There is a rising of the setting sun from South Carolina to California that has led to a new birth of churches through a unique partnership. The oldest Baptist state Convention (South Carolina) is partnering with one of the newest conventions (California) and the North American Mission Board to plant new churches in underreached cities of California.
The South Carolina Baptist Convention and Journey Church sent Dr. Will Browning through the North American Mission Board to California to lead church planting efforts in Los Angeles. Will planted Journey Church in Charleston, SC, which became a strong church that not only sent out members to plant churches but also their founding pastor.
The North American Mission Board tasked Will with working with churches to plant churches in Los Angeles. His strategy focused on establishing a strong pipeline of residents who were indigenous to Los Angeles and caring for the existing Send Network planters well. His first call for help was to the South Carolina Baptist Convention, which sent him out.
His long-term plan was strategically clear and cooperatively dependent. Residents raised up in California Baptist churches would be funded through a partnership with the California Baptist sending church, the North American Mission Board, and SCBaptist churches for a short period of time. During this time, SCBaptist churches would go, serve, and see the needs. Several of these churches picked up the baton to provide additional funding, helping the church plant cross the finish line of self-sustained funding.
The top cooperative program giving church in South Carolina, Taylor’s First Baptist Church, led by Senior Pastor Josh Powell, sent church members to help serve and support LA.
“When we have a heart for the nations and a desire for cooperation, there is no better partnership South Carolina Baptists have than serving alongside the North American Mission Board and California Baptists to reach the greater Los Angeles area,” said Rev. Powell.
The First Baptist Church of Spartanburg has partnered with a church planting resident in Los Angeles.
“We have been blessed to help Pastor Jason and Echo Church as they reach their community for Christ. Church planting is a vital part of reaching the world for Christ in California and South Carolina,” said Pastor Mike Harder, First Baptist Church of Spartanburg.
A rural church in South Carolina, Barnwell First Baptist Church, from Will’s hometown, sent a team led by Rev. Jeremy Creech to work on Skid Row with The Abiding Church and Pastor Trenton Mueller.
“Serving on skid row will profoundly shift your perspective on what truly matters in life. It exposed our people to the challenges these church plants had in serving those in need in LA,” said Rev. Creech.
Caring well for planters was important to the strategy. A retreat was organized for the wives of church planters. Melanie Ratcliffe, Director of Relational Evangelism for SCBaptists, mobilized pastor wives from SCBaptist churches to serve and lead small groups during the retreat in California. After the retreat, the churches they represented organized the next year’s retreat. Millbrook Baptist Church in Aiken, SC, picked up the baton and invested time and funding to serve the planters and their wives for the past two years.
“Millbrook has had an incredible experience working with the Brownings and serving the churches and planters’ wives in the Los Angeles area. 2026 will be the third year that our church has partnered with Send LA to participate in this initiative. Our team has been so richly blessed by getting to know the pastors and wives who are serving the wonderful state of California. We are so thankful for the vision of Melanie Ratcliffe for introducing us to this great work and look so forward to continuing our partnership with them,” said Dr. Stephen Cannon, Senior Pastor of Millbrook Baptist Church.
Over the past two years, 57 new churches have been launched in Los Angeles, and the partnership has been extended to San Diego. Residents were established in several churches in the San Diego area with a diversity of leaders. One of the church plants is led by Yuji and his wife, both of whom are from Japan. The Japanese are potentially the largest unreached people group in the world by population. Yuji and his wife planted a Japanese church in San Diego to reach the 35,000 Japanese residents and celebrated their first baptism in 2024.
The partnership is now extending to San Francisco. The churches in the Bay Area have unique challenges, but the strategy to plant remains the same.
“Our coast-to-coast partnership with California Baptists has been one of our most fruitful and rewarding relationships. I’m thankful for SCBaptists’ Cooperative Program commitments through which they have made an eternal difference in the Golden State, together with Southern Baptist brothers and sisters who leverage their lives on the ground there,” said Dr. Tony Wolfe, Executive Director-Treasurer, South Carolina Baptist Convention.
The Southern Baptist ecosystem mobilizes missionaries from churches through state conventions, associations, and mission boards to bring hope and freedom to a lost and dying world. Our unity lets freedom ring from coast to coast.
