Georgia Baptists commission church planters at annual meeting opening service

By HENRY DURAND, The Christian Index

Monday, November 10, 2025

ATLANTA — The inspiration service that opened the Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting on Sunday at First Baptist Atlanta also became a sending service, as state leaders brought a group of new church planters to the platform and asked Georgia Baptists to pray for them, support them, and see them as “answers to prayer” for the state’s growing mission field.

Georgia Baptist Mission Board Executive Director Thomas Hammond told messengers that reaching the 7 million unreached people in Georgia will require more churches, especially as population growth turns farmland into subdivisions and shopping centers. “We need churches in all 159 counties,” he said, adding that Cooperative Program giving is helping fund an aggressive church planting strategy.

Hammond then introduced Ryan McCammack, who leads Send Network Georgia, the partnership between Georgia Baptists and the North American Mission Board to plant more churches across the state. McCammack said the partnership is already bearing fruit. Right now, he said, Georgia has about 80 church plants five years old or younger. On a typical Sunday, about 6,000 people worship in those congregations, and this year those churches have baptized some 500 people.

“My heart burns for church planting,” McCammack said, going back to the day when church planters knocked on his parents’ door and invited them to a church plant. McCammack was saved at that church, and he wants to see that repeated “over and over” in Georgia. He pointed to Jesus’ words in Luke 10 about the harvest being plentiful and the need to pray for laborers.

After being called to the stage by McCammack, the planters came forward to share their names and where they are starting new churches.

Hammond said they were invited not only so Georgia Baptists could pray for them, but also so the planters could see the congregations that make their ministries possible through Cooperative Program giving.

Among the church planters present at the commissioning were:

Danny Abell, Reliant Church, Temple

Bharat Raaya, First Revival Church, Cumming

Steven Johnson,  Vessels of Life Church, Snellville

Soulouque Dorisme, Open Door Tabernacle, Hoschton

Abner Ruiz, Comunidad de Fe, Marietta

Kyle Farmer, Lux Fellowship, Rock Spring

Stephan Cobbert, Genesis Community Church, Hapeville

Brian Brock, The Gathering Church, Monroe

Joseph Leach, 1025 Church Statham, Statham

Adam Bishop, The Parish Church, Marietta

Robert Suh, New Wave Korean Baptist Church, Buford

Hong Chul Kim, UpDream Church, Inc., Suwanee

Carlos Guevara, Somos Eclesia, Buford

Ben Presten, Christ Church, Johns Creek

Benjamin Moore, Salem Bilingual, Dalton

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Video of the sessions and presentations during the annual meeting is avail

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File: 20251110-021614-7f9-Ryan Send with Thomas s.jpg

Caption: Ryan McCammack, director of Send Network Georgia, talks about the church planting initiative as Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, listens during a service to open the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on Sunday, Nov. 9, at First Baptist Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand)

File: 20251110-021620-541-Thomas and planters s.jpg

Caption: Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, speaks as church planters line the stage during a service to open the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on Sunday, Nov. 9, at First Baptist Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand)

File: 20251110-021611-db0-Benjamin Moore during prayer s.jpg

Caption: Benjamin Moore, pastor of Salem Bilingual in Dalton, prays with his wife, Courtney, during a commissioning for church planters at a service to open the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on Sunday, Nov. 9, at First Baptist Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand)

File: 20251110-021626-47e-Johnson Send s.jpg

Caption: Steven Johnson,  of Vessels of Life Church, Snellville, introduces himself and his wife, Priscilla, during a commissioning of church planters at a service to open the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on Sunday, Nov. 9, at First Baptist Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand)

File: 20251110-021629-972-Thomas Send s.jpg

Caption: Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, talks about the Send Network Georgia church planting initiative during a service to open the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board on Sunday, Nov. 9, at First Baptist Atlanta. (Index/Henry Durand)