In this special live recording from the N.C. Baptist Annual Meeting, episode host Aaron Wallace talks with Global Missions Coordinator Janet Packard and Pastor Neal Thornton about why caring for missionaries is part of the core identity of a Great Commission church. With more than 500 IMB missionaries from North Carolina alone, the opportunity to support them is vast and fruitful. This conversation explores what happens when churches take missionary care seriously.


Janet Packard, N.C. Baptists’ new global missions coordinator, highlights the value of starting with a missions assessment, a simple tool that helps churches identify how to build relationships with missionaries and engage strategically in the Great Commission. 

Neal Thorton, church planter and pastor of Coram Deo Baptist Church in Raleigh, shares why caring for missionaries enriches the entire church, creating a culture of “one another” compassion and helping believers see their Bibles and communities through a missionary lens. The conversation points to practical first steps, from praying for missionaries to reading biographies to forming long-term friendships with those serving overseas. Listen in to hear how N.C. Baptist churches can link arms with the hundreds of missionaries from North Carolina who need ongoing care, prayer and partnership.

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Podcast Highlights:

  • “We want to look at the long view, the long haul of committing ourselves to leveraging our lives in their context. We want to create friends. We want to use different means and media to create those relationships. And we also want to be committed to pray and also create competencies of our own people, so that they can be not just a caring congregation, but caring Christians, as they think about how to connect with missionaries for their ministry’s success.” (1:54)
  • “We have 544 adults (from North Carolina) serving overseas just with the IMB alone, and we would love to see every church connected with every one of our missionaries.” (3:09)
  • “It creates this culture of care and compassion. There’s 17 or so unique ‘one another’ statements in the New Testament, and one of those is to care and love for one another. I’m of the persuasion that if we can learn to care for missionaries, that’s going to affect how we care for one another, whether that’s on Sunday morning or throughout the week. It creates this ambient temperature in the congregation that we’re a caring people.” (4:44)
  • “Asking the question, ‘How can I best leverage my life to make the greatest kingdom impact?’ Those questions come from a praying heart.” (6:23)

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