Tim and Anna Norton have been appointed IMB missionaries to Sub-Saharan Africa. They will be involved in evangelism and church planting in Madagascar.
Anna Norton
Tim NortonThe South Carolina couple was commissioned July 12 at a service at Urbancrest Baptist Church in Lebanon, Ohio.
Tim grew up in Laurens. He is a graduate of North Greenville University, Uganda Christian University and Southeastern Baptist Seminary. Anna, born in Greenville, holds a B.A. from Samford University and a master’s degree from the University of Alabama.
The recent appointees bring the total number of IMB missionaries to 5,544. They are being sent to four continents – 14 to Asia, four to Africa, two to South America and one to Europe. Of the 21 missionaries, 18 had previous short-term experience.
Because of a significant shortfall in the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, IMB trustees in May suspended two short-term programs and approved a reduction of new appointments for the remainder of 2009. New appointments will continue on a more selective basis, covering the most strategic assignments.
IMB president Jerry Rankin described the appointment service as one of the most exciting things that Southern Baptists do and thanked Ohio Baptists for their faithful support of international missions, which yielded 600,000-plus new believers baptized last year.
“These are your missionaries,” Rankin said. “It’s your prayers that sustain them as they go. It’s your gifts through the Cooperative Program and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering that enable them to go in obedience to their call. Not one of these has to be delayed in going to the field out of the necessity to raise their support because you as Southern Baptists have already provided.”