Shades Mountain Baptist Church leads all three missions giving categories in 2018

Shades Mountain Baptist Church leads all three missions giving categories in 2018

By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist

Leading the state in all three missions giving categories doesn’t happen often. Churches have only hit that mark five times in the past 40 years, according to Bobby DuBois, associate executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

But of the five, Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Birmingham, was responsible for three — most recently in 2018. Last year Shades Mountain logged its third time to lead the state’s 3,250 Baptist churches in gifts through the Cooperative Program (CP), the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions.

It’s “certainly an accomplishment worth celebrating,” DuBois said. 

It’s the first time it’s been done in 25 years — and Shades Mountain did it then too, in 1993. Since 1990, Shades Mountain has annually led Alabama Baptist churches in giving through the Cooperative Program — 26 of the 28 years. 

DuBois congratulated Shades Mountain on its commitment to missions and thanked the church’s pastoral leadership for generating a culture of generosity within the congregation.

‘Missions culture’

“At the State Board of Missions we recognize the key role of the pastor in missions giving by a local church,” he said. “Shades Mountain has, over the past four decades, been blessed with two of the best in Dr. Danny Wood and Dr. Charles Carter. They have succeeded in developing a missions culture that encourages members to be sacrificial in their support of missions — both giving and going.” 

For the two other years — 1986 and 1989 — Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham, led the state in all three categories.

Other churches

And throughout the years other churches have led in one category or another too, DuBois said. First Baptist Church, Montgomery, regularly shows up at the top in giving through the two missions offerings. Others are First Baptist Church, Trussville; Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville; Crosspoint Baptist Church, Trussville; Hunter Street Baptist Church, Birmingham; and First Baptist Church, Opelika. 

“The same is true in those other churches — there’s a strong commitment to missions support, and pastors lead their churches in that respect,” DuBois said. “We are most grateful for their faithful financial support of missions.”

He said he also wants to emphasize all Alabama Baptist churches who support missions giving are “critical” in helping the state’s Baptist churches be pacesetters across the Southern Baptist Convention.

Most do not have the resources of the churches that consistently top the list, but they sacrificially give in support of missions, DuBois said. As he thanks the churches who give leadership to the three categories he said he wants to say thank you to each and every church for playing its vital role in the Kingdom through sacrificial giving.

“It is this spirit of cooperation — working together — that makes our convention strong. As a family we are celebrating together,” he said. “Alabama Baptists are extremely blessed to have such strong churches and pastors among our fellowship, and we thank God for each of them.”

For more information about CP giving, visit alsbom.org/cp.