In anticipation of the 100th anniversary celebration of the Cooperative Program in 2025, Baptist Press editor Brandon Porter interviewed Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, on the CP Stage in the Southern Baptist Convention Exhibit Hall.
“Just think about what’s been accomplished through the Cooperative Program over the course of the last 99 years,” Wolfe said, noting a little over $20 billion had been given by Southern Baptists in every size and every shape and culture of Southern Baptist churches.
“This affected lostness, not just in our communities, but all over the globe,” Wolfe said. “Twenty billion dollars is worth celebrating!”
He also said the mechanism itself is worth celebrating and worth preserving because “through the Cooperative Program every Southern Baptist has the ability to maximize the effectiveness of every missional dollar given every single week.”
Porter introduced some special ways Southern Baptists can celebrate what they are calling “CP 100,” short for the Cooperative Program’s centennial celebration.
Wolfe shared about a special gathering on the actual 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, May 13, 2025, in the exact location where the Cooperative Program was born in 1925 in Memphis. Every Southern Baptist can participate virtually through the live stream experience, he said.
He also shared about an SBC Executive Committee commissioned book, published by B&H Publishing, called “A Unity of Purpose,” a theological, missiological and historical celebration of the Cooperative Program, written by 14 authors, including himself, IMB President Paul Chitwood, NAMB President Kevin Ezell, Southwestern Seminary Provost Madison Grace, SBC archivist Taffey Hall, and others.
The title of the book, which will be launched in June at the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas, comes from M.E. Dodd’s report to messengers in 1925, saying Southern Baptists are at their best through the Cooperative Program because “it would effect for us … a unity of purpose and consecration through which we can leverage our lives together and our resources together for our shared mission in the Cooperative Program.”
He summarized, “We lean into the theology of cooperation, and then we jump into the history, 100 years of cooperation through this giving mechanism, and then … a challenge and charge for our future and where we are headed through this Great Commission cooperation that we have as Southern Baptists.”
Shifting to how churches can celebrate CP 100, Wolfe said, “The story of the Cooperative Program is the story of the churches … who have funded this Great Commission work.”
He said pastors, mission leaders, Sunday school teachers and deacons can leverage the 100th anniversary to educate their people on the value of “our missiological togetherness through this funding mechanism.” He shared that local associations, state conventions and the Executive Committee have resources available, such as bulletin inserts, slides and videos about SBC missionaries and the Cooperative Program at www.sbc.net/cp100 (for centennial celebration resources) and www.sbc.net/cp (for more broad educational resources).
“Another great way for you to celebrate the CP 100 is to raise your CP giving,” Wolfe said, noting at some point, many churches have decreased their giving to CP.
“Just ask: Is now the time for us to re-engage at a higher level? Is now the time for us to give a little more percentage or a little more dollar amount toward the Cooperative Program?”
Wolfe suggested raising challenges to increase CP or to engage churches that may have been unengaged. Some state conventions are working on passing a resolution during their annual meeting that “just celebrates the Cooperative Program and acknowledges that God has chosen out of His grace and kindness to us to use it in such a powerful way these past 100 years.”
Before concluding, Wolfe shared that the “Cooperative Program, in so many ways, is the story of my life,” including his role as pastor’s son, seminary student and state convention director.
“What burned inside of me … is this desire to reach every person in every neighborhood and every nation across the globe with the gospel,” he said, adding that he was indebted to tens of thousands of Southern Baptist churches that have given sacrificially and faithfully through the years for this purpose.
— Shannon Baker is director of communications for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey and editor of the Network’s weekly newsletter, BRN United.