January 13, 2025
Missions begins with vision and strategy. Missions is also continually fueled through a carefully planned mechanism for outreach. But for many local churches, the idea of a systemic plan for yearlong missions efforts is nonexistent. Less than ten percent of Georgia Baptist churches have an individual staff member identified as their leader for missions planning and engagement. Only one out of every five GBC churches has a volunteer missions leader who feels competent to implement a missions strategy for the church. Thus, in many cases the responsibility for missional leadership defaults to the senior pastor, and that is in addition to all of his other duties for teaching, pastoral care, and local leadership.
In 2023, Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff undertook research that involved interviews and a case study with GBC churches that were exhibiting healthy signs of growth in missions involvement over the past decade. A key insight from that study was that churches who have identified and trained a missional leader have a higher likelihood of positive missions engagement and missions partnerships with longevity. This led to a Missional Outreach Leader Training that was offered throughout 2024.
After completing one of the cohorts while serving as interim pastor at First Baptist Thomaston, Ted Kandler quoted the new pastor that “Jesus was doing the Great Commission before he gave the Great Commission to his Disciples (and the church).” In other words, Jesus’ teaching was based on his example. The rationale for the MOLT training was based on this principle as well as Paul’s third missionary journey, where his strategy shifted from direct evangelism and church planting to leadership development (Acts 19:1-10). Through his ongoing work with twelve leaders over the course of two years, perhaps more was accomplished in evangelism and missions than all of his other work combined (see Acts 19:10). By focusing on a single leader or small group of leaders handpicked by the pastor, the GBMB staff saw an opportunity to help equip a lay person for the work of missions ministry.
Thus, a six-week online cohort system was born to meet the need. At various times last year in 2024, six cohorts were completed through ZOOM calls. This included churches from each of the six regions in Georgia. In total, more than 130 participants from 84 churches were trained. The cohorts also included 17 regional WMU leaders and 8 Association Missions Strategists trained to create their own respective cohorts in their fields. The program was designed so that virtual one-hour gatherings online could introduce material and then the individual Missional Outreach Leader could complete assignments with his/her missions leadership team during the week. The sessions involved understanding the biblical basis for missions and discipleship, strategic planning and teaming, and community engagement and missional partnerships.
The feedback from those trained in local church cohorts in 2024 has been encouraging. Nick Chambers, missions pastor at 1025 Church in Monroe, said that the training “helped open my eyes to aspects of being a ‘missions minded’ church that I had never considered before.” Richard Compton, senior pastor of FBC Rochelle, said his greatest insights came from seeing “the importance of missions within the church.” Kenny Osorio of First Baptist Augusta thanked GBMB as the MOLT training “provided a great platform that greatly helped me to continue with the mission work I have been working on for some time.” Kristin Long, the Missions Director at FBC Thomasville, said, “Between the training and the missions round table event in August I found support and valuable information as well as resources.”
On an associational level, Danny Gay, Ben Hill/Irwin AMS in Fitzgerald, offered that the “training definitely helped and encouraged me as I work with my pastor this next year.” And in capacities as women’s ministry leaders, Cindy Schaeffner, who works with the WMU executive board at Central Baptist in Americus, said, “MOLT affirmed in a more in-depth way our missions imperative. I look forward to utilizing MOLT's key points as I begin my tenure on our church's Missions Team 2025.” WMU Regional leader Leigh Hawkins noted, “Since many of us who are volunteers with full-time non-church jobs, it is so important to remember that missions are EVERYWHERE. …In particular this training provided a much needed refresher to take Paul’s method to Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave them to it….The sense of belonging for ALL of our members to be on mission is crucial to the Kingdom work being accomplished.” And Lead Strategist for Georgia Baptist Women Beth Ann Williams noted that the MOLT training “gives a clear understanding of God’s heart for his people to be on mission. It gives practical ways on how to build a team and put together a missions plan. I really enjoyed the discussion in our small group. It helped build confidence for taking the ideas back to the church. The Missions Assessment Profile will be a very helpful tool for churches to move their missions plan forward.”
As each cohort was completed, careful assessment and evaluation honed the design for experience in the following cohort. Much was learned through the six cohorts in 2024, and a new component will be added for 2025 to ensure evangelism plays a primary role in missions planning locally and globally. A new cohort for 2025 is already beginning, but many more are being offered throughout the year. If anyone is interested in having a missional outreach leader trained for their local church, the missions team can be contacted simply by email at bburch@gabaptist.org.
