Editor’s note: The 189th annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention will be held Nov. 10-11 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. See pages 12-13 for a special advertising section featuring a full schedule of events. For further information, visit scbaptist.org/annualmeeting2009.
As messengers prepare to gather in Columbia for the annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, SCBC president Rudy Gray, a pastor and licensed family counselor, sees the link between families and churches as “inseparable.”
With “Building Healthy Families, Growing Strong Churches” as this year’s theme, Gray said the relationship between the two institutions is also reciprocal. “Strong families and healthy churches go together,” he said.
“I am convinced that the healthiest church is a multigenerational body,” he said. “When we as disciples of Christ continue our lifelong commitment to learning and following Jesus, we also help and encourage others along the way and bring new people into a relationship with Christ. The church needs healthy families, and healthy families need strong churches.”
To that end, this year’s annual meeting – from devotions, to music and worship, to testimonies, to special recognitions – will drive home the theme of building healthy families and churches. Gray will also present a President’s Award to a family ministry that is “really making a positive impact in our state.”
Gray also said the meeting will also feature a young leaders forum during a “Lunch & Learn” session. “Just as our churches should be multigenerational, so should our state convention,” he said. “Hopefully this will be a productive time where we can work together toward that end.” Gray also noted that his appointments to the Committee on Committees reflect diversity and a “youthful flavor,” with about half the members being under 40.
Other “Lunch & Learn” sessions will offer information on worship technology, church security, church transportation, the use of electronic signs and issues surrounding church building and architecture.
Gray said messengers to this year’s annual meeting will notice something different about the meeting hall. “The stage area will be different, and there will be fewer people on stage,” he said. “We hope the atmosphere will be more inviting and less formal.
“I hope as we experience this year’s annual meeting we will be encouraged in the Lord and motivated to come together as the family of faith,” Gray said. “Wouldn’t it be great if we left Columbia with a greater commitment and determination to build healthy families and grow strong churches?”