Dr. Bill Mackey

Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director Bill Mackey recently shared his thoughts on last week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on his blog, Partners in the Mission, and in the Western Recorder newspaper. Here’s a reprint of that piece:

Report from Orlando

I want to share some words of encouragement from Orlando, especially for those who could not attend the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.

As you know by now, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report passed by about a 70 percent vote on a show of ballots. The vote came after 90 minutes of discussion and motions to amend or postpone the vote for more study. The GCRTF report includes seven recommendations that will be implemented by the SBC boards and the SBC Executive Committee over time.

The task force was gracious in accommodating wording by messengers to amend the report. The most significant change was to indicate that designated giving will be a supplement to, and not a substitution for, Cooperative Program giving.

The gracious way this was handled helped to change the atmosphere on the convention floor from what appeared to be a 50/50 division on the amendment to the place where most messengers were comfortable enough to vote for the report. The language in the report strongly states the priority of Cooperative Program giving.

It was apparent that much prayer had preceded the convention. During the debate a messenger requested that we pause for prayer for God’s will to be done and to move us past the division.

I believe Southern Baptists have a grand opportunity to experience a true renewed focus on the Great Commission. If we continue to pray and seek God with all our hearts as we did during and leading up to the GCRTF report and continue to respect and work with one another under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I am confident that God will permit us to experience a Great Commission Resurgence.

–Robert Reeves