Arizona Southern Baptists focus on ‘four questions’

With a theme of “We Connect,” Arizona Southern Baptists connected with God, the mission and each other at the annual meeting of the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists held Nov. 13 at First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale.

A total of 267 messengers from 145 Arizona churches and 50 guests participated in the meeting, bringing the official attendance to 317.

Messengers adopted a $4,362,820 operating budget for 2026 that includes a .4% increase in anticipated Cooperative Program giving, elected all three officers by acclamation, were encouraged and challenged by three messages and heard a report from Monty Patton, the new AZMN executive director.

Four questions

In his first report as executive director, Patton shared four questions that he presented at the special-called meeting in July when he was elected. The four questions comprise the vision that guides the network’s mission of “working together to make disciples of all peoples in Arizona and around the world.”

1. Who’s Your One?

“Pastor, your church will not be an evangelistic church unless you’re an evangelistic pastor,” Patton said. “And if you don’t have somebody in your life that you’re constantly investing in, or even just by happenstance sharing the gospel with, … your people won’t either.”

In partnership with the associational mission strategists, the AZMN will conduct two evangelism training opportunities in 2026, a Rural Evangelism Discipleship Summit in southern Arizona in August and Contagious Faith training throughout the state.

2. Who’s Your Next?

“Who are you discipling to be the next leaders of your church? Who are you discipling … to lead in the next generation of the gospel?” Patton asked.

Christian Challenge leaders connect with an annual meeting attendee during the mission fair.

A Who’s Your Next? Discipleship Conference at Citypoint Church, Tempe, Feb. 5, will help church leaders be prepared to raise up future leaders.

3. Where’s Your Next?

“As you lead people to Christ, as you make disciples and make leaders, you have to decide where’s the next thing [you’re] going to be involved in for the purpose of pushing back darkness in our state, in our world,” Patton said. “Every church should have a next strategy.”

He pointed to the 2026 Missions Prayer Guide, which each week features someone serving in Arizona or Arizonans serving with the International Mission Board. Slides and bulletin inserts are available to help churches pray together.

“You need to be a people of prayer, because when we pray, the Holy Spirit tells us where our next is,” Patton said. “We believe that when the church begins to pray, they’ll actually be involved more in missions, they’ll want to give more to missions, they’ll want to pray more for missions and they’ll want to go more on mission.”

4. How Can You Help?

“How can you and your church help the other churches in our network with your expertise, with your training, with your investment?” Patton asked. “A lot of our churches have things that you do extremely well that can be a benefit to other churches.”

It requires humility and willingness to engage other churches to offer support, and it takes humility for churches to allow others to come and help, he said.

To encourage connection in the network, Portraits magazine will become Connect in January, he said. The magazine will focus on the four questions through stories and articles that share principles for churches and leaders to apply.

To help churches “take their next step to get unstuck,” Patton said, the AZMN offers Church Boom cohorts for pastors of churches under 200. Chad Garrison, lead pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Lake Havasu City, and AZMN pastor coach/consultant, will lead a new cohort in January.

“It is our conviction that God wants your church to be effective at reaching your community,” Garrison said, “and we believe that the Holy Spirit of God that was there at Pentecost is in your church and wants to unleash His power in your community through your ministry. And we want to help you do that.”

Elected to second terms as Arizona Mission Network officers are Mark Mucklow (left), senior pastor of First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch, Glendale, president, and Mathew Mueller (right), lead pastor of Community Life Church, Peoria, first vice president. Trey VanCamp (center), lead pastor of Passion Creek Church in Queen Creek, was elected as second vice president.

Officers

President Mark Mucklow, senior pastor of First Southern Baptist Church at Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, and First Vice President Mathew Mueller, lead pastor of Community Life Church in Peoria, were elected to second one-year terms. Trey VanCamp, lead pastor of Passion Creek Church in Queen Creek, was elected as second vice president. VanCamp succeeds Curtis Fahrlender, who is moving out of state. All three officers were elected by acclamation.

2026 budget

Messengers approved a 2026 operating budget of $4,362,820, which includes $3,757,037 in anticipated Cooperative Program giving from churches. The Cooperative Program portion of the budget is an increase of $15,277, or .4%, from the 2025 budget.

For the fourth consecutive year, the 2026 Cooperative Program budget continues the 40-60 percentage distribution between Southern Baptist Convention causes and Arizona ministries, respectively. Since 2013, the AZMN’s total rise in giving to the SBC has been 14 percentage points.

With the 2026 budget, Cooperative Program funds remaining in Arizona will be distributed as follows: Arizona Mission Network, 40.8%; Christian Challenge collegiate ministry, 6.3%; Arizona Baptist Children’s Services & Family Ministries, 7%; and the Arizona Campus of Gateway Seminary, 5.9%. When the value of campus expenses covered by the AZMN is included, Gateway receives 7%.

Hispanic AZMN and church leaders connect during the mission fair at the annual meeting.

“Our 40% [to the SBC] is the largest percentage in the West by a pretty good margin,” Patton said. In addition, “No other convention gives more than $40,000 a year [directly] to Gateway,” he said. The 2026 budget calls for the Arizona Campus of Gateway to receive funds of more than $219,000, plus almost $41,000 in coverage of campus expenses.

“We do this because of the generosity of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and to missions,” Patton said. However, churches can only be a blessing according to how their members give. The AZMN must “adjust according to the generosity of Arizona Southern Baptists,” he said.

As of the end of September, Arizona churches had given $2,719,263 through the Cooperative Program, $94,503 less than the same period in 2024, Patton reported. Also, income was $16,640 below expenses.

Some of the income vs. expenses shortfall “has already been taken care of,” he said. “We anticipate being in the black by the end of the year.” Some churches that only give once a year gave in October, so the year-over-year shortfall is now less, he said.

AZMN Executive Director Monty Patton (far right) prays with a group of pastors during a guided prayer time at the AZMN annual meeting. Patton said it was his favorite part of the day.

Celebration Report

Patton urged churches to turn in their Celebration Report, Arizona’s name for the Annual Church Profile.

“People need to know your business, because your business is God’s business, and we as a network of people need to celebrate God’s business in Arizona,” he said. “No matter how large or how small you are, we join together and celebrate what God is doing in our state.”

Last year, with statistics from only 56.9% of Arizona churches, 2,786 baptisms were reported — the highest number in almost 20 years, he said.

While churches were planted in 2024, Arizona had a net loss in number of churches, from 457 to 452.

In 2025, eight churches have been planted, he said.

Encouragement for leaders

Three speakers encouraged pastors and ministry leaders to persevere in the mission while also caring for themselves and their relationships.

“Healthy gospel ministry requires healthy gospel ministers,” said Hance Dilbeck, president of GuideStone. “If you are not well, you will not serve well.”

Hance Dilbeck, president of GuideStone, encourages pastors to take care of themselves in a message at the AZMN annual meeting.

During his message, Dilbeck shared from 1 Timothy 4:16 and reminded pastors to steward not just their ministry, but also their physical, emotional, financial and spiritual health.

“Since we bring our whole selves into His service, we take care of ourselves,” Dilbeck said.

Cody Bishop, pastor of Gateway Fellowship in Gilbert, continued the encouragement, sharing from John 17:22-23.

“Be one for the world so the world can be won for Christ,” he said. That happens through love, he added.

Bishop challenged listeners to love other leaders and churches within the Arizona Mission Network and offered practical ideas to do so.

Those ideas included:

—Spending 15 minutes each week praying for and encouraging another pastor

—Planning a monthly lunch with another pastor

—Giving sacrificially once each year to help another church in its gospel ministry

—Using a prayer calendar to faithfully pray for other churches and pastors in Arizona.

In a message at the AZMN annual meeting, Cody Bishop, pastor of Gateway Fellowship in Gilbert, challenges listeners to love other leaders and churches within the Arizona Mission Network.

“The entire premise of having a state convention is so the world would know and believe Jesus,” he said.

Connecting with other pastors and churches creates friendships that God can use “for kingdom legacy,” he said.

Mike Lee, pastor of Mission Valley Church in Phoenix, also reiterated the importance of key relationships for longevity and health in ministry.

“The Christian life is closeness to some and connection to many,” he said. “If we’re not careful, we can try to be connected to so many people that we never really get close with anyone.”

Even as pastors enjoy relationships within the network, they must intentionally choose to prioritize closeness with Christ, their spouse, their children and their local church, Lee said.

“I think one of the beautiful things of living on this mission that Jesus has given us is that while we are staying close to some, we are connected to many on the mission,” he said.

At the close of the AZMN annual meeting, Alex Dennis, pastor of Asante Church in Surprise, prays during the commissioning of pastors new to the AZMN.

Prayer and commissioning

Ashley Evans, pastor of 22nd Street Baptist Church in Tucson, led a time of guided prayer in small groups for:

—Connecting to God: Praying we know Christ in fullness, Ephesians 3:17-19

—Connecting to each other: Praying for unity among believers, John 17:20-21 and

—Connect to the mission: Praying for boldness in sharing the gospel, Ephesians 6:19-20.

The annual meeting closed with the commissioning of new AZMN pastors. Alex Dennis, pastor of Asante Church in Surprise, challenged the men to move forward in the mission (1 Corinthians 15:58), allow God to sanctify them (1Thessalonians 5:23-24) and live fit for the kingdom, focusing on the work that is ahead (Luke 9:62).

Next year’s annual meeting will be Nov. 12 at a location to be determined.

Alex Dennis (second from left), pastor of Asante Church in Surprise, presents an AZMN-branded hat to Dustin Thrower, pastor of Village Hope Church in Phoenix, as Andrew Bailey (far left), pastor of Cross Church in Surprise, and Ashley Evans (third from left), pastor of 22nd Street Baptist Church in Tucson, help man the desk to give free hats to pastors.

Videos of the business session and sermons may be viewed here.

Elizabeth Young is director of communications for the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists.

Johanna Willett, a freelance writer living in Tucson, is a member of Mountain View Baptist Church, Tucson.

Nancy Patton, a freelance photographer living in Peoria, is a member of Mountain Ridge Baptist Church, Glendale.

Victoria White, a freelance photographer living in San Tan Valley, is the social media strategist for the Arizona Mission Network of Southern Baptists.