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Toby Appoints Ky. Great Commission Task Force
11/10/2009
KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey recognized outgoing KBC President John Mark Toby and thanked him for his year of service during the evening session of the KBC annual meeting. Click here to download this photo.
Earlier in the day, Kentucky Baptist messengers approved a recommendation for a task force to be formed that would study the effectiveness of the KBC’s mission board, agencies and institutions. Presented by Toby, messengers passed the recommendation with an overwhelming majority.
Toby’s appointments to the task force include 15 task force members and two ex-officio members:
- Hershael York, pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, will chair the committee.
- 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 Mount Vernon 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
- 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
Toby also appointed newly-elected KBC President Don Mathis and KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey as ex-officio members of the task force.
Later in the evening, messengers heard from featured speaker Jay Strack, president of Student Leadership University in Orlando, Fla.
Preaching from Exodus 17, Strack spoke about how to reach the millennial generation and avoid criticism of how others are ministering to young people.
“Let’s chisel it in our hearts that still the overwhelming majority of those who…make true decisions to follow Jesus do so by the age of 18,” said Strack. “We’ve got a holy calling to try to reach this generation for Jesus Christ.”
Christians can either look at the future as “dangerous times, or a door of opportunity,” he said. “Our dreams must be bigger than our memories.”
Strack challenged pastors to embrace their roles as mentors and evangelists of the younger generation and held up the life of Moses as a biblical model of how to do so.
He noted that Moses listened to God’s call for him to mentor Joshua, and fulfilled that role by “waging war with Joshua, walking with Joshua, worshipped with Joshua, and working with Joshua.”
Strack outlined four great needs in every teenager and child that Christians need to address if they desire to reach young people for Christ, noting that students, “don’t want a pat on the head, they want an opportunity to do something great for God.”
Each student, he said, needs a model, a mentor, a motivator and a monitor.
“The solution is the Shamgar principle,” said Strack, referring to Judges 3:31. Following the example of Shamgar, Strack challenged pastors to start where they are, use what they have, and do what they can.
“Our ministry is about this next generation…and our example should be such that it’s contagious,” he said.
During the final miscellaneous business session, messengers discussed a motion to seek ways to recognize the contributions of the King James Version of the Bible during its 400th anniversary in 2011. The motion was brought forward by Rick Reeder, director of mission for Caldwell-Lyon Baptist Association, earlier in the afternoon.
During the discussion, messengers approved an amended motion that referred the request to the convention’s Committee on Resolutions, to be reported on at the annual meeting next year at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.
At the close of the session, KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey recognized outgoing KBC officers, including President John Mark Toby, Vice President Skip Alexander, and Second Vice President E. Lee James.
Mackey also recognized Secretary Wilma Simmons and parliamentarians John Chowning and Scott Kilgore. Outgoing Assistant Secretary Mike Melloan received special recognition for his years of service. Melloan chose not to be nominated for another term. Pat Reaves, member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Louisville was elected to serve in the coming year.
At the open of the Tuesday evening session, 835 messengers were registered, along with 245 church members and nine visitors.
