“Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power,” is the theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for North American Missions, March 7-14, and for the annual
Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.
Your gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering help support North American missionaries who share God’s transforming power with the 258 million unbelievers in the United States, Canada and their territories. According to the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board (NAMB), most
NAMB missions personnel receive support from the offering as well as from their state conventions through the Cooperative Program.
“The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering allows me to spend all of my time working with students, while other campus leaders must spend time raising support,” said Mike McQuitty, collegiate evangelism missionary at
Syracuse University in New York.
“The offering is vital as we work together to resource and assist our churches to be innovative and creative in reaching our area for the glory of God. One church cannot reach this region, but hundreds of churches working together can,” said Bill Lightly, an associational missionary serving in Colorado.
When Kay and I were in Idaho recently for a meeting, we had the opportunity to meet a wonderful pastor, his family and the First Baptist Church family of
Bonners Ferry, only 20 miles from the border of Canada. The pastor, Richard Dugger, is passionate about both local and international missions. Even though they average about 125 in attendance, the church already has mission work in India and will launch work in Africa this year.
Richard expressed gratitude for Rob Lee, executive director for the
Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. Rob is one of the new work state convention executive directors who grew up in the area. He served previously as a missionary at Utah State University, where he met his wife, JeQuita, whose parents have roots in McKee, Ky., and were involved in church planting in Utah. Rob’s parents were involved in church planting in South Dakota. As a native, he understands the culture and challenges of the Northwest, and is working strategically to reach the territory.
The Utah-Idaho work is very dependent on the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and CP funding through NAMB.
Jimmy Barrentine of Iowa, another new work state convention, recently shared with me the exciting story of Cornerstone Church. Located near the campus of Iowa State in Iowa City, Cornerstone plans to start a church near the campus.
To support the new plant, Cornerstone (1,400 in attendance) will send out 100 students and 12 families, and will also pay for six staff persons.
All of these examples represent an incredible Southern Baptist partnership in missions and church planting that I pray will not be lost in the future.
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posted by: Bill Mackey on March 9th, 2010
It was a privilege for Kay and me to be in Nashville last week for the
Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s progress report to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the task force, passionately presented the report and gave an extensive Biblical foundation based on the
second chapter of Joel. The final version of the report is expected to be ready in early May and will then be presented to messengers attending the
SBC’s annual meeting in Orlando in June. The six recommendations of the report deal with vision and values, reaching North America with the Gospel and funding related to the
Cooperative Program and stewardship development.
The vision is, “… to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations.” The eight values are: Christ-likeness, truth, unity, relationships, trust, future, local church and Kingdom.
The major part of the recommendations deal with reaching North America primarily through church planting in metro and under-served areas, as well as evangelism, missional leadership development, Christian ministries, discipleship, missions education, mobilizing volunteers and endorsing chaplains.
The
International Mission Board would be released from geographic restrictions to reach unreached and under-served people groups in North America. If the report is approved, this will require considerable coordination and flexibility since the North American Mission Board has been given the primary role in developing the strategy for reaching North America, and I would assume that means unreached people groups. State conventions, associations and churches are also currently involved in reaching unreached people groups.
In order to provide more accountability for
NAMB missionaries, and to free up funding for the church planting initiatives, the cooperative agreements between NAMB and state conventions would be phased out over four years. This means the Kentucky Baptist Convention would need to absorb about $550,000 over the next four years, starting with the 2011-12 budget year. The loss of funding by new work state conventions which rely especially heavily on the cooperative agreement funds will need to be addressed by the task force.
Funding is the focus of the third area of recommendations. One recommendation is to reassign Cooperative Program promotion and stewardship development from the SBC’s Executive Committee to state conventions. The Cooperative Program was affirmed as the central means of supporting Great Commission ministries but designated gifts for missions would also be recognized as “Great Commission Giving.”
Cooperative Program funding for the IMB would be increased by 1 percent to 51 percent of all CP receipts to SBC causes.
If approved in June, the successful implementation of this vision, and these recommendations, will require faithful and relational leaders who can inspire trust and cooperation at the highest level, empowered by the Holy Spirit.
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posted by: Bill Mackey on March 2nd, 2010
During a recent meeting of state executive directors recently, Dr. Jeff Iorg, president of
Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, addressed the topic of “Personal Responsibility in Evangelism.”
Dr. Iorg said he grew up steeped in the conviction that every Christian was responsible to witness for Jesus but that this conviction seems to have been lost in many Baptist churches.
Reasons include:
· Witnessing has been redefined as “living an attractive life.”
· The focus on aggressive apologetics has intimidated many believers.
· The decline in discipleship and witness training has weakened personal responsibility.
· The post-modern perspective on tolerance has implied that witnessing is intolerant.
He said churches today largely focus on attraction and engagement to communicate the Gospel. The attraction strategy is a Christian event or program designed to accommodate unbelievers and introduce them to Jesus Christ. An engagement strategy is an event or program designed to involve unbelievers and introduce them to Jesus Christ. Dr. Iorg believes both are needed.
But, Dr. Iorg also believes that an infiltration strategy is more effective. An infiltration strategy, he says, is one that deploys believers throughout the culture to introduce unbelievers to Jesus Christ in their context.
For example, starting a church-sponsored softball league for the community is an attraction strategy. Creating a church-sponsored softball team and playing in a community-sponsored league is an engagement strategy. Christians joining company softball teams – practicing, playing and staying for the after game refreshments – is an infiltration strategy.
Infiltration strategies are more challenging because we cannot control the venue or conversation. Christians are sometimes afraid of being tainted by the culture and may also lack the courage of a robust faith to stand up in the market place. Generally, believers are not encouraged and celebrated for what they do outside the church. Rather, we recognize what happens inside the church.
The obvious reality is that believers are already dispersed throughout the culture. But believers must be deployed with the purpose of sharing Jesus Christ.
Dr. Iorg suggested that leaders can do a number of things to engender an infiltration mindset. His list includes:
· Model the process. Dr. Iorg is chaplain for the San Francisco Giants.
· Share the conviction that every believer is responsible for witnessing.
· Clarify that witnessing is sharing a verbal witness in the context of interpersonal relationships.
· Support simple strategies for equipping witnesses.
· Support church planters with the expectation that every member will witness.
· Intensify discipleship that produces a robust faith with a passion to share.
· Model strength in the face of increasing criticism for our passion that Jesus is the only way of salvation.
Read about Paul’s request that he might be a fearless and appropriate witness for Jesus Christ in
Ephesians 6:18-20 and
Colossians 4:2-6.
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posted by: Bill Mackey on February 23rd, 2010
The earthquake disaster in Haiti has been heartbreaking. The severity of the devastation, the number of injuries, the tremendous loss of life and the amount of displacement of people is almost more than we can truly fathom.
God is blessing even in the midst of this tragedy, however, and I am pleased that
Kentucky Baptists have been able to be a part of the early relief efforts.
Coy Webb, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s disaster relief associate, was a part of the first
Southern Baptist assessment team sent to work out the logistics for the long-term Baptist response. And, a
Kentucky Baptist medical team was one of the first Southern Baptist teams to get in to minister to needs.
This team ministered in one of the tent cities that sprang up after the earthquake as well as in a makeshift hospital in what had been police barracks just across the street from the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince.
The work is just beginning, though, and we will have an incredible opportunity to assist the 800 plus Haitian Baptist churches that are ministering to the people. The
Florida Baptist Convention already supports seven missionaries in Haiti who work through these churches.
Right now, Kentucky Baptists have a grand opportunity to give financially to help fund the relief work and to put together a
“Bucket of Hope” which will provide practical physical support for Haitian families.
Financial gifts may be made by giving online at
www.kybaptist.org/dr, by putting a gift designated for Haiti in the offering plate at your church, or by mailing it to: KBC, P.O. Box 856300, Dept. 124, Louisville, KY 40285-9900. (Please note “Haiti Earthquake” on the check’s memo line.)
The “Bucket of Hope” consists of a plastic five-gallon bucket packed with selected foodstuffs. It will cost approximately $40 to purchase the materials and provide for shipping.
Details can be found online at
www.kybaptist.org/buckets. The buckets need to be turned in to your association’s collection point by March 4.
Although it has not gotten as much attention, Kentucky Baptists are also still at work in American Samoa which was devastated by a tsunami last September.
Larry and Elaine Koch of Kentucky are on site coordinating Southern Baptist rebuilding efforts and report great needs there. If you have a team ready that can’t yet go to Haiti, please pray about going to American Samoa.
I am confident that all Kentucky Baptists will do their best to support both of these disaster relief and rebuilding efforts. Teams will be needed for years to come.
Please pray for all of these disaster relief efforts and the people who are still in recovery and rebuilding. Also, pray for the spiritual development of all persons involved.
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posted by: Bill Mackey on February 16th, 2010
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posted by: Bill Mackey on February 9th, 2010