2010 was a year of big decisions for Southern Baptists. In June, Southern Baptist Convention messengers voted to approve a report calling for a Great Commission Resurgence in the convention. That was followed by just a day a decision from the SBC Executive Committee to hire former SBC President Frank Page as its new leader to replace the retiring Morris Chapman. The North American Mission Board then selected Kentucky pastor Kevin Ezell as its new president.

Meanwhile in Kentucky, messengers to the Kentucky Baptist Convention voted to approve sweeping changes of their own to focus more resources on getting the Gospel to unreached people groups all around the world.

Whew! That was a lot but more is still to come. NAMB has begun a major transformation process that has caused it to shed about a third of its staff. The actual reorganization plan has yet to be revealed but will presumably come this year.

Meanwhile, the International Mission Board is still searching for a new leader to fill the shoes of the retiring Jerry Rankin. This search has been a drawn out process but will surely be resolved soon.

And here in Kentucky, a search committee is hard at work to find a replacement for Executive Director Bill Mackey who will retire in May. This new executive will have many challenges as he seeks to implement the plans approved in November.

With the volume and rapidity of the changes, it would be easy to just stand on the sidelines and gawk.

But with a new year now upon us, the real question isn’t about what is going to happen in one convention body or another but about what will be happening in our individual relationships with Christ. In the midst of all of the discussions about organizational change, there have been frequent allusions to the need for individuals and churches to rededicate themselves to a renewed passion for reaching lost family members, neighbors, friends, co-workers and acquaintances.

Kentucky’s focus on this call for revival is called “More for Christ.” In meetings, literature, blogs, videos and other communication vehicles, Kentucky Baptists will be emphasizing the need of all of us to direct more of our individual time, passion, talents and — yes, financial resources — toward fulfilling the Great Commission.

But while these reminders and encouragements are welcome and important, the key to success for any of this will really be what we commit to in our hearts. Will we, as Kentucky Baptists, say “ho hum, another emphasis,” or will we ask God to challenge us this year? Will we give lip service to the Great Commission or will we really share our faith on a daily basis? Will we risk being called a “nut”? A “religious radical”? Will we take on the responsibility of being salt and light in our world or will we push that responsibility over to “missionaries.”

This year we will be exploring what it really means to give “more” for Christ. I am praying seriously about what it will mean in my life. I hope you are too!

–Robert Reeves

Probably the most common questions I get asked these days as a Kentucky Baptist Mission Board staff member are something along the lines of “What is the Great Commission Resurgence?” and “What does it mean financially for Kentucky?” Although GCR has been discussed at great length in the blogosphere, written about extensively in the Baptist media and voted on at the Southern Baptist Convention, I have found that large numbers of Kentucky Baptists, including some pastors, are just now starting to become cognizant of this major movement in the SBC.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any quick answers as I am still struggling with that “elevator speech” that can somehow crystallize all that’s been going on over the past couple of years. That said, however, let me try to use the slightly more forgiving format of this blog to take a stab at providing at least a partial response to these questions.

In a nutshell, the Great Commission Resurgence is a movement with the best of motives — that of seeing Southern Baptists become more effective in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Proponents look at the vast lostness of our planet and want to find better ways to reach people. While recognizing the spiritual nature of this problem, they partially correlate this with funding in that they look at places like the southern United States where the concentration of Southern Baptist churches is the greatest and suggest that we should be spending less of our missions dollars at home and more in sending missionaries to unreached parts of the world. With this in mind, GCR supporters have therefore pushed hard for a drastic redirection of Baptist funding away from state convention causes to Southern Baptist Convention causes in the belief that this will result in more people hearing the Gospel.

Of course, shifting more resources to one area means taking them from other areas, which gets to the heart of the question about the financial impact on Kentucky. The short answer is that unless Kentucky churches step up both to increase their own local efforts to reach their communities for Christ and give substantially more to support missions through the Cooperative Program and Eliza Broadus Offering for State Missions, GCR will mean a lot less money will be spent in Kentucky on helping existing churches, starting new churches and reaching the lost.

I share this not to dispute the merits of GCR but simply to share the financial reality. From a financial standpoint, the Kentucky Baptist Convention is facing three major hits — two of them related to GCR and one unrelated. Here they are:

• Struggling economy – The first thing that’s impacting the state convention is the same thing that’s impacting most churches and most families. Times are just tough. The state convention budget for missions and ministries in Kentucky is shrinking through declining giving. Here in the first quarter of the 2010-11 fiscal year, we are already discussing budget cuts for state convention programs because CP giving is off to a slow start. This is also impacting KBC agencies and institutions (Campbellsville University, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Crossings Ministries, Kentucky Baptist Foundation, Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Oneida Baptist Institute, Sunrise Children’s Services, the University of the Cumberlands and the Western Recorder) because not only is the amount being sent to them from the CP allocation less but endowments and other investments are not providing income at very high levels these days.
• Loss of NAMB cooperative agreement – One of the results of the approval of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report at the SBC meeting in Orlando this summer is that the cooperative agreements that the North American Mission Board has had with state conventions are going to be phased out over the next seven years. In the past, the logic was that since NAMB’s mandate is to reach North America and the states are part of North America, it makes sense to combine some of the efforts of the state conventions and NAMB. This meant NAMB would spend some of the money it received through the Cooperative Program and Annie Armstrong Easter Offering on church planting, ministry and evangelization in Kentucky. The cooperative agreement spelled out how this would work. For instance, under the cooperative agreement, the KBC might pay 60 percent of a salary for a staff member or missionary while NAMB would supplement 40 percent. The new logic is that there are enough churches in Kentucky to reach Kentucky so it’s better to shift the funds that were being spent here to church planting and evangelistic efforts in other areas of North America. The practical impact of this will be the eventual loss of more than $1 million for joint mission work funded by NAMB. These funds are currently used to partially fund more than 30 ministry and missionary positions at the state and association levels and to provide resources for a variety of church planting, evangelism and ministry projects. The exact schedule for this phase-out of the cooperative agreement is not yet known.
• Kentucky Great Commission Task Force report – Assuming that the Kentucky Great Commission Task Force report is approved by messengers at the annual meeting next week, the third hit will occur next September in the implementation of the first budget where funds are allocated on the basis of the new plan. The Kentucky report calls for moving our state to a 50/50 split of CP funds with the SBC within seven years. The bulk of the shift will be made in the very first year as the SBC percentage increases to 44.85 percent and the percentage for the KBC Mission Board and the Kentucky agencies and institutions listed above shrinks to 51.15 percent (plus 4 percent in shared costs between SBC and KBC).  Getting to this amount will require the elimination of KBC contributions to the annuity benefits for Kentucky pastors and church staff members, a 12 percent reduction in Mission Board personnel (expected through attrition and the elimination of some part-time positions) and sizable reductions in the allocations to Kentucky agencies and institutions. (All KBC agencies and intitutions will have allocations reduced by 6 percent with the colleges taking an extra 7 percent on top of that. Kentucky WMU will also take an additional 3.85 percent cut so that they will match the 9.85 percent reduction being taken by the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board.) The plan relies on an ambitious 3 percent yearly increase in total CP giving to get us the rest of the way to 50/50. More than 91 percent of all giving increases over the next seven years will go to SBC causes (International Mission Board, NAMB, SBC Executive Committee, six seminaries, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the SBC Historical Library and Archives). The total dollar impact on the KBC Mission Board budget will be over a million dollars shifted and trimmed from an annual budget of less than $9 million in the first year.

I share this simply as information without making a judgment on whether one direction is better to go than another. It is up to Kentucky Baptists to decide how the Lord is calling them to best use the resources He has provided. The decision ultimately comes down to individual beliefs and preferences about the right balance for funding between state, national and international causes.

The decision is certainly an important one, however. In fact, it is probably the single biggest decision made at a Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting in the lifetimes of almost all Kentucky Baptists. Every church should strive to have its full complement of messengers in attendance at the upcoming annual meeting on Nov. 16 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington in order to ensure that whatever decision is made, it is one that truly represents the desires of the majority of Kentucky Baptists.

–Robert Reeves

The KBC Great Commission Task Force at work at the Kentucky Baptist Building.

Kentucky Baptists will move to an even distribution of Cooperative Program receipts with the Southern Baptist Convention and set an ambitious goal of increasing missions giving under a plan being proposed by the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Task Force.

The Task Force’s recommendations will be presented to messengers for approval at the Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington on Nov. 16.

The report was released today to give Kentucky Baptists adequate time to understand and react to four recommendations, said Task Force Chairman Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort and a former KBC president.

Here’s the text of the report:

Last year Kentucky Baptist Convention President John Mark Toby appointed a Great Commission Task Force. The 17 Task Force members appointed were:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, Chair.

• Paul Badgett, pastor, First Baptist Church, Pikeville

• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church in Louisville

• Joy Bolton, executive director-treasurer of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union

• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission, Warren Baptist Association

• Rusty Ellison, pastor, Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville

• Chad Fugitt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Monticello

• Greg Faulls, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Owensboro

• John Hale, deacon at First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon

• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington

• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Campbellsville

• Bill Mackey, executive director, Kentucky Baptist Convention

• Don Mathis, president, Kentucky Baptist Convention

• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church in Union

• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Murray

• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville

• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church in Paducah

Over the course of the past 8 months, the Task Force has met in prayer, deliberation, and commitment. Every member of the Great Commission Task Force agrees that this has been a significant spiritual milestone in our lives as we have seen God work among us and bring us to a unanimous consensus about our recommendations.

In order to reach our conclusions and recommendations, we first reached a consensus about our foundational guiding principles. The include the following:

Principles we believe

We believe that Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise, honor, worship, and resources.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that explicit faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is necessary for all morally accountable persons to have eternal life.

We believe that faith in Christ comes only through the proclamation of the gospel applied by the Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus has commanded us to preach the gospel to every person on earth.

We believe that churches should evangelize the lost, baptize and disciple the saved, plant churches, and reach our nation and the world through commissioning missionaries, participating in missions personally, and giving a significant portion of income and resources to missions, especially through the vehicle of the Cooperative Program.

We believe in the value of Christian education as a means of equipping Christians to serve the Lord through cultural engagement, church membership and participation, and missionary service.

We believe that a new generation of Kentucky Baptists are not willing to settle for business as usual and that the Cooperative Program will diminish and perhaps die if we do not present a bold, sweeping vision for the future and a refocus of our energies.

We believe that we must devote a significantly larger portion of our resources to reach the 1.7 billion people of the last frontier who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe that to be a faithful steward of all that God has blessed us with that each Kentucky Baptist should be challenged to provide a legacy gift for the Cooperative Program and Kingdom causes. We believe that churches, assisted by the Kentucky Baptist Foundation and Mission Board, must lead in training and developing this stewardship vision for all Kentucky Baptists.

We believe that renewed vision and ministry will only result from renewed love for Christ and repentance for our selfishness as evidenced by our decline in witnessing, proclaiming the gospel, personal sacrifice, giving, and going.

We believe that our Kentucky Baptist churches must reverse the decline in cooperative program giving, even while we engage the lost, go on mission, and plant churches.

We believe that to reach our nation and the nations for Christ will require a continued paradigm shift for Kentucky Baptists. First, our churches must become more outwardly focused than inwardly. Second, the Kentucky Baptist Convention needs to shift to a paradigm based more on outreach, evangelism, and missions and less on advising particular church ministries. To do this would require the KBC over time to become more of a facilitator of shared advice, counsel, and experience among churches, pastors, and laity rather than a provider of those services. We recognize that certain ministries (disaster relief, ministry to pastors in transition, etc) are more effective when done by the state convention so we affirm the continued significance and need for the KBC. In fact, we believe that this shift will result in a greater connection between the ministry of the KBC and the churches. We furthermore believe that the local associations are going to become key partners in renewed emphasis on shared ministry, missions, and connections.

To that end and after intense study, interviews, deliberation and prayer, we propose that Kentucky Baptists:

1) Initiate a 3-year emphasis called “More for Christ,” an intentional time of repentance, renewal, and redirection for the future. Kentucky Baptists responded to the “Find It Here” campaign in record numbers and with great enthusiasm and excitement. Our prayer is that we might respond in the same way to a call to personal and corporate commitment to Christ and to the Great Commission.

More for Christ means:

More of myself

• personal surrender
• personal witness
• personal sacrifice

More of my family

More for the lost

More for the needs

More for the nations

We propose that messengers request the KBC mission board, staff, agencies and institutions to seek ways that we can implement this theme in every part of Kentucky Baptist life and that it become a clarion call to our churches and individuals.

Explanation: We recognize that we desperately need a recommitment of our lives, our churches, our families, and our resources. Our prayer is that these recommendations will result in a great movement of the Holy Spirit among Kentucky Baptists. We pray that “More for Christ” will be the theme of what Kentucky Baptists do and give for the future. We pray that such an emphasis will be used of God to remind us and motivate us to strategize, mobilize, and give toward that end.

2) Instruct our Mission Board to move to a reallocation of Cooperative Program funds that results in 50% of our annual Cooperative Program receipts (after shared administrative expenses) being given to the Southern Baptist Convention and 50% to KBC within the next 7 years. Beginning with the 2011-12 fiscal year, the Mission Board shall implement the attached GCTF-Ky CP Percentage Distribution Plan to achieve this goal.

Explanation: To illustrate the differences in this change over the next 7 years and estimating approximately 4% of the KBC budget as shared expenses and 3% growth in CP funds, the division of Cooperative Program receipts after those shared expenses would be:

1st year 2011-12: KBC 53.28% SBC 46.72%

7th year 2017-18: KBC 50%, SBC 50%

The basis for this change in the first year would include a 6% across the board reduction in the KBC budget; eliminating the KBC’s contribution to annuitants by $400,000; reducing contribution to the colleges an additional 7% (which means that the colleges still receive slightly more than they did prior to Georgetown’s departure from the KBC budget); a Mission Board staff reduction of 12%; a total Mission Board budget reduction of 9.85%; an additional WMU reduction of 3.85% ; meaning a total of 9.85%.

In years 2-7 the Mission Board would make further adjustments of $600,000 to achieve incrementally the goal of a 50%-50% allocation between SBC and KBC causes after shared expenses.

3) Set a goal to increase overall CP receipts from Kentucky Baptist churches and individuals at least 3% per year for the next seven years. This growth would be equivalent to each church increasing CP giving by at least 0.25% of undesignated receipts each year for 7 years.

Explanation: It would be wrong simply to reallocate cooperative program receipts and ask KBC ministries to sacrifice and cut back without also asking more from ourselves. As a tenet of faith, we believe that God has already given His people all the resources we need to do what He has commanded. We cannot deny that in the past 15 years Cooperative Program giving from Kentucky Baptist churches has declined from approximately 10% of undesignated receipts to less than 7%. We simply must reverse that trend and ask our churches and individuals to respond graciously, generously, and sacrificially.

If Kentucky Baptists respond and if we could reverse that trend by growing our receipts by 3% per year for the next 7 years, the results for missions would be staggering. Using the new seven-year reallocation with a 3% growth, the increase for SBC causes would be $23,786,274 meaning that over $11.8 million more would go to the IMB and put missionaries on the field.

This is attainable in several ways. If every church in the KBC increased their CP giving by just ¼% of their undesignated receipts every year for the next seven years, we could do it. If small churches that usually give a fixed amount rather than a percentage would up that amount, we could do it. If large churches that have tended to decrease CP giving in order to support their own programs, buildings, and missions would understand the global importance of the CP and reverse that trend, we could do it.

While designating missions dollars to the IMB or some other agency or effort may seem attractive, only the CP supports missions in North America and around the world, helps train pastors and missionaries through our seminaries, and speaks on moral and social issues through the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. While we encourage multiple mission efforts, we believe in the wisdom and strategic genius of the Cooperative Program which, after all, was born here in Kentucky.

4) Authorize the Great Commission Task Force to remain constituted for the next seven years, monitoring progress and implementation and reporting to the Convention and/or Mission Board each year, making any further recommendations as necessary. Each year the KBC president may appoint members to maintain between 10 and 15 on the committee.

Explanation: This work is significant enough that a single entity needs to work closely with the Executive Director and relate to all parts of the KBC to see how we are doing and make reports on our progress. We also believe that continuity is essential, especially after as extensive a study of all KBC entities as this task force has conducted. For that reason we ask that the current members remain on the committee and new ones be added only as natural attrition occurs.

Addendum

GCTF – KY  CP Percentage Distribution Plan

Fiscal Year (2010-11):

KBC:  62%, SBC:  38%

First Year (2011-12):

CP Percentages — KBC: 51.15%; SBC: 44.85%; Shared:  4%

Percentage of CP after Shared Expenses — KBC: 53.28%; SBC: 46.72%

Basis for Change: 2010-11 Budget = Base Year.  Shared Expenses 4% or $940.000; Reduction in KBC Budget 6%; Annuity Reduction $400,000; College Reduction 7% in addition to 6% KBC Budget, Total = 12.58%; Mission Board Staff Reduction 12%; Mission Board Total Budget Reduction of 9.85%, totaling $750,671; including $237,000 of the Cooperative Agreements absorbed by the Mission Board; WMU Reduction 3.85% in addition to 6% of KBC Budget; Total = 9.85%; and 3% Growth in CP divided KBC 33.1%/SBC 66.9% in years 1 through 7.

Seventh Year (2017-18):

CP Percentages — KBC: 48%; SBC: 48%; Shared: 4%

Percentage of CP after Shared Expenses — KBC: 50%; SBC: 50%

Basis for Change in Years 2 through 7: Mission Board absorbs in years 2 through 7 Cooperative Agreements Totaling $600,000 by Mission Board Additional Staff Reductions Totaling $600,000; $180,000 in NAMB Cooperative Agreements to be terminated; Total Mission Board Funding would be Reduced $1,350,691 or 17.72% the 7th year.

For more on the report and comments from Task Force Chairman Hershael York, click here to read the KBC news release on the report.

Click here to download a copy of the Kentucky Great Commission Task Force report.

–Robert Reeves

Many Southern Baptists have spent the better part of two years discussing the Great Commission Resurgence through blogs, podcasts, newspaper articles, and live listening sessions. A number were quite passionate in their viewpoints. More than 11,000 of our 16 million members even made their way down to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando in June so that they could vote either for or against the national task force’s various recommendations.

The discussion on the convention floor was passionate as well. Only after an amendment was approved to strengthen the report to more fully embrace and support the Cooperative Program did the scales tip heavily in favor of approval.

The GCR discussion has served to educate many about the extensive nature of Southern Baptist work across local, regional, national and international lines. I always felt that one of the great benefits of the GCR discussion — even if it became a little too heated at times in some quarters and even if some information got a bit distorted — was that it got Baptists focused on and learning about the Cooperative Program. I feel sure that whatever their individual opinion may be about one particular allocation or another, those Baptists who engaged in the GCR discussion left it better informed and generally more appreciative of this highly effective way of cooperatively supporting missions and ministry work.

And yet, in the weeks following the SBC, it has becoming increasingly obvious to me that we still have a long, long way to go in educating our churches both about the GCR and the great tool that Baptists have in the Cooperative Program. As I have the opportunity to meet and talk to Baptists in my own state, it’s pretty apparent that outside of the pastors, DOMs and denominational workers, very few Southern Baptists even know what the GCR is.  And not many more really understand the Cooperative Program with much clarity.

Understandably, the focus of most Baptists in the pews is on the ministries of their local church. They give — and in many cases give generously — to their local church and to the missions offerings. But unless the GCR or CP is something their pastor talks about specifically and on a regular basis, they don’t often know or understand the details.

That’s why I want to encourage all readers who may be pastors or church leaders to take the time to educate your congregations about the Cooperative Program. Please don’t assume that even your most senior and long-term members understand what it’s all about.

Doing so really is easy. Great materials abound. Kentucky Baptists can have materials sent to their church at no charge simply by ordering online at www.kybaptist.org/cpmissions. Most other state conventions have similar sites where information is available. CP material is also available from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee at www.cpmissions.com.

And follow up on ordering the materials by taking time to talk about the Cooperative Program, our various denominational structures and about GCR. Plan times on Wednesday or Sunday night or at some other appropriate time in your church to emphasize our cooperative work. The SBC promotes a CP Sunday each April but church members need to hear about CP more than just once a year if they are to ever have a solid and productive understanding of the ways we work together to further the Gospel.

These may seem like very simple suggestions but this kind of education is essential. In the end, it won’t matter how the CP pie is divided if the support for it is no longer there in our churches. It won’t matter if percentages are divided 50-50 between the states and SBC or if 100 percent goes to your own favorite entity because 100 percent of  0 is 0.

I personally believe that as CP goes, so goes the GCR. And on both of these counts, we’ve got to close a big awareness and knowledge gap for a large percentage of Southern Baptists.

–Robert Reeves

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