KETTERING, Ohio — Thirty-three missionaries stood before family, friends and supporters near Dayton on Monday night and affirmed their call to global service, at a Sending Celebration that also launched the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio’s annual gathering, the International Mission Board (IMB) announced.
The Nov. 9 celebration was held at the Sugarcreek Campus of First Baptist Church Kettering, according to the IMB. The missionaries were appointed by IMB trustees and are fully supported; they represent 10 states, including two candidates from Ohio, and many Southern Baptist churches committed to sending and sustaining them, the IMB said. For security reasons, some of the newly appointed missionaries are not publicly identified, the IMB noted.
First Baptist Kettering senior pastor Chad Keck welcomed those in attendance and shared his appreciation for the partnership with Southern Baptist churches to cooperatively send and support missionaries, the IMB reported. Jeremy Westbrook, executive director-treasurer of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, joined Keck in welcoming guests as the convention’s annual gathering got underway.
The IMB told several of the missionaries’ stories as part of the celebration. Rob and Stephanie Boss, sent by Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, are headed to Colombia, where they will serve through theological education — a call Rob Boss said he first sensed during a December 2025 FaceTime call with the couple’s daughter Hannah, who was then in IMB training herself, according to the IMB. “It wasn’t an audible voice, but it was so clear,” Rob Boss said, in the IMB’s account of the celebration. “It was Him. It was so kind and so gentle and so encouraging.”
Jonathan and Whitney Wagner are returning to Albania with their three children to strengthen churches through theological training, the IMB said — going back to a country where their first term included a devastating earthquake, a global pandemic and health struggles. “We realized that the calling just remained,” Jonathan Wagner said, according to the IMB. “It never went away for us.” Charlie and Lesley Harris, who spent seven years ministering to immigrants and refugees in the Toronto area, are headed to the Pacific Islands, the IMB reported.
IMB President Paul Chitwood challenged those attending to celebrate and support the missionaries, praising Ohio Baptists for their record Cooperative Program giving, according to the IMB. “The most important work in the universe is ensuring that lost people hear the gospel and have the opportunity to trust Christ,” Chitwood said, in the IMB’s account. At the close of the event, Chitwood led a prayer time in which friends and family gathered around the missionaries, the IMB said.
The 33 missionaries now depart for assignments on several continents — in the Bosses’ case, continuing a family legacy the IMB traced through three generations. The next Sending Celebration is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2027, at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, according to the IMB.
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