5 Reasons to be Thankful for Kevin Ezell, President of NAMB

I’m married with four children, an SBC pastor, a PhD student at SBTS, and an average Southern Baptist. I’ve authored two books. You can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Udemy, YouTube, and iTunes (Podcast).

Kevin Ezell has served as President of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) since 2010. Here are five reasons to be thankful for him and his leadership of NAMB.

1. He affirms the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and expects church planters to as well. He’s also lead NAMB to plant only Southern Baptist churches. Plus, these church plants must give to the Cooperative Program and other Great Commission causes (SOURCE).

2. He’s heavily emphasizing church-planting. There’s no denying that the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) was given to the disciples and they responded by going throughout the known world, planting local churches (Acts). In order to follow their example found in Scripture, Southern Baptists must have a heavy emphasis on planting local churches throughout North America.

3. He’s targeting cities. Over 81% of the people in North America live in cities (SOURCE). If Southern Baptists are to penetrate lostness in North America, we must make a monumental effort to reach our cities with the gospel. Rural churches must reach our own cities with the gospel while sending money and workers to help NAMB penetrate large cities. Of course, rural areas are important as well (I pastor a rural church), but our main emphasis must be highly-populated areas in North America.

4. He’s looking to the future. Since 2010, the number of student missionaries with NAMB has more than tripled. From 600 in 2012 to more than 2,000 in 2014, Ezell is encouraging a new generation of missionaries (SOURCE). “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38).

5. He’s looking beyond the South. Over 78% of SBC churches are located in the South. Concerning church-to-person-ratio, we must make an effort to see to it that the rest of the world looks like the South. Ezell understands this reality. Since 2010, He’s lead NAMB to increase their efforts in under-served states and Canada. As a result, the percentage of SBC churches has dramatically increased since 2010 in many states and Canada: 1) Iowa, Nevada, California, Maryland-Delaware, Kansas-Nebraska, Arizona (20% or more), 2) Alaska & Pennsylvania-South New Jersey (24%), 3) Minnesota-Wisconsin (25%), 4) New York (26%), 5) New England (31%), & 6) Canada (44%) (SOURCE).

There are many more reasons to be thankful for Kevin Ezell. These are only a few. NAMB is headed in the right direction under his leadership, and I look forward to the future. Thank you Dr. Ezell. I’m praying for you and NAMB.

*Be sure to listen to Ezell’s presentation at the SBC 2017 because the statistics I provided are a year old or older.

*If you’re a pastor and you want to “mobilize your church” through NAMB, click here.