Newly appointed missionaries share a little of their testimony and work they will do with more than 13,000 Southern Baptist messengers and their guests on June 11. (IMB Photo)
International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries desire to partner with and be mutually encouraging to Southern Baptist churches.
“Our heart is to share what we are doing across the globe and also come alongside local churches to encourage and support,” said Caroline Studdard, who serves with her husband, Joel, in Asia Pacific. Their home church is in Arkansas. She said IMB missionaries have the unique opportunity of being able to connect with a network of churches across the United States. A network of churches that not only give financially but can also support missionaries through intentional partnership.
“I want SBC churches to know IMB missionaries desire to partner with and be mutually encouraging to SBC churches. Our heart is to share what we are doing across the globe and also come alongside local churches to encourage and support,” Caroline said. “Knowing we have connections back home with churches across Arkansas is encouraging to our family. Last Christmas, one of our partner churches sent us Christmas cards and different letters of encouragement and it meant so much to us. I felt seen in a different way by receiving cards from a church partner. We expect to connect with our family and friends in Arkansas, but to connect with Southern Baptist churches across the state who are generally interested in our family has been a sweet gift.”
Through its Church Connections Initiative, the IMB’s goal is for each SBC church to have a relationship with an active IMB missionary unit. IMB Church and Campus Engagement Director Chris Derry said less than 25% of Southern Baptist churches would say they have a “partner” relationship with an IMB missionary family.
“Imagine what would happen if that jumped by 10 or 20% because of new church connections? How many more of our church members would answer the call to go? How much greater would our celebration be as reports of the work reach more pews? How much stickier would our cooperation be when more are regularly reminded of the need of it and the fruit from it? How many additional financial resources could be directed toward our cooperative work across North America and around the world? All because churches, and church members, were in better connection with missionary families,” Derry said.
“We have rejoiced over churches who have sent their first long-term missionaries after hearing from the IMB. New partnerships have been birthed in prayer. Small rural churches, after hearing from their missionaries, hosted special fundraising events to increase their Lottie Moon Christmas Offering from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. In the same, we’ve heard from missionaries who reported receiving soul-nourishing emails from their pastors in some of their darkest days in the work – an encouragement to know they aren’t forgotten. The rope is still fiercely held.”
Ryan Thomas, who along with his wife, Joy, are serving in Eastern Europe, said when it comes to church connections, he sees it a vital aspect of “who we are as Southern Baptists.”
“We are sent out and supported by Southern Baptists and I want to get to know as many as I can so I can share how their generous and sacrificial giving is being used. Many churches do not realize how their gifts keep us on the field and provide Gospel access for many people,” Thomas said.
“On another level, church connections are more than money, but it demonstrates an investment in relationship. We as missionaries desire to invest or serve your church in any way possible so that they see how lostness is being impacted. But we also desire for your church to invest in us and our families. It means so much to have churches come visit, take us out for a meal, and just listen to our stories and love on us. Parkway Place Baptist Church has been faithfully praying for us and sent care packages and teams to us to bless us while we have served on the field. We desire a relationship with many churches so I would ask, if you do not have a relationship with an IMB missionary, would you consider partnering with us in our work for the joy of the nations?”
Gwen McCallister, a member at Crossroads New Baptist Church in Little Rock, said they recently had the opportunity to visit with their missionary when they came to their church for a meet and greet on a Wednesday night.
“It was a great time,” she said. “They were so informative. We felt their heart and that is what I think meeting your missionary is about.”
Pastor Jason Glenn of White Oak Baptist Church in Walnut Ridge said they connected with their IMB missionary about six weeks ago. “It’s made our prayer more personal,” he said.
First Baptist Church in Clarendon connected with its missionary about two years ago. Since then, Pastor John Cooke said the church has had the privilege of hosting them at their church for a Sunday. They shared about their mission and the lives they have seen impacted through the Gospel.
“We’ve been able to meet them face to face which made things more real for us to pray for them and know who they are,” Cooke said. He said Church Connections has given them a “direct connection to international missionaries that we can claim as one of our own. … They are not just somebody that is out there. They are a real person, and we really are connected to them.”
Cooke said First Baptist Church in Clarendon hopes to facilitate a short-term missions trip to southeast Asia, where their missionary serves, in fall 2026 or spring 2027.
“If you have not connected to your IMB missionary, my question is going to be ‘why not?’ … We have thousands of missionaries. You can’t pray for every single one of them, but you can pray for this missionary. You can pray for this couple or this Journeyman or whoever it is that you have. It becomes that much more real when you’re going before God,” Cooke said.
“It helps to fire your church up because you are connected to somebody who directly is doing the work of Christ, and you have a connection to that and an impact on that. Do it today. It’s a simple process. Be patient. But it is 100% worth it. These are very real people. … They desperately want to be connected with us, and they desperately need prayer partners. They want you to help them in the cause of the Gospel overseas and this is a great way to do it. As soon as you can, get connected to your missionary.”
To find out who your missionary is, visit absc.org/WIOM or contact ABSC National/International Partnership & Cross Cultural Missions Strategist Steve Lasiter at [email protected].