Matt and Ruth Lahey, church-planting missionaries in Newfoundland, were not the only people encouraged by all the cards and letters they received when they were Annie Armstrong featured missionaries. (NAMB photo)
By Tony Hudson, NAMB
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — There’s no way they could’ve known what was coming.
When Jefferson and Carol Hernandez, Josh and Beth Glymph, Matt and Ruth Lahey, and Michael and Traci Byrd each got phone calls telling them they’d been selected to be Annie Armstrong featured missionaries, they were all appropriately humbled, honored, excited and encouraged.
But now, years later—now that they’ve experienced every unexpectedly amazing thing that happened because of the Week of Prayer and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering—they know better than anyone how Annie Armstrong really is more than a gift.
“We were told, ‘Expect some mail,’” says Matt Lahey. Matt and his wife, Ruth, planted a church in Newfoundland and were featured missionaries in 2023. “But what we got was like a tsunami – hundreds and hundreds of cards and letters – and it was such an encouragement, not just for us, but our kids as well. They were like, ‘You mean there are people in California and Florida who don’t even know us but are praying for us?’ It blew their minds. And to be honest, it blew ours too.”
“Nothing could’ve prepared us for what happened,” says Josh Glymph. Josh and his wife, Beth, planted a church in Jacksonville, Fla., and were featured missionaries in 2024. “Churches heard our story, then reached out to us out of the blue, and said, ‘How can we partner with you? How can we serve you?’ Now, we have mission teams coming here to help us reach our community.”
“I’ve seen how God really does answer prayer,” says Jefferson Hernandez. Jefferson and his wife, Carol, church planting missionaries in Sterling, Va., were featured in 2024. “When hundreds of churches reached out to let us know they were praying for us, we decided to expect great things. And what’s happened since then is more than we could’ve imagined. Now, our church attendance is more than double the goal we set when we first planted, and we know that’s the direct result of people’s prayers.”
“All those cards and letters we got, I took some of them and hung them on the wall,” says Michael Byrd. Michael and his wife, Traci, church planting missionaries in St. Louis, were featured in 2022. “One was from a young lady who wrote and told us how much our story meant to her. It meant so much that she and her family drove all the way here from Oklahoma – just to visit our church. Talk about encouragement – that’s the kind of thing that keeps us going.”
Every missionary who has ever been featured for Annie Armstrong has a similar story to share. Already, this year’s featured missionaries recognize how God has been active in their ministry far beyond what they could’ve ever imagined possible.
In West Lafayette, Ind., Jordan Adams says, “When we came here to plant a church, I believed God was going to work. But I never imagined overflowing auditoriums and 81 baptisms.”
In Montreal, Quebec, Andrew Mark Adil says, “We planted a church in the middle of an unreached people group. And now, we’re baptizing new believers, and we’ve doubled in size. In this city, that’s unheard of.”
And in Tappahannock, Va., Fred Weymouth says, “We’re seeing drug addicts get clean, decide to follow Jesus, then never pick up a needle again. One of them has even gone on to pastor churches. God’s the only one who can make those things happen.”
All over North America, God is taking Southern Baptists’ prayers and gifts and using them to do gloriously unrealistic, unheard-of things. In New Orleans, a dying church was raised from the dead. “It happened in an only God kind of way,” says Troy Gause. “Now, we’ve baptized 22 new believers.”
And in Puerto Rico, God is opening doors for a new church plant with barely two dozen members to start another new work in the next town over. “Yes, our church plant is small,” says Oscar Ortiz. “But our God is big.”
There are more than 3,000 missionaries making Jesus known in unreached places all over the U.S. and Canada. Some are “featured” missionaries. Most are not. But for every one of them, a card is not just a card. A prayer is more than words. And a gift is not just a gift.
As Josh Glymph says, “Those things are what carry us when we can’t carry ourselves. That’s what makes Annie Armstrong more than a gift.”