IMB’s Missionary Pipeline, Helping Puerto Rico & Idol Distraction

Four years ago, 300 candidates waited in IMB’s missionary pipeline, considering a call to the nations.

That number has now surpassed 1,100, the highest it’s been in decades. This means that more than 1,100 individuals have started a process to help solve the world’s greatest problem – lostness – by becoming a missionary with the IMB.

When IMB President Paul Chitwood came into his role four years ago, he knew something needed to change. Due to the discrepancy between the number of those who begin the application process and the number who complete it, it takes 900 candidates in the pipeline to produce 250 missionaries.

IMB leadership understands that the key to bringing the Gospel to the unreached is missionary presence that cultivates Gospel access, Gospel belief and church planting and multiplication. One of the 2025 strategic objectives for the IMB is to send an additional 500 missionaries. This pipeline growth is crucial to the goal and to the task of reaching the nations.
===

The Biden administration granted a waiver last week to aid the recovery by Puerto Rico from the devastation of Hurricane Fiona on the same day Southern Baptist leaders joined others in asking for the action.

Four presidents of Southern Baptist entities had urged President Biden to provide the waiver immediately.

The SBC entity heads told Biden in their letter, “The feedback we have received indicates resources like diesel fuel are needed immediately due to the continued outages of large portions of the electrical grid.”

They commended Biden for specific steps his administration has taken to fulfill his promise to aid in Puerto Rico’s recovery. The president’s prompt declaration of the hurricane as a major disaster and pledge to cover the cost of search-and-rescue efforts “proves you are willing to act,” they wrote.
===

Good News for Today is sponsored by The Voice of the Martyrs

Good News for Today is made possible through our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfill His Great Commission — no matter the cost. Find out more and sign up for their free monthly magazine at vom.org/goodnews.
===

In a Bible study from Lifeway, the author writes, “Idols are a plague, but ultimately they have no life beyond what we give to them. The idols of today include fame, fortune, sex, success, our homes and our happiness, among a myriad of other things. If we make these things central in our lives, if these are the things we worship, God will do what is necessary to bring us back to Him and help us see that only He is worthy of worship.

This gracious work of God has culminated in the gift of His Son Jesus, the image of God, to save us from our idols, our penchant to chase them, and the consequences of death and judgment that follow in their wake. May we repent of all our idols and worship the one true, triune God alone, for He alone is living, gracious and worthy.”