMB president in April 2006. [6] [7]
The following president of NAMB was Geoff Hammond, who was elected by a unanimous vote in March 2007. Hammond resigned in August 2009 after an all-day closed session meeting with over 50 trustees. [8]
In September 2010, Kevin Ezell was elected president. Ezell was formerly pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. [9]
Vance Pitman joined NAMB as a national mobilizer in September 2015. [10] He was then chosen as the new president of Send Network in December 2021, [11] replacing Dhati Lewis who led Send Network for three years. [12] Send Network debuted a new leadership team, new values, and a Spanish website in the fall of 2022. [13]
Bryant Wright was selected as president of Send Relief by NAMB and IMB in March 2020. [14]
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization, the largest Protestant, and the second-largest Christian body in the United States. The SBC is a cooperation of fully autonomous, independent churches with commonly held essential beliefs that pool some resources for missions.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT), more commonly known as the Texas Baptists, is a Baptist Christian denomination in the U.S. state of Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist World Alliance. Texas Baptist offices are located in the city of Dallas, though convention staff are located across the state. According to a denomination census released in 2023, it claimed 2,038,537 members and 5,375 churches
Lifeway Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is the Christian media publishing and distribution division of the Southern Baptist Convention and provider of church business services.
The International Mission Board is a Baptist Christian missionary society affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The headquarters is in Richmond, Virginia.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, the second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. Brent Leatherwood has served as the ERLC president since September 13, 2022. The commission is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with additional offices in Washington, D.C., and Cyprus.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The seminary has been an innovator in theological education, establishing one of the first Ph.D. programs in religion in the year 1892. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and moved to its current location in 1926 in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.
The president of the Southern Baptist Convention heads the convention and is elected at the annual meeting. The president's duties include presiding over the annual meeting; appointing members to SBC committees; serving as an ex officio member of the board of SBC entities including the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, and Lifeway Christian Resources; and representing the SBC to other Baptist denominations and to the press.
Highview Baptist Church is a Baptist multi-site megachurch based in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and Southern Baptist Convention. Aaron Harvie is currently the church's senior pastor.
Beginning in 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced an intense struggle for control of the organization. Its initiators called it the conservative resurgence while its detractors labeled it the fundamentalist takeover. It was launched with the charge that the seminaries and denominational agencies were dominated by liberals. The movement was primarily aimed at reorienting the denomination away from a liberal trajectory.
Johnny M. Hunt is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and who served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was also formerly senior pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, in Woodstock, Georgia. He was the first Native American president of the SBC. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Evangelism & Leadership division of the North American Mission Board—the church planting and domestic evangelism arm of the SBC—speaking nationally to church leaders and congregants about sharing the Christian Gospel.
The Missouri Baptist Convention is the state convention of Southern Baptists in Missouri. Headquartered in Jefferson City, it operates as a network of nearly 1,800 independent Southern Baptist churches, which are divided into eight regions and 60 Baptist associations. Missouri Baptists elect an executive board that oversees the convention's ministries, which in turn are carried out by the Missouri Baptist Convention staff.
The Alaska Baptist Convention (ABC) is an autonomous association of Baptist churches located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is one of the state conventions associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The first Southern Baptist church in Alaska was established in 1943, with just 17 members, and the ABC was formed in 1946. Today, Alaskan Southern Baptists are the largest Protestant denomination in Alaska with over 20,000 members.
The Alabama Baptist Convention is an autonomous association of Baptist churches in the U.S. state of Alabama formed in 1823. It is one of the state conventions associated with the Southern/Great Commission Baptists.
Bryant Wright is a Baptist pastor and author. He served as senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia from its founding in 1981 until 2019. He also served as elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from June 2010 to June 2012. He succeeded Johnny Hunt, who had served two one-year terms. Wright was succeeded as SBC president by Fred Luter. After having retired as Senior Pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in 2019, Wright continues to work with Right From The Heart Ministries, and in 2020 was named President of Send Relief, a Christian humanitarian and charitable organization, by the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board.
Frank S. Page was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 2006 to 2008, and the president of the denomination's Executive Committee from 2010 to 2018. Page announced his resignation on March 27, 2018, admitting to "a personal failing" that involved a "morally inappropriate relationship." Frank Page pastored Pebble Creek Baptist Church in South Carolina from June 2019 to February 2024.
David Joseph Platt is an American evangelical Baptist pastor. He was senior pastor at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2006 to 2014. At the time he was the youngest megachurch pastor in the United States. From 2014 to 2017, Platt was president of the International Mission Board. He became pastor-teacher at McLean Bible Church in 2017. He is the author of the 2010 New York Times Best Seller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.
Widespread sexual abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches were reported by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News on February 10, 2019. The report found roughly 380 clergy, lay leaders and volunteers had faced allegations of sexual misconduct, leaving behind over 700 victims since 1998. The extent of misconduct is further complicated by work within the Southern Baptist Convention to move sex offenders to other communities and resist attempts to address the culture of abuse.
The Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe is a Baptist Christian denomination in Zimbabwe. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe. The headquarters is in Gweru.
Paul Chitwood is an American Baptist minister who is the 13th and current president of the International Mission Board, serving since 2018. He was previously executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2011–2018) and president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2005–2006).