The Executive Board of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, at a called meeting Nov. 4 at the Baptist Center in Columbia, reversed itself by rescinding a motion it approved earlier to set in place a Great Commission Initiative, a five-year plan to strengthen the convention’s commitment to missions and evangelism.
With slightly more than half of its 80 members present, the board voted to repeal a motion adopted on Oct. 11 at the board’s regular fall meeting at White Oak Conference Center.
The Great Commission Initiative was expected to be a key – and, some have speculated, controversial – item on the agenda for the annual state convention meeting Nov. 15-16 in Columbia.
BlalockMarshall Blalock, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charleston and chairman of the five-member Empowering Kingdom Growth task force that developed the initiative over a span of two years, offered the motion to rescind the earlier action, saying it was the “only proper” motion for consideration, but declaring his support for the original motion.
On Nov. 8, Blalock sent to the Courier a statement on behalf of the task force, which included Bob Debenport, a layman from First Baptist Church in Columbia; Tim Head, pastor of Lighthouse Church, Mount Pleasant; Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church, Taylors; and Mike Hamlet, pastor of First Baptist Church, North Spartanburg. It said: “The task force appreciates the opportunity to work together for the cause of the Great Commission among Baptists. We are disappointed that the advantages of the initiative (for missions, evangelism, and even for the institutions) were not welcomed by the institution presidents. Although the Great Commission Initiative has been rescinded, we hope South Carolina Baptists will have a prayerful conversation about what it means to prioritize reaching lost people. If that conversation leads to more effective evangelism and missions in South Carolina and around the world, then the task force recommendation has served the kingdom of God on behalf of South Carolina Baptists.”
The Great Commission Initiative had called for an altered funding formula for Cooperative Program gifts, reducing the money allocated for the seven institutions operated by the South Carolina Baptist Convention from 26 to 21 percent of the total CP budget between 2007 and 2012. This, the task force said, would free up approximately $1.7 million to underwrite a so-called Kingdom Fund for international and state missions projects as well as evangelism efforts, and to raise from 40 to 42 percent the Cooperative Program contributions going to the Southern Baptist Convention.
The presidents – wary of a funding formula that actually would have led to a 20 percent, rather than a 5 percent, reduction in CP funding by 2012 – met with representatives of the task force as early as May of 2005, again in July and finally on Oct. 27 as a follow-up to the Executive Board’s vote on the motion to establish the initiative.
Hamlet called the Nov. 4 meeting in his role as chairman of the Executive Board. Presidents or their representatives of all of the institutions except Anderson University spoke at the called meeting, echoing their earlier misgivings about the funding plan for the initiative, although the task force presented information showing that increased giving to the Cooperative Program might actually generate more money for the institutions.
Carlisle Driggers, executive director of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, applauded the task force for what he termed their “aggressive leadership” while at the same time expressing reservations about some details in the initiative. Concerned that the plan would lead to division in the convention, he suggested that a vote on the initiative be delayed for a year, allowing more time be allowed for discussion and consideration.
Acting on the ruling by the chair that motions to postpone or reconsider were out of order, Blalock then moved for repeal of the motion.
“The Great Commission Initiative,” he said in a statement to the Courier, “is no longer on the agenda for the convention meeting Nov. 15-16. As much as the task force believed in the initiative, we would rather have rescinded the motion than to have gone to the convention without the board being of one mind on this critical issue.”