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

Richard Harris, Bill Mackey and Jerry Rankin

Just ahead of  the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando last week, Bill Mackey, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s executive director, participated in a panel discussion on Great Commission priorities with Jerry Rankin, the outgoing president of the International Mission Board, and Richard Harris, the interim president of the North American Mission Board.

Click on the arrow below to hear the audio of their 15-minute discussion:

If the embedded player is not showing on the device on which you are reading this post, you can also access the audio by clicking the link below. This link will also allow you to download the audio file.

GCR Roundtable Discussion with Bill Mackey, Jerry Rankin and Richard Harris

Here’s a summary of discussion highlights from the North American Mission Board:

ORLANDO, Fla. – International Mission Board president Jerry Rankin, Kentucky Baptist Convention executive director Bill Mackey and interim North American Mission Board president Richard Harris took part in a brief roundtable discussion on future trends in missions during the SBC annual meeting in Orlando.

The roundtable was one of four hosted by NAMB during the SBC meeting in Orlando. Other discussions included “Reaching Cities in North America,” “Church Planting in the 21st Century” and “Reaching People Groups in North America.” Audio of each roundtable discussion is posted at www.namb.net/orlando2010.

Mackey said reaching the increasing numbers of internationals settling in Kentucky is an issue challenging him. “We are seeing a great influx of Hispanics, a tripling to 300,000 since 2000. We’re trying to respond by urging the churches to consider the opportunities in their neighborhoods.

“We’re working with journeymen who are coming out of seminary who are experienced with working with people groups throughout the world. We need them to address the people groups moving into Kentucky. For example, we have seven dialects spoken by Indians in Louisville.”

Rankin agreed that “the world is coming to us. You no longer have to go overseas to do foreign missions and reach unreached people groups. All of us recognize that it won’t be the state convention, IMB or NAMB that reaches these people groups. It will have to be a grassroots movement of Christians witnessing anywhere, everywhere to anyone. IMB’s role would be to mobilize, train and equip these grassroots Christians, churches and associations to reach the peoples coming to their communities.”

NAMB’s Harris said, “You have to identify these folks and find them: where are they and what are their interests? What is their heart language? What are their needs?

“One area we need to do more in is on university campuses,” said Harris. “We have to get more career, MSC and summer semester missionaries on campus – to get in there and engage students with campus ministries and try to reach them. They’re the ones going into leadership positions.The college campus is a great opportunity.”

The three men also discussed the advent of “participatory missions” – whereby more of today’s Baptists want to take a hands-on approach to missions, rather than leaving it just to missionaries.

“There’s a massive challenge of reaching billions of people overseas,” said Rankin. “We’ll never have enough missionaries to reach them all. But if we could mobilize the 16 million Southern Baptists and 45,000 churches to be strategically involved, God has raised up the necessary resources to fulfill the Great Commission.”

story by Mickey Noah, North American Mission Board

–Robert Reeves

The Southern Baptist Convention is being held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., June 15-16.

Please be in prayer for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention set for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Crossover Orlando activities were held this past weekend with the Pastors’ Conference slated for today (Monday).

Be in special prayer for the presentation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. There is obviously not a consensus on all aspects of this report so be in prayer that messengers will carefully listen to all that is said — both pro and con — and be sensitive to the Lord’s guidance in making a decision about how to vote. Pray that human politics will have minimal influence and that the vote is a true reflection of Southern Baptists’ feelings about God’s leading. An artificial result built upon one side or another’s prowess at getting people to the meeting will have no lasting positive impact on the churches of the Convention.

I am also praying that all debate on the report will be conducted in a God-honoring manner that is respectful of all people and all viewpoints. This meeting is the one time of year when the secular press closely watches Southern Baptists and it is the nature of the news industry to focus on conflict. My prayer is that Southern Baptists, even if they disagree with one another on the particular strategies we use in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission, will demonstrate a love for the Lord and each other that stands out strongly. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if secular reporters went away feeling that something was truly different about Southern Baptists and that they weren’t just covering another big political meeting?

Pray also that following the vote — no matter the outcome — that Southern Baptists will come together and continue to work together cooperatively. Much has been written and said during the run-up to this Convention that has been harsh, hurtful and, at times, quite misinformed. The mission is bigger than any one person, entity or denomination, however, so it is essential that we keep our sight set on the goal of reaching our world for Christ and move forward in unity and with a renewed fervor for the gospel.

Given the various points of view that have been expressed about the report, it is inevitable that some are not going to be pleased with the outcome. Out of respect for each other, therefore, I am praying that we all demonstrate graciousness and that we will not see either cheers or other expressions of gloating on the part of individuals who are pleased with the results or expressions of frustration, anger or bitterness from those who may not be.

May the Lord bless the Southern Baptist Convention and may this be a convention that is historic not so much for a report or vote but for the outpouring of love for each other and the lost of this world that it demonstrates!

–Robert Reeves

Mike James

Mike James serves as both the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s church development strategist for the south central region of Kentucky as well as the KBC’s point person on discipleship for the entire state. He recently wrote a great post on his 28Nineteen blog about what our attitude should be as we go to Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, June 15-16, and discuss the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.

Mike’s comments are especially important given the fact that secular media are likely to report on this aspect of our meeting as if we are a political convention like the Democrats or Republicans. Reporters will tend to draw attention to differences and, for the purpose of telling the story simply, likely want to present Southern Baptists as being divided into factions over the GCR.

Here’s Mike’s post:

G.C.R. and M.O.U.S.E.

The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a PECULIAR people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

I think this was a prophetic word concerning a future denomination called Southern Baptists. We are a peculiar people, some of us more peculiar than others. Our church polity is peculiar, our methodologies and worship styles are all unique, since each church is autonomous and conducts its own affairs. Those who don’t know Southern Baptists as they peer inside our work must think, “they are a peculiar people.” With this in mind allow me to share three thoughts about the upcoming Great Commission Task Force report at the Southern Baptist Convention.

Like many of you I am attending the Southern Baptist Convention in Mickey’s home town of Orlando. Will Mickey and Minnie Mouse be messengers this year? It is just my fourth convention but it sounds like it will be an interesting one for sure.

There have been numerous blogs, articles written, and press releases about the GCR report and the ramifications for the future. I am not an authority on this issue, but here are three things we must keep in mind in Orlando.

Let’s remember we are not voting on the Great Commission. When I read the Gospels and Acts 1:8, it is apparent that fulfilling the Great Commission is not an option to be voted on or a multiple choice question where we have many possible answers to choose from. It’s not even a question in Scripture but a direct command from our Lord who said, “Go make disciples.”

A church, association, state convention, or national denomination cannot truly vote on the Great Commission because God already cast the vote in His Word and that’s the vote that really counts. We all agree that the Great Commission is the heart of being a disciple of Jesus and the mission of the church…period. Let’s remember that there are good people on both sides of this report who are Godly folks and who feel very strongly for or against the report as it stands. They all sincerely believe in the importance of fulfilling the Great Commission. I see a great deal of passion on both sides.

Let’s remind ourselves that the recommendation of the task force is simply a set of ideas concerning the process, structure, and methodologies of fulfilling the Great Commission. I’ve been a Baptist all my life and I discovered early in my ministry that if you put three Baptists in a room, close the door, and wait 20 minutes…presto, you have 11 different opinions about how to do church. Yes, we are a particularly peculiar people. Regardless of the outcome of the vote concerning the task force’s recommendations, the most significant thing that could happen is for every pastor and church leader to renew their passion about leading their churches forward in working together with other churches in order to fulfill the Great Commission because that is what a New Testament church does.

Let’s remain in fellowship with a kind, cooperative spirit regardless of any actions taken at the SBC. I am going to Orlando and whether the recommendation from the task force is tabled, amended, modified, adapted, homogenized or voted down or up; I for one will not break fellowship with those brothers and sisters who vote differently than my peculiar vote. Yes I am one of those peculiar Baptists. We must not make this a line in the denominational sand. We must not make this a fellowship issue. If we do, the kingdom will not be honored and we will leave Orlando disappointed and defeated. Every pastor, Director of Missions, state and denominational leader I’ve met is committed to being more effective in fulfilling the Great Commission. We are all on the same page regarding the bigger issue of purpose and mission.

My point is, let’s not over react, but realize we all have the same goal of reaching the world for Christ beginning in our on town. This will not be the last study report for Southern Baptists to consider.

The media and the world will have their mouse ears on listening and watching us in Orlando. How we respond to each other, regardless of how we voted on any recommendation or point of business, really shows if we are Great Commission Christians!

In JOHN 13:34 Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you LOVE one another; even as I have loved you, that you also LOVE one another. By this shall all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have LOVE for one another.”

My hope and prayer is that Southern Baptists, a peculiar people indeed, can disagree agreeably in Christ like love and go back to our churches after the convention with a new zeal for sharing the Gospel and working together. This will not happen by a vote at a national convention, but by the Holy Spirit filling us and guiding each of us to be Great Commission Christians. I pray that is the resurgence we experience in Orlando.

–Robert Reeves

Dr. Bill Mackey

Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, released a column today in the Western Recorder newspaper as well as on his own blog, Partners in the Mission, regarding the upcoming report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to be received by messengers to Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, June 15-16. Here’s a re-post of his thoughts:

GCR Challenges

The report from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force includes some great challenges for Southern Baptists. As we think about these challenges and recommendations, I believe the original GCR motion provides an excellent framework to help us.

The original motion commissioned the group to bring a report and any recommendations “… concerning how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

One part of that challenge asks how we can be more “faithful.” Southern Baptists have always been committed to the Great Commission, and we must not forget that we are a missionary people. When I think about the Great Commission, I immediately ask how I can be more faithful. I am sure that the Task Force members have done the same. At a minimum, I believe this involves tithing through one’s local church as well as living and sharing the Gospel for a lifetime.

The motion also asked how we can be more “effective.” There is no question about the need for every Southern Baptist, church and denominational entity to be more effective. Too much is at stake for our work to be conducted in any manner other than the most effective way possible.

This is an opportunity to make significant adjustments. State conventions have been challenged to absorb the costs of missions work funded through cooperative agreements with the North American Mission Board. (At present, state conventions and NAMB share these costs.) If approved, Kentucky will need to absorb $1,017,000, along with insurance benefits for missionaries. At the same time, state conventions are being challenged to increase the percentage of Cooperative Program funds designated for Southern Baptist Convention causes.

NAMB has been given a big challenge to lead the way in church planting, evangelism, discipleship and leadership development to reach North America for Christ. Under the proposed plan, NAMB will have about $50 million more to work with by ending the cooperative agreements with 42 state conventions. However, it will also have fewer missionaries and fewer total funds to leverage due to the loss of the agreements with the states.

NAMB will also need to enlist and train church planters and other staff, and to seek out other partners. The leadership at NAMB and the new president deserve our prayers and best support.

Another challenge in the motion was for Southern Baptists to be more faithful and effective “together.” As we seek to move beyond a season of debate that has sometimes involved harsh words and uninformed statements, we must rely on God’s grace in order to move forward together. This will require much humility and prayer by everyone.

We must recognize the challenge to stay in touch with the silent majority in Southern Baptist life who just want to do missions. If their concerns are ignored over a long period of time, they are more likely to vote with their pocketbooks. We need to make sure all Southern Baptists and all size churches are represented.

I encourage Kentucky Baptists to read the report for themselves and to vote according to their convictions in Orlando. This is not a time to pick sides and question motives, but rather to trust our sovereign God and move forward together, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Regardless of how you may vote and how the vote goes in Orlando, I pray we will all determine to grow more faithful and effective in our service to Christ. After all, this is what we should be doing even if there had never been a GCRTF.

–Robert Reeves

Dr. Bill Mackey

Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, has recently written on the work of both the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force as well as the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s own Great Commission Task Force. Here’s a re-post of his comments made in his column in the Western Recorder newspaper as well as on his own blog, Partners in the Mission:

Great Commission Task Force

Although most of the focus in Southern Baptist life these days is on the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s own Great Commission Task Force is also at work. The Kentucky committee’s work has now advanced to the place where the committee is ready to conduct listening sessions with Kentucky Baptists.

These will take place at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on June 7 and at Central Baptist Church in Winchester on June 8. Both listening sessions will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Dr. Hershael York, chairman of the group, is inviting Kentucky Baptists to participate to allow the Task Force “… to hear how people in Kentucky Baptist churches feel about what we’re doing, about what our priorities are and should be.” This is a great opportunity for Kentucky Baptists to be heard and to assist the committee in its work.

The KBC Great Commission Task Force is composed of 15 outstanding lay people and ministers from all regions of the Commonwealth. Dr. York is providing excellent leadership for the group that is made up of both experienced KBC leaders and some representing new generations.  Dr. Don Mathis, this year’s KBC president, and I are serving as ex officio members.

In the meantime, we await the action by messengers to the SBC annual meeting on the SBC Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report entitled, “Penetrating Lostness.”

The GCRTF is to be commended for its prayerful and thorough work in producing a final draft in such a short time frame. The more I read the report the more impressed I am with its scope.

Kentucky Baptists have a natural affinity for the report’s emphasis on missions, ministries, church planting, evangelism, the centrality of the local church and the Cooperative Program as well as with other aspects. The challenge section has something for every member, church leaders and all denominational entities.

If approved, many of the specifics of the report implementation will be worked out in the months ahead by various boards and the SBC Executive Committee.

Although we may have reservations about the impact of certain recommendations, this is a time to unite and move forward together. It will be regrettable if all of the energy, debate and print do not result in greater commitment to the Great Commission and our cooperative missions and ministries.

It is good to affirm the Great Commission but the most important concern is to have a growing commitment to the Great Commission in our hearts and lives. For me that means a stronger commitment to our corporate work through the Cooperative Program and personal involvement in evangelism, missions and compassion ministries to the glory of God.

Dr. Mackey will have further comments on the SBC report in a post scheduled for Tuesday. I’ll post those comments here as well.

–Robert Reeves

Passage of the resolution came near the end of the Mission Board’s regular two-day May meeting at the Cedarmore Conference Center near Bagday, Ky, and followed by just a day the GCRTF’s report that suggests adding a giving category known as “Great Commission Giving” to recognize aggregated designated giving in a way similar to Cooperative Program giving.

Kentucky Baptist Convention President Don Mathis had expressed concern earlier in the meeting that creating the new category could harm support of cooperative giving among Baptists and urged the group to “be wary” of “any effort to place the Cooperative Program in a group of missions giving.”

“My opinion is that it will be the destruction of the Cooperative Program, and when the Cooperative Program is destroyed, it will remove the effectiveness of our special giving because CP is the foundation of what we do,” Mathis said in speaking to the board on Monday morning.

The remark came prior to Mathis seeing the final GCR report, which was released at 9:30 a.m. EST Monday, but he added on Tuesday that after reading the task force’s final draft that he would “still prefer an even stronger statement of the Cooperative Program as being foundational to the way we support missions around the world.”

The KBC president, who serves as staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green, said he feels the real solution to missions funding issues in the SBC is to have “CPR — Cooperative Program Resurgence.”

“We don’t need to be arguing over the pie, we need to be increasing the size of the pie,” he said.

It is relatively unusual for the Mission Board to pass resolutions but the Mission Board’s Administrative Committee prepared the resolution following its meeting on Monday night. It passed without opposition by a show of hands in Tuesday’s session.

The Mission Board is made up of Kentucky Baptist pastors and lay leaders from across the state who are elected by messengers at the annual meeting to carry out the business of the Convention between annual sessions.

Here’s the text of the resolution:

Resolution of Reaffirmation of the Cooperative Program

WHEREAS, we believe that God providentially led Southern Baptists in 1925 to create the Cooperative Program as its funding methodology to support a wide array of Great Commission ministries and missions; and

WHEREAS, the genius of the Cooperative Program has been its broad scope of funding for worthy Baptist causes regardless of emotional appeal via a strategic partnership between the state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention; and

WHEREAS, the Cooperative Program moved Southern Baptists away from a societal approach in order to bring more stability in funding these missions and ministry endeavors and to reduce the constant appeals to churches for support; and

WHEREAS, Kentucky Baptists are rightly proud of the Kentucky origins of this cooperative effort which was modeled after a unified giving plan first developed by H. Boyce Taylor in 1900 and used at the First Baptist Church of Murray, Kentucky; and

WHEREAS, in 1915 the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky (now the Kentucky Baptist Convention) met at Jellico, Tennessee, and adopted a budget plan for the support of all denominational projects throughout the state and convention; and

WHEREAS, while we gratefully acknowledge the tremendous generosity of Baptists in faithfully giving through the Cooperative Program, we also acknowledge, with regret, the growing trend away from faithful support of this funding instrument as demonstrated in consistent decreases in the percentage of undesignated gifts going from the churches to missions through the Cooperative Program;

THEREFORE, BE IT NOW RESOLVED that we recommit ourselves to leading our churches to wholehearted and increased support of the Cooperative Program through the giving of a percentage of undesignated receipts, and through the education of our members, especially the children and youth, as to the wisdom and value of the Cooperative Program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we, as Kentucky Baptists, dedicate ourselves to finding the resources to reinforce the Cooperative Program as the essential avenue of support for missions and ministries; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that we give our best efforts to raise up, train, and elect leaders who strongly demonstrate a sacrificial commitment to the Cooperative Program (cf. Mark 12:41-44).

We’ll have to wait until Monday to know what changes may have been made to the committee’s original progress report and whether any adjustments represent changes in substance or only in wording. Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, recently wrote about his hopes and prayers for the revised report in his column in the Western Recorder and on his Partners in the Mission blog. Here’s that column:

Great Commission Hope

Dr. Bill Mackey

By Bill Mackey

I have been asked on numerous occasions about the progress report issued in February by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I have certainly had some concerns but I am encouraged by the response of the task force to feedback and look forward to the release of the final version on May 3. I am prayerful that new language in the report will relieve concerns and permit a little more flexibility in its implementation.

Southern Baptists certainly support the call to renewed commitment to God’s mission through the Great Commission. I am grateful that the task force has placed such a strong emphasis on prayer and spiritual vitality.

I am also appreciative that the committee has invited feedback from Southern Baptists. The task force graciously invited various leaders, including state executive directors, to present in person and have conducted conference calls with large groups.

One of the report’s recommendations deals with phasing out cooperative agreements between the North American Mission Board and state conventions. These agreements guide the way state conventions and NAMB share expenses in the common work of spreading the Gospel. NAMB would use the savings to help fund an aggressive church planting process in the unreached and underserved areas of North America, especially the largest cities.

Some executives in the “old line” state conventions (the larger Southern state conventions that originally formed the SBC) have expressed to me their willingness to absorb the cost of ending the cooperative agreements for their states provided that NAMB continues to have a strong supportive role with new work state conventions. I am hopeful that the final report will lengthen the phase out time of the cooperative agreements to seven to eight years rather than four in the old line state conventions.

I believe the final report should also place a stronger emphasis on the Cooperative Program as the preferred and primary way of funding Southern Baptist missions and ministries. Hopefully, the updated report will remove concerns that a new reporting category called Great Commission Giving will hurt CP giving. The SBC’s Executive Committee also needs to have a strong coordinating role, along with state conventions, in promoting CP.

I would also like to see the final report reflect NAMB as the primary coordinator of strategy to reach North America. This strategy can be supported by International Mission Board personnel as requested to reach international people groups.

The final report would also be strengthened by including a strong spiritual emphasis on Biblical stewardship. A national emphasis on increased Cooperative Program support through local churches will result in more support for all mission causes — especially world missions.

If all mission partners, churches, associations, state conventions and the SBC will seek the Lord as never before, I believe Southern Baptists can experience a Great Commission Resurgence under the Lordship of Jesus Christ!

–Robert Reeves

Dr. Floyd’s presentation followed by just a couple of days a meeting that he and several other members of the task force had with a number of state convention executive directors, and he talked about how the committee had been carefully listening to Southern Baptists since the release of its progress report in February. He reiterated that the progress report was just that — a progress report — and I came away with the feeling that there might be some changes or adjustments to the final report. I have no way of knowing if this is the case or if any possible changes will be wording adjustments or substantive modifications of the original recommendations in the progress report.

I do have a wish list, though, and here’s what I would love to see:

Allow greater flexibility for NAMB in strategic planning with state conventions.

Cooperative agreements are essentially the written guidelines that the North American Mission Board have with each state convention that spell out how the organizations will work together and share expenses in the effort to reach the lost and serve churches in the areas covered by the conventions. Each agreement is somewhat different, which takes into account the needs and goals within each geographic area. For instance, in the “old line” Southern state conventions that originally formed the Southern Baptist Convention, joint positions are typically funded with the state convention picking up the majority of the costs while in the new work state conventions, NAMB may cover the majority of the costs. In Kentucky, for instance, the state convention picks up 60 percent or more of the costs of jointly-funded positions with NAMB covering the remainder. This is just for those positions that both organizations agree are needed to help reach common Great Commission goals. The agreements are thorough and clear.

The progress report recommended phasing these agreements out within four years as a way of freeing up funds for an intensive church planting effort focused on the larger cities of North America. The idea for strategic focus on church planting is a good one and it is in making recommendations for broad strategic direction that I think the task force best serves Southern Baptists. I’m not real sure that it really helps to try to get overly specific with the details, though.

Much has already been written about the devastating impact that ending cooperative agreements will have on state conventions, especially those in the new work states. I am also concerned about the impact the loss of the agreements will have on NAMB. None of NAMB’s current assignments were eliminated in the recommendation so I am assuming this means the organization will be asked to carry on with those responsibilities in addition to adding the church planting initiative. Eliminating cooperative agreements will mean that NAMB will lose a substantial portion of the force it currently counts as missionaries at a time when expectations for progress will be rising.

I would prefer to see the task force recommend goals and establish strategic direction in terms of a national church planting movement but then allow NAMB to work in conjunction with its state convention partners to develop a joint cooperative agreement. One way to do this that would differ from the current system is for NAMB to develop a unified strategic plan for the nation rather than individual agreements with each state convention. Right now NAMB staff travels to each state convention to work with leaders there to develop individual cooperative agreements. Under the new system, state convention executives would meet as a group with NAMB staff for the purpose of developing the national cooperative agreement. This would help the state conventions to feel more a part of the national strategy while better enabling NAMB to deploy its missionary force in the manner it feels is most effective. Sub-sections of the national strategy plan could deal with issues that may be specific to each state convention.

Strengthen support for the Cooperative Program.

One of the beautiful things about being Southern Baptist for me has always been the Cooperative Program. By giving cooperatively we are able to support all kinds of great missions and ministries and to do so in a way that ensures funding for endeavors that may not be as glamorous as putting missionaries on the international field but are important nonetheless.

Two of the recommendations in the progress report have the potential of seriously damaging the Cooperative Program. The first is to create a new giving category called “Great Commission Giving,” which would be used to elevate and celebrate designated giving in a way that I believe will diminish the Cooperative Program. The second is a recommendation to shift the coordinating responsibility for the promotion of the Cooperative Program and stewardship from the Executive Committee to the state conventions.

Let me say here that I am not opposed to celebrating Great Commission giving. I do think that churches who give strongly to the International Mission Board, NAMB, a seminary or other worthy Baptist causes should be celebrated and commended. We should all thank these churches heartily and rejoice at how the Lord is working through them. The problem comes in creating a special giving category that aggregates this kind of designated giving and lifts it up as being the same as cooperative giving. Some missions and ministries simply have more emotional appeal for Southern Baptists than do others and the tendency with a new category for designated giving is going to be for those causes with more marketing resources to increasingly receive more of the funding pie while other worthy Baptist causes languish.

I think the answer is not to create a new giving category but to find ways to celebrate designated gifts more fully. Let’s do more to celebrate our top designated giving churches for each specific cause rather than aggregating the gifts. For instance, let’s find new ways to celebrate churches that give big to Lottie Moon or who stretch to help fund a church planting effort. That will allow more churches to receive recognition while at the same time lifting up the particular cause the church was supporting.

I would also like to see the SBC Executive Committee retain its coordinating function for Cooperative Program promotion as well. The state conventions already do a vast amount of the work of CP promotion but it is helpful to have a centralized office as part of the Executive Committee to help coordinate efforts. More importantly, however, is the need for every organization that receives the benefits of CP giving to be integrally involved in promoting the unified budget plan. My concern is that if the Executive Committee no longer has responsibilities for CP promotion, there will be a drift away from seriously supporting it as Southern Baptists’ primary missions funding mechanism.

Be specific about NAMB’s lead role in North America.

A third wish for a revised report is for it to spell out more clearly that NAMB is to have the lead role in directing our strategy in North America. I think it’s a great idea to involve the International Mission Board in helping to reach some of the people groups in the United States that it is already working with overseas. Having IMB missionaries who are on stateside assignment working with the people groups they are familiar with serving abroad makes perfect sense.

It’s always important to have someone in the lead role for directing strategy, however, so I think it will be essential for NAMB to play that role. Otherwise, we may have the two organizations unintentionally stepping on each other.

Of course it will be interesting to see how many resources IMB would actually be able to devote to North America. Although much of the impetus of the GCR was the desire to see more funds reaching the international mission field, the report’s recommendations actually send relatively few additional dollars to IMB. Eliminating the cooperative agreements with NAMB will make it more difficult for state conventions to increase the percentage of CP giving they send to the SBC which makes getting more dollars to IMB even harder. Despite the rallying cry of helping international missions, the primary impact of the GCR recommendations in their current form will be to simply reallocate funds within North America.

Please pray for the Great Commission Task Force.

I have been and will continue to be in prayer for the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. These dedicated individuals have spent many hours studying, talking and thinking about these topics. They have been asked to essentially become experts in all things Southern Baptist in the space of just a few short months and a few meetings. Given this and given the great diversity of thought in Baptist life, it’s no wonder that not everyone is happy with every aspect of their report. I am praying for them to have wisdom and discernment from the Lord in the days ahead!

–Robert Reeves

Dr. Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence task force presented an interim report from the group to the SBC’s Executive Committee in Nashville earlier tonight. The report itself was not available live but Floyd had previously recorded a version of the report for the web that has just been released.

Click here to view the report on the Great Commission Resurgence Web site.

You can also click here to see the report on Vimeo.

Click here if you prefer to read a text version of the report.

Here’s the story about the progress report from Baptist Press:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Southern Baptists must be gripped anew by the lostness of the world, repent of their self-centeredness and focus their local churches on taking the Gospel to those who have yet to hear, the chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force said Feb. 22.

GCR Task Force chairman Ronnie Floyd presents the group's progress report to the SBC's full Executive Committee Monday, Feb. 22. Photo by Morris Abernathy.

Toward that end, Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., presented a “progress report” to the SBC’s Executive Committee on the task force’s work that included six “components” of a vision they believe Southern Baptists will rally around and experience renewed passion for the Great Commission — making disciples of all the world’s people groups.

To open his 90-minute presentation, Floyd drew on Joel 2:12-17 to deliver a challenge about the need for urgent, wholehearted repentance if Southern Baptists are to participate in the evangelistic harvest that will accompany the outpouring of God’s Spirit in the last days — and can be seen already beginning in some parts of the world.

“I believe with all my heart that God is calling us to return to Him now in deep repentance of our sin, in brokenness over our sin, denying our pride and selfishness and returning to God with complete humility,” Floyd said. “The boasting, ego and pride that goes on in our lives, our churches and our denomination is unacceptable to God. The disunity in our churches and in our denomination is so wrong and sinful. We need to repent and return to God.

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