NASHVILLE (BP) — Southern Baptist efforts to spread the gospel worldwide are receiving boosts from the Cooperative Program (CP) reallocation as well as new partnerships, International Mission Board (IMB) President Paul Chitwood said during the recent Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting.

Speaking with Lawrence Smith as part of the “Better Together” series, Chitwood reported an increase among those hearing the gospel for the first time over the last year from approximately 1.6 million to 2 million people.

That growth can be partially attributed to missionary partnerships with Southern Baptist churches and national partners on the ground. Results include nearly 200,000 professions of faith and 7,697 new churches launched worldwide.

“Southern Baptists are about church planting here in North America,” said Chitwood, “but also … among the nations.”

Strategy focuses on planting healthy churches.

“That’s the fruit that remains,” he said. “When a missionary has done their work in a harvest field and moved on to the next harvest field, it’s that local church that is established (and will) continue to share the gospel and do the work there, and that’s ultimately what we push for, is to see new churches planted.”

A Cooperative Program reallocation that sends 51% to the IMB came at a crucial time. Without it, Chitwood told Smith, the IMB would’ve been operating in the red next year due to an approved 2026-27 budget that came in $4 million under its predecessor.

Chitwood praised the work of the SBC Executive Committee and its president Jeff Iorg to complete the reallocation, first approved by messengers in 2010 as part of the Great Commission Resurgence.

“My reaction is gratitude,” he said. “… I’m so grateful for Jeff Iorg’s leadership … and the entire committee for getting this across the finish line. It’s gonna be a game changer for the IMB.”

The IMB stood to lose $2 million in CP funds without the reallocation. Instead, the entity will receive $593,000 more in the upcoming budget.

“That’s huge in the sense of what it provides, but also what it safeguards us against, what would’ve been the consequences,” added Chitwood.

That difference means seven more fully supported missionaries in the field, he pointed out.

A good problem is the expanding number of those wanting to enter the missionary pipeline, Chitwood shared. Challenges have come mainly through wartime conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as technological advances.

“AI (artificial intelligence) is able to mine information from the web, and everyone has a data footprint. Facial recognition software … makes it harder to keep missionaries in certain places in the world, so we’re having to invest more resources to do that.”

Southern Baptist churches are joining an effort that has included more partners across the nations in recent years. Chitwood noted that there are about 140 Baptist conventions and unions around the world.

“Southern Baptists, over 181 years, have been a huge part of getting those up and running,” he said. “We go in and evangelize, disciple and plant churches, and then help those churches organize themselves into a convention.

“We’re working more and more to see those Baptist brothers and sisters around the world send more missionaries from the nations to the nations. We’re really pouring into that and seeing great results.”

When asked by Smith how Southern Baptists can continue to pray for IMB missionaries, Chitwood pointed to their health.

“Pray, ‘Lord, keep them healthy,’” he said. “Some of them are in challenging situations and (they need to) maintain physical health; spiritually healthy, as they’re in the midst of intense spiritual warfare.”

He also encouraged prayer for healthy marriages among missionaries and overall health through families.

“And when it comes to the work, I pray, ‘Lord give them fruit.’ No missionary, as well-intended as they are, has the capacity to do what they’ve gone to do. (They can’t) save a single soul. … That power rests alone with the Holy Spirit of God. So, we need the Holy Spirit of God to move in people’s hearts and to bring new birth, to bring repentance, to bring faith, so this is a movement of God.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)