KBC President Offers More for Christ Challenges
12/14/2010
LOUISVILLE – Kentucky Baptist Convention President Floyd Paris is challenging Kentucky Baptists to do “more for Christ” in 2011 by finding ways to provide greater support for missions through the Cooperative Program.
Speaking to the Kentucky Baptist Mission Board at its Dec. 13-14 meeting at the Kentucky Baptist Building, Paris introduced three initiatives to help adults, youth and children get actively involved in providing support for missions on the state, national and international levels.
“I don’t speak ‘institution.’ I speak ‘pew’,” he said in introducing his ideas for the “Three More for Christ” for adults, “A Million More 4 Missions” initiative for youth, and “Children Changing the World” emphasis for children.
The three ideas stem from the approval by messengers to last month’s KBC annual meeting in Lexington to have a three-year “More for Christ” emphasis to call Kentucky Baptists to spiritual renewal and a recommitment to share the gospel with the world.
Paris said he wants to develop practical ways for Kentucky Baptists to respond to the initiative.
“Three More for Christ” is “pew” for increased missions giving through the local church and the Cooperative Program, he said. The number three is significant because it represents missions locally, in Kentucky and the world, or “here, there and everywhere,” he said.
If 100,000 Kentucky Baptists were “to give three dollars more per week to their local offering … it will result in an additional $1.05 million to missions through the Cooperative Program,” he said. That amount is based on the average percentage of a church’s undesignated gifts contributed through CP.
The third proposal affirmed by mission board members is “Million More 4 Missions,” which is geared toward youth. Paris said church youth groups would be encouraged to set aside 15 weeks to raise funds for missions through the Cooperative Program. If youth groups in half of Kentucky Baptists’ 2,400 congregations participated and raised an average of $833 each, the effort would produce nearly $1 million, he said.
“Youth are creative,” said Paris, a former minister to youth. “You just have to give them a worthy challenge.”
Through “Children Changing the World,” boys and girls would be encouraged to start collecting change each week, beginning April 10, 2011, which is Cooperative Program Sunday in Southern Baptist life, and conclude the collection at the close of vacation Bible school during the summer.
“We need a goal to teach children (about the) Cooperative Program,” Paris said, noting that the effort would help boys and girls connect their own actions to someone in another part of the world having the opportunity to learn about Jesus.
The proposals were presented Monday afternoon and, upon a motion made by Don Mathis, KBC’s immediate past president, were endorsed by the Mission Board during the Tuesday morning session.
“More for Christ” is one element of the Kentucky Great Commission Task Force recommendations approved at the 2010 KBC Annual Meeting. The plan calls for an equal distribution of Cooperative Program dollars between Kentucky Baptist ministries and Southern Baptist causes, including international and North American missions.
Some Kentucky Baptists, Paris said, are concerned about what the changes will mean for missions in Kentucky. He challenged mission board members to set the example for fellow Kentucky Baptists to step out in faith when responding to the upcoming changes.
“Every born-again believer stands in the presence of God when we pray,” Paris said. “Don’t you think God is able?”
The board also unanimously passed a resolution of appreciation to Lincoln Bingham, retiring missionary with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and North American Mission Board. Bingham, senior pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church at Shively Heights in Louisville, served as a KBC and NAMB missionary for 35 years.
A longtime leader in the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, Bingham last year merged the largely African-American congregation of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church with the mostly Anglo Shively Heights Baptist Church, to form the new congregation.
KBC Executive Director Bill Mackey noted that Bingham’s ministry has focused on reconciliation first to God through Christ which then empowers people to be reconciled to one another.
The grandson of a slave, Bingham has shared his personal reconciliation story internationally through Reconciliation Networks of Our World and is co-founder of Greater Louisville Christian Reconciliation Ministries.
In other business, the board:
- Extended KBC’s ministry partnership with Baptists in Tanzania for another year.
- Approved a recommendation from the business and finance committee to transfer year-end funds totaling $258,174 to the 2011-12 budget.
- Approved a decrease in mileage reimbursement rates for non-employees to 50 percent of the IRS’ allowance for business miles. Chairman Charles Barnes said the move could mean an annual savings of $38,000.
Similarly, the mission board passed a recommendation to its own committee chairmen, KBC staff and officers to, whenever possible, use teleconferencing instead of in-person meetings.
To encourage Kentucky Baptists to extend Christian stewardship beyond the weekly offering plate, the mission board also approved the establishment of five endowment funds to support specific Kentucky Baptist causes including the Cooperative Program, Baptist Builders, disaster relief, Baptist Campus Ministry and church planting.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Release prepared by Dannah Prather, Marketing & Media Relations Associate
