IMB (International Mission Board)

Your missionaries are grateful! When we say “thank you,” it’s not a simple statement. We recognize the deep commitment that so many of you have made to solve the world’s greatest problem. Your support 365 days a year makes us grateful all year round! Without your support, more than 3,600 missionaries and their families would not be able to share the good news of the gospel among the lost around the world.

Ever feel like fundraising can sometimes miss the mark when it comes to building genuine connections? At the IMB, we believe in connecting people’s passions with opportunities to make a lasting impact. That’s why we’re looking for a Prospect Research Manager to help uncover insights that turn potential into partnerships.

Last night, we gathered with Tennessee Baptists to appoint 49 new IMB missionaries! Sending Celebrations are a time to support those going to the field to share the gospel with a lost world. It’s also a time to commemorate those who have mentored and discipled them in their calling. Many of their mentors are current or former IMB missionaries who have encouraged them to ask how God might use them through the IMB. Christian Castellano served as an IMB Journeyman in Peru after working as a ministerial assistant at Bellevue Baptist Church. Bellevue Baptist is also where Castellano, as a middle schooler, met Kyle Roy, who was on staff at Bellevue and is currently an IMB missionary in Brazil. “He taught me the importance of prayer and evangelism and having a global perspective of God’s mission to save the world.” — Christian Castellano Your gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering make their work possible. 🔗 Read more about last night’s Sending Celebration at: imb.world/4hBZdl3.

🌍 Exciting Summer Internship Opportunities Available! 🌍 Are you a college student looking for a summer internship that makes a difference? Look no further! The International Mission Board (IMB) is offering paid internship opportunities for Summer 2025 at our Richmond, Virginia headquarters! 📅 Program Dates: May 27th to July 31st, 2025 📍 Location: Richmond, Virginia (housing available) 💰 Rate: $20/hour We have 17 diverse areas available for interns, including: Archives, Data Stewardship & Analytics, Digital Marketing, Finance, Global Research, Global Security, Graphic Design, Marketing, Mobilization, HR, IT, Legal, AI, and Training. As an intern at IMB, you'll gain valuable work experience, develop your skills, and contribute to our mission of serving Southern Baptists in carrying out the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. If you feel called to utilize your skills in support of our mission and want to make an eternal impact, apply now for our Summer 2025 Internship Program! 👉 Visit [https://lnkd.in/e4Q6PBm3] for more information and to submit your application.

International Mission Board trustees approved the appointment of 69 full-time, fully funded missionaries at their meeting last week. 57 of those missionaries participated in a Sending Celebration hosted by First Baptist Church Park Street, Charlottesville — the historic church where the famous Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon was baptized. While reflecting on the continuing legacy of Lottie Moon, President Paul Chitwood said, “Who but God could have imagined that one little girl from the hills of northwestern Virginia would inspire Southern Baptists to give more than $5.5 billion [in total through the years] to an international missions offering named in her honor?” As we end the fiscal year, we have a lot to celebrate! 👉 The Lottie Moon offering is at its largest in IMB history, with more than $204 million given to date. 👉 Our largest class of missionaries graduated from Field Personnel Orientation in over a decade. 👉 The missionary application pipeline is higher than it has been in more than 15 years. 👉 We are connected with more churches than ever in our 180-year history. 👉 Southern Baptist volunteers serving alongside overseas teams topped 11,6000, increasing by 20% over last year. 👉 And most of all, the IMB is strong again! “We press forward because so much is at stake, and God has shown His willingness to bless our efforts.” — Paul Chitwood 🔗 Read more about the trustee meeting at: imb.world/4diBqTG.

This week, we gathered together to appoint 57 new IMB missionaries! We couldn’t think of a more appropriate place to send them off to the nations than the place where Lottie Moon first followed God’s calling on her life. For many of the new missionaries, recognizing Lottie’s home church is symbolic for where missions began for them. Missions start at home. Whether it was talking around the dinner table with parents about “who tells people in far-off lands about Jesus” or working side-by-side with immigrants in a job, God used “home” to prepare their hearts and minds for the Great Pursuit of taking the gospel to the nations. 🔗 Read more about last night’s Sending Celebration at: imb.world/4eEpOLT.

Through MedAdvance, healthcare professionals are finding their place in God’s global mission. This unique event equips doctors, nurses, and students to use their medical skills to heal the body and share the hope of Christ. 🌍🩺 MedAdvance shows how healthcare can be a powerful tool for opening hearts to the gospel, tracing the connection from healthcare to church planting in different cultures. Through breakout sessions, networking, and interacting with medical missionaries, participants leave equipped with the resources and inspiration to serve. 🔗 Read more about this year’s conference at: imb.world/3BnYYco.

In a world with increasing physical barriers, IMB missionaries are finding new ways to serve from afar! Dean and Sybil Polk are examples of IMB workers who cannot live in the country of the Central Asian people group they serve. 🔗 Learn how Dean and Sybil provide support to national partners who live and work among the lost of Central Asia at:

Gone are the days when most people read books to learn and gain new information! Don Barger, director for Innovation and MX Labs, and Grant Lovejoy’s, director for Scripture and Orality, book, “Unreadable: Another Book You Probably Won’t Read,” is a journey to discover how people obtain information and how that information shapes how they view themselves and the world. People worldwide, not just in rural areas, now prefer to learn through **oral communication, whether on YouTube or social media, in person, or through online interactions with friends, family and connections made online. In global cities, Barger and Lovejoy conducted more than 200 interviews with people of different ages, faiths, ethnicities, socio-economic groups, and the educated and uneducated. Orality in missions is often associated with rural areas, where literacy is less common, but that isn’t what Barger and Lovejoy found. Even most highly educated urban dwellers do not prefer reading books. “’Unreadable’ invites you into a conversation about how people in cities look for, obtain, process and transmit knowledge and how that process influences their identities, loyalties, animosities, fears, hopes and aspirations.” 🔗 “Unreadable” is available for order on Amazon at: https://a.co/d/4xvOiqB.

The history of Southern Baptist work in Indonesia is long, dating back to 1951 when missionaries first went to the island nation. Medical work wasn’t far behind, and it soon became a key strategy for gospel access. Today, the medical facilities are led by Indonesian medical professionals who are committed to the gospel and the vision to use healthcare to make the gospel known to all nations. Indonesian Baptists work closely with the International Mission Board to maximize the reach of the gospel and lead other Christian healthcare professionals to meet physical and spiritual needs. Historically, this key work with the Indonesian Baptists has led to “churches planting churches that plant churches.” “We just need more people to join the vision of how healthcare strategies are reaching the lost with the gospel.” — Jacob Stanley, IMB missionary. Learn more about combining healthcare with ministry strategies to provide gospel access in unreached communities at MedAdvance 2024. Join healthcare professionals, students, and church leaders in providing help and hope to those who have never heard the gospel. 🔗 Learn more and register by Sunday, August 25, for MedAdvance 2024 at: imb.world/3WY2EJh.