The Home Mission Board, an Overview

by    T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                  Vol. VIII, No. 2, February 1995

[Factual data in the following are taken from HMB documents. Note: The Home Mission Board is now known as the North American Mission Board.]

Too many Southern Baptists know too little about our great institutions. With the season for our Annie Armstrong Home Missions Offering rapidly approaching, readers will be interested in this quick review of the HMB.

The Home Mission Board (HMB) is a missionary-sending agency of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, the HMB's purpose is to serve Southern Baptists by assisting churches to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, start and grow New Testament congregations, and minister to people in the name of Christ.

At the end of 1993, 4,882 missions personnel were serving in the United States, the Caribbean, Guam, American Samoa, and Canada. The HMB also had endorsed more than 2,300 chaplains who were serving in healthcare agencies, institutions, businesses, the military, and pastoral-care roles. More than 1,700 Mission Service Corps volunteers were serving on home mission fields. During the year there were 1,500 church starts (more than four per day) and 349,073 baptisms.

The following is a summary of program! support ministry highlights from 1993:

Chaplaincy Ministries – The 2,325 Southern Baptists now serving as chaplains and pastoral counselors reported more than 24,000 professions of faith and 4,500 baptisms.

Church Loans – Approximately 1,056 churches had active loans totaling $131.1 million. The Church Loans Division closed 120 church loans totaling $32 million, including $3.8 million of refinancing.

New Church Extension Division – Participated in support of 1,572 missions personnel. Among them were 85 church planter apprentices in 24 states, 151 bivocationals, 560 field personnel, and 414 mission pastors. The division reported 702 mission-type churches started.

Black Church Extension Division – Oriented 150 churches into Southern Baptist life; assisted 137 students seeking full-time Christian vocations; assisted state conventions and local associations in starting 113 congregations and five churches in finding pastors.

Language Missions – Home missionaries and pastors in the Language Church Extension Division serve among 102 ethnic groups using 98 languages and dialects.

Evangelism – During Crossover Houston, the Mass Evangelism Department coordinated 35 street evangelism events, 25 block parties, nine evangelistic rallies, and 68 special Harvest Revivals and events. These activities resulted in 1,253 conversions. The Personal Evangelism Department produced and shipped materials for "Here's Hope. Share Jesus Now." This emphasis will include 60 Days of Soul-Winning, January 9-March 9, 1995.

Volunteers – More than 74,860 Southern Baptist adults, college students, and youth group members volunteered for long- and short-term projects. In addition, several thousand more were involved in disaster relief efforts in the Midwest.

Church Evangelism Development – Over 1 million teens participated in "See You At The Pole," gathering at their flagpoles to pray for the schools of our nation.

Administration – The Home Mission Board broke ground for a new national office building which will be completed in 1995. Customer Services received more than 51,000 calls and shipped almost 5 million pieces of HMB material.

You can be a home missions volunteer! For information on current needs, call toll-free 1-800-HMB-VOLS.

The HMB maintains the Home Missions Intercessory Prayerline at 1 800 554-PRA Y for each day's home missions prayer request, a Watchman National Prayer Alert request, a Spiritual Awakening request, or a special request. The Prayerline is offered in English and Spanish and is available 24 hours a day. You may call this number toll-free at any time.

The two primary sources of income for the HMB are the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and the Cooperative Program. The Annie Armstrong Offering provides about 47% and the CP about 35% of the Board's income. The goal for the 1995 Annie Armstrong Offering is $50 million, which along with the $100 million goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for foreign missions totals $150 millions. This goal is in commemoration and thanks to God for 150 years of Southern Baptist work since the Convention was founded in 1845.

The Banner urges all Southern Baptists to make a special effort to support Annie Armstrong this spring. How many more souls could be saved if we meet this challenge!