Ralph Carter, chairman of the SCBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, hopes pastors in South Carolina will rally their churches to commit to $1 million in additional Cooperative Program giving over the next three months.
The GCR report calls for redirecting more money to global missions by cutting ministry spending within the state and by challenging churches that don’t contribute at least 10 percent of undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program to increase their CP giving by at least 1 percent.
To that end, Carter told the Courier he hopes pastors will have collectively pledged at least $1 million more in CP giving from their churches by November, when SCBC messengers will gather to consider adoption of the GCR report.
Carter told the Courier on Aug. 11 that more than $50,000 in pledges had already been raised and that he expected to “cross the $100,000 mark” the following day. (Update: As of Aug. 16, according to Carter, more than $157,000 in CP pledges had been raised.)
Following a GCR task force meeting Aug. 9, where discussion centered on the “need to begin working feverishly toward getting pledges from pastors to up their CP giving,” Carter said he received a text message from a fellow task force member who had met with two pastor friends, both of whom agreed to go back to their churches and try to increase their CP giving by 1 percent.
“That is exciting at a number of levels,” said Carter. “It tells me if one pastor did this, others can as well. Secondly, this represents grassroots Baptist churches. We can’t do this on the back of a few churches; it is going to require all of us doing our part. We need to approach the large and the small churches alike, and the aim of the GCR task force is to do just that.
“God moves when people act in faith, and I am praying that South Carolina Baptist pastors will take a bold step of faith between now and our convention in November. I believe it will result not just in increased CP giving, but that it will unite us and perhaps move the heart of God to begin bringing revival to our state.
“Anybody can complain or criticize, but leaders act in faith and find solutions to difficult problems. I am praying that the pastors in South Carolina, unlike what we have witnessed in our political leaders in Washington of late, will work together to solve a problem.”
Carter said pastors shouldn’t wait to be approached by a GCR task force member. He encouraged pastors to call or write to him with news of their churches’ CP giving increases. (Carter, who is pastor of Brushy Creek Church in Taylors, can be reached at ralphc@brushycreek.org or 864-244-5075.)
The current SCBC budget anticipates $29.4 million in Cooperative Program gifts from churches.