2800

There is a number that is taking on increasing importance among Southern Baptists. That number is 2,800. Why is this number so special? No, it doesn't refer to 2,800 pot luck dinners, 2,800 baptist business meetings or 2,800 committees serving in every church!

This number represents the number of new missionaries needed by the International Mission Board of the SBC in order to appoint one missionary for every unreached people group left in the world. For those of you who pay attention when your pastor preaches on missions, there are a lot of people groups, most consisting of thousands upon thousands of people, that have no evangelical church or missionary presence of any kind. You may also know that not too long ago, this number was a lot bigger. That fact that it is now only 2,800 is proof that God is working.

Out of 45,000 churches, 2,800 missionaries might not seem like a great task. But it is when you consider that we currently only have around 5,200 missionaries and that adding 2,800 more represents $115 million more that our churches will need to give every year.

I really hope our churches will step up to the plate and accept this challenge. FBCH is gonna hear a lot about the number "2,800" in the next few years. Unfortunately, many of our fellow Baptist churches have decided that it's better to do missions on their own. They've decided that cooperation is no longer a good idea. Some of these churches choose to spend the money on themselves and they have big staffs, buildings and programs to show for it. So they must be on to something, right? Not so fast. For every SBC missionary we support, we see 91 baptisms per year. That's right, 91! There is not an SBC church out there that does missions individually that can compare with that. If you care more about the kingdom of God than you do your own local church, the best thing you can do is support missions through the IMB. I'll be praying about how my family can increase our giving to make 2,800 a reality. Would you do the same?