The Best Thing Happening at the SBC

It’s June. And there’s always a big celebration in June: the International Mission Board (IMB) Missionary commissioning during the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting. I look forward to it every year. Messengers, guests, and those watching the Live Stream in 2026 saw 63 new missionaries sent off from Orlando, Florida.

The commissioning doesn’t tend to make the news like the other drama that heats up at the meeting. It doesn’t raise enough smoke. But it likely will have a far more lasting and eternally significant impact than anything else happening at the Convention.  

Men and women share the story of their call and what they will be doing in mission work. They’ve spent months, even years, getting to the point of standing in front of the IMB backdrop or in front of the light that casts their shadow to protect their identity. (A couple of shadows this year are my friends.)  Some of these many and women have hoped, dreamed, and prayed for the mission field for years. Some go to places that are open to have missionaries come. Others go to hostile places that could cost them their lives. It’s a moving few moments as the SBC celebrates.

For all the attention the SBC receives from the media every June, this is one event that should get more attention, be valued more, and remind Christians of the importance of working together to send missionaries to every tribe, tongue, and language. This year, 63 missionaries were commissioned. Let us pray for their work. Let us pray for their families. And let us pray that next year the number of missionaries sent at this celebration will be doubled.