Dr. Bill Mackey

Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, has shared his thoughts on the recent release of the Kentucky Great Commission Task Force report on his blog and in a column for the Western Recorder newspaper. Here’s what he had to say:

I want to express gratitude to the members of Kentucky Great Commission Task Force who have served over the past eight months and to all Kentucky Baptists who have prayed for the committee members. I am grateful for the work of Dr. Hershael York in leading the committee, writing much of the report, and giving generously of his time in sharing the report personally with KBC entity heads, KBC staff and directors of missions.

I also want to thank Charles Barnes, chairman of the Mission Board’s Business and Finance Committee, for his days of work on the financial plan of the report. Once the task force had voted on the goal of moving to a 50/50 division of Cooperative Program receipts with the Southern Baptist Convention and certain reductions, it became his task to work with me and KBC Business Team Leader Lowell Ashby to come up with a financial plan that would move KBC toward the goals.

Given the recommendations, I think it is an equitable plan for absorbing the loss of funds from the anticipated phase-out of our cooperative agreement with the North American Mission Board ($1,017,000), managing reductions in CP allocations for Kentucky missions and ministries, and challenging everyone to do and give “more for Christ.”

The focus of the report is on the Great Commission and getting the gospel to the unreached people groups of the world through the Cooperative Program. We all know that more resources are needed to fulfill the Great Commission and this was a prime motivation for committee members.

A key element and the first recommendation of the report is a call for spiritual repentance and renewal that results in renewed commitment to the Great Commission. If the report is approved by messengers this November, we will have an emphasis called “More for Christ” that I hope will  permeate the soul of every Kentucky Baptist and every church. Each individual and church will be encouraged to seek the Lord on how they can do more for Christ in reaching people, increasing baptisms, developing disciples and supporting missions through CP.

The report’s second recommendation calls for the KBC to move to a 50/50 split with SBC of CP receipts within seven years after taking out 4 percent in shared expenses. This will mean increased allocations for the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, the six seminaries and other SBC ministries. At the same time it will mean reduced allocations for KBC missions and ministries.

The report’s third recommendation is to call on churches to increase the percentage of their giving to missions through CP so that we see a convention-wide increase of 3 percent each year for seven years. The report notes that this can be accomplished if each KBC church will increase its percentage by just one-quarter of a percent each year.

In these challenging economic times, the question has been raised about what will happen if the growth in CP does not come at this level. In such a scenario, the task force and Business and Finance Committee would need to consider a recommendation to either extend the time for reaching the even 50/50 split or further reduce the missions and ministries of KBC, or both. This is my biggest concern about the future and KBC missions and ministries.

The report’s final recommendation is to allow the task force to stay in place for the duration of the seven-year plan to enable it to monitor progress and report annually to Kentucky Baptists. I think the intent is for the task force to be actively involved in encouraging individuals and churches to take on the CP missions challenge to do more for Christ.

It is the hope of the task force that young leaders and others will be encouraged by this aggressive plan to shift significant funds to world missions and that they will respond to this opportunity to support missions through the Cooperative Program.

Obviously, the report calls for Kentucky Baptists to conduct a spiritual inventory to discover under God how we can all do more for Christ. If every church member and church will do more, implementing the plan will not be a burden on any one individual or church and it will be amazing to see how God uses us!

–Robert Reeves

The KBC Great Commission Task Force at work at the Kentucky Baptist Building.

Kentucky Baptists will move to an even distribution of Cooperative Program receipts with the Southern Baptist Convention and set an ambitious goal of increasing missions giving under a plan being proposed by the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Task Force.

The Task Force’s recommendations will be presented to messengers for approval at the Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington on Nov. 16.

The report was released today to give Kentucky Baptists adequate time to understand and react to four recommendations, said Task Force Chairman Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort and a former KBC president.

Here’s the text of the report:

Last year Kentucky Baptist Convention President John Mark Toby appointed a Great Commission Task Force. The 17 Task Force members appointed were:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, Chair.

• Paul Badgett, pastor, First Baptist Church, Pikeville

• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church in Louisville

• Joy Bolton, executive director-treasurer of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union

• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission, Warren Baptist Association

• Rusty Ellison, pastor, Walnut Street Baptist Church in Louisville

• Chad Fugitt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Monticello

• Greg Faulls, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Owensboro

• John Hale, deacon at First Baptist Church in Mount Vernon

• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington

• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Campbellsville

• Bill Mackey, executive director, Kentucky Baptist Convention

• Don Mathis, president, Kentucky Baptist Convention

• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church in Union

• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church in Murray

• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church in Louisville

• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church in Paducah

Over the course of the past 8 months, the Task Force has met in prayer, deliberation, and commitment. Every member of the Great Commission Task Force agrees that this has been a significant spiritual milestone in our lives as we have seen God work among us and bring us to a unanimous consensus about our recommendations.

In order to reach our conclusions and recommendations, we first reached a consensus about our foundational guiding principles. The include the following:

Principles we believe

We believe that Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise, honor, worship, and resources.

We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, and that explicit faith in Christ as Lord and Savior is necessary for all morally accountable persons to have eternal life.

We believe that faith in Christ comes only through the proclamation of the gospel applied by the Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus has commanded us to preach the gospel to every person on earth.

We believe that churches should evangelize the lost, baptize and disciple the saved, plant churches, and reach our nation and the world through commissioning missionaries, participating in missions personally, and giving a significant portion of income and resources to missions, especially through the vehicle of the Cooperative Program.

We believe in the value of Christian education as a means of equipping Christians to serve the Lord through cultural engagement, church membership and participation, and missionary service.

We believe that a new generation of Kentucky Baptists are not willing to settle for business as usual and that the Cooperative Program will diminish and perhaps die if we do not present a bold, sweeping vision for the future and a refocus of our energies.

We believe that we must devote a significantly larger portion of our resources to reach the 1.7 billion people of the last frontier who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe that to be a faithful steward of all that God has blessed us with that each Kentucky Baptist should be challenged to provide a legacy gift for the Cooperative Program and Kingdom causes. We believe that churches, assisted by the Kentucky Baptist Foundation and Mission Board, must lead in training and developing this stewardship vision for all Kentucky Baptists.

We believe that renewed vision and ministry will only result from renewed love for Christ and repentance for our selfishness as evidenced by our decline in witnessing, proclaiming the gospel, personal sacrifice, giving, and going.

We believe that our Kentucky Baptist churches must reverse the decline in cooperative program giving, even while we engage the lost, go on mission, and plant churches.

We believe that to reach our nation and the nations for Christ will require a continued paradigm shift for Kentucky Baptists. First, our churches must become more outwardly focused than inwardly. Second, the Kentucky Baptist Convention needs to shift to a paradigm based more on outreach, evangelism, and missions and less on advising particular church ministries. To do this would require the KBC over time to become more of a facilitator of shared advice, counsel, and experience among churches, pastors, and laity rather than a provider of those services. We recognize that certain ministries (disaster relief, ministry to pastors in transition, etc) are more effective when done by the state convention so we affirm the continued significance and need for the KBC. In fact, we believe that this shift will result in a greater connection between the ministry of the KBC and the churches. We furthermore believe that the local associations are going to become key partners in renewed emphasis on shared ministry, missions, and connections.

To that end and after intense study, interviews, deliberation and prayer, we propose that Kentucky Baptists:

1) Initiate a 3-year emphasis called “More for Christ,” an intentional time of repentance, renewal, and redirection for the future. Kentucky Baptists responded to the “Find It Here” campaign in record numbers and with great enthusiasm and excitement. Our prayer is that we might respond in the same way to a call to personal and corporate commitment to Christ and to the Great Commission.

More for Christ means:

More of myself

• personal surrender
• personal witness
• personal sacrifice

More of my family

More for the lost

More for the needs

More for the nations

We propose that messengers request the KBC mission board, staff, agencies and institutions to seek ways that we can implement this theme in every part of Kentucky Baptist life and that it become a clarion call to our churches and individuals.

Explanation: We recognize that we desperately need a recommitment of our lives, our churches, our families, and our resources. Our prayer is that these recommendations will result in a great movement of the Holy Spirit among Kentucky Baptists. We pray that “More for Christ” will be the theme of what Kentucky Baptists do and give for the future. We pray that such an emphasis will be used of God to remind us and motivate us to strategize, mobilize, and give toward that end.

2) Instruct our Mission Board to move to a reallocation of Cooperative Program funds that results in 50% of our annual Cooperative Program receipts (after shared administrative expenses) being given to the Southern Baptist Convention and 50% to KBC within the next 7 years. Beginning with the 2011-12 fiscal year, the Mission Board shall implement the attached GCTF-Ky CP Percentage Distribution Plan to achieve this goal.

Explanation: To illustrate the differences in this change over the next 7 years and estimating approximately 4% of the KBC budget as shared expenses and 3% growth in CP funds, the division of Cooperative Program receipts after those shared expenses would be:

1st year 2011-12: KBC 53.28% SBC 46.72%

7th year 2017-18: KBC 50%, SBC 50%

The basis for this change in the first year would include a 6% across the board reduction in the KBC budget; eliminating the KBC’s contribution to annuitants by $400,000; reducing contribution to the colleges an additional 7% (which means that the colleges still receive slightly more than they did prior to Georgetown’s departure from the KBC budget); a Mission Board staff reduction of 12%; a total Mission Board budget reduction of 9.85%; an additional WMU reduction of 3.85% ; meaning a total of 9.85%.

In years 2-7 the Mission Board would make further adjustments of $600,000 to achieve incrementally the goal of a 50%-50% allocation between SBC and KBC causes after shared expenses.

3) Set a goal to increase overall CP receipts from Kentucky Baptist churches and individuals at least 3% per year for the next seven years. This growth would be equivalent to each church increasing CP giving by at least 0.25% of undesignated receipts each year for 7 years.

Explanation: It would be wrong simply to reallocate cooperative program receipts and ask KBC ministries to sacrifice and cut back without also asking more from ourselves. As a tenet of faith, we believe that God has already given His people all the resources we need to do what He has commanded. We cannot deny that in the past 15 years Cooperative Program giving from Kentucky Baptist churches has declined from approximately 10% of undesignated receipts to less than 7%. We simply must reverse that trend and ask our churches and individuals to respond graciously, generously, and sacrificially.

If Kentucky Baptists respond and if we could reverse that trend by growing our receipts by 3% per year for the next 7 years, the results for missions would be staggering. Using the new seven-year reallocation with a 3% growth, the increase for SBC causes would be $23,786,274 meaning that over $11.8 million more would go to the IMB and put missionaries on the field.

This is attainable in several ways. If every church in the KBC increased their CP giving by just ¼% of their undesignated receipts every year for the next seven years, we could do it. If small churches that usually give a fixed amount rather than a percentage would up that amount, we could do it. If large churches that have tended to decrease CP giving in order to support their own programs, buildings, and missions would understand the global importance of the CP and reverse that trend, we could do it.

While designating missions dollars to the IMB or some other agency or effort may seem attractive, only the CP supports missions in North America and around the world, helps train pastors and missionaries through our seminaries, and speaks on moral and social issues through the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. While we encourage multiple mission efforts, we believe in the wisdom and strategic genius of the Cooperative Program which, after all, was born here in Kentucky.

4) Authorize the Great Commission Task Force to remain constituted for the next seven years, monitoring progress and implementation and reporting to the Convention and/or Mission Board each year, making any further recommendations as necessary. Each year the KBC president may appoint members to maintain between 10 and 15 on the committee.

Explanation: This work is significant enough that a single entity needs to work closely with the Executive Director and relate to all parts of the KBC to see how we are doing and make reports on our progress. We also believe that continuity is essential, especially after as extensive a study of all KBC entities as this task force has conducted. For that reason we ask that the current members remain on the committee and new ones be added only as natural attrition occurs.

Addendum

GCTF – KY  CP Percentage Distribution Plan

Fiscal Year (2010-11):

KBC:  62%, SBC:  38%

First Year (2011-12):

CP Percentages — KBC: 51.15%; SBC: 44.85%; Shared:  4%

Percentage of CP after Shared Expenses — KBC: 53.28%; SBC: 46.72%

Basis for Change: 2010-11 Budget = Base Year.  Shared Expenses 4% or $940.000; Reduction in KBC Budget 6%; Annuity Reduction $400,000; College Reduction 7% in addition to 6% KBC Budget, Total = 12.58%; Mission Board Staff Reduction 12%; Mission Board Total Budget Reduction of 9.85%, totaling $750,671; including $237,000 of the Cooperative Agreements absorbed by the Mission Board; WMU Reduction 3.85% in addition to 6% of KBC Budget; Total = 9.85%; and 3% Growth in CP divided KBC 33.1%/SBC 66.9% in years 1 through 7.

Seventh Year (2017-18):

CP Percentages — KBC: 48%; SBC: 48%; Shared: 4%

Percentage of CP after Shared Expenses — KBC: 50%; SBC: 50%

Basis for Change in Years 2 through 7: Mission Board absorbs in years 2 through 7 Cooperative Agreements Totaling $600,000 by Mission Board Additional Staff Reductions Totaling $600,000; $180,000 in NAMB Cooperative Agreements to be terminated; Total Mission Board Funding would be Reduced $1,350,691 or 17.72% the 7th year.

For more on the report and comments from Task Force Chairman Hershael York, click here to read the KBC news release on the report.

Click here to download a copy of the Kentucky Great Commission Task Force report.

–Robert Reeves

Hershael York, Kentucky Task Force Chair

Please be in prayer for Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force as it meets today at Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. The meeting is a key one for the committee as it hones the report it will present to messengers at this year’s annual meeting.

Dr. Hershael York, task force chairman, said following the committee’s July meeting that he expected the task force’s report to be released sometime after this August meeting.

“We do anticipate releasing a report early enough for people to have plenty of time to digest it, pray about it and come prepared to act on it,” he told the Western Recorder, adding that the report will have a “spiritual basis and emphasis” that will call on Kentucky Baptists “to do more and give more for Christ.”

The committee was appointed at the KBC’s annual meeting in November after messengers approved a recommendation to form a committee to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The task force will work throughout the coming year to study the work of the KBC’s Mission Board, agencies and institutions, and will report any recommendations it might have to messengers attending the 2010 annual meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

Members of the Kentucky committee are:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort.
• Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pikeville
• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, Louisville
• Joy Bolton, executive director of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville
• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission for the Warren Association of Baptists, Bowling Green
• Rusty Ellison, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church, Louisville
• Greg Faulls, Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro
• Chad Fugitt, First Baptist Church, Monticello
• John Hale, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon
• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church, Lexington
• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Campbellsville
• Bill Mackey, KBC executive director
• Don Mathis, 2009 president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green.
• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church, Union
• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murray
• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville
• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church, Paducah

–Robert Reeves

The discussion on the convention floor was passionate as well. Only after an amendment was approved to strengthen the report to more fully embrace and support the Cooperative Program did the scales tip heavily in favor of approval.

The GCR discussion has served to educate many about the extensive nature of Southern Baptist work across local, regional, national and international lines. I always felt that one of the great benefits of the GCR discussion — even if it became a little too heated at times in some quarters and even if some information got a bit distorted — was that it got Baptists focused on and learning about the Cooperative Program. I feel sure that whatever their individual opinion may be about one particular allocation or another, those Baptists who engaged in the GCR discussion left it better informed and generally more appreciative of this highly effective way of cooperatively supporting missions and ministry work.

And yet, in the weeks following the SBC, it has becoming increasingly obvious to me that we still have a long, long way to go in educating our churches both about the GCR and the great tool that Baptists have in the Cooperative Program. As I have the opportunity to meet and talk to Baptists in my own state, it’s pretty apparent that outside of the pastors, DOMs and denominational workers, very few Southern Baptists even know what the GCR is.  And not many more really understand the Cooperative Program with much clarity.

Understandably, the focus of most Baptists in the pews is on the ministries of their local church. They give — and in many cases give generously — to their local church and to the missions offerings. But unless the GCR or CP is something their pastor talks about specifically and on a regular basis, they don’t often know or understand the details.

That’s why I want to encourage all readers who may be pastors or church leaders to take the time to educate your congregations about the Cooperative Program. Please don’t assume that even your most senior and long-term members understand what it’s all about.

Doing so really is easy. Great materials abound. Kentucky Baptists can have materials sent to their church at no charge simply by ordering online at www.kybaptist.org/cpmissions. Most other state conventions have similar sites where information is available. CP material is also available from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee at www.cpmissions.com.

And follow up on ordering the materials by taking time to talk about the Cooperative Program, our various denominational structures and about GCR. Plan times on Wednesday or Sunday night or at some other appropriate time in your church to emphasize our cooperative work. The SBC promotes a CP Sunday each April but church members need to hear about CP more than just once a year if they are to ever have a solid and productive understanding of the ways we work together to further the Gospel.

These may seem like very simple suggestions but this kind of education is essential. In the end, it won’t matter how the CP pie is divided if the support for it is no longer there in our churches. It won’t matter if percentages are divided 50-50 between the states and SBC or if 100 percent goes to your own favorite entity because 100 percent of  0 is 0.

I personally believe that as CP goes, so goes the GCR. And on both of these counts, we’ve got to close a big awareness and knowledge gap for a large percentage of Southern Baptists.

–Robert Reeves

Members of the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s 1:8 Leadership Experience West team play a parachute game with a group of children at a housing complex in inner-city Denver. Now in its third year, the 1:8 Leadership Experience has expanded to two teams in order to accommodate the demand. Thirty-three students from Kentucky colleges are participating this summer. (Photo by Evelyn Fuson)

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is receiving great reports this summer in response to the work of some of our Baptist Campus Ministry students who are actively working to learn about and carry out the Great Commission through the 1:8 Leadership Experience.

Click here to read details about what these young people are doing in this story in the Western Recorder but I wanted to share here some of the feedback from those with whom our western team has been working. It comes from an e-mail to KBC Assistant Executive Director Steve Thompson and shared with permission:

Hello Steve,
from Jim Walters, Senior Pastor at Bear Valley Church in Lakewood, CO.

Your team of 16 college students (organized by Keith Inman) just departed our city after three weeks of serving our church through its Multihousing Ministry. Over the years, I have been on many mission trips and have hosted many teams. This team, of KY college students, was the most outstanding group of young adults doing ministry that I have ever witnessed. They were an absolute delight and encouragement to our church, our multihousing workers, and scores of residents who are lost and lonely.

We cannot say enough good about them, but below is the report from our Multihousing Coordinator, sent to me this morning.

For now, I wanted to make your day as you read through the report below, and thank you for sending these workers to us.

Jim Walters
Senior Pastor
Bear Valley Church

————————————————————

From: Luann Turner
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 6:35 PM
To: Jim Walters
Subject: Kentucky

Today was the last day of a remarkable month in our multi-housing outreaches. This was the day the 16 college students were to be “off” – packing, cleaning, and seeing sights in Denver. Instead, a group of them were back at one of our apartment communities playing with the kids they have been teaching, playing with and loving on for the past 3 weeks. These college kids fell in love with our folks, and our folks fell in love with them.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention sent us kind-hearted, responsible, loving servants. It was a group of young adults willing to work hard and do whatever needed to be done with whoever needed it at the moment. All were willing, eager, pleasant – to everyone. As one of our volunteers said, “Only God could have put together a group like this.”

In 3 weeks, they worked with us to feed over 600 meals, host 4 carnivals, 4 Vacation Bible schools, and 3 field trips. They gave swim lessons, led worship, taught both teens and adults, shared their testimonies, visited folks in assisted living, delivered welcome baskets and flyered apartments. They moved bricks, ran a jack hammer, and helped out two church planters painting, gardening and doing all sorts of manual labor for them. They prayed with and for folks, and prayed with 5 to receive Christ, following up with them with Bibles and basic discipleship. They took photos and made a DVD presentation for us to use in recruiting volunteers.

Our seniors in assisted living and our children were especially touched by the love these college kids rained down on them. The kids wait at the church door for them to come and play with them.

In the midst of this, they served and loved our other volunteers and leadership team equally well.

Two stories especially touch my heart:

• One young man floated another young man, P.J., who suffers from cerebral palsey, in the pool, giving him an incredible afternoon.
• Another young man asked the elderly woman he was visiting if he could walk her to her room. Of course she was honored, and took him in to show him her family pictures.

But the stories are endless. One young woman essentially baby-sat a little boy day after day so his sister could play and be a little girl instead of a “mom”. Others cooked, cleaned, led another mission team, did crafts, swam, played basketball – on and on – all with loving hearts that touched one and all in ways beyond what I can put in words. Only in eternity will we know all the fruit that this trip has produced.

A few of our leaders wrote these words in gratitude:

“It’s been a pleasure to meet you and witness the fellowship you have shared with the GG kids.  YOU made each day special for these kids and I know they will not forget your visit.  You have inspired and opened new doors for many of them in thier walk with Christ.  God bless you and your ministry.” –  Scott

“I just wanted to express our appreciation to Jeremiah and Chris for their help on Thursday, June 17th.  They arrived that afternoon with a willingness to help and ended up moving brick, mortar, landscape ties (old creosote railroad ties) and trash for us.  Their appearance worked out well as we just happened to be demolishing a chimney and needed to jackhammer out an old sidewalk.  Both Jeremiah and Chris jumped right in and worked very hard to help us with this heavy work.  What great attitudes they showed as they helped us out.  Their assistence was a real blessing for us and resulted in much more work being done than planned.  It saved some of us ‘old guys’ from overdoing it too…! Please express our gratitude to Jeremiah and Chris for their work that day!” — Keith & Tammy

“Thank you so much for your wonderful ministry to the children in my new neighborhood. NEVER would I have tried to do such an outreach at my house with everything so “unready” & “undone”, but God’s ways are not my ways and your work with the kids was every bit as much of a blessing to me as it was to all the kids.  You provided the “jump start” we needed to begin to minister to the Multi-Housing communities all around our home!  May God bless you richly and continue to advance His Kingdom through you as He already is!  I can’t think of a better “House Warming” for me & Keith than what you brought during these hot summer days!  Wish you didn’t have to leave!  All my love and sincerest appreciation.” — Tammy

“The students were just amazing! Such a gift to us, and as I am sure you know by now, fantastic examples of what it means to follow in the way of Jesus.” — Karl

“Thank you for the ways you supported our team.  You not only loved our kids well but us as well.  You were always willing to do whatever we needed with such a teachable spirit.  I have no doubts that only God could put a team together so perfectly.  God bless you as you move on.  Our hearts go with you.” — Brenda

“Hebrews 6:10 talks about what you have done for the children of Green Gables.  You have shown God’s love by the love you have given to each of the children.  God will truly bless each of you! We love you all!” — Tom and Barb

So, Kentucky, we cannot thank you enough!

–Robert Reeves

Dr. Bill Mackey

Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director Bill Mackey recently shared his thoughts on last week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention on his blog, Partners in the Mission, and in the Western Recorder newspaper. Here’s a reprint of that piece:

Report from Orlando

I want to share some words of encouragement from Orlando, especially for those who could not attend the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.

As you know by now, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report passed by about a 70 percent vote on a show of ballots. The vote came after 90 minutes of discussion and motions to amend or postpone the vote for more study. The GCRTF report includes seven recommendations that will be implemented by the SBC boards and the SBC Executive Committee over time.

The task force was gracious in accommodating wording by messengers to amend the report. The most significant change was to indicate that designated giving will be a supplement to, and not a substitution for, Cooperative Program giving.

The gracious way this was handled helped to change the atmosphere on the convention floor from what appeared to be a 50/50 division on the amendment to the place where most messengers were comfortable enough to vote for the report. The language in the report strongly states the priority of Cooperative Program giving.

It was apparent that much prayer had preceded the convention. During the debate a messenger requested that we pause for prayer for God’s will to be done and to move us past the division.

I believe Southern Baptists have a grand opportunity to experience a true renewed focus on the Great Commission. If we continue to pray and seek God with all our hearts as we did during and leading up to the GCRTF report and continue to respect and work with one another under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, I am confident that God will permit us to experience a Great Commission Resurgence.

–Robert Reeves

Richard Harris, Bill Mackey and Jerry Rankin

Just ahead of  the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando last week, Bill Mackey, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s executive director, participated in a panel discussion on Great Commission priorities with Jerry Rankin, the outgoing president of the International Mission Board, and Richard Harris, the interim president of the North American Mission Board.

Click on the arrow below to hear the audio of their 15-minute discussion:

If the embedded player is not showing on the device on which you are reading this post, you can also access the audio by clicking the link below. This link will also allow you to download the audio file.

GCR Roundtable Discussion with Bill Mackey, Jerry Rankin and Richard Harris

Here’s a summary of discussion highlights from the North American Mission Board:

ORLANDO, Fla. – International Mission Board president Jerry Rankin, Kentucky Baptist Convention executive director Bill Mackey and interim North American Mission Board president Richard Harris took part in a brief roundtable discussion on future trends in missions during the SBC annual meeting in Orlando.

The roundtable was one of four hosted by NAMB during the SBC meeting in Orlando. Other discussions included “Reaching Cities in North America,” “Church Planting in the 21st Century” and “Reaching People Groups in North America.” Audio of each roundtable discussion is posted at www.namb.net/orlando2010.

Mackey said reaching the increasing numbers of internationals settling in Kentucky is an issue challenging him. “We are seeing a great influx of Hispanics, a tripling to 300,000 since 2000. We’re trying to respond by urging the churches to consider the opportunities in their neighborhoods.

“We’re working with journeymen who are coming out of seminary who are experienced with working with people groups throughout the world. We need them to address the people groups moving into Kentucky. For example, we have seven dialects spoken by Indians in Louisville.”

Rankin agreed that “the world is coming to us. You no longer have to go overseas to do foreign missions and reach unreached people groups. All of us recognize that it won’t be the state convention, IMB or NAMB that reaches these people groups. It will have to be a grassroots movement of Christians witnessing anywhere, everywhere to anyone. IMB’s role would be to mobilize, train and equip these grassroots Christians, churches and associations to reach the peoples coming to their communities.”

NAMB’s Harris said, “You have to identify these folks and find them: where are they and what are their interests? What is their heart language? What are their needs?

“One area we need to do more in is on university campuses,” said Harris. “We have to get more career, MSC and summer semester missionaries on campus – to get in there and engage students with campus ministries and try to reach them. They’re the ones going into leadership positions.The college campus is a great opportunity.”

The three men also discussed the advent of “participatory missions” – whereby more of today’s Baptists want to take a hands-on approach to missions, rather than leaving it just to missionaries.

“There’s a massive challenge of reaching billions of people overseas,” said Rankin. “We’ll never have enough missionaries to reach them all. But if we could mobilize the 16 million Southern Baptists and 45,000 churches to be strategically involved, God has raised up the necessary resources to fulfill the Great Commission.”

story by Mickey Noah, North American Mission Board

–Robert Reeves

The Southern Baptist Convention is being held at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla., June 15-16.

Please be in prayer for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention set for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Crossover Orlando activities were held this past weekend with the Pastors’ Conference slated for today (Monday).

Be in special prayer for the presentation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. There is obviously not a consensus on all aspects of this report so be in prayer that messengers will carefully listen to all that is said — both pro and con — and be sensitive to the Lord’s guidance in making a decision about how to vote. Pray that human politics will have minimal influence and that the vote is a true reflection of Southern Baptists’ feelings about God’s leading. An artificial result built upon one side or another’s prowess at getting people to the meeting will have no lasting positive impact on the churches of the Convention.

I am also praying that all debate on the report will be conducted in a God-honoring manner that is respectful of all people and all viewpoints. This meeting is the one time of year when the secular press closely watches Southern Baptists and it is the nature of the news industry to focus on conflict. My prayer is that Southern Baptists, even if they disagree with one another on the particular strategies we use in seeking to fulfill the Great Commission, will demonstrate a love for the Lord and each other that stands out strongly. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if secular reporters went away feeling that something was truly different about Southern Baptists and that they weren’t just covering another big political meeting?

Pray also that following the vote — no matter the outcome — that Southern Baptists will come together and continue to work together cooperatively. Much has been written and said during the run-up to this Convention that has been harsh, hurtful and, at times, quite misinformed. The mission is bigger than any one person, entity or denomination, however, so it is essential that we keep our sight set on the goal of reaching our world for Christ and move forward in unity and with a renewed fervor for the gospel.

Given the various points of view that have been expressed about the report, it is inevitable that some are not going to be pleased with the outcome. Out of respect for each other, therefore, I am praying that we all demonstrate graciousness and that we will not see either cheers or other expressions of gloating on the part of individuals who are pleased with the results or expressions of frustration, anger or bitterness from those who may not be.

May the Lord bless the Southern Baptist Convention and may this be a convention that is historic not so much for a report or vote but for the outpouring of love for each other and the lost of this world that it demonstrates!

–Robert Reeves

KBC Great Commission Task Force Chairman Hershael York moderates the listening session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester.

The Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Task Force held two listening sessions this week to hear from Kentucky Baptists regarding its task to study ways the Convention can “work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

The session on Monday, June 7, was held at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown and had an attendance of 30. The following night’s session was held at Central Baptist Church in Winchester and had an attendance of about 40. Both listening sessions were moderated by Task Force Chairman Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort.

You can listen to the audio from both sessions by clicking on the arrows below. Both audio files are more than an hour in length.

Listening Session at Severns Valley Baptist Church, Elizabethtown –

Listening Session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester –

You can also download these audio files from the from the KBC website:

• Click here to download the file from the listening session at Severns Valley Baptist Church, Elizabethtown.
• Click here to download the file from the listening session at Central Baptist Church, Winchester.

–Robert Reeves

Here’s the KBC release about plans for the listening sessions:

LOUISVILLE – Kentucky Baptists will have two opportunities to provide feedback to members of Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force on June 7 and 8.

Hershael York, chairman of the committee, has scheduled two listening sessions that will be open to all Kentucky Baptists. The first will be held Monday, June 7, at 7 p.m. at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, and the second will be held Tuesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. at Central Baptist Church in Winchester.

According to York, the meetings are designed to give Kentucky Baptists an opportunity to discuss with committee members their ideas about how the Kentucky Baptist Convention can more effectively carry out the Great Commission.

“Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force wants to hear how people in Kentucky Baptist churches feel about what we’re doing, about what our priorities are and should be,” said York. “We want to hear what’s happening in their churches, as well as how they feel about what’s happening in the KBC.”

In the months following the listening sessions, Task Force members will be preparing to make recommendations to convention messengers at the Nov. 16 annual meeting, to be held at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.

“What I want Kentucky Baptists to leave with is a sense that they’ve been heard, and they’ve had the opportunity to voice their opinions,” he said. “We want to make sure that what we’re thinking and how we’re moving is in line with what Kentucky Baptists are thinking and feeling.”

The Task Force was established during the KBC’s 2009 annual meeting at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown on Nov. 10, when messengers approved the formation of a Great Commission Task Force for the state convention.

The approved recommendation called for the formation of a committee to study “how Kentucky Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”

So far, the Task Force has heard reports from leaders of Kentucky Baptist agencies and institutions, as well as team leaders from the Mission Board staff.

All members of the Task Force have been invited to attend the listening sessions.

Members of the Kentucky committee are:

• Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church, Frankfort. York is chair of the committee.
• Paul Badgett, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pikeville
• Charles Barnes, member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, Louisville
• Joy Bolton, executive director of Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville
• Jeff Crabtree, director of mission for the Warren Association of Baptists, Bowling Green
• Rusty Ellison, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church, Louisville
• Greg Faulls, Bellevue Baptist Church, Owensboro
• Chad Fugitt, First Baptist Church, Monticello
• John Hale, a deacon at First Baptist Church, Mount Vernon
• Bill Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church, Lexington
• James Jones, pastor of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Campbellsville
• Bill Mackey, KBC executive director
• Don Mathis, 2009 president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and staff evangelist at Eastwood Baptist Church, Bowling Green.
• Jessica Milburn, member of Union Baptist Church, Union
• Sam Rainer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Murray
• Kevin Smith, pastor of Watson Memorial Baptist Church, Louisville
• Dan Summerlin, pastor of Lone Oak First Baptist Church, Paducah

Severns Valley Baptist Church is located at 1100 Ring Road in Elizabethtown. Central Baptist Church is located at 101 West Lexington Avenue in Winchester. Both listening sessions will take place at 7 p.m. EST.

The next scheduled meeting for Kentucky’s Great Commission Task Force is set for June 24.

–Robert Reeves