The Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, at its spring meeting April 24-25 at the SCBC building in Columbia, heard convention president Keith Shorter talk about his vision for a widespread one-day missions effort around the city of Columbia at this fall’s annual meeting.

Board members also heard reports and challenges from SCBC executive director-treasurer Gary Hollingsworth and other team members, including a report about lagging Cooperative Program receipts and the resulting effects on budget planning for next year.

Below is the full report from the April 24-25 meeting, submitted by the SCBC communications office:

Along with new, approved governance for its restructuring that line up its teams with convention staff assignments, the South Carolina Baptist Convention Executive Board heard stirring reports about evangelistic and missional opportunities in the state and beyond and heard how 2017 annual meeting messengers will focus an entire afternoon on missional work in the Columbia area.

The Executive Board met at the convention building in Columbia for its regular spring meeting, Monday-Tuesday, April 24-25. John Goudelock, associate pastor of Living Water Baptist Church, Longs, is the 2017 board chairman. 

Tuesday’s meeting closed with a one-hour presentation that included SCBC executive director-treasurer Gary Hollingsworth, associate executive director and chief strategist Mark A. [who has asked that his last name be omitted for security reasons — Editor] and convention president Keith Shorter, all talking about SCBC work and opportunities in the state and beyond. Shorter is pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Easley.

Hollingsworth shared information from his recent mission trip to Boston, where he joined Shorter and other SCBC leaders in visiting church planters. He also reported that more than 100 SCBC churches are now in partnership with local public schools, and that churches are mobilizing to pray for communities using a newly licensed Website called www.blesseveryhome.com.

Hollingsworth reported that more than 100 leaders recently participated in the Immersion conference, a two-day experience to equip disciple-makers, and that Baptist Collegiate Ministries is mobilizing for prayer and is seeing more students join on campuses. The Francis Marion University BCM recently received the school’s Organization of the Year award.

Hollingsworth also commended church-planting efforts, pointing to Cross Community Church in Beaufort, which opened with more than 300 on its first Sunday and has reported several salvations. More churches are also looking to replant, turning upward from plateaued and declining environments, he said.

Mark A. challenged board members to know that, of the world’s population, 75 percent have no relationship with Jesus, and 33 percent have never heard of Jesus. He further pointed out that one of every 12 people is believed to have a saving relationship with Jesus, while 25 percent may claim to be “Christian” or have a connection to Christianity but have no relationship with Jesus. Lastly, he pointed out that less than 1 percent of the population will cross some kind of barrier (language, cultural, ethnic) to tell someone else about Jesus.

Board members were challenged to be leaders in thinking externally about lost people and serving the needs of lost people, with a goal of building relationships that allow the sharing of hope in Christ. This would lead to sending workers to the lost and to unreached people and places in the world, and that will lead to starting new churches among the lost. 

Convention president Keith Shorter urged board members to encourage pastors to be a part of a convention vision trip to support church planters in Boston, Cleveland and Southeast Asia.

Shorter also promoted the 2017 annual meeting theme, Unite, specifically calling attention to using Tuesday afternoon as a missions opportunity within the Columbia area, and for supporting church planters and the work of churches. He called on board members and pastors throughout the state to mobilize their people for the one-day mission trip in Columbia.

The annual meeting will be Tuesday-Wednesday, Nov. 7-8, 2017, at Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia. Shorter said he hopes for 1,000 South Carolina Baptists to be at work in Columbia on Tuesday afternoon and then gathering Tuesday evening to celebrate in worship.

On Monday of the two-day Executive Board meeting, before its regular team (formerly committee) meetings, the full board met to approve the standing rules for its teams, designed to advance the convention’s four priorities of Sending Missionaries, Starting Churches, Strengthening Churches, and Sharing Hope. The teams then met respectively with assigned, lateral SCBC staff members on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday morning, teams reported, for the first time, to the full board. The Church Strengthening and the Priority Advancement teams each reported meeting with staff for prayer, orientation and education. 

The Operations Team, encompassing the work of the board’s former Properties Committee, announced the purchase of a new copier for the SCBC building; a focus on safety and security, including first aid, at SCBC properties; a new ropes course and handrails along stairways at Camp McCall; and improvements at Baptist Collegiate Ministries facilities. 

The Budget, Finance & Audit Team reported that audits for the SCBC Executive Board ministries, Baptist Ministries for the Aging, Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, Baptist Courier, and North Greenville University were all returned as unmodified, meaning that information within the audits was, as chairman Talmadge Tobias said, “materially correct and accurate, and that financial work was well-prepared and professionally administered.”

The BF&A also approved funding for the property requests of the Operations Team. The BF&A did report that the current 2017 budget is operating about 6 percent short of budget and that Cooperative Program receipts are behind the comparatively same time in 2016.

Tobias said the 2018 budget will be prepared with a $500,000 reduction —from $28.5 million to $28 million — in mind. He said the announcement was made to aid the convention’s partners, whose contribution is a set percentage of budget receipts. Knowing the SCBC 2018 budget goal will be $500,000 less than the 2017 budget will help partners in their own budget planning for 2018.

The Executive Board will finalize its budget recommendation at the October meeting prior to formal presentation for approval by the messengers at the SCBC annual meeting in November

The board also heard reports from Baptist Ministries for the Aging and Anderson University. Other convention partners will provide reports at board meetings in October and December.