One month after Southern Baptist messengers in Orlando overwhelmingly endorsed the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, South Carolina Baptist Convention officials have scheduled an open meeting Aug. 24 to “discern what God is saying to leaders about how South Carolina Baptists should respond” to the GCR initiatives.
Jim Austin, SCBC executive director-treasurer, said a one-day “Great Commission Resurgence Conversation” at White Oak Conference Center in Winnsboro is open to all pastors and leaders and will “get the ball rolling” as South Carolina Baptists grapple with proposals that could change the way church planting and missions work are done in South Carolina.
South Carolina and other state conventions may soon face the loss of North American Mission Board funds that are used to help pay the salaries of church-planting personnel. In South Carolina alone, more than 40 church planters are partly funded through NAMB. If the missions agency adopts the GCR proposals, joint funding for South Carolina church planters could be phased out beginning as early as 2012.
“That will be one of the issues we will ask our leaders to discuss and pray through Aug. 24 – what [they] think we should do as far as assuming the funding role that NAMB has filled for so long,” Austin said.
He said participants will also discuss how to be more effective in impacting lostness in the U.S. and abroad, including reaching some of the 6,000-plus people groups around the world with no access to the gospel. “This will be a good time for networking and idea-sharing,” he said.
Austin is scheduled to speak at the gathering, as are Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research (Stetzer will appear by live video), SCBC president Fred Stone and SCBC Executive Board chairman Ed Carney. The program will include small group discussions followed by a plenary wrap-up session that will be “beneficial to all,” Austin said.
“We hope to get a wide representation of leaders from across South Carolina – not just one or two segments, geographic- or age-wise,” Austin said. “That will assist us to hear what God is saying to everybody. It will be an open-ended discussion.”
Stone said he hopes all pastors and other church leaders will attend the meeting. He said it is his prayer that South Carolina Baptists will “begin to embrace some of the the GCR Task Force’s recommendations and identify ways that both local churches and the state convention can implement them.”
“I also pray that each of us will leave White Oak with a greater commitment to doing whatever it takes to experience a Great Commission resurgence in our own church and denomination,” Stone said.
The GCR Conversation will get underway with refreshments at 9 a.m. and will conclude around 4 p.m. The event, which includes lunch, is free, but reservations are encouraged and can be made online at scbaptist.org/gcr or by calling 1-800-723-7242.
Austin said those unable to attend may submit questions or comments ahead of time via e-mail at info@scbaptist.org or by calling 803-227-6142 or 1-800-723-7242.
A 30-day prayer guide for the event will be made available beginning July 24 and will be distributed by e-mail, Austin said.
For more information: scbaptist.org/gcr.