The USA Women’s 4×400 meter relay team is one of the most dominant teams in sports history. They hold the world record in the event and have won seven of the last eight World Championships and the last seven Olympic gold medals. The stage was set for another dominating victory at the World Athletics Championships this past year. Then, on the last lap, they were disqualified. They failed to pass the baton.
The botched pass on the final lap between Alexis Holmes and Quanera Hayes resulted in a disqualification and the inability to move to the final round. The many hours of work was nullified. They could not advance simply on the success of the past.
We are only one generation away from losing the ability to finish the race Jesus called us to finish in global gospel advance. Failure to develop the next generation of leaders for the final leg will result in our irrelevance for the mission. Our future success cannot be our past victories.
South Carolina Baptists have a long history of sacrifice and missional focus that has gotten us to where we are today. We are at our best when we fix our eyes on the finish line. Our cooperation is not for the sake of cooperation. It is the means to the end of making disciples of all nations. This will only be accomplished if we raise up the next generation to be focused on the mission, explain to them why we do this together, and be willing to let the baton go for the final leg of the race.
Our future missionaries, pastors, and planters are currently lost. To pass the baton, we must have a strategic mindset to develop a pipeline for the next generation of leaders. Intentional effort to engage lost students with the gospel and give them a chance to respond is critical. The baton must then pass to disciple development and calling out the called. Finally, opportunities for missions mobilization to advance the gospel to unreached peoples will finish the task.
The next generation has all the resources it needs to finish the Great Commission. We must allow them to challenge us with new ideas and strategies to advance. An investment today in the next generation will compound exponentially to reap an eternal reward for the future.
Pass the baton. Then let it go and watch them run.
— Lee Clamp is associate executive director-treasurer for the South Carolina Baptist Convention.