After leaving the American Baptist Association over church representation matters, the association was formed at Little Rock, Arkansas in 1950 as the North American Baptist Association, the Baptist Missionary Association of America adopted its current name in 1969. Its concentration is in the Southern United States, but as a result of its mission work, the association has churches across the United States and throughout the world. According to the BMAA Missions Department, "the sun never sets on BMA Missions." The BMAA currently supports the most missionaries around the world than ever before in the association's history.