NAMB trustees approve budget, celebrate Boston missionaries during two-day meeting

BOSTON — Trustees of the North American Mission Board met last week to act on business items and celebrate missionaries and new churches in the area.

Monday afternoon, trustees traveled to the part of Boston locals call “Southie” and visited a restaurant that has served the community for more than 130 years. They learned about one of the city’s newest church plants, which is taking shape inside the restaurant and will launch in a few months.

“We moved to Boston a little over a year ago,” Jacob Giles told trustees. “Three days after we arrived, we went to Renewal Church for our first Sunday. Pastor Jared introduced us to the church. … A lady walked up to me speaking fast in a New England accent. All I caught was ‘business owner, Southie.’ That lady was Donna, the restaurant owner. She said, ‘I think God wants me to help you.’”

Church had not been part of Donna’s adult life, but God had been leading her to explore faith in Him. That day was her first visit to Renewal Church, which is preparing Giles to launch his new church.

“Within two months of moving here, we started a Monday night community group inside her restaurant,” Giles said. “It began with five or six people and has grown to around 30-35 connected to the group, with three baptisms in the last year.”

Later, trustees walked through Tremont Temple Baptist Church, which meets in a building constructed in 1896, and toured Send Relief’s Boston Ministry Center on the church’s fifth floor.

At a celebration dinner that night, trustees hosted Send Network church planting missionaries and missionaries with Send Relief, NAMB’s compassion ministry.

A panel discussion featured John Ames, Send Relief’s North regional director and founding director of the Send Relief Boston Ministry Center. Ames is a former church planter. Panelists discussed the close relationship in Boston between church plants and Send Relief.

“It’s an opportunity … for all of our churches and church plants to put on display the glory, the goodness, the character of God,” Ames said. “That’s what compassion ministry does. It shows people what God is like. And so … we want to plant in ways that proclaim the Gospel but also plant in ways that demonstrate the Gospel at the same time.”

In plenary sessions Tuesday, trustees heard reports and took action on several recommendations:

• Trustees approved NAMB’s 2026-27 budget of $145.6 million, a $2.7 million reduction from the previous year.
• Donna Gardner, NAMB’s chief financial officer, reported that through August, NAMB’s revenue exceeded expenses by $700,000. She also shared that this year’s Annie Armstrong Easter Offering tallied its second-highest total ever. NAMB will announce the offering total later this week.
• Trustees voted to dissolve the Board’s ad hoc litigation committee. Last year, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in NAMB’s favor, dismissing a longstanding lawsuit against NAMB, making the committee unnecessary.
• Trustees approved a proposed update to NAMB’s trustee qualifications, which would expand opportunities for board representation among SBC states and territories that are unrepresented on the board. The approved proposal will be sent to the SBC Executive Committee for consideration.
• After reviewing a study of financial consulting firms, trustees voted to retain Graystone Consulting and add GuideStone Financial Resources as NAMB’s investment consultants.

NAMB president Kevin Ezell reflected on the story of Nehemiah in his remarks to trustees.

“It says, ‘At last the wall was completed to half its height around the entire city, for the people had worked with enthusiasm,’” Ezell said, referencing Nehemiah 4:6 (NLT). “Another translation (ESV) says, ‘… for the people had a mind to work.’”

“I love that, because the guy’s not asking them to fix everything. He’s just asking to have a mind to work. We have to be about the work. And training people to do the work.”

“God has given us the Great Commission,” Ezell continued, “and we have the opportunity to do something greater than our ability to accomplish.”

Ezell reminded trustees of an illustration he used at Monday night’s dinner, when he held a 30-foot rope with black marks every 8 inches to represent a trustee’s two four-year terms. An 8-inch green section in the middle represented current trustees.

“We have to make the most of this moment,” Ezell said Monday evening. “We stand on the shoulders of those that came before us, but don’t underestimate the green. Don’t underestimate the 8 years you have to invest here.”