The Kentucky Baptist Convention may get its own Great Commission Task Force if the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board and messengers to this November’s annual meeting approve a proposal from the Mission Board’s Administrative Committee.

Here’s the news as released by the Kentucky Baptist Convention:

LOUISVILLE – The Administrative Committee of the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board has approved a recommendation calling for the formation of a Great Commission Task Force for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Meeting in executive session Thursday, the committee voted to send the recommendation to the full Mission Board for consideration at its meeting on Nov. 9. If approved, it would then go before messengers attending the annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on Nov. 10.

The task force, to be appointed by KBC President John Mark Toby, would be asked to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The task force would bring its report and any recommendations it might have to messengers attending the 2010 annual meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

In a letter to Mission Board members, Administrative Committee Chairman Darren Gaddis said the committee’s decision was in response to action by messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville in June to ask SBC President Johnny Hunt to appoint a task force to examine how Southern Baptist national organizations are engaged in helping fulfill the Great Commission.  That task force has already begun its work and will be reporting back to SBC messengers next June in Orlando.

“This (appointing a Kentucky task force) would allow the KBC to track with the national effort in evaluating how we as a state convention can best fulfill the Great Commission,“ Gaddis said.

Gaddis, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Corbin, affirmed the work of the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board staff and that of the other entities that receive at least some funding from the Convention. These include Campbellsville University, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Oneida Baptist Institute, the University of the Cumberlands, Kentucky Baptist Assemblies, Kentucky Baptist Foundation, Sunrise Children’s Services, the Western Recorder and Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union.

“We certainly appreciate and affirm the work of our Mission Board staff and that of every Kentucky Baptist Convention entity.  We know that each of our state organizations have been and are working faithfully,” Gaddis said. “They are all led by capable and committed individuals who receive guidance from boards prayerfully selected and elected by Kentucky Baptists.  It is healthy for any great organization to be constantly seeking ways to be even better and it is in this spirit that we recommend the formation of this task force.”

KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey said he supports the idea of a state task force.

“Growing, whether as an individual or as an organization takes a willingness to step back from time to time and evaluate,” Mackey said. “I see this as a very good way to do just that. Kentucky Baptists have a strong track record of using special committees like this one to study big issues effectively and I believe God will bless as we seek His guidance.”

The Great Commission refers to Jesus’ command to his followers to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you,” found in Matt. 28:19-20. Southern Baptists have asked for this mandate to guide the work of the SBC’s Great Commission Task Force that is already underway.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of more than 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, Ky. including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.  For more information, visit www.kybaptist.org.