An African pastor, Lawum Kayamba, a native of Kikwit, an important commercial center in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), found his way to the seaside city of Portland, Maine, and started Disciples International Christian Church, a thriving multicultural, evangelical church.

After nearly thirty years as the founder and bivocational pastor of Igreja Comunidade Batista de Naugatuck (First Brazilian Baptist Church of Naugatuck), in the Naugatuck Valley of Connecticut, Jose Monteiro has lived a lifetime of Christ-centered “obedience in the same direction”—on the path God set for him since preaching his first sermon when he was 12 years old.

When J. D. and Natalie Mangrum moved into the oldest neighborhood in one of America’s oldest cities, they decided that community engagement would be a lifestyle, not an activity. As they started a multicultural, multigenerational Baptist church in 2016, they chose not to schedule a series of public events to garner attention, but to develop authentic friendships that eventually would earn them the opportunities to discuss the gospel with their neighbors.

When most pastors decide to start a church, they think of hymnals and folding chairs. A team of volunteers planning a new congregation in central Massachusetts decided instead that knee pads and helmets were essential items for the innovative ministry they had in mind.

“You don’t have to be a millionaire to make a difference” for youth, said Merrill Thomas, who served twice as a Baptist Foundation of New England board member. The secret to sustaining a not-for-profit endowment, he advised, is to give generously every month to a cause in which you believe.

When Joliz Cotto traveled from Connecticut to Scotland in February it turned out to be much more than an interesting mid-winter break from her school routines. Rather, the cross-cultural Christ-focused learning experience, she said, “helped give me clarity on how God can use me to glorify him, if I just step out of my comfort zone. I was blessed to be able to go on mission to Scotland and make friends that will last a lifetime.”

When longtime New England Baptist Pastor Paul K. S. Kim laces up his sneakers and leaves home on any given day, his thoughts and prayers turn to everything that has happened in the fifty years since he received God’s “Macedonian call” to a life of church-planting. At 75, he also looks hopefully to the future with a renewed stamina that comes from walking some 1,300 miles a year.