North Carolina has become one of the nation's fastest-growing states as newcomers from other states and nations come here to live.

A Raleigh newspaper reported early in 2009 that 21 new people move into the state every hour. These many newcomers constitute a huge challenge in missions and evangelism for North Carolina Baptists.

NCMO funds will help the Baptist State Convention's church planting ministry which funds about 179 church-planting missionaries. These hard-working church planters started 98 new churches during 2009; roughly a new church every three days.

The church planters are working in some three dozen languages as they reach out to people from other lands. They started 20 new Hispanic churches and 25 Asian churches in 2009. As these missionaries visited people to share the gospel, they led more than 2,300 people to faith in Christ. This is one of the most successful evangelistic programs for North Carolina Baptists.