N.C. Baptist leaders celebrated a strong first quarter in missions giving, heard several ministry reports and recognized outgoing Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin during a virtual meeting of the state convention’s executive committee on Tuesday, April 21.

In the first quarter of 2026, state convention officials reported receiving more than $7.2 million in Cooperative Program gifts from N.C. Baptist churches, which was more than $616,000 or 9.31% higher than the same time period as last year. The $7.2 million received during the first quarter included a $373,000 estate gift, but officials said total receipts would have still reflected a year-over-year increase even without the one-time estate gift.

N.C. Baptist Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Unzicker said the first-quarter giving totals were the highest in a decade.

“That’s something to celebrate,” Unzicker said. “We’re just really encouraged and thankful to the Lord that He provides for our needs.”

Additionally, giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions showed slight increases in the first quarter. Through March 31, gifts to the Annie Armstrong offering totaled nearly $556,000, about $900 or 0.17% ahead of last year. Gifts to the Lottie Moon offering totaled more than $9.7 million in the first quarter, which was about $162,000 or 1.75% higher than the same time period last year.

Gifts to the North Carolina Missions Offering (NCMO) totaled nearly $306,000 in the first quarter. The offering, which is historically emphasized in September, helps fund disaster response and the 17 different ministries of N.C. Baptists on Mission, which continues to assist those impacted by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. 

Ministry updates

N.C. Baptists on Mission President Tim Etheridge reported that volunteers have completed 865 rebuild jobs, with an additional 210 in progress. Moreover, Baptists on Mission officials recently dedicated the first home constructed from the ground up and have an additional 19 new home constructions in progress.

In other business, the executive committee approved a recommendation to appoint Dan Kiefer, lead pastor of Concord Baptist Church in Granite Falls, to fill a vacancy on the N.C. Baptist board of directors.

Seth Brown, N.C. Baptist director of convention relations, also shared an update on behalf of the Articles & Bylaws Special Committee related to work on some potential bylaw updates that will likely be presented at a future meeting. Brown said the bylaw committee is exploring potential updates related to clarifying some existing language following the change in relationship between the state convention and N.C. Baptist Hospital that was approved in 2022, changes to the terms of service for board members of N.C. Baptists’ related entities, and an update that would place a cap on the size of the N.C. Baptist board of directors.

Honoring Akin

The executive committee also expressed its appreciation to Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin, who is retiring at the end of July after serving as the school’s leader for 22 years. Following the executive committee meeting, several state convention leaders and committee members attended events at the seminary to honor Akin.

“We are certainly grateful for Dr. Akin’s tenure at Southeastern,” said N.C. Baptist board President Robert Hefner. “And I know many of you and many North Carolina Baptists and SBC (Southern Baptist Convention) folks are going to be celebrating that today.”

Next meeting

The next executive committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, at Fort Caswell on Oak Island in conjunction with the full meeting of the N.C. Baptist board of directors.

By Chad Austin, BR Managing Editor

EDITOR’S NOTE— This article originally appeared on brnow.org.