Perhaps you have heard about the World Missions
Offering (WMO) and thought, “What am I even giving
toward?” or, “I’d rather give directly to the missionaries!” Or maybe, “I already give to missionaries, so
I don’t need to give more money to something else.”
We have been in your shoes! To be honest, we once had the same thoughts. Until recently, that is. Like so many others, our experiences have shaped us and given us insight. Through our experiences, we began to see the WMO is vital to ministry.
We love what we currently do. Cody received his doctorate in physical therapy, and Lauren became a registered nurse early in our marriage. Married for eight wonderful years, we have two children and another baby due soon. We have lived an exciting life as a married couple. That’s why you should marry your best friend (a topic for another day).
We have held multiple positions within the medical community, but none were as fulfilling as serving as ETEAM coordinators. From 2022 through 2025, we were privileged to lead this IM student missions program, and the Lord was gracious enough to allow us to play a small part in what He is doing around the world and in the lives of high school students.
During this time, we began to see how vital the WMO is to ministries such as ETEAM, College Missions Program (CMP), and The Hanna Project (THP). But this was just the beginning.
Beyond our experience as ETEAM coordinators, we also were blessed to participate on a THP team in Ivory Coast in 2016. Not only have we seen firsthand what it takes to make these ministries happen, but we also have benefited personally from the WMO even before we knew why it was necessary. We cherish these experiences. God used them to burden our hearts, chisel away at our lives, and bring us to a point where we were willing to give up our careers and lives here in the States and move overseas to make disciples. The Lord has been faithful in opening doors to go to France and share the gospel. We look forward to building relationships and seeing lives changed by the Good News.
Being involved in almost all branches of IM, we have a unique perspective on why the World Missions Offering (WMO) is so important and how it impacts these branches. We’ve been part of the student missions programs equipping young students in missions, received support from the IM Stateside Ministry Team, benefited from training and care as missionaries, and much more.
Let’s take a deeper look into each of these branches. Once you coordinate programs like ETEAM/CMP, you realize quickly they do not just happen. They require much work!
Giving to the WMO directly funds ETEAM through the General Fund. The General Fund provides student missions funds toward their internal staff, such as the ETEAM coordinator and CMP director. The General Fund also provides funding needed to implement critical services for student missions, such as background checks on those who interact with students during these programs. This keeps the program and, most importantly, your students safe.
Another way the WMO supports ETEAM/CMP is by allowing the staff to vet, monitor, and analyze new locations for students, young adults, and leaders. We ensure these sites are safe and align with the mission, vision, and purpose of our youth programs and IM.
Like any other job, many important behind-the-scenes tasks are never seen in public. Hundreds of pages must be printed, sorted, and filed. The IM stateside ministry team ensures trips are funded, payments are assigned to the correct student, and communications with host fields are accurate. Internet network, phone, and other bills must be paid on time to keep operations running. It is impossible to write an adequate job description for the team members who make each of these programs possible and growing.
Like our youth programs, THP benefits from the WMO through the General Fund. Though the students and adults who participate with THP underwrite their own trips, the WMO funds similar background tasks essential for THP.
As a family now moving toward serving as international missionaries in France, we see the direct impact the WMO has on missionaries. When starting out as a missionary, it is daunting to be unable to work a full-time job to make a living and give up that sense of “control” over our lives. Relying fully on the Lord to identify partners and find funding is intimidating!
We are learning to live with hands lifted in full surrender. However, the WMO plays a big part in the God-given peace that passes all understanding.
Why do we say that? The WMO creates a jump-start in funding for new missionaries, placing a generous sum directly into our account when we were commissioned by the IM Board. Without those funds, we would start at zero. Because of your generous partnership in the WMO, the Lord is using you to move this mountain.
Hopefully, these simple facts help you understand the importance of the WMO, not just for us, but also for other missionaries, students, and volunteers. However, it would be a waste of time if you read this, understand the urgency, and then do nothing. Please accept the urgent challenge to do something.
Free Will Baptists number approximately 200,000 members in North America. The 2026 WMO goal is $1 million. I’m sure you can do the math, but that is only $5 per person. We spend $5 on so many unimportant things each month without batting an eye. If only half of Free Will Baptists would commit to partner financially with the WMO by giving $5 a month for a year, the WMO would total $6 million.
Imagine the impact! This challenge is an honor as we partner with God in what He is doing around the world. We all can do that!
We humbly ask:
Will you be obedient to your Lord with your giving?
Will you steward what He has given you to make massive impacts on the Kingdom?
Will we unite through the WMO to see God blow away our feeble attempts at making goals?
About the Writers: Cody and Lauren Herren and their children were recently commissioned as two-year intern missionaries in France. Learn more: www.iminc.org.
