As I write this article on August 13, it is a memorable date for me. Sixty-one years ago, on August 13, 1965, my family began our journey of driving from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to San José, Costa Rica, in a 1961 Chevrolet station wagon. My parents started their missionary career by attending language school for one year in Costa Rica.

Recently, while talking to the director of a major Baptist mission agency here in the USA, I was made aware of an alarming statistic. He shared with me that only 9% of the churches associated with his mission agency were actually sending churches.