Consideration of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report at the 2011 annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention will move convention business traditionally considered on Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning and alter Tuesday evening’s traditional worship time.
SCBC messengers will gather on Tuesday evening, Nov. 15, at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center to consider the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.The SCBC annual meeting will be held Nov. 15-16 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia. For those unable to attend, sessions will be streamed on the Internet.
(Click here for a complete annual meeting schedule.)
“I’ve asked the convention staff and the order of business committee to make this year’s annual meeting different from the time people walk in the door,” said SCBC president Sonny Holmes, pastor of Northwood Baptist Church, North Charleston. “Well, GCR is a big deal and will help in making this a very different meeting.”
The 11-recommendation GCR report, in part, increases missions giving, decreases funding to SCBC institutions and alters the institutions’ annual trustee selection process. (Read the full report here.)
Informal reflection on and discussion of the GCR report will begin in the Tuesday afternoon session when Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary, speaks.
“Danny Akin is the author of the original maxims of the GCR discussion within the Southern Baptist Convention,” Holmes said. “A few years ago, he preached at the seminary, and those maxims became the bedrock of GCR. From there, Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt appointed the national GCR task force, and that ultimately paved the way for our [state convention’s] GCR task force report.”
Between the Tuesday afternoon and evening sessions, Akin and GCR task force leaders will lead a GCR conversation over hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $6.75 per person and may be purchased by Nov. 10 through the convention website (www.scbaptist.org/annualmeeting2011/gcrconversationwithdannyakin. Those who pre-purchase a ticket will be eligible to win one of three Apple iPad 2s donated through Holmes’ church.
The Tuesday evening business session, Holmes said, will focus on the presentation of the GCR report and its possible adoption by messengers. Ralph Carter, chairman of the task force and pastor of Brushy Creek Baptist Church, Taylors, will moderate the presentation.
Because the SCBC Executive Board report, including the 2012 convention budget, and the convention’s bylaws committee report are potentially affected by adoption of the GCR report, both have been moved from the traditional Tuesday morning time to Wednesday morning. The election of 2012 convention officers will remain in its traditional Wednesday morning position, providing a full morning of business. (Click here to read interviews with the three announced SCBC presidential nominees.)
Keith Shorter, chairman of the order of business committee, and pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church, Easley, said his committee has made other changes to impact this year’s meeting. “We’re excited that Frank Page will be with us on Tuesday morning,” Shorter said. Page, former pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church, is president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.
“Sonny [Holmes] will also be preaching on Tuesday morning rather than Tuesday evening, which has been the traditional time for the president’s address,” Shorter said.
Shorter said another change will surround the annual reports by the convention’s seven institution presidents. “Rather than reports from the podium, institutions will present three-minute video reports, which will also be available to messengers at the respective institutional exhibits,” Shorter said. “Following the video report [in the meeting hall], we will have a live camera feed to the institution’s exhibit for more information.
“The institution exhibits will also have a greater visibility within the convention’s exhibit area,” he said.