A couple of weeks ago, I received a call from a pastor friend in the Upstate who was desperate to find help for another pastor friend, whose father-in-law was in the hospital in the Philippines. I sent out a text to our SCBaptist leadership, and through the power of cooperation and our Baptist network, there was a missionary by the father-in-law’s bedside in the Philippines within three hours. That ministry to an SCBaptist pastor and his family is worth celebrating.
Our Baptist network — which includes personnel, facilities and ministry partnerships — was able to help a family faster than government connections and every other means used to seek help in this delicate and time-sensitive matter. This is a story that not many people will ever hear. The network that God used is not one that we take up a special offering for, or a cool initiative that we lead our church to support for a season. God used our SCBaptist network that is in place daily, because we believe we are better together and we chose to cooperate through praying, giving, serving, hiring personnel, and securing and maintaining facilities.
The daily Kingdom Advance that takes place across associations, our state, our nation and to the nations depends on the organization that we have in place. Staff that lead us and facilities that house our operations are vital to our mission. Serving on the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Budget, Finance and Audit Committee for the past four years, I have seen how our Cooperative Program dollars are spent in detail. We are better together, and advancing together requires personnel and facilities. People and buildings require funds to put in place and then to keep in place. I am thankful that 100 years ago, God designed the Cooperative Program to be the financial fuel that funds the daily Kingdom Advance that we celebrate together.
What do we have to celebrate in South Carolina? According to the most recent SCBC Book of Reports and the South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union, we can celebrate 10,433 baptisms. We can celebrate that over half of South Carolina public schools have an SCBaptist church serving them. We can celebrate overflowing summer camps: SummerSalt, KidSalt, Camp McCall and Camp LaVida had 8,423 campers, 328 students saved, and 226 students called to ministry. We can celebrate that 4,806 students heard the gospel at eight ONE Night events, with 418 making decisions for salvation. We can celebrate the students receiving a Christ-centered education at one of our three SCBaptist universities and the 20,094 students engaged in Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM), resulting in 223 salvations and 726 BCM students being sent out on mission. We can celebrate SCBaptist families who have adopted or are finalizing the adoption of 10 children from foster care and the families receiving care at Connie Maxwell Children’s Ministries. We can celebrate the more than 300 seniors living in a Christ-centered environment through our Ministries of Aging.
Each SCBaptist who prayed, who gave, who served and who shared can celebrate what God has done, and how His kingdom is advancing as we cooperate together.
Perhaps you and your church are asking how does partnering with, cooperating with, giving to, attending and serving through the local association and state convention help with Kingdom Advance in 2025? Is it still true that together we can do more? I invite you to see and celebrate in person what God is accomplishing through SCBaptist cooperation Nov. 10-11 at Taylors First Baptist Church. When we pray fervently and make being informed and involved a priority, we quickly realize that we are still better together and that there are many reasons to celebrate Kingdom Advance taking place through SCBaptists.
— Chuck Sprouse, pastor of First Baptist Church of Ninety Six, is 2025 president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.