Since 1845, the International Mission Board—originally the Foreign Mission Board—has faithfully sent nearly 25,000 Southern Baptist missionaries to 185 countries, sustaining an unwavering global witness grounded in local church partnerships and long‑term presence (imb.org). Through civil war, financial hardship, cultural upheavals, and geopolitical crises, IMB missionaries pioneered strategic fields—China, Liberia, Nigeria, Argentina, Indonesia, and countless others—planting churches, making disciples, and adapting linguistically and culturally to engage “unreached” and “hidden” peoples.

Building on over 180 years of on‑field experience and local partnerships, IMB’s Global Research Department — established in the early 1980s — has become a cornerstone of data integrity and missiological strategy. From the early 80s when David Barrett and Bill Shumaker created one of the world’s first global “people group” databases until today, IMB’s Global Research Department continues to innovate with tools like GAPP and PPLR to identify gospel‑less communities and help guide missionary efforts. First launched in 2002 and drawing on real‑time insights from active missionary networks, the IMB’s Global Research Department’s Peoplegroups.org delivers detailed demographics and visually rich analytics to inform prayer, deployment, and engagement strategies—helping the harvest force ensure that every outreach is as accurate, contextualized, and as missionally effective as possible.