Before 3,000 people at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga. — one of the largest crowds to ever witness a North American Mission Board missionary commissioning service — NAMB introduced 79 new missionaries and 16 new chaplains on Sunday, March 28.
The new missionaries and chaplains represented 24 states, two Canadian provinces and 23 state Baptist conventions. South Carolina alone accounted for 11 missionaries commissioned during the two-hour service.
One newly commissioned Army chaplain, Capt. Jared Vineyard, will be deployed to Afghanistan later this summer, leaving behind his expectant wife Amanda, son Jacob and daughter Kate at Fort Campbell, Ky. Vineyard will serve as a chaplain in the “Band of Brothers” battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the “Screaming Eagles.”
