Members of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s 1:8 Leadership Experience West team play a parachute game with a group of children at a housing complex in inner-city Denver. Now in its third year, the 1:8 Leadership Experience has expanded to two teams in order to accommodate the demand. Thirty-three students from Kentucky colleges are participating this summer. (Photo by Evelyn Fuson)

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is receiving great reports this summer in response to the work of some of our Baptist Campus Ministry students who are actively working to learn about and carry out the Great Commission through the 1:8 Leadership Experience.

Click here to read details about what these young people are doing in this story in the Western Recorder but I wanted to share here some of the feedback from those with whom our western team has been working. It comes from an e-mail to KBC Assistant Executive Director Steve Thompson and shared with permission:

Hello Steve,
from Jim Walters, Senior Pastor at Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, CO.

Your team of 16 college students (organized by Keith Inman) just departed our city after three weeks of serving our church through its Multihousing Ministry. Over the years, I have been on many mission trips and have hosted many teams. This team, of KY college students, was the most outstanding group of young adults doing ministry that I have ever witnessed. They were an absolute delight and encouragement to our church, our multihousing workers, and scores of residents who are lost and lonely.

We cannot say enough good about them, but below is the report from our Multihousing Coordinator, sent to me this morning.

For now, I wanted to make your day as you read through the report below, and thank you for sending these workers to us.

Jim Walters
Senior Pastor
Bear Valley Church

————————————————————

From: Luann Turner
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 6:35 PM
To: Jim Walters
Subject: Kentucky

Today was the last day of a remarkable month in our multi-housing outreaches. This was the day the 16 college students were to be “off” – packing, cleaning, and seeing sights in Denver. Instead, a group of them were back at one of our apartment communities playing with the kids they have been teaching, playing with and loving on for the past 3 weeks. These college kids fell in love with our folks, and our folks fell in love with them.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention sent us kind-hearted, responsible, loving servants. It was a group of young adults willing to work hard and do whatever needed to be done with whoever needed it at the moment. All were willing, eager, pleasant – to everyone. As one of our volunteers said, “Only God could have put together a group like this.”

In 3 weeks, they worked with us to feed over 600 meals, host 4 carnivals, 4 Vacation Bible schools, and 3 field trips. They gave swim lessons, led worship, taught both teens and adults, shared their testimonies, visited folks in assisted living, delivered welcome baskets and flyered apartments. They moved bricks, ran a jack hammer, and helped out two church planters painting, gardening and doing all sorts of manual labor for them. They prayed with and for folks, and prayed with 5 to receive Christ, following up with them with Bibles and basic discipleship. They took photos and made a DVD presentation for us to use in recruiting volunteers.

Our seniors in assisted living and our children were especially touched by the love these college kids rained down on them. The kids wait at the church door for them to come and play with them.

In the midst of this, they served and loved our other volunteers and leadership team equally well.

Two stories especially touch my heart:

• One young man floated another young man, P.J., who suffers from cerebral palsey, in the pool, giving him an incredible afternoon.
• Another young man asked the elderly woman he was visiting if he could walk her to her room. Of course she was honored, and took him in to show him her family pictures.

But the stories are endless. One young woman essentially baby-sat a little boy day after day so his sister could play and be a little girl instead of a “mom”. Others cooked, cleaned, led another mission team, did crafts, swam, played basketball – on and on – all with loving hearts that touched one and all in ways beyond what I can put in words. Only in eternity will we know all the fruit that this trip has produced.

A few of our leaders wrote these words in gratitude:

“It’s been a pleasure to meet you and witness the fellowship you have shared with the GG kids.  YOU made each day special for these kids and I know they will not forget your visit.  You have inspired and opened new doors for many of them in thier walk with Christ.  God bless you and your ministry.” –  Scott

“I just wanted to express our appreciation to Jeremiah and Chris for their help on Thursday, June 17th.  They arrived that afternoon with a willingness to help and ended up moving brick, mortar, landscape ties (old creosote railroad ties) and trash for us.  Their appearance worked out well as we just happened to be demolishing a chimney and needed to jackhammer out an old sidewalk.  Both Jeremiah and Chris jumped right in and worked very hard to help us with this heavy work.  What great attitudes they showed as they helped us out.  Their assistence was a real blessing for us and resulted in much more work being done than planned.  It saved some of us ‘old guys’ from overdoing it too…! Please express our gratitude to Jeremiah and Chris for their work that day!” — Keith & Tammy

“Thank you so much for your wonderful ministry to the children in my new neighborhood. NEVER would I have tried to do such an outreach at my house with everything so “unready” & “undone”, but God’s ways are not my ways and your work with the kids was every bit as much of a blessing to me as it was to all the kids.  You provided the “jump start” we needed to begin to minister to the Multi-Housing communities all around our home!  May God bless you richly and continue to advance His Kingdom through you as He already is!  I can’t think of a better “House Warming” for me & Keith than what you brought during these hot summer days!  Wish you didn’t have to leave!  All my love and sincerest appreciation.” — Tammy

“The students were just amazing! Such a gift to us, and as I am sure you know by now, fantastic examples of what it means to follow in the way of Jesus.” — Karl

“Thank you for the ways you supported our team.  You not only loved our kids well but us as well.  You were always willing to do whatever we needed with such a teachable spirit.  I have no doubts that only God could put a team together so perfectly.  God bless you as you move on.  Our hearts go with you.” — Brenda

“Hebrews 6:10 talks about what you have done for the children of Green Gables.  You have shown God’s love by the love you have given to each of the children.  God will truly bless each of you! We love you all!” — Tom and Barb

So, Kentucky, we cannot thank you enough!

–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

KBC Great Commission Task Force Chairman Hershael York moderates the listening session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Task Force held two listening sessions this week to hear from Kentucky Baptists regarding its task to study ways the Convention can “work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

The session on Monday, June 7, was held at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown and had an attendance of 30. The following night’s session was held at Central Baptist Church in Winchester and had an attendance of about 40. Both listening sessions were moderated by Task Force Chairman Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort.

You can listen to the audio from both sessions by clicking on the arrows below. Both audio files are more than an hour in length.

Listening Session at Severns Valley Baptist Church, Elizabethtown –

Listening Session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester –

You can also download these audio files from the from the KBC website:

• Click here to download the file from the listening session at Severns Valley Baptist Church, Elizabethtown.
• Click here to download the file from the listening session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester.

–Robert Reeves

Here’s the KBC release about plans for the listening sessions:

LOUISVILLE – Kentucky Baptists will have two opportunities to provide feedback to members of Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force on June 7 and 8.

Hershael York, chairman of the committee, has scheduled two listening sessions that will be open to all Kentucky Baptists. The first will be held Monday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, and the second will be held Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. at Central Baptist Church in Winchester.

According to York, the meetings are designed to give Kentucky Baptists an opportunity to discuss with committee members their ideas about how the Kentucky Baptist Convention can more effectively carry out the Great Commission.

“Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force wants to hear how people in Kentucky Baptist churches feel about what we’re doing, about what our priorities are and should be,” said York. “We want to hear what’s happening in their churches, as well as how they feel about what’s happening in the KBC.”

In the months following the listening sessions, Task Force members will be preparing to make recommendations to convention messengers at the Nov. 16 annual meeting, to be held at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

“What I want Kentucky Baptists to leave with is a sense that they’ve been heard, and they’ve had the opportunity to voice their opinions,” he said. “We want to make sure that what we’re thinking and how we’re moving is in line with what Kentucky Baptists are thinking and feeling.”

The Task Force was established during the KBC’s 2009 annual meeting at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on Nov. 10, when messengers approved the formation of a Great Commission Task Force for the state convention.

The approved recommendation called for the formation of a committee to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

So far, the Task Force has heard reports from leaders of Kentucky Baptist agencies and institutions, as well as team leaders from the Mission Board staff.

All members of the Task Force have been invited to attend the listening sessions.

Members of the Kentucky committee are:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort. York is chair of the committee.
• Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pikeville
• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, Louisville
• Joy Bolton, executive director of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville
• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission for the Warren Association of Baptists, Bowling Green
• Rusty Ellison, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church, Louisville
• Greg Faulls, Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro
• Chad Fugitt, First Baptist Church, Monticello
• John Hale, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon
• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church, Lexington
• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Campbellsville
• Bill Mackey, KBC executive director
• Don Mathis, 2009 president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green.
• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church, Union
• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murray
• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville
• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church, Paducah

Severns Valley Baptist Church is located at 1100 Ring Road in Elizabethtown. Central Baptist Church is located at 101 West Lexington Avenue in Winchester. Both listening sessions will take place at 7 p.m. EST.

The next scheduled meeting for Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force is set for June 24.

–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

Here’s the KBC release about plans for the listening sessions:

LOUISVILLE – Kentucky Baptists will have two opportunities to provide feedback to members of Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force on June 7 and 8.

Hershael York, chairman of the committee, has scheduled two listening sessions that will be open to all Kentucky Baptists. The first will be held Monday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, and the second will be held Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. at Central Baptist Church in Winchester.

According to York, the meetings are designed to give Kentucky Baptists an opportunity to discuss with committee members their ideas about how the Kentucky Baptist Convention can more effectively carry out the Great Commission.

“Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force wants to hear how people in Kentucky Baptist churches feel about what we’re doing, about what our priorities are and should be,” said York. “We want to hear what’s happening in their churches, as well as how they feel about what’s happening in the KBC.”

In the months following the listening sessions, Task Force members will be preparing to make recommendations to convention messengers at the Nov. 16 annual meeting, to be held at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

“What I want Kentucky Baptists to leave with is a sense that they’ve been heard, and they’ve had the opportunity to voice their opinions,” he said. “We want to make sure that what we’re thinking and how we’re moving is in line with what Kentucky Baptists are thinking and feeling.”

The Task Force was established during the KBC’s 2009 annual meeting at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on Nov. 10, when messengers approved the formation of a Great Commission Task Force for the state convention.

The approved recommendation called for the formation of a committee to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

So far, the Task Force has heard reports from leaders of Kentucky Baptist agencies and institutions, as well as team leaders from the Mission Board staff.

All members of the Task Force have been invited to attend the listening sessions.

Members of the Kentucky committee are:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort. York is chair of the committee.
• Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pikeville
• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, Louisville
• Joy Bolton, executive director of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville
• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission for the Warren Association of Baptists, Bowling Green
• Rusty Ellison, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church, Louisville
• Greg Faulls, Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro
• Chad Fugitt, First Baptist Church, Monticello
• John Hale, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon
• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church, Lexington
• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Campbellsville
• Bill Mackey, KBC executive director
• Don Mathis, 2009 president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green.
• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church, Union
• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murray
• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville
• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church, Paducah

Severns Valley Baptist Church is located at 1100 Ring Road in Elizabethtown. Central Baptist Church is located at 101 West Lexington Avenue in Winchester. Both listening sessions will take place at 7 p.m. EST.

The next scheduled meeting for Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force is set for June 24.

–Robert Reeves

The committee was appointed at the KBC’s annual meeting in November after messengers approved a recommendation to form a committee to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The task force will work throughout the coming year to study the work of the KBC’s Mission Board, agencies and institutions, and will report any recommendations it might have to messengers attending the 2010 annual meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

Members of the Kentucky committee are:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort. York is chair of the committee.
• Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pikeville
• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, Louisville
• Joy Bolton, executive director of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville
• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission for the Warren Association of Baptists, Bowling Green
• Rusty Ellison, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church, Louisville
• Greg Faulls, Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro
• Chad Fugitt, First Baptist Church, Monticello
• John Hale, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon
• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church, Lexington
• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Campbellsville
• Bill Mackey, KBC executive director
• Don Mathis, 2009 president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green.
• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church, Union
• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murray
• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville
• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church, Paducah

–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