As someone who spent his early years in ministry and school (Charleston Southern University) in South Carolina, I’m always interested to read about the work and opinions of those serving there. Most of my ministerial work has been in the West since leaving South Carolina in 1973. I’ve seen firsthand the differences in serving in the South and the West; I dare say most in South Carolina haven’t, except for the occasional vacation to California or Hawaii. They are not as dependent on the strength and fellowship afforded in cities, counties, and states wherein one does not find “a church on every corner.”
The cooperative agreements that are in place with the western state conventions and the North American Mission Board are the vital link between states with large Southern Baptist populations and states without those self-same persons. Cooperative agreements in the West fund many state and association personnel, who lead and strategize for effective outreach and ministry in those states. Without those funds, these smaller and weaker entities will merge or simply reroute their Cooperative Program gifts locally instead of nationally or internationally. They will support that which is most important to them, that which is local and hands-on. And, under a separate recommendation, they will be able to lump their support under the umbrella of “Great Commission Giving.”
While I appreciate what other writers have said, I think there is a real need to “walk in their shoes” by some of these writers. I’ve pastored for more than 30 years, almost half of that time bi-vocationally. I know what it’s like to walk in both full-time and part-time pastoral work. I know what it’s like to be dependent on cooperative agreements so that four directors of missions can minister to more than 100 churches and missions spread across six islands in Hawaii, Samoa, Okinawa, Guam, and the Marshall Islands. Deleting the cooperative agreement with Hawaii Pacific Baptists would eliminate three of those four DOM positions, and the small churches on most of those Pacific Islands would go without the wisdom, support and counsel of a DOM.
The main recommendation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force – that the SBC needs a revival – is the one recommendation every Southern Baptist should support. Tread carefully with the rest.
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