Messengers to the South Carolina Baptist Convention annual meeting have authorized SCBC president Fred Stone to appoint a South Carolina Baptist Convention Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
The SCBC task force will be charged with studying the report of the Southern Baptist Convention’s similarly-named GCR task force – which was adopted overwhelmingly in June – for the purpose of developing a plan for South Carolina Baptists to respond to its recommendations. The SCBC GCR group is expected to present a report and recommendations at next year’s annual convention, meeting in Columbia, Nov. 15-16.
The national GCR report calls for channeling more funds to international missions and to major metropolitan areas and Western states in the U.S. To help pay for the initiatives, the report urges state conventions to increase the amount of Cooperative Program monies they forward to the SBC.
The motion to create the South Carolina GCR task force was offered by Chris Gray, pastor of Kings Grove Baptist Church, Central.
In addition to Stone’s appointees, the makeup of the task force will include the presidents of the seven SCBC-affiliated institutions: Anderson University, The Baptist Courier, the Baptist Foundation of South Carolina, Charleston Southern University, Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, North Greenville University, and South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging.
An amendment to appoint the institution presidents (or their designees) to the task force was offered by Wayne Dickard, former SCBC president and pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church, Boiling Springs. Dickard’s amendment passed by a ballot vote of 405-325.
The motion to create the task force passed by a show of uplifted ballots.
In an article published Nov. 11 in The Baptist Courier, Stone said he would appoint to the task force “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.”