The Evangelical Press Association (EPA) awarded the International Mission Board’s website — IMB.org — the 2019 Award of Excellence for Missions in the digital space during its annual awards ceremony April 9 in Oklahoma City. Three individual IMB.org articles received accolades as well.
The International Mission Board’s website, IMB.org, earned the Evangelical Press Association’s 2019 Award of Excellence for Missions in the digital space during its April 9 awards ceremony. (IMB Photo)
The judges’ comments for the Excellence in Missions award noted that IMB’s site offers “strong, well-edited pieces, offering how-to’s for getting into missions at all levels.” After reading articles on the site, one judge wrote, “I felt I could be a part of the Great Commission, too. The writers’ and editors’ love for the people of this world shines through.”
Since its redesign in September 2016, IMB.org has published hundreds of articles on the topics of missions, evangelism, discipleship, and Great Commission living.
“IMB.org was designed to serve churches, both as the seminal space for missions conversation on the web and as a connecting point with the IMB and global missions as a whole,” said Rodney Calfee, IMB’s content manager. “We are extremely proud of what we’ve been able to create thus far and look forward to learning, growing, and improving upon the ways we serve churches through the site in the days ahead.”
The website is a place where readers not only hear about missions, but also learn directly from Southern Baptist missionaries. All the individual IMB.org articles which earned EPA accolades were written by IMB missionaries.
“A Thousand Words: What Your Photos Say about Mission,” by William Haun, earned second place in the “Editorial” category. Haun is a missionary and photographer in Ghana. He drew from both his missionary experience and his photography skills to provide an enlightening piece on using photography responsibly and redemptively on the mission field.
A woman in the Porungon village in northern Ghana looks at a print of her photo taken by William Haun. Volunteer Mark Coppola delivered the print to her six months after it was taken. Haun earned a 2019 EPA award for his IMB.org article about using photography responsibly related to missions. (Photo by Mark Coppola)
“Living the Prosperity of the Gospel in the Midst of Suffering,” by Barbara Singerman, earned third place in the “First-Person Article” category. Singerman and her husband, Jeff, survived an auto accident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which took the lives of their dear friends and fellow missionaries Randy and Kathy Arnett on March 14, 2018. In her poignant testimony, Singerman shared how their story has provided them with a powerful, biblical answer to the heresy of the prosperity gospel, which is highly prevalent in the Sub-Saharan African countries where they serve.
Barbara Singerman kneels on the ground in Africa as medics work to re-inflate her husband’s lung inside the airplane. Singerman earned a 2019 EPA award for her IMB.org article testifying to how God is opening doors in the aftermath of her life-altering auto accident in Africa. (IMB Photo)
“Salvation Bracelets in Africa? No, Thanks,” by Melanie Clinton, earned fifth place in the “Evangelism” category. Clinton, who serves in Sub-Saharan Africa, wrote what EPA judges called a “simple, yet solid article articulating the practicality and effectiveness of contextualization.” In this piece, Clinton provides an IMB missionary’s perspective on how evangelism tools that work well in the U.S. can be problematic overseas, and offers several alternative evangelism techniques which believers can utilize in non-Western context.
Basotho children learn to make bracelets during Vacation Bible School in the mountains of Lesotho. In her EPA award-winning IMB.org article, Clinton provided an IMB missionary’s perspective on how evangelism tools that work well in the U.S. can be problematic overseas, and she offers several alternative evangelism techniques which believers can utilize in non-Western context. (IMB Photo)
Southern Baptists can find new articles, editorials, and stories from IMB every weekday at IMB.org/Articles. The IMB website, which was upgraded and redesigned again in March of 2019, is an ever-growing resource for Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches to be equipped, encouraged, and further engaged in God’s global mission.
The EPA is “the world’s largest professional organization for the evangelical periodical publishing industry, both print and digital.” Comprised of journalists, photographers, editors, designers, publishers, and freelance writers, the association meets annually to network, exchange ideas, learn new skills, and recognize outstanding achievements among their membership. In addition to IMB, other outlets receiving awards included Baptist Press, Christianity Today, and LifeWay’s Facts and Trends.
Read the list of EPA’s 2019 Awards of Excellence here. Find a full list of all 2019 EPA award-winners here.
Jaclyn S. Parrish is a writer, editor, and social media associate for IMB. She previously worked as a writer for IMB in South Asia.