This story has a little of everything. It’s a love story, with a suspected demon possession among a people group of firework makers. The plot twist — a people group believed to be unengaged and unreached already had two churches meeting among them.   When International Mission Board missionary Jonathan Dozier sat down with Muhammad, he thought they’d talk for an hour or so. Dozier, who serves in South Asia, wasn’t sure how interested Muhammad was, but he knew he needed to run interference.   This is where the love story comes in. Muhammad attended church a few times out of ..read more

Chyler Hughes, from Soma Community Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, helps feed children and homeless families in the favelas of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The recent graduate of historically black Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri had never heard about international missions until she entered college. Her trip to Brazil taught her "missions is for everybody." IMB Photo Lincoln University students from Jefferson City, Missouri ask themselves the hard question, “Why not me?”  IMB Video Chyler Hughes had never seen a Black missionary. At church, she learned to minister in her local ..read more

Erica Patrick and her three children, Auburn Grace (13), Evy (11) and Elijah (15). IMB Photo Every morning when she opens her eyes, Erica Patrick thanks God for life and breath and another day to serve Him.   Before her feet hit the floor, she asks Him to take control of her day—to fill it with the good works He has ordained for her and to remove the plans that are not from Him. Erica’s daily expression of her dependence on God, and a high view of His sovereignty, has been cultivated amid seasons of deep grief and loss, mere months apart.   Erica was called to international miss ..read more

Minh Ha Nguyễn The Southern Baptist Convention’s expanding diversity became a passion for Minh Ha Nguyen, leading to his work in establishing and updating a cutting edge portal and resource that has greatly influenced the SBC’s global cities strategy. Nguyen, 57, drowned at a Virginia beach July 15. Coworkers learned of the tragedy from news reports and a text from IMB President Paul Chitwood, who called Nguyen “a faithful and gifted team member.” Minh Ha Nguyễn His influence grew as he used his role as director of gift care and data stewardship for the International Mission Board’s Ministry ..read more

Dr. Cherese Tooley, from Tennessee, presses on a patient’s sinus cavity during an exam. IMB Photo The trio struggled up the stairs of city hall in an Armenian village. The mother heard a medical team from the United States was seeing patients for free. She would do anything to have these doctors look at her 20-year-old son with cerebral palsy — like carrying him, along with a neighbor, almost a mile from her home. Austin Calhoun, a medic and first-year medical student from Fayetteville, North Carolina, rushed to help. He settled the son and mother in a make-shift exam room and took the young ..read more

Vitalii Arshulik speaks to a group of men and women who are waiting to be baptized. IMB Photo When IMB missionary Mick Stockwell spoke with the president of the Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS) about globalization and missions, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine had yet to puncture the health and safety of the world. Both men desired to send Ukrainian missionaries to the nations, and they brainstormed ways to make this a reality.  Their conversation marked the beginning of the journey to send a Ukrainian couple as missionaries that was the joint effort of eight entities from ..read more

Children of missionaries do their homework in a village in Mozambique. Meeting needs and supporting families are some of the most rewarding parts of missionary kid education, according to Doreen, the IMB’s director of education for MKs (also called TCKs or third culture kids). The goal of education is supporting IMB families so they can thrive as a family and in the ministry God has called them to, Doreen shared.   Doreen was a special education teacher for seven and a half years before serving with her husband, Jon, in Asia for 27 years. Before their retirement, Doreen was a regiona ..read more

Men hike to a remote village in the Amazon. “Our small Cessna bobbled lower and lower until its wheels made contact with the gravel runway, slicing through its many puddles,” Devon Faulkner wrote in a blog entry. After deplaning, Faulkner and his partner walked off the landing strip and into the jungle. Faulkner serves as a Project 3000 missionary explorer with the International Mission Board. As an explorer, Faulkner and his ministry partner, Rhett Clarke, seek out and research unengaged and unreached Indigenous people groups in remote areas of the Amazon, bringing with them the world’s most ..read more

Daily life in the historic district of Coyoacan in Mexico City. The city of more than 20 million draws a steady stream of internationals coming for business and tourism. Portrait of Charlotte McCoy. IMB Photo Charlot McCoy, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Panama and Mexico, died June 6, 2024, in Statesville, North Carolina. She was 81.  Charlot was born May 15, 1943, in Statesville, North Carolina, to the late Ralph and Lorene Fox. She graduated from Celeste Henkel High School in Iredell County, North Carolina, and received her diploma from Da ..read more

Picture of the Ngong Hills outside Nairobi, Kenya, the same hills written about in the famous novel Out of Africa. Portrait of Fred Walker. IMB Photo Fred Walker, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in East Africa and the Caribbean, died May 4, 2024, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 89.   Fred was born Nov. 12, 1934, in Harrisburg, Illinois, to the late Samuel and Emma Walker. He graduated from Chester High School in Chester, Illinois, and received the Bachelor of Arts from East Texas Baptist College, Marshall, and the Master of Divinity from Midwest ..read more