In 1925, Southern Baptists made the historic decision to begin what we now know as the Cooperative Program. Over the last 100 years, the cooperative work of Southern Baptists and Mississippi Baptists has been fueled by the faithfulness of partner churches in this work. Some might wonder whether 100 years is enough of a life and whether a new model might be better for the future. However, I’m inclined to say that the Cooperative Program is not like a car model that may change every few years; it’s more like the car itself that has become indispensable in the work.
One reason the Cooperative Program is a model worth maintaining is because it brings together the vast resources of many people with the mission focus of Bible-believing churches. Other church networks have had a great mission focus in the past, but they lacked the mass resources to get the job done. However, other groups have had the mass resources but lacked the mission focus to move forward. Southern Baptists have found a mechanism in the Cooperative Program that brings together these two realities in beautiful symmetry. Consequently, we have impacted the world with the gospel in epic fashion over the last century.
The truth is, however, that the Cooperative Program is always a generation away from complete collapse. If one generation doesn’t effectively pass the baton to the next generation the baton is dropped, and the work is compromised. Truly, when the work has become as big as ours, there is little margin for error in passing the baton.
In this issue of Cooperative Program Connections, you’ll learn about both the virtue and the value of the Cooperative Program in the work of making disciples here in Mississippi and around the world. You’ll hear stories that add a face to the focus of CP and celebrate the grand work of Great Commission partnership.
The stories told in this issue are critical to the future of the cooperative work, so I hope you’ll read with both joy and hope for what God is doing. Even more, I trust you’ll take advantage of the opportunity to pass this work along to someone else who needs to take the baton of cooperation and run the next leg of the race.
CP Connections is published by the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board and is produced to emphasize the cooperative efforts among Mississippi Baptists. The magazine is distributed by mail to each cooperating church and is available in a digital format at mbcb. org/magazine. Any article without attribution is by CP Connections Staff.
Mississippi Baptist Convention Board P.O. Box 530 Jackson, MS 39205
Celebrating a century of the Cooperative Program in Mississippi
Top 25 Cooperative Program gifts by region
Clockwise from top left: First Baptist Church, Jackson; North Greenwood Baptist Church; Liberty Baptist Church; and First Baptist Church, Natchez
TOGETHER WE ARE ABLE
"By ourselves we can’t fund six seminaries and all the international missionaries and the North American missionaries. We can’t do the things that Send Relief is doing. But you are all a part of it. You’re doing this through your giving. So, together we are able.”
BROCK BURCH, PASTOR, LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH, AMITE COUNTY
The year 2025 will mark a significant milestone for the Southern Baptist Convention as it celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program. This initiative, born out of a need for a unified approach to mission work and resource allocation, has been a cornerstone of Southern Baptist life, reflecting a commitment to spreading the gospel and serving communities both locally and globally.
Mississippi Baptist pastors reflect on the importance of Cooperative Program giving
BY TONY MARTIN
Since its inception, many Mississippi Baptist churches have elected to take part in the Cooperative Program (CP). Some churches give a percentage of their receipts, and some have a CP line item in their budgets.
There is no such thing as a “typical” church when it comes to CP giving.
For instance, Woodville Baptist Church, Woodville, is widely considered to be the oldest Baptist church in Mississippi, having been founded in 1800. In 2023 the church gave a generous 14.61% of their undesignated gifts to the Cooperative Program. George Bannister is pastor.
First Baptist Church, Jackson, was one of the first two Baptist churches in Mississippi that gave to the Cooperative Program in 1926. Founded in 1838, the church gives 8.99% of its undesignated gifts to CP.
“Stewardship is a spiritual discipline,” said pastor Chip Stevens. “It’s certainly a part of what’s taught to us in the scriptures. So I believe in just preaching the text and when you preach the text, pretty often stewardship is going to come up. My approach is really just preaching the text and help other people understand how this applies to daily life.
“My goal is to help people fall in love with Jesus,”
Stevens continued. “I tell folks I love my wife. When it comes time for birthdays or Christmas or whatever, I never approach it with ‘how much do I have to spend?’ It’s rather, ‘How much do I get to spend?’ That’s the way I approach stewardship.”
Stevens said that the church uses special emphases to talk about CP. “When we do an IMB weekend, we’ll tell people that part of what you give to the Cooperative Program goes to international missions. When Jamie Dew [president of New Orleans Seminary] is here, we share that part of your giving to CP goes to helping the seminary. So we look for opportunities to educate people.
“I would point to Acts, when they were taking up an offering to send to the believers in Jerusalem who were struggling,” Stevens said. “I think it’s the cooperative effort — ultimately, you aren’t giving to the church. You’re giving through the church.
“Stewardship is a fruit,” Stevens concluded. “It’s a fruit of discipleship as you grow in the Lord. So the more you loosen your grip on stuff, the more you want to be a part of what God is doing in the world.”
First Baptist Church, Natchez, was the other of the first two Baptist churches in Mississippi that gave to the Cooperative Program back in 1926. In 2023 the
“Stewardship is a fruit. It’s a fruit of discipleship as you grow in the Lord. So the more you loosen your grip on stuff, the more you want to be a part of what God is doing in the world.”
CHIP STEVENS, PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, JACKSON
“I think it's the greatest thing that’s ever been devised and developed for support of missions."
DOUG BROOME, PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, NATCHEZ
church gave 9.7% of their undesignated gifts to CP.
“I think it's the greatest thing that’s ever been devised and developed for support of missions,” said Doug Broome, pastor. “Our stewardship is based on the idea of giving your time, your tithe, and your talents to the Lord. We don’t just try to exclusively focus on one of those areas but try to have a balance between them all. Most of the time when people hear the word ‘stewardship’ they just think of money. It’s not something we talk about every week. But we encourage people to give and be tithers.”
The church has added 75 new members in 2024 as of July. “That’s pretty amazing,” said Broome. “We’ve been incredibly blessed.”
North Greenwood Baptist Church, Greenwood, gave 8.56% to the Cooperative Program in 2023. Pastor Jim Phillips said, “Every fall or late summer, we look at the giving patterns for the previous year. We use a formula we’ve used for 20 years to predict what our giving will be.”
The church has a specific line item in the budget for direct cooperative missions — offerings such as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, the Baptist Children’s Village, and other causes.
“A pastor can see the tangible evidence of their stewardship beyond themselves [through the Cooperative Program],” Phillips said. “I told a pastor who was talking about planning a mission trip — I’d just gotten back from Zimbabwe — that if they wanted to do that, then he would have to lead the charge. You need to look for where God is working and join Him. That works for the
Cooperative Program too. I’ve just helped our church to realize we’re not here just to sustain ourselves. God had a purpose for this church in 1955, and it’s not just so we can maintain our presence on this corner.”
Liberty Baptist Church in Amite County is another church which embraced the Cooperative Program years ago. The church gave 8.21% of their undesignated gifts to CP.
Pastor Brock Burch has only been at the church since April. “I think we have a good church, a good fellowship. I think the church is in good health.”
When asked about the church’s relationship with the Cooperative Program, Burch said, “When I came here, I asked what was their cooperation with CP. I think the church understands how it works. We have a professor from Southwestern Seminary that came from the church. I’m a seminary graduate. We’ve sent off seminary graduates. We have former International Mission Board missionaries who are members here. We have Baptist Children’s Village workers that are members here. So the church can see the cooperation together, how we can do more together, and how a portion of their tithe goes to that. I believe they’ve seen the work happen.
“I tell a lot of people I share with about the Convention,” Burch continued. “I say that by ourselves we can’t fund six seminaries and all the international missionaries and the North American missionaries. We can’t do the things that Send Relief is doing. But you are all a part of it. You’re doing this through your giving. So, together we are able.”
"You need to look for where God is working and join Him. That works for the Cooperative Program too."
JIM PHILLIPS, PASTOR, NORTH GREENWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH
"We’ve been on a Cooperative Program journey. When I started here, the church was giving 2.5% to the Cooperative Program. Then we moved to five, now we’re at six... We are looking toward a goal of 10% giving."
MATT POWELL, PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, TUPELO
A CP JOURNEY
BY TONY MARTIN
First Baptist Church, Tupelo, embraces the Cooperative Program on road trip to Southern Baptist Convention
The 2024 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting and Pastors' Conference took place June 9–12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. The conference included almost 200 ancillary meetings, events, and gatherings, with 10,946 messengers registered.
In addition to messengers, 3,132 guests and 2,740 exhibitors registered for the 2024 meeting, bringing total attendance to 16,818. Messengers hailed from all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, representing 3,988 churches. First Baptist
MBCB Executive Director-Treasurer, Shawn Parker, and his wife Elizabeth (center), joined the group from First Baptist Church, Tupelo, on the floor of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo credit: First Baptist Church, Tupelo)
Church, Tupelo, was part of that number.
According to Pastor Matt Powell, prior to 2024, the church typically only sent a couple of messengers, although based on their Cooperative Program giving and size, they were allowed 12. “Typically, it’s my wife and me. Historically, if someone went, it was the pastor.”
First Baptist Church, Tupelo, ended up taking 12 messengers, along with spouses and families, for a group of 25.
“Last year, I was taken off-guard by how the ‘Law Amendment’ was put forward,” Powell said.
The "Law Amendment" voted on at the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention aimed to amend the SBC Constitution to explicitly state that only men could serve as pastors or elders in churches that are in "friendly cooperation" with the SBC. This proposal was initiated by Mike Law, a pastor from Virginia, in response to debates over the roles of women in pastoral positions within the denomination.
Powell shared his feelings about the Law Amendment with the church. The church offered to help subsidize a trip to the Convention for any interested parties. About 40 people initially wanted to go.
“We’ve never had any kind of organized effort to take people to the convention,” Powell said. “Outside of my children, the youngest person we took was 14, and the eldest person we took was 88. And it was everybody in between and they loved it.”
The church chartered a bus for the trip to Indianapolis. Part of their agenda included visiting Southern Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. “People showed gratitude because they had no idea they were part of this,” Powell said. “And another very powerful moment was the commissioning of the IMB missionaries. So on the way back, people are asking questions, like, ‘How much money are we giving to the Cooperative Program?’ So we got to have that conversation. People got to see firsthand what the Cooperative Program actually does, and it was just so powerful for them.
"We’ve been on a Cooperative Program journey.
Members of First Baptist Church, Tupelo, walk to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana.
Pastor Matt Powell (center), a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, leads a tour of the school in Louisville, Kentucky, during a road trip to the Southern Baptist Convention. (Photo credit: First Baptist Church, Tupelo)
"People got to see firsthand what the Cooperative Program actually does, and it was just so powerful for them.”
MATT POWELL, PASTOR, FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, TUPELO
When I started here, the church was giving 2.5% to the Cooperative Program. Then we moved to five, now we’re at six, and we’re in the midst of a building campaign. We are looking toward a goal of 10% giving.
“We roll our eyes sometimes when we think, oh, another business meeting,” Powell continued. “But all our members were, like, ‘I was impressed by how orderly everything was.’ Even when you had people who sharply disagreed, everything was orderly. We sat through the entire thing. We didn’t miss a thing.”
Some from First Tupelo’s group read the news analyses from secular sources. “They were able to say, 'Well, that’s a misrepresentation.' One of our members, an attorney, mentioned to me, ‘Matt, I’ve read every year on Fox or CNN or some newspaper somewhere about what happened. I was there. It really is something.’ There was a gratitude for being part of the SBC.”
Powell stated that the church doesn’t have a Sunday night service anymore. “It was very poorly attended when I got here in 2016,” he said. “I proposed that on Sunday nights instead of a service we did a training time in the Fellowship Hall and just did it in the semesters, so we were out for December and out for the summer, and we’d always take off for spring break and fall break. We were saying, hey, we’re asking for 16 to 20 weeks a year, depending on the calendar. That has just been the best idea, offering classes. We’ve never done anything like that before. Of course, you and I both know it was just called Church Training.
“Each semester, classes are offered, and one of those eight-week classes is going to be the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mississippi Baptist Convention, and the Cooperative Program. We’re going to make that a requirement in order to complete the program on Sunday night. Everybody has to go through that one time,” Powell said. “In 2016, we’d have about 50 on Sunday nights. Now on Sunday nights during the semesters, I don’t know what the average would be, but early in the semester we have over 500.”
African American Leadership Retreat highlights unity, responsibility, and accountability
BY LINDSEY WILLIAMS
Rev. Lowell Walker, African American ministry consultant of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB) and Pastor of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, Tupelo, could not remember another instance when so many African American brothers and sisters in Christ had gathered during his time. This spring, the Leadership Retreat held at Calvary Christian Oak Forest Baptist Church, Jackson, served 95 pastors, first ladies, and laypeople. With an emphasis on empowering the men and women with the Word of God, connecting them in the bond of Christ, and thriving in a dysfunctional and divided world together, the Multicultural Ministries of the MBCB invited guest speakers, Dr. Wade Stevens, Rev. George Smith, Rev. Eddie Jones, and Rev. Brian Crawford, to refresh the hearts of attendees.
Go and make disciples
“All of us can say that we could do better in making disciples,” said Walker. “The difference between a disciple and a church member is that a church member will come to church when they get ready. They will not be committed to the ministry, and they will use the church as a revolving door. But a disciple does the work of the ministry. They are growing and being transformed into Christlikeness, and you never have to worry about them going out the back door. Matter of fact, a disciple is one who really brings people through the front door, and they become a
part of the discipling.”
As the Senior Pastor of Longview Point Baptist Church, Hernando, which has seeded and watered many church plants, Stevens spoke on church discipleship issues. In his session, he identified the problem of a disciple-making deficiency, despite effective preaching and teaching on Sundays. “We have limited ourselves to a single day of the week to make disciples,” Stevens addressed, “one-seventh of what God has entrusted to us. Jesus did not say go and make disciples on Sunday. Jesus said, go and make disciples, as though we are to be perpetually involved in the work of disciple-making.”
Additionally, Stevens stressed the difference between corporate and individual responsibility in fulfilling the Great Commission, of which churches mainly function on the former. Stevens, however, stated, “You and I, as Christians, have a personal responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission.”
Setting the stage for the weekend, Stevens’ presentation exhorted, encouraged, and energized the attending pastors and their wives, who returned the following day to hear Smith, Jones, and Crawford.
Be mission-minded
Having served with the International Mission Board (IMB) in Uganda for 20 years, Smith urged the assembly on how to be a mission-minded church. His heartfelt transparency in how God transformed him for the work of missions inspired those in attendance. Of the 3,000 IMB missionaries on the field, Smith showed that, statistically, only about 20 are African American. He shared that the Ugandans loved and were grateful for whoever was sent but were puzzled that there were not more missionaries and visiting pastors who looked like themselves.
“Our hope,” remarked Walker, “is to strategize for 12 or 13 African American pastors on a vision trip to Uganda, to see how the Lord may impress upon them to do missions.”
Evangelize through Sunday school
Pastor
Eddie Jones of Victory Temple Baptist
Church, Greenville, led the following session on how to evangelize through Sunday school.
“To my surprise,” said Walker, “a lot of our churches do not even do Sunday school. Pastor Jones was very informative and challenged us to look at how evangelizing is a great way to get the young involved.”
Jon Martin, the MBCB Chief Strategy Officer, commented, “The retreat was an amazing experience. Lowell Walker and Paula Smith [MBCB Director of Multicultural Ministries] led the conference and equipped those in attendance very well. In particular, George Smith’s challenge to lead our churches to become missional was fantastic. We were convicted and encouraged to commit to sending missionaries from our churches to serve the nations.
“Pastor Eddie Jones exceptionally challenged us to use our Sunday schools as an evangelistic arm of our churches. His insight and personal testimony of how Sunday school positively affected his congregation reminded us to take seriously that hour of our Sunday to reach those in our communities.
“Personally, the retreat was a great encouragement,” said Martin. “The fellowship was sweet, reminding me that God has called us to great cooperative work as we strive to see Mississippi reached and churches equipped.”
Strengthen marriages
Crawford, President of Mission Mississippi, and his wife, Candi, led the closing session on marriage and ministry. Crawford’s interactive teaching captivated the audience as they openly answered his questions. With a bright sense of humor, he highlighted the busyness of life which so often cuts communication between a couple, and the room of ministers came alive with sincere and responsive reception.
Paula Smith recounted the wholesome atmosphere of the final session, “One of our pastor’s wives, Carl Johnson’s wife, got up and said, ‘I don’t tell him enough, but these are the things I truly treasure in Carl.’ She went through four or five things, and then later, at another opportunity for the audience to speak up, Carl got up and said, ‘Well, I have to admit I was really tired and just on the edge of
burnout when I came in here. But after my wife said that, I got the energy I needed.’”
Invite to the altar
“After all of this,” Smith continued, “Pastor Lowell gave an invitation to an altar call, and I’m telling you, everybody came up to the altar to start praying. Then they decided, ‘Let’s all pray together.’ Everybody up there grabbed hands and prayed together. And people didn’t want to leave. They hung around, talked, and swapped notes. It ended on a high note; it was good.”
On his choice to end with an altar call, Walker remarked, “I just sensed that was our way of wanting to love the pastors and their wives, because this past year has been very challenging. A lot of the pastors are just so overwhelmed. They have been very discouraged ever since COVID, and all of it has caused a lot of anxiety.
“I’m very thankful of the support from our MBCB staff as we strive to work together to equip our pastors and their wives with the tools and encouragement they need.”
Moreover, Pastor Keith Ratliff, his wife, first lady Jennifer, and members of Calvary Christian Oak Forest were an exemplary picture of servant-hearted hospitality. From table to table, Ratliff and his wife wholeheartedly served dinner to the attendees and visited with the guests. Although the retreat was
their first time hosting outside guests, the church displayed Christlike kindness and perseverance.
Twice, Calvary Christian Oak Forest has fallen victim to robbers, who stole the copper wiring within their lighting, cutting off electricity in the building. One such robbery occurred two weeks before the retreat, and no electrician could come in time to fix it. Rather than cancel their hospitality, however, the church ran cables throughout the building in order to have enough electricity and Wi-Fi for the retreat.
Pray for harmony
Ratliff urged Mississippi Baptists to pray for the harmony of the body of Christ. “One of the challenges I recognize tonight is the unity. When we’re talking about unity, we’re talking about the whole entire body of Christ. We’re talking about coming together, abiding in Christ, and not only personal responsibility but accountability. Because we are accountable to one another in Christ as brothers and sisters. If we take the scales off our eyes and see really who Christ is, there is no color, no denomination — none of that. Because we are all one in Christ.”
Your gifts to the Cooperative Program help support Multicultural Ministries. Learn more by emailing Paula Smith at psmith@mbcb.org.
All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra fosters quick friendships through love of Jesus
BY LINDSEY WILLIAMS
Over 70 students, from 9th through 12th grade, gathered at William Carey University for the Mississippi Baptist All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra tour. From the start of their two-day rehearsal camp on June 10 to the final concert on June 17, the students sang in eight worship concerts: seven in churches and one at a senior living center in Hattiesburg.
On Monday morning, the students began an active schedule of rehearsals, with “a lot of fun built
into it.” Divided into family groups, each led by an adult sponsor, the students ate dinner together and played games, forming an inclusive spirit of fellowship which amazed even the adults.
Matthew Gaddy, Worship Pastor of First Baptist Church, Long Beach, and All-State sponsor, reflected, “While it is music that brings us together every summer, I believe what keeps us together are our bonds of friendship, unity in the Spirit, and a passion
to ‘Share the Song of Jesus.’ Every year at All-State is different, and every year is special. This year’s choir was no exception. We saw many changes and new faces, including our new director, Kris Smith. The leadership he provided was nothing short of excellent. The students quickly embraced him and accepted him as ‘part of the family’.”
Kris Smith, Worship Ministries Director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB) and leader of the tour, commented, “The students came together on Monday and sang their first concert from memory on Wednesday night, so the expectation is high. You certainly have to be committed to the process, but they rose to the challenge, and I was really proud of them. Some of the sponsors have texted me saying, ‘I’m back at work today. Can we go back on tour?’ I told them, ‘If the bus showed up outside with all the students onboard, I’d get on the bus today.’ We had a great trip.”
Acting as mentors for the week, adult sponsors came with a variety of roles to fill. Ministers of music, parents, nurses, and media technicians accompanied the tour to keep the bus rolling. “We couldn’t do it without our adult sponsors,” Smith assured. “The kids know who they can turn to if they need anything while on the trip. Including me, we had a team of 18 adults this year, and I am thankful for how hard our sponsors worked. Brian Murphy, a music professor at William Carey, has joined us as our accompanist for the last three years and always does a fantastic job. Elizabeth Knight, who serves as the Event Coordinator, and Byron Green, our Orchestra Director, both serve faithfully throughout the year and work to make All-State possible.”
“The concerts really are times of worship,” said Smith. “Even when we were in the senior living center, I encouraged the students to remember that they
are sharing the Gospel as they sing. It’s not just about making pretty music but sharing the message of Jesus Christ.”
Not only did the students share the love of Jesus with their voices, but Christ was also glorified by their actions. “One student was very nervous when she first arrived,” Smith recalled. “She had never done anything like All-State before and was withdrawn at the beginning of the trip. Her family group leader recognized her isolation and started talking to her and encouraging her. The other students then surrounded her and loved on her, truly caring for her. By the next week, she didn’t want to leave. When she went home, she went home a different person.
“That’s one thing I will say about this group most of all. I have worked with All-State Youth Choirs in the past and in other states, and usually there would be social cliques. This year, there were no cliques. All of the kids really supported one another in the talent show at rehearsal camp. When our concerts featured
a different student or group of students playing piano, singing, or putting a band together, the students were always supportive of whoever stepped out of their comfort zone. So it was really remarkable to see their love for each other and the transformation of that one girl from her arrival until the time she left.
“After our first concert on Wednesday night, we held a time for some of the students to share their experiences,” Smith recounted. “For a lot of the kids, they are the only ones coming from their church home. A few churches send large groups, but the majority send just one student. Even so, many of the students stood up to say they had found some true friends in All-State.
“There were two things that brought this group together: a love for music, and more significantly, a love for Jesus. That commonality fostered quick friendships. These are friendships the students will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
Having worked at the MBCB since January, Smith related what All-State meant to him. “Leading this
“There were two things that brought this group together: a love for music, and more significantly, a love for Jesus.”
KRIS SMITH, WORSHIP MINISTRIES DIRECTOR MISSISSIPPI BAPIST CONVENITON BOARD
tour was a full-circle moment for me. As a student, I sang in the Louisiana Baptist All-State Youth Choir for four years, and I went back as an adult sponsor. The year before we moved to Mississippi, I was the Youth Music Consultant for the Louisiana Baptist Convention and produced their All-State Youth Choir tour that year. When the Lord called us to Mississippi 17 years ago, I had to give that up. I really believed in this work, and it was through All-State that I began to discover my calling to ministry. So it was really sad for me to give that up. So to be able to be in this position and lead that group of kids again was incredibly special to me.
“When I looked at that full choir looking back at me, I could just see the potential and the gifts that the Lord has given these students. They are fine kids and very, very talented. I know that the Lord is going to do an extraordinary work through them.”
“What I love most about All-State,” Gaddy added, “is that it places students from all around our state into an environment set on equipping and encouraging them to use their spiritual and music giftedness to be leaders in their local churches, schools, friend groups, and communities. Many of our students
have answered God’s call to ministry at All-State, and so many have been spurred on to get plugged into or even start new ministries when they leave.”
If worship ministers have a student interested in music ministry, consider encouraging them to audition this fall for the 2025 All-State tour. Potential AllState singers must not only be musically talented, but reputable students.
Camren Wages, an All-State Senior Choir Member from Belden Baptist Church, remarked, “Being a part of All-State is a truly transformational experience. I earnestly believe that this group directly reflects the heart of the Lord onto every member, as well as all who go to worship with them at the churches they go to. If you are thinking about being a part of this group or going to see them on tour, you can be confident that you will get just as much out of it as you are willing to put in, and so much more.”
All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra is supported by your gifts to the Cooperative Program. For more information on the 2025 All-State Youth Choir and Orchestra tour, visit mbcb.org/ministry/worship/worship-for-children-students/.
Women on Mission group fits mission education into busy lives
BY LINDSEY WILLIAMS
Since its beginning in 1888, the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) has faithfully focused on making disciples of Jesus who live on mission. Whether through organizing service projects, raising money for missions, or meeting overlooked needs, WMU directs hearts to Jesus’ Great Commission, teaching disciples not only the need for missions, but the reality of His command and what it means to walk mission-minded as Jesus did.
Truth is, however, the schedules and necessities of daily life take precedence. Especially as a young
mother, a woman cannot reasonably take on every mission project her church offers. How can WMU effectively invite young women into mission education?
At Broadmoor Baptist Church, Madison, Lindsey Watkins joined “Gather to Give,” a young Women On Mission (WOM) group, led by her childhood friend, Kendra Watson. “I was in a Wednesday night Bible study that took a break on the first Wednesday of every month to take part in Gather to Give, and it just ended up being a really fun time to meet with other women’s Bible study groups,” said Watkins. “I
Photo credit: Broadmoor Baptist Church
got to see women whose paths don’t usually cross with mine. Then over time, I began to help Kendra plan for the next get-togethers, and we became co-leaders of Gather to Give.”
Growing up together and attending the same high school helped Watkins and Watsons’ co-leadership roles to fit naturally. The young mothers set aside time in their active schedules to generate ideas and efficiently plan out a semester’s worth of projects, and every first Wednesday of the month, the ladies use their regular Bible study period to serve, pray for, and support various missions, locally within Broadmoor and the state, nationally, or internationally.
“We normally have about 15 to 25 women who meet every month for Gather to Give,” Watkins shared. “Our group is usually the younger subset of women, with newlyweds and young mothers who are in that messy stage of life. It’s a good chance for us to get together within our normally scheduled time, but it also allows us to step outside of the norm, serve in missions, and visit together. And it’s a great time just to be women, working with our hands and
catching up with one another. The fellowship is so refreshing for our souls.”
Some of the projects Gather to Give participated in the last few years include preparing hygiene packets for Broadmoor’s homeless ministry, packing goodie bags for the homebound, writing encouraging notes to college students, and decorating centerpieces for Broadmoor’s Grace Ministry as they set up their “Neon Night,” a large prom where special needs children and adults can come and be celebrated.
“One project that is near and dear to my heart,” Watkins expressed, “is making ‘busy bags’ for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Hinds County. These trained volunteers advocate for children and youth within the foster care system. Because my husband and I are foster parents who adopted our daughter through foster care, this project means so much to me. We started it this year and I hope it will become an annual project. When a child becomes a part of the foster care system in Hinds County, a CASA volunteer is appointed to get to know the child and their needs in order to be able
to advocate their best interest to the judge. When you’re at court, it can be long and it can be hectic, so children coming into this situation often don’t come with a lot of their own possessions. ‘Busy bags’ are kind of like church bags that you might fill for your own child to occupy them during church service. For children who may not have a lot, they get to call those toys and supplies their own and take them home.
“Working with CASA was a special project where our children’s ministries got involved and donated supplies like toys and coloring books. Not only was it fun for everyone involved, but it also allowed the kids to take part in ministering to other children, even if they never meet them. We stuffed at least 100 bags for boys and for girls of all ages.”
“Another project important to me and Kendra was Broadmoor’s family mission trip to the North American Mission Board (NAMB) Send Relief Center in Clarkston, GA,” said Watkins. Clarkston, known as “the most diverse square mile in America,” holds a large refugee community boasting 100 languages
from 60 different countries, and sits right outside Atlanta. “We brought our children, along with the other families, for spring break, and the Gather to Give group had put together prayer journals for the kids on the trip, as well as goodie bags for us to pass along to any children we encountered in the community.
“We also serve with the older WOM groups. Gather to Give helped my mom and her friends with an ice cream social, so we really enjoyed the fellowship across generations, where moms, grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters all came together to foster a love for missions and community.”
“I grew up at Broadmoor, and when my husband and I moved away for a few years and came back, I really loved getting involved. It was great to reconnect with Kendra and be a part of a WOM group. It’s a wonderful way to make inroads into a church as large as Broadmoor.
“Broadmoor has been very intentional this past year about women’s ministry, and our new women’s minister, Beth Bowman, makes a point of stopping by and connecting with each group. When you look
at all of that, you really begin to see just how much each of these groups do, how much we try to reach people in the church who may be unintentionally marginalized. As women, we see some of those ‘smaller’ needs and are used to utilizing, planning, and getting things done. WMU is such an impactful opportunity of service and growth and connection with other women within the Body of Christ. My husband and I try to foster service and gratitude in our own daughter, so it would break my heart if she missed out on these opportunities to enrich others’ lives, as well as her own life and faith.
“As young mothers, we are in such a busy stage of life, but it has been so gratifying and soul-refreshing to do these projects. Most of the time, they’re not huge missions, but they are little projects that still make a helpful impact to remind people they are loved and prayed for, and if we didn’t do it, the projects may have been forgotten.”
Beth Bowman, Women’s Minister of Broadmoor since May 2023, considered how churches might successfully bring young women into WMU. “We have to think about mission education a little differently,” she emphasized. “For example, I invited a young adult life group to come out and paint our mission house. Through that, I got to explain the International Mission Board (IMB), how many missionaries we have, and how our mission house exists to show hospitality and provision for our servants on the foreign mission field who come back to the states with nowhere to live. So the young adults rallied behind that and got excited to help. That was mission education. As forward-thinking leaders, sometimes we have to step outside traditional mission education and provide opportunities through the church in different avenues. We must continue to support missions as
we always have, but it can look different and still be just as strategic and important as our mission education has always been able to be.
“We have to be willing to structure mission education in ways and places where people are,” Bowman explained. “It takes being creative and innovative. As the women’s minister here, I have to ask myself: How can I make that happen with young adults in my church who are not naturally going to sit and study about missions? Where are the places in which I can intersect with their lives and create mission education opportunities?”
“Our WMU is very strong and desires to see a younger generation involved. Just because people are busy, I don’t think we ever need to give up the idea of mission education. If you bring mission education to them, they will start their own projects and get engaged.”
BETH BOWMAN, WOMEN'S MINISTER BROADMOOR BAPTIST CHURCH, MADISON
“What Kendra and Lindsey are doing is a great example of this. Before I came to Broadmoor, they asked themselves how they can serve in missions within their schedules. They aren’t able to set a portion of their month to sit and study missions, but they have incorporated the truth about missions at the same time their hands are busy — and that’s a winning combination. For example, as Gather to Give packed goodie bags for the Clarkston family mission trip, they were naturally discussing what would happen with these packets and what kind of kids would be involved in this ministry and the why behind their going.
“Our WMU is very strong and desires to see a younger generation involved. Just because people are busy, I don’t think we ever need to give up the idea of mission education. If you bring mission education to them, they will start their own projects and get engaged.”
Your gifts to the Cooperative Program help support Women's Ministres and WMU. Learn more by emailing MBCB Executive Director-Treasurer of Women's Ministres/WMU Tammy Anderson at tanderson@mbcb.org.
The legacy of Mississippi's international missionaries: Commitment. Compassion. Connection. Cost.
Since 1845, our missionaries have unassumingly taken up their crosses to follow Christ into the unknown, pioneering as examples, trading comforts and certainties for eternal crowns. Although we hear only a handful of God’s marvelous acts across the oceans, we can see how these ordinary men and women commit their lives to an extraordinary mission. Feel the compassion of their hearts, broken for the lost and dying. Listen closely to their connection to fellow missionaries and national partners on the field, who provide a picture of the ever-growing, diverse family of God. Count the cost they paid, that millions of souls may meet the One who gave Himself up to save them.
Although you and I may be called to stay right here in “Jerusalem” for the sake of the Gospel, the
legacies of our missionaries have left lasting lessons for us to learn from a life well lived for Christ. We don’t have to travel far to find their starting lines, as approximately 1,200 International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries, from 1845 to now, were born in Mississippi or considered the state to be their home.
Roswell and Janie Graves
Long before the Foreign Mission Board (FMB) would be known as the IMB, Janie Graves, born in the small town of Rienzi, served in China with her husband, Rosewell Graves, the longest-serving missionary in Southern Baptist history. Although she herself, his third wife, served 47 years from 1887 to 1935, Rosewell served 56 years.
Janie’s beginnings and her Baptist heritage laid
BY LINDSEY WILLIAMS
Janie Graves
Ernest Walne
John Allen Moore
Harold Watson
a foundation for her missional work. She was the daughter of Mark Perrin Lowrey, who served as president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board and founded Blue Mountain Christian University. His scriptural opposition to slav ery clashed with the world around him, but he decided to fight with the Confederacy in an effort to do what he deemed best for his family. After the Civil War, he ministered to war-torn Baptist churches, declined serving as a U.S. senator or executive secretary of the Foreign Mission Board for the sake of his fami ly, and advocated for women’s education.
Over three decades later, Janie would help su perintend a home and school for blind girls in Can ton (now Guangzhou), China. In 1910, two years before Janie would lose her husband to a long bat tle with malaria, and after many years of Janie and other missionary women serving the disabled, the Home for Blind Girls opened.
Mark Perrin Lowrey (Photo credit: mississippiencyclopedia.org)
In a 1936 Southern Baptist periodical highlighting her retirement the year before, the author wrote, “She spared neither time nor money in helping the needy ones, the sick, and the maimed. Her greatest asset, however, was the power to love and to win people to Christ. For the last decade she gave her time to Yin Tak Day School, the Mo Kwong Home for Blind Girls, and the Graves Memorial Church…
“Pastors of churches, principals of schools, teach ers, former students, friends, fellow missionaries, servants, and children all showed their appreci ation by words, tears, and handsome presents. A large number accompanied her to the train in Can ton to say farewell, and another large group to the steamer in Hong Kong, sorrowing most of all that they would probably never see her face again…
“During the last few years her eyesight has been failing and now, at the age of 81, she is totally blind; but, as the darkening shadows have obscured her earthly sight, her spiritual vision has grown keen er and clearer.”
This is how Janie Graves gave up her life, her comforts, and her sight, that the blind may see Christ.
Janie Graves translates for FMB executive leader Dr. Charles Maddry as he speaks to the girls of the home for the blind in China. (Photo credit: IMB) t
Ernest and Claudia Walne
Born in Clinton, Ernest N. Walne and his wife, Claudia, served 43 years in Japan, from 1892 to 1935. Ernest and Claudia were known for their eager dedication to the mission. When they first arrived in Japan, Ernest greeted their friend, J.W. “Mac” McCollum, a fellow missionary, with a “genuine ole hug,” as Ernest described it. The Walnes and McCollums would work closely together, carrying one another’s burdens. “Their comradery would be common among the missionaries in Japan,” as stated on the IMB website.
Eventually, in 1903, Ernest and Claudia moved to Nagasaki and ministered at the Sasebo naval station. Despite the language being one of the most difficult to learn, Ernest excelled in reading, writing, and speaking Japanese, a skill admired by other missionaries. When he recognized the scarcity of Christian literature in Japanese, he produced and distributed his own over several years. His labor
aided the evangelistic efforts of not only Japanese churches, but also other grateful workers on the field.
“Ernest was always ready to preach and evangelize and baptize new believers. One time he even walked into the ocean to complete a baptism when the officiating pastor was too afraid of the rolling waves. Claudia was always ready to teach and lead in music. Together the couple raised five children on the mission field. For the Walnes, the harvest fields of Japan were where they felt closest to God.”
This is how Ernest N. Walne earned the esteem of fellow missionaries, and, more significantly, devoted his life to building up, growing, and loving the family of God.
John Allen and Pauline Moore
On Easter morning, 1941, John Allen Moore and his wife, Pauline, awoke to horrific explosions — bombs battering Belgrade, Yugoslavia, from a sky thick with German aircraft.
John Allen was born in Clarksdale and married Pauline Willingham, the niece of the IMB’s third president, Robert J. Willingham. The couple served in Yugoslavia and other parts of Europe from 1938 to 1978, taking a major risk as political tensions
The Walnes with three of their children: Florence, Herbert, and Thomas.
Claudia and Ernest Walne (Photo credit: IMB)
started to rise throughout Europe. Just three years after arriving on the field, Germany invaded Yugoslavia in a massive air raid. John Allen and Pauline fled their home with little more than ham and loaves of bread. Their students from the seminary where the Moores taught escaped with the couple. God’s hand covered the group amid detonating bombs and bursting debris.
An article on the IMB website described their arduous journey: “They walked on foot until the pain of blisters slowed their progress. Occasionally, a farmer with a wagon would give them a ride. When they neared a train track with an approaching train, the group ran to jump on the train. John Allen and Pauline quickly realized that everyone was trying to leave the city — the center of the country and the target of the bombs. They prayed together for the safety of their group. They spent the nights on kitchen floors of friendly farmers or in public eating places. Finally, they met a kind man who let the group stay in a cabin behind his house. But he warned them not to leave.
“As World War II raged on and the Germans overtook Belgrade, the Moores were forced to leave Yugoslavia, where they had started their lives as missionaries together. They moved to Hungary at first so John Allen could teach in a girls’ school.
When forced out of Hungary, too, they went to Portugal. Finally, they sailed back to the United States to wait for the war to end. They had no plans of stopping their commitment to missions, however. They waited and prayed for the chance to return. Europe remained on their hearts, and they looked forward to how they would be used by God again to further the Gospel.”
This is how John Allen Moore mourned for the war-torn mission field, but even more so, laid down his life for, ministered to, and allowed his heart to be broken for the lives devastated without hope in Jesus.
tJohn Allen and Pauline Moore prepare to serve 25,000 Yugoslav refugees with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in El Shatt, Egypt.
John Allen Moore (center) shares a meal during a Young Peoples’ Conference in Cerna, Yugoslavia, in 1939. (Photo credit: IMB) t
Harold and Joyce Watson
A name more familiar in Baptist circles is Harold Watson, born in rural Brooklyn, and most notable for his internationally acclaimed advancements in agriculture. Alongside his wife, Joyce, Harold served in the Philippines from 1964 to 1999, founded the Rural Life Center on Mindanao, and developed the SALT (Sloping Agricultural Land Technology) method, a “simple agricultural method developed for Asia’s upland peoples,” as described in a special feature of the April 1997 edition of The Commission, a magazine previously published by the Foreign Mission Board.
Former Foreign Mission Board President Jerry Rankin applauded Harold’s service: “Harold Watson discovered ways to turn barren hillsides into productive crops. His efforts have also resulted in hundreds of churches throughout the rural areas of the Philippines, along with an evangelistic witness into many closed countries of Asia.”
Harold had something most modern missionaries do not: a background in a field — a literal one. Growing up on a Mississippi farm, he picked and chopped cotton from a young age during the Great Depression. Even as a child, his mother fondly recognized his love for God’s green earth. When he had grown up and joined the Air Force, one glimpse of Asia was all he needed for God to call him to missions.
Full of farmers who wholly relied on a successful
harvest for their livelihood, the rural Philippines wrestled with unfruitful yields. Due to the natural structures of the land, farmers arranged their crops on hillsides, but something wiped out any chance of production. After investigation, Harold realized the issue was in their practices; tribal people cleared lands with a “slash and burn” method, which destroyed the topsoil. Loggers hauled trees out of the mountains and left bare hills behind. Farmers worked only for the present day, with no vision for future harvests and no tactics against erosion.
A full-time colleague of the Rural Life Center, Rod Calixtro, recalled Watson’s heart for the farmers. “Mr. Watson kept telling me about this dream to help the farmers, the grassroots people. That man is a dreamer.”
The solution had to be effective, but simple. As he and his team experimented with many ideas, Harold finally found the one that worked: SALT. Taking a “miracle plant” (leuca ena leucocephala, also called ipil-ipil) which grew in the flatlands, the team utilized a natural and simple method — a plant placed around the terrace in hedgerows, its leaves used for fertilization — that would prevent erosion and rebuild soil, growing a healthy harvest. As stated in The Commission, “SALT works because salt-of-the-earth people — illiterate farmers, for instance — can understand and apply it.” As a result of the Watson's focus on the poor rural families of Mindanao and their land, churches like this one were able to flourish.
tHarold Watson (right) kneels in a field at the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center with two of his closest Filipino colleagues, farm manager Rodrigo Calixtro (left) and associate director Warlito Laquihon. (Photos originally published in The Commission magazine)
SALT saved families from starvation, but the workers in the Rural Life Center offered even more than that. As they worked with farmers, they planted the most important, life-giving seed of all: the Gospel. “We are extensionists not only for the soil but the soul,” Noel Elmundo, an extension worker of the Mindanao Baptist Rural Life Center, explained to The Commission interviewer. “We plant life. Our mission is that the people will have a good life and a spiritual life.”
As his method gained renown in worldwide agricultural missions and secular organizations, Harold was wanted throughout Asia, but he, a salt-of-theearth man himself, did not fail to prioritize the fields of Mindanao. “You don’t want to lose touch with the people,” Harold told the Foreign Mission Board interviewer. Even so, many Asian hills — and many Filipino farmers — had yet to be reached by SALT, but more urgently, the Gospel. “It’s hard when you have what you feel is the answer for something big,” said Harold, “and you have to go at it piecemeal. If a Southern Baptist doctor in a mission hospital had a cure for AIDS, you can imagine what would happen. But agriculture isn’t as glamorous.”
As his retirement approached, Harold shared his heart for the field: “I see so many things I wanted to do that aren’t done.” But God would take care of the rest. The seed of obedience which Harold had planted is still producing a spiritual harvest for generations of workers to gather. As The Commission emphasized, his service “enables missionaries and Baptists to introduce those families to the simplest idea of all: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…’ A child can grasp it.”
This is how Harold Watson watered a mission field parched for the Living Water, how he worked for the enrichment and livelihood of the poor, and how God took care of the rest.
This is how God takes the commitment, compassion, connection, and cost of His people, and authors life-altering stories of salvation, sanctification, and sweet eternity with the Son — stories we never could have written on our own.
Your gifts to the Cooperative Program support missionaries through the International Mission Board.
What is the Cooperative Program?
BY TANNER CADE
Historic View: Baptists Unify Together
In the early 1900s, Southern Baptists in Mississippi and across the country were praying through an opportunity to better streamline ministry efforts. Gospel ministry was expanding through the turn of the century with continued population growths across America, but the unorganized strategy deserved a more substantial road map of sustainability.
After much prayer and years of planning, a structure of cooperation was birthed in 1925. The new Cooperative Program (CP) allowed all Southern Baptists to work together to reach the nation and the world.
“It's important to understand first of all that the Cooperative Program is a partnership between the local church, the state convention, and the national convention, the Southern Baptist Convention,” explained Shawn Parker, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB).
Those steps have a key starting point: the local church. Everything starts with the local church and builds into a cooperative effort unmatched by modern denominational efforts.
Before the start of the Cooperative Program in 1925, a large campaign was started to help seed funds for the program. In 1920, a Conservation Commission was formed to help carry out the raising of
funds to meet the enormous goal in an extremely difficult economic season for the country in a post-war America. During the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1923, L.R. Scarborough led a compelling speech uniting all baptists to what lay ahead.
“Baptists have the ear and heart of the world as never before," exclaimed Scarborough. "Millions of doors of Christly service wait to open at our knock.
“The New Testament doctrine of a living co-operation in all the world-will of Christ is written large in the sky of Southern Baptists. We have given to the world a unique and unusual demonstration of the power of a great democratic denomination working together in a big task for Jesus Christ. We have lost none of our freedom, impaired nowhere the individualism of our members, nor the independence of our churches, but have put in large letters before the world a demonstration of what a free people can do, working together in a great task.”
An enormous, gigantic program indeed was born in the now historic year of 1925. Churches all over America began “working together” across geographical lines and church attendance size.
“When I think about the Cooperative Program, I think of the end of Matthew and the beginning of Acts where the church is pooling all their resources together so that they can do what Jesus commanded
How is the Cooperative Program distributed?
CHURCHES
When your church gives through the Cooperative Program, 60.75% of the Cooperative Program dollars stay in Mississippi, and the other 39.25% is given to the Southern Baptist Convention. Almost 34% of the money in Mississippi is used in Collegiate Ministry, Missions Mobilization, Prayer Ministry, Men’s/Women’s Ministry, Multicultural Ministries, Discipleship/Sunday School, and many other ministries designed to strengthen the local church.
MISSISSIPPI
In Mississippi, Cooperative Program funds are used by the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board to help pastors and churches through consultations, training events, and other resources. A portion also goes toward Disaster Relief, evangelism efforts in the state, the Baptist Children’s Village, Associational Missions, Central Hills Baptist Retreat, Camp Garaywa, and many other ministries.
NORTH AMERICA
Some of the Cooperative Program funds going to the Southern Baptist Convention are sent to the North American Mission Board, which supports over 6,000 missionaries and chaplains in the United States and Canada. The Cooperative Program also helps support the nation’s six seminaries and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
WORLD
The Southern Baptist Convention additionally sends Cooperative Program dollars to the International Mission Board which supports more than 3,500 missionaries. Since 1845, almost 25,000 Southern Baptist missionaries have shared the gospel, made disciples, planted churches, and planted their lives in 185 countries around the world.
them to do in Matthew 28, which is to make disciples of all nations,” said Joseph Bird, Christian Ministries Chair at William Carey University. “I think the Cooperative Program is the way that we as Southern Baptist are able to do that. We're able to put our funds together.”
“The Cooperative Program funds the missionaries and ministries that take the Gospel to the lost — from supporting missionaries overseas to planting churches here in the United States, educating ministers in our seminaries, caring for [at-risk] kids in our Baptist Children's Village, and doing disaster relief. These, and in so many other ways,” said Ronald Meeks, Department Chair and Professor of Biblical Studies at Blue Mountain Christian University. “The Cooperative Program is how Southern Baptists work together to address lostness.”
“Millions of doors…wait to open” in opportunity for Southern Baptists as the Cooperative Program was poised for future growth in its beginning to nearly 100 years later. A century of history has included wars, natural disasters, political milestones, economic woes, and changes to the streets of our neighborhoods. The Cooperative Program has stood the test of time.
“When Southern Baptists were formed, the one thing they were formed to do that they couldn't do alone was to carry the Gospel around the world,” said Meeks. “That continues to be the heartbeat of what the Cooperative Program is about, that the world needs the Gospel and together we can share the Gospel better.”
Structure View: Mississippi Baptists to the World
What exactly is the structure of the Cooperative Program? As stated before, everything starts with the local church. As you read this, your church’s giving to the Cooperative Program launches into an arm-inarm work of Southern Baptists.
Here in the Magnolia State, the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board and messengers vote each year on the budget that includes a percentage of disbursement for each dollar received. For each dollar your church gives to the Cooperative Program, a per-
centage is sent to different buckets of ministry. This article will focus on the approved budget for 2024.
For each dollar sent to CP in Mississippi, 60.75% is dispersed within the Mississippi Baptist Convention (MBC). This includes 33.56% for Mississippi Baptist Convention Board ministry and operation. For instance, board ministry departments, facilities, and convention expenses are included. Also within the allotment for MBC, 25.75% is dispersed for Mississippi agencies and institutions. This includes support for Associational Missions, Baptist Children’s Village, Board of Ministerial Education, Christian Action Commission, Christian Education, Historical Commission, and Mississippi Baptist Foundation. All three of the Baptist institutions are supported in this section. Finally, Church Retirement and Protection receives 1.62% of funds to conclude the giving to Mississippi Baptist Convention.
“The Cooperative Program is the lifeblood of the work of the Mississippi Baptist Convention,” stated Parker. “All of those agencies and institutions are supported by the monies of the Cooperative Program and what a difference we're able to make in the state of Mississippi by virtue of our partnership with these institutions.”
The remaining Cooperative Program percentage is sent to the Southern Baptist Convention: 39.25%. The dollars are then sent to five areas of Southern Baptist life: International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, Theological Education, SBC Operation, and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
“The IMB stewards every Cooperative Program dollar with gratitude,” said Paul Chitwood, International Mission Board President. “Sixty percent of those dollars [received by IMB] are used overseas on the front lines where missionaries funded by their Cooperative Program are doing evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. The remaining CP dollars entrusted to the IMB provide the entire support system for those missionaries from recruiting and training missionary candidates.”
Before serving as the MBCB Missions Mobilization Director, Chad McCord and his family served many years overseas through the IMB. He recalled recently how CP support for missionaries helped provide an
SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
important medical need while serving.
“I was looking at five years ago, and I had broken my foot on the mission field,” described McCord. “The Cooperative Program helps by providing healthcare on the field. Also by providing education for our kids, whether it's homeschool or international school. Because you give to the Cooperative Program, our missionaries are well taken care of, and they appreciate it very much.”
Before going onto the mission field, missionaries are well trained in our Christian institutions and seminaries. Future leaders of churches are receiving educational training to well equip them in their future ministries.
“Christian higher education really couldn't function without the Cooperative Program and the gifts that people in our churches are giving,” said Jamie Dew, New Orleans Baptist Theological President. “Higher education is a very, very expensive enter-
Q & A with MBCB Chief Strategy Officer Jon Martin
Telling the story of the Cooperative Program quickly leads to a conversation of becoming a cooperating Mississippi Baptist church. Jon Martin helps us take a deeper dive into what it means to be a cooperating church in Mississippi Baptist life.
Before serving at MBCB, Jon served as a local pastor in Mississippi.
How can a church start giving to the Cooperative Program?
We cooperate for the mission that is given to us by Jesus in the New Testament. Making disciples of all nations is our calling and we believe that the Cooperative Program is the best means of accomplishing that mission. In that same spirit, we desire to cooperate with churches that share our doctrine and practice. If a church desires to begin
prise because of the types of accreditation standards that we have to maintain. Since we have Southern Baptists behind us as the wind in our sails giving sacrificially, it makes it possible for us to do what we do.”
Plowing ahead to make an abundance of opportunities possible for Southern Baptists is the connection made possible through giving to the Cooperative Program.
Future View: Foundation for the Future
“When we work together, it can produce a tremendous result,” expressed Meeks.
Opportunities are leading to results of the growth of the Gospel. No matter the size of your church, together Mississippi Baptists are able to make a difference.
“Sharing the Gospel, lostness is not shrinking, it's growing and so must our response,” said Chitwood. “We must pray more, give more, go more, and send
giving cooperatively for the sake of the mission, there is a process through which they must go to begin giving.
How can a church be a Mississippi Baptist church?
The process of becoming a Mississippi Baptist church and giving to the Cooperative Program is relatively simple. There are three basic components: First, a church must desire to cooperate. Second, a church must closely align with The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Once they indicate agreement with these two items, they need to give to the work of Mississippi Baptists through the Cooperative Program. Often a church will join the Mississippi Baptist Convention through their local association; this is the preferred method of cooperation. The process of cooperating with the local association may vary, so each church desiring to cooperate should begin with a conversation with the Associational Mission Strategist.
How often does a church need to give to be a “cooperating” church?
The Mississippi Baptist Convention requires that a church give yearly to seat messengers at our Annual
more to address the problem of lostness. The Cooperative Program is the channel by which we do that.”
“I really do believe that the Cooperative Program is the most effective mechanism for fulfilling the great commission in the history of the Christian Church,” said Parker. “It brings together two realities. Number one, mass resource; number two, mission focus. When those two realities are brought together, I think it creates a combination that really has the ability to change the world in history.”
Mass resources are available across Southern Baptist life, but, most importantly, the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board staff is readily available to help resource and consult churches across the state. Located in an office building at 515 Mississippi Street in downtown Jackson, the MBCB staff is continually helping churches of any size further their ministry.
“Your giving to the Cooperative Program allows for us to speak into the individual needs that churches
have within their own particular context,” said Jon Martin, MBCB Chief Strategy Officer. “CP allows us to speak into basic discipleship needs, evangelism needs, church planting needs, revitalization needs, and the gamut spreads wide. The Cooperative Program is absolutely necessary for the continued effective work of a state convention and a national convention as well.”
The Cooperative Program continues to be the lifeblood of Mississippi Baptists as we equip pastors, send missionaries, plant churches, train future leaders, and much more.
Thank you Mississippi Baptists for giving to the Cooperative Program!
For any questions related to the Cooperative Program, please contact Rick Blythe, MBCB’s Stewardship / Prayer Ministries Director, at rblythe@mbcb.org.
Meeting. However, most churches give monthly or quarterly.
In your own words, what are some benefits of being a Mississippi Baptist church?
The mission is the greatest benefit of being a Mississippi Baptist. We not only utilize Cooperative Program funds for the global mission effort but also for North American missions and missions and ministry in Mississippi. There are other benefits as well. Many cooperating churches utilize the Convention’s 501c3 status, which requires that the church be a giving church. In addition, the church can take advantage of various training opportunities, individual church consultations, and other resources available to the local church offered through the ministry of Mississippi Baptists.
How can someone be involved in the business of the convention?
Once a church becomes a cooperating church, they are allowed to send messengers to the Mississippi Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. The number of messengers is based on the membership
of the church as it is reported in the Annual Church Profile. Beyond sending messengers to the Annual Meeting, cooperating churches can have members potentially elected to the 100 Member Board, Executive Committee, other institution/agency boards, and Convention committees.
Why is it important to be a messenger at the annual meeting or serve on the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board?
Attending the Annual Meeting as a messenger allows you an opportunity to speak about the mission and ministry of our state convention. Very similar to the Southern Baptist Convention, a messenger may vote on issues that are brought before the convention and speak into issues through resolutions. Not to mention, the Annual Meeting is a great opportunity to connect with other cooperating churches and build community among similar-minded brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you have any questions related to becoming a cooperating church, please email Jon Martin at jmartin@mbcb.org.
Celebrating a century of the Cooperative Program in Mississippi
• In 1925, R.B. Gunter was on the SBC committee to urge the adoption of the Cooperative Program.
• In 1925, E.Y. Mullins, a native of Franklin County, chaired the committee that recommended the Baptist Faith and Message. He was also president of Southern Seminary (1899 – 1928) and the Southern Baptist Convention (1921 – 1924).
• B.D. Gray, a Waynesboro native, was Recording Secretary of the Home Mission Board 1903 – 1928.
• In December 1930, Margaret Lackey retired as leader of the Mississippi WMU, and
Fannie Traylor was elected in her place. By the end of the decade, there were over 2,000 WMU organizations in Mississippi Baptist churches.
• In June 1935, T. Luther Holcomb, a native of Purvis, became executive secretarytreasurer of the Baptist Sunday School Board.
• In 1938, Frances Landrum Tyler, a native of Ellisville, was elected recording secretary of the Southern Baptist WMU.
Total CP Giving 1930-1939: $1,073,515.65
1940s
Executive Director: D.A. McCall (1939-1949)
• In 1943, the Mississippi Baptist Foundation was organized.
• In 1945, the state convention moved to reopen and expand its colleges. Messengers voted to assume the operation of Clarke College once again, to reopen Mississippi Woman’s College in September 1947, and to make Mississippi College coed.
• In 1946, Roland Q. Leavell, a native of Oxford, was chosen as president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS).
• On April 2, 1947, Nell Taylor, young people’s leader of the Mississippi WMU, dedicated Camp Garaywa near Clinton as a campground for boys and girls.
• In 1947, Mississippi sent out it's first BSU summer missionary.
Total CP Giving 1940-1949: $4,296,291.43
1950s
Executive Director: Chester Quarles (1950-1968)
• In 1951, Duke McCall, a native of Meridian, was elected president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). McCall strongly supported civil rights, inviting Martin Luther King, Jr. to speak in chapel and in class in 1961.
• In 1956, the Mississippi Baptist Historical Commission was chartered.
• In 1959, the state convention board acquired from the U.S. government the property on Henderson Point in Pass Christian, the former site of a U.S. Merchant Marine Cadet School. It would become Gulfshore Baptist Assembly.
Total CP Giving 1950-1959: $14,602,158.09
1960s
Executive Directors: Chester Quarles (1950-1968), W. Douglas Hudgins (1969-1973)
• On July 2, 1968, the current Mississippi Baptist Convention building was officially opened.
• In 1954, after becoming coed, Mississippi Woman’s College was renamed William Carey College.
• In Oct. 1955, the state convention board purchased Camp Kittiwake in Pass Christian.
• On August 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It destroyed Camp Kittiwake in Pass Christian. At Gulfshore Baptist Assembly, only four severely damaged buildings were left standing. As of Dec. 15, $773,377.31 had been sent to the state convention board to help churches and families with hurricane relief efforts.
Total CP Giving 1960-1969: $30,303,741.28
Gunter
1970s
Executive Directors:
W. Douglas Hudgins (19691973), Earl Kelly (1974-1989)
• In March 1971, Edwina Robinson retired as the executive secretarytreasurer of the Mississippi Baptist WMU, an office she held since 1944.
• In Nov. 1972, the state convention voted to authorize $1.2 million to rebuild Gulfshore Baptist Assembly. It was dedicated on May 5, 1978.
• In 1979, Central Hills Baptist Retreat hosts it's first campers, with facilities being completed in 1981.
• In April 1979, the “Easter Flood” shut down Jackson.
MS Disaster Relief served meals to 1,500 people.
• The Baptist Children’s Village (BCV) expanded beyond the main campus in Jackson, building a network of group homes spread geographically around the state in the 1970s and 1980s.
Total CP Giving 1970-1979: $64,186,675.00
1980s
Executive Directors:
Earl Kelly (1974-1989), Bill Causey (1989-1998)
• Clarke trustees
unanimously proposed a merger of Clarke
College with Mississippi College. A record crowd of 1,442 messengers attended the November 1980 meeting, and they engaged in an emotional debate that lasted most of the day.
• From 1983-1986, Frank Pollard, former pastor of First Baptist Church, Jackson, served as president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (GGBTS).
• In 1986, MS Disaster Relief was requested to give assistance in Mexico. This was the first time that MS Disaster Relief was sent outside the United States.
Total CP Giving 1980-1989: $159,556,534.01
1990s
Executive Directors: Bill Causey (1989-1998), Jim Futral (1998-2019)
• In 1990, Morris Chapman, a native of Kosciusko, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Two years later he became president of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee.
• In 1992, Ed Young, a Laurel native, was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
• In 1993, Jerry Rankin was elected president of the Foreign Mission Board (International Mission Board). He was born in
Tupelo and grew up in Fulton and Clinton.
• Baptist Youth Night experienced a record crowd of 19,000, and 130 young people made public professions of faith.
Total CP Giving 1990-1999: $234,938,878.37
2000s
Executive Director: Jim Futral (1998-2019)
• On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed or damaged more than 200 MS Baptist churches and Gulfshore Baptist Assembly. MS Disaster Relief, along with seven other states, provided 3,300,000 meals, cleared/ cleaned 10,000 homes, aided 18,000 medical patients, and helped 38,000 families receive supply and/or monetary distributions.
2010s
Executive Director: Jim Futral (1998-2019)
• In 2011, over 20,000 Mississippi Baptists committed to pray daily for a work of God in the state. Rallies were held throughout the year in every county across the state with 10,000 in attendance.
• In 2017, the "Tell Someone" Evangelism Campaign visited every county and prison in the state.
Total CP Giving 2010-2019: $320,368,480.67
• In 2006, the "Memorial to the Missing," a 13'x17' container was constructed at the Baptist Building in Jackson. The goal of filling the container with 50 million pennies to represent the number of abortions in the country was reached in 2008. The proceeds were donated to an endowment for pro-life causes.
• In 2006, the state convention board, along with NOBTS, started a seminary program at the Mississippi State Penitentary at Parchman.
Total CP Giving 2000-2009: $286,207,824.09
2020-
Executive Director: Shawn Parker (2020-present)
• In 2020, the state convention board donated an extra $1 million to the IMB.
• In 2022, the state convention board added a Multicultural Ministries department, focusing on African American, Choctaw, Hispanic, and Deaf ministries.
Total CP Giving 2020-2023: $141,937,292.75
Jerry Rankin (IMB photo)
Top 25 Cooperative Program gifts by region
REGION 1
REGION 2
FBC
REGION 4
REGION 5
FBC
Thank
3
UPCOMING EVENTS
October
1 Renewing the Church Summit Temple BC, Hattiesburg
2 Renewing the Church Summit Pinelake, Brandon
5-15 Mississippi State Fair Ministry Mississippi State Fairgrounds, Jackson
6 Cooperative Program Day (SBC Emphasis)
17 Small Church Youth Ministry Workshop Williamsville BC, Kosciusko
27 Small Church Youth Ministry Workshop Forest BC, Forest
For more information, visit mbcb.org/ events
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
DR. JEFF IORG
DATES & LOCATIONS
President/CEO, SBC Executive Committee March 20, 2025 | FBC Oxford | 6:30 p.m. April 3, 2025 | FBC Biloxi | 6:30 p.m. April 4, 2025 | FBC Madison | 6:30 p.m.
REGISTRATION >
Use the Cooperative Program Training Kit to lead your church through a study of the Cooperative Program.
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
• Leader Guide
• Flash Drive
– One-session video training
– Four-session video training
– Accompaning study guides
– Other resources
• Cooperative Program Brochure
The Cooperative Program Training Kits will be made available, one per church, beginning October 29-30 during the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The remainder will be mailed to individual churches following the convention. They are also available online at www.mbcb.org/cp.
