Convention wrap: SCBC messengers urged to ‘Launch Out’ with gospel at 2016 annual meeting

Editor’s note: This story was updated Nov. 22, 2016, to include the number of churches represented at the SCBC annual meeting.

Photos by Burnie Flake

With the theme “Launch Out,” South Carolina Baptist Convention church messengers gathered Nov. 15-16 at Riverland Hills Baptist Church in Irmo, near Columbia, S.C., to conduct the state denomination’s business and to be encouraged to take the gospel to their home state and beyond.

launch-out-slide“‘Launch Out’ is not a suggestion, it is a command from our Lord,” 2016 convention president Tom Tucker told messengers at the outset of the SCBC’s 196th annual meeting, taking his inspiration from Luke 5, where Jesus said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a great catch.”

“We’re sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time,” Tucker said, invoking a popular song from the 1960s. “We’re told to launch out and tell someone that Jesus loves them. If you are saved, you’ve got a story.”

Tom Tucker

Tom Tucker

Tucker, who is pastor of Sisk Memorial Baptist Church in Fort Mill, and other speakers, including SCBC executives and team leaders, encouraged messengers to share with their churches the state convention’s vision of seeing “every life saturated and transformed by the hope of the gospel, beginning in South Carolina.”

Gary Hollingsworth, SCBC executive director-treasurer, reported that South Carolina is one of a few states poised to experience significant population growth over the next five years.

SCBC executive director-treasurer Gary Hollingsworth addresses messengers.

SCBC executive director-treasurer Gary Hollingsworth addresses messengers.

“We have both the opportunity and the obligation to reach people in South Carolina with the gospel,” Hollingsworth said, noting that the Palmetto State is projected to have the third-highest growth rate in ethnic population in the U.S.

“The world is coming here,” he said, “and the vast majority of them will not know Jesus as savior. The lost world is not pouring into our buildings to see what we are doing. We need to be out there together for the gospel.”

During business sessions, messengers elected officers, approved an operating budget and adopted resolutions on issues ranging from concern for pastoral health to expressing support for church-school partnerships.

Business sessions were punctuated with music led by the South Carolina Singing Churchmen, the Anderson University Gospel Choir and the BSU-Grass band from North Greenville University. During the Tuesday-evening prayer and praise service, the Sisk Memorial Praise Team led in music while speakers Gary Hollingsworth, Jerry White, D.J. Horton and David Gallamore joined Tom Tucker in emphasizing partnership, missions, discipleship and evangelism.

Attendance at this year’s annual meeting was down from last year’s 965 messengers, with 756 messengers present.

Budget

At $28.6 million, the bottom line for the 2017 SCBC budget remains unchanged from the last five years. The budget allocates 54.5 percent of revenues for in-state ministries, 41 percent to the Southern Baptist Convention through the Cooperative Program (unchanged from last year), and 4.5 percent to be sent directly to the International Mission Board.

Although gifts from South Carolina Baptist churches have fallen short of projections in recent years, the gap between budgeted needs and income has been narrowing, which officials noted as encouraging.

“The potential to reach our budget in 2016 is the highest it’s been since I’ve been in South Carolina,” said Will Browning, pastor of The Journey Church in Summerville and chairman of the Budget, Finance & Audit Committee of the SCBC Executive Board.

Elections

Messengers elected a slate of officers to serve alongside SCBC president Keith Shorter in the coming year. Shorter, pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Easley, who was chosen president-elect last year, assumed the office of president upon the conclusion of this year’s annual meeting.

the-conventions-newly-elected-officers-for-2017

South Carolina Baptist Convention officers for 2017, from left: Larry Zaky, Adrianne Smith, Lisa Willard, Keith Shorter, Bryant Sims and Marshall Blalock.

Officers for 2017 include:

President-Elect — Marshall Blalock, pastor of Charleston First Baptist Church. Blalock was nominated by Will Browning, pastor of The Journey Church in Summerville. Blalock was elected with 219 of 338 votes cast. Bart Kelley, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Oakway, received 119 votes.

First Vice President — Bryant Sims, pastor of First Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Greenwood. Sims was elected without opposition and was nominated by David Little, director of missions for Lakelands Baptist Association.

Second Vice President — Lisa Willard, member of Calvary Baptist Church in Darlington, where her husband is pastor. Willard received 177 of 325 votes cast and was nominated by Ralph Carter, pastor of Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors. Naveen Balakrishnan, pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church, Adams Run, received 148 votes.

Recording Secretary — Adrianne Smith, member of Taylors First Baptist Church. Smith was nominated by Lucy Sargent, member of Pickens First Baptist Church, and elected without opposition.

Registration Secretary — Larry Zaky, pastor of Hemingway First Baptist Church. Zaky was nominated by Naveen Balakrishnan and was elected without opposition.

Resolutions

Messengers adopted resolutions on pastoral care, biblical sexuality and the freedom of conscience, biblical illiteracy and pastoral responsibility, church and school partnerships, and reaching unreached people groups and places.

Full-text versions of the resolutions can be accessed at http://www.scbaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/resolutions-final.pdf.

Speakers

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke Nov. 16 on the imperative to combat the “scourge” of internet pornography, even among fellow Christians.

ERLC president Russell Moore

ERLC president Russell Moore

“Pornography does not kindle sexuality, it strips it away,” Moore said. “It creates the illusion of anonymity [and of] of just sort of being carried along. It is destroying our witness, our spiritual power, [and is ruining] marriages within our churches.”

“Our responsibility is to speak directly to the sin, but also to bear one another’s burdens … [because] we are a church of blood-bought believers,” Moore told messengers in a message based on 1 Corinthians 6. “If you come to Christ, whatever your guilt, God does not see you as that immoral, judged person. There is no condemnation.”

In addition to Moore, Wednesday morning’s speakers included South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson and Frank Page, president and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Page, noting the growing diversity of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, said many Southern Baptist congregations are non-white, with one in five of the SBC’s more than 51,000 congregations identifying as ethnic (black, Hispanic, Asian or other).

Wilson alerted South Carolina Baptists to the serious problems of human trafficking and internet crimes against children and urged churches to contact his office to learn how they can help push back against illegal activity and minister to victims of crime in their state. “Your engagement in the public arena is vital,” he told messengers.

At this year’s annual meeting, 379 of the SCBC’s 2,100-plus churches were represented by registered messengers. (In 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the SCBC was comprised of 2,131 churches and 598,005 members.)

Next year’s annual meeting will be held Nov. 7-8 at Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia.

a-member-of-north-greenville-universitys-bsu-grass-band-sings-%22wayfaring-stranger%22-during-the-wednesday-morning-session

A member of North Greenville University’s BSU-Grass band sings “Wayfaring Stranger” during the Wednesday morning session.

The South Carolina Baptist Singing Churchmen sing during the Tuesday morning session.

The South Carolina Baptist Singing Churchmen sing during the Tuesday morning session.

rocky-creek-baptist-church-in-greenville-received-the-impact-your-world-award-from-the-christian-life-and-public-affairs-committee-for-involvement-in-political-activity-and-civil-matters

Rocky Creek Baptist Church in Greenville received the Impact Your World Award from the Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee for involvement in political activity and civil matters.

messengers-vote-during-a-business-session

Messengers lift their ballots to cast a vote.

father-and-son-parliamentarians-jim-and-ryan-goodroe-confer-on-a-point-of-order

Father and son parliamentarians Jim and Ryan Goodroe confer.

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A messenger worships on Tuesday evening.

messengers-kneel-at-the-altar-during-a-time-of-prayer

People kneel at the altar during a time of prayer.

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Worshippers stand during Scripture reading.

tony-beam-of-north-greenville-university-was-presented-the-e-a-mcdowell-award-for-his-%22ongoing-defense-of-the-faith-and-articulation-of-a-biblical-worldview-%22

Tony Beam, who directs the Christian Worldview Center at North Greenville University and hosts a Christian talk radio show, was presented the E.A. McDowell Award for his “ongoing defense of the faith and articulation of a biblical worldview.”

the-exhibit-hall-is-always-a-busy-place

The exhibit hall is always a busy place.