This coming Nov. 11-12, Baptists of South Carolina will gather in Columbia for our annual convention. Included in the many important initiatives presented will be our new emphasis – Experience Kingdom Life.
Jim AustinAmong the responsibilities I was given upon assuming the role of executive director-treasurer was to present to the convention a new five-year emphasis. After conducting numerous consultations with the Executive Board, state staff and focus groups, our staff worked diligently and prayerfully to discern the wishes and concerns of our churches and institutions. We all know that the Empowering Kingdom Growth theme has been widely embraced and effectively implemented under the superb leadership of Dr. Carlisle Driggers.
Because of the favorable embrace of Empowering Kingdom Growth, we felt, after having conducted a wide array of listening sessions, that we needed to maintain and build upon our kingdom focus in any new emphasis. As a result, we proposed a new platform that has strong ties to the previous phase and also provides for a natural transition to our new emphasis – Experience Kingdom Life.
Our vision purpose statement will be: South Carolina Baptist Convention exists to take the whole gospel to the whole world that all may be whole. The exclusive nature of personal salvation declared by our Lord in John 14:6 is non-negotiable for all Christ followers. In an age of religious syncretism, it is imperative that we uncompromisingly declare that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Resulting from our regeneration experience comes a dramatic change in personal conduct. Generations of South Carolina Baptists have been faithful in “fleshing out” the implications of the gospel message. We declare the faith, teach the faith, and apply the faith. These Christian imperatives are lived out through our personal lives, our churches and their varied ministries, through our cooperation in our associations, convention, and institutions.
Included in the new emphasis will be a new organizational structure for our convention staff. This structure, already approved by our Executive Board, will align our priorities as a convention. These priorities (initiatives) are church vitality, sharing the gospel to impact lostness, multiplication of believers and churches, and the value of cooperative giving. On the church vitalization team, which is responsible for addressing church vitality issues, we have added a new position: director of church revitalization. Research from both our North American Mission Board and LifeWay indicate that the majority of our Baptist churches are either plateaued or declining. As a convention, it is imperative that we do all we possibly can to assist in strengthening and encouraging our churches. Part of this effort will be accomplished by ministries initiated by our new director of church revitalization.
Sharing the gospel to impact lostness will continue to be a dominant emphasis of our convention. Throughout our convention, we have experienced a steady decline in the number of baptisms reported each year. This is an alarming trend that must be reversed! To address this concern, the North American Mission Board will launch God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS). This emphasis will seek to assist churches in equipping every member to effectively share God’s plan of salvation with those who do not yet know our Savior. Your state convention will be an active participant in this effort and will be laying the groundwork for NAMB’s 2010 launch in 2009. Our associate executive director for evangelization and missions will lead this effort.
The multiplication of believers and churches emphasis will give priority to intentionally making disciples as well as planting strategic, reproducing churches. We welcome our new associate executive director for the multiplication team, Wayne Terry, who will lead this effort. Wayne, a South Carolina native, comes to us from the Tennessee Baptist Convention after previously serving in South Carolina as a pastor, church planter, and member of the convention staff. Additionally, while in college, he served as state BCM president.
The value of cooperative giving must be not only a priority emphasis, but also must be reemphasized for a new generation. As Southern Baptists, we have seen a steady decline in the percentage of giving to our Cooperative Program for the past several years. It is imperative that we develop and provide new and effective ways to demonstrate the why, the how, and the what of Cooperative Program contributions.
As a result of our reorganization and its initiatives, it is our prayer that God will use us, as convention staff, to even more effectively assist our churches in Experiencing Kingdom Life. We pray that a new touch from the God of heaven will descend upon us all and that times of refreshing may soon come. We stand ready to serve our churches and other ministry partners, as we seek together to take the whole gospel to the whole world that all may be whole.
On behalf of the staff of your Baptist convention, we thank God for the privilege of serving him by serving you. We do invite you to call on us any time we may assist you.
I look forward to seeing you at our annual convention Nov. 11-12 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln Street, Columbia.