Editorial

The unanimous election of Geoff Hammond as the new president of the North American Mission Board was clearly a relief to trustees who met March 20-21 in Alpharetta, Ga., for the special called meeting. If early indications hold true, the choice of Hammond to lead Southern Baptists' missions agency focusing on the United States and Canada also will likely be a relief to Southern Baptists across the nation.

It's no secret that NAMB has had a challenging year in the wake of controversy over the departure of its previous president, and that there has been division within the trustee board concerning the direction of the agency responsible for providing national strategy for evangelism and church planting. It appears, however, that the trustees have come together around its new president.

Perhaps most important of all the things that could be said about Hammond is his clear missionary calling and commitment to lead NAMB as truly a missions enterprise—one that is primarily concerned with reaching North America with the Gospel. This really shouldn't be remarkable, but there's no doubt that at least for some Southern Baptists—including some of NAMB's trustees—the agency had lost its way in recent years with a diverse agenda that watered-down its focus on evangelism and church planting.

Hammond is stressing the missionary culture from the top and the beginning by wearing his own NAMB-issued missionary identification badge that he received as a NAMB-appointed missionary through the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

In an interview following his election, Hammond told me, "I just love the fact that we are the North American MISSIONS Board," stressing the word "missions."

He added, "To me that's our assignment from the Southern Baptist Convention—that we be a missions agency. In order to do that we've got to be missionary in our thinking, we've got to have a missionary culture. I see the world through a missionary lens."

In addition to his missionary-mindset, Hammond was also widely praised for his servant-leadership posture, as opposed to a CEO-leadership. For Hammond, it could be no other way.

"I believe that Christian leadership is servant leadership. ... I don't know any other kind of leadership. It's in our serving that we become strategic and we do organizing. I was thinking about that verse from John, you know, where John the Baptist says, He must increase and I must decrease. And that's the constant challenge for me in my leadership."

I asked Hammond how his leadership of NAMB will be influenced by his varied background in missions ministries.

"There's a perspective that you bring if you've been [in ministry] that helps you when you're on the other side of the table, I think. Being a church planter, helps me have a heart for church planting, of course. Working as a director of missions, I realize I had tremendous influence on the 50-plus churches in my association. That was a very close relationship. And then, coming from a state convention perspective, I hope that I'll bring that to the table in saying when I was in a state convention these are the things that were important to us," he said.

Hammond added, "I want us to see how NAMB's work is multiplied through partners. And, of course, to have a multiplication effect we've got to have healthy relationships and we're just going to ask God to give us favor in that area."

Hammond also told me that ethnic missions will be a priority at NAMB—something for which Floridians will have great appreciation.

"I think one our challenges in the 21st century is begin to understand the ethnic groups that make up America. They are becoming more numerous and more diverse. And one of my concerns is to try and help the North American Mission Board develop contextualized material for church planting and for evangelism among ethnics and to be effective in reaching those folks. I see a day when Southern Baptists will see somebody who doesn't speak the same language, from a different culture, and thinks, I wonder how the North American Mission Board can help me with a tract or how they could help find a resource [so] that I can witness to this person who may not even speak English?"

When I asked Hammond if he had a specific message for Florida Baptists, he said, "I want to say Florida Baptists, you're a great state convention. We appreciate your support of the Cooperative Program and I want to say at this time of the year especially during Annie Armstrong season when we're praying for North American missions and folks are giving so generously, please continue to do that and just know that we're grateful for what God's doing in Florida. And we count the Florida state convention as a great partner."

Especially during this time of year when Southern Baptists are giving special attention to North American missions through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, Florida Baptists should be in prayer for Hammond as he takes the helm of the strategically important ministry at the North American Mission Board.