On Nov. 13-14 of this year, the South Carolina Baptist Convention will hold its annual meeting in Greenville. This will be a great time of fellowship and worship for the messengers who are able to come and represent their home church. I want to encourage all of the churches to send as many of their messengers this year as they can and invite everyone to come out on Tuesday night for a very special meeting.
AtkinsDuring our regular sessions, we will be led in worship by Michael Lord of Michael Lord Outdoor Ministries. Michael was my youth pastor when I accepted Christ as my Savior and helped me as I sensed God calling me to the ministry. I am sure that he will share a few stories about your president that you will not want to miss, and that God will use Michael to bring us all into a time of intimate praise and worship.
We will also have special music starting on Tuesday morning with Rodrigo Rodriguez. Many of you will remember Rodrigo from last year as he shared his amazing talent on the guitar during our 2011 annual meeting. He will be joined this year for a very special presentation by Suresh Jonnalagadda for a duet that Rodrigo composed for the classical guitar and the Indian sitar entitled, “A New Day.”
In addition to Rodrigo and Suresh, we will have special music by “King’s Cause” on Tuesday afternoon and the “Providence Quartet” during our Wednesday morning session before our convention sermon by pastor Michael Catt from Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia. All of our special music groups and individual musicians call South Carolina home for their ministries, and we are so blessed to have each of them with us this year.
I am excited to let you all know that we will have Mark Dever from 9 Marks Ministry to be our special guest speaker on Tuesday night after a special concert provided by “Sisters.” This evening of encouragement begins at 7:00, and you do not have to be a registered messenger to attend. My desire as your 2012 president was to provide an evening service that would not only encourage our hearts through music, but also challenge our spirits with a message that we can all apply to our daily lives. I am praying that God will use Mark Dever and “Sisters” to do just that, and I hope that you will all make plans to attend.
In addition to our business and ministry partner reports, there will also be four messages pertaining to our 2012 theme “Great Commission Living.” I will be presenting on the mandate to “GO,” first vice president Brad Kelley will speak on “MAKE,” SCBC church planter David Bagwell will preach on “BAPTIZE,” and our final message “TEACH” will be given by second vice president Frankie Melton.
I fully believe that the greatest days for the SCBC are still yet to be written, if we all will strive for “Great Commission Living” in our daily lives. I am praying that God will do an amazing work in our midst at our annual convention and that each of you will be a part of this special time in the life of the SCBC.
– Atkins is pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.