I want to thank South Carolina Baptists for the opportunity to serve you as convention president this year. I have enjoyed meeting many new people across the state, both pastors and lay leaders. It has been an experience I will never forget.
Fred StoneThree issues have consumed most of the time and attention that I devoted to convention matters this past year.
The first involved reaching out to young pastors across the state. This was the most enjoyable part of the year. I am impressed with many of these young leaders’ theological soundness, commitment to the local church, heart for missions, and desire to work cooperatively with like-minded churches. They have some good insights and fresh ideas that, combined with the wisdom of some of our more experienced leaders, can help guide our convention through these challenging and changing times. It is my prayer that leaders of all ages will join together to find ways for us to become a healthier and more viable convention of churches focused on the Great Commission.
The second issue that has required much time and attention concerns questions about the leadership of our convention. The Executive Board began looking into this matter at their April 2010 board meeting. This led to listening sessions with convention employees in late spring and summer. The Executive Board’s administrative committee now has the responsibility of investigating the “issues,” developing a plan of action to address them, and reporting back to the Executive Committee at their next meeting in April 2011. I encourage all South Carolina Baptists to pray that God will use this process to bring an appropriate resolution to this matter so that we can move forward as a united convention.
The third issue is one that has claimed the attention of many Southern Baptists: the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report and recommendations, adopted overwhelmingly by the Southern Baptist Convention in June. While this report is not perfect, I believe South Carolina Baptists can embrace the spirit of a Great Commission Resurgence and work together to find ways to implement many of the recommendations. This will require prayerful and humble dependence upon God, objective evaluation of every aspect of our convention’s work, and a willingness to make difficult decisions concerning changes in our convention.
Over the past year, I have heard and read a variety of ideas about the GCR and the future of our denomination from pastors and convention leaders in South Carolina and the Southern Baptist Convention. One article that has greatly influenced my thinking is “The State(s) of Our Convention,” by Douglas Baker, editor of the Baptist Messenger (Oklahoma state paper), and Nathan Finn, assistant professor of church history at Southeastern Seminary. Drawing from these sources, I would like to offer a few examples of how South Carolina Baptists can make some positive changes that will not only result in more Cooperative Program funds going to world missions and church planting, but also enhance the ministry contributions of some of our state institutions.
From my perspective, support for our three universities has never been greater than it is today. Many South Carolina Baptists believe that God has brought these universities to their current position of theological soundness, with an intentional commitment to promoting a Christian worldview through all academic disciplines. I believe it may be time for us to strengthen and expand our partnership with the universities by asking them to assume responsibilities for some of the ministries we have historically assigned to the Executive Board (Baptist Building) ministries. This would not be a stretch for any of the universities, as they are already involved in similar types of ministries.
For example, we could ask North Greenville University to take responsibility for missions mobilization through their World Missions Center. Anderson University could be asked to assume responsibility for preaching and pastoral ministries through their Clamp Graduate School of Ministry. With Charleston Southern’s strong youth ministry major and program, we could ask them to take responsibility for youth ministry support and training for our state. (These examples are for illustrative purposes only. Each university is capable of providing leadership for a number of ministries.)
We could also look into how some of our other institutions could expand their ministry responsibilities. As we objectively evaluate our institutions, we must also consider if the time has come to reduce the number of institutions we support with Cooperative Program funds.
If the idea of expanding our partnership with institutions was well received, we could streamline the scope of our Baptist Building ministries. For example, church revitalization and church planting could become the primary assignment of our convention staff. While such changes would require a redistribution of Cooperative Program funds within our state convention budget, it would allow an overall reduction in the percentage of funds needed for state convention ministries. This would result in a greater percentage of Cooperative Program funds going to the SBC and, most importantly, the International Mission Board.
I want to stress at this point that if a decision is ever made to restructure our state convention ministries or redistribute Cooperative Program funding, it should be done gradually over several years. I believe a seven- to 10-year plan of implementation would be needed to ensure an orderly and healthy transition for institutions, ministries, and individuals affected by such changes.
The above examples illustrate how we must find new ways to better utilize all of our resources, and respond in some way to the GCR Task Force’s recommendations. At this time, I am not aware of any study taking place to explore such ideas or consider how the SCBC will respond to the GCR. Therefore, I plan to entertain a motion at this year’s annual meeting of the SCBC on Nov. 16-17 that I, as president of the 2010 South Carolina Baptist Convention, appoint a South Carolina Great Commission Task Force. This task force will be charged with the responsibility of developing a plan detailing how the SCBC will respond to the GCR Task Force’s recommendations adopted by the SBC in June. They will present their plan and recommendations to the SCBC meeting in Columbia on Nov. 15-16, 2011. If this motion is approved, I will appoint a task force of approximately 24 individuals who are in agreement with the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, are supportive of both the SCBC and the SBC, and come from churches of all sizes across the state.
Finally, I want to encourage all South Carolina Baptists to come to Columbia for our annual meeting next week. The theme of the convention is “To the Glory of God.” A young pastor will help us focus on the glory of God at the beginning of each convention session with a theme interpretation based on Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
On Tuesday night, members of the music ministry of Pickens First Baptist Church will lead us in praise and worship of our glorious God. Three young pastors will assist me in preaching a message outlining how we can glorify God by being a convention that is God-focused, gospel-centered, and Great Commission-driven. Please join me in prayer that God will be glorified in all that we do in Columbia next week and in all that we do in 2011 as South Carolina Baptists.
– Stone, pastor of Pickens First Baptist Church, is president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.