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SBCLIFE JOURNAL OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION

Published by the SBC Executive Committee

PRE-CONVENTION 2019 TWO DOLLARS FIFTY CENTS 

Encouraging Cooperation . . . for a Great Commission Advance!

Ronnie Floyd Elected Executive Committee President/CEO by Diana Chandler

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onnie Floyd is the new president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, elected April 2, by ballot vote in a called meeting in Dallas. Floyd received sixty-eight of sixty-nine votes cast, the EC said, electing Floyd in an executive session of nearly four hours. A former SBC president, Floyd resigned April 7 from his longtime pastorate of Cross Church in northwest Arkansas. He said in his acceptance remarks that he would begin his transition to EC leadership immediately. “We’re going to come and we’re going to reach the world with all we have and call this Convention up to a level that we all need to go to,” Floyd told the EC. “Please pray for us.” The strong vote in Floyd’s favor, he said, followed his prayer that the Lord would clearly

declare His call for Floyd to serve in the new post. SBC President J. D. Greear affirmed Floyd’s election in comments to Baptist Press following the election. “This is a crucial moment for Southern Baptists, and I am excited to work alongside Ronnie Floyd as he leads the Executive Committee forward,” Greear told BP. “Pastor Ronnie has had a lifetime of leading in the kinds of evangelism and sending we are promoting in the ‘Who’s Your One?’ and ‘Go2’ initiatives, both on the local church and national Convention levels. “He is a man of prayer and a man of action; a man of prudence and man of boldness,” said Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina. “He is a gifted leader who I believe will keep the Gospel above all.” Floyd had alerted his congregation March 31 to the possibility of his election. “As an ambassador for Christ, the Gospel, and our Southern Baptist Convention,” Floyd said in a video now posted on YouTube, “this role provides influence for the Lord and His Gospel message in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of places, nationally and globally.” “The thought of parting from you has been gut-wrenching for Jeana and me. Words cannot describe it,” Floyd told his congregation. “The sense of loss is undeniable. But the sense of calling at this point is greater.” Floyd’s election came on the same day as the release of the twentieth anniversary edition of his book, How To Pray, copies of which he presented to EC members and staff. The limited edition new release has five new chapters and is more than 90 percent rewritten from its original 1999 edition. Floyd was widely endorsed by Southern Baptist leaders including entity presidents, the WMU executive director, state convention executives, a diversity of pastors, and others. “Impeccable integrity,” “visionary leader,” “prayer warrior,” and “a role model in the pursuit of inclusiveness” are traits noted among endorsements offered in advance of the vote. EC Chairman Mike Stone led the EC in concerted prayers for Floyd, his family, the EC, and the EC staff in the midst of transition.

Ronnie Floyd, joined by Jeana, his wife of forty-two years, addressed the Executive Committee on April 2, 2019, as the newly-elected president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. photo by adam covington

“When we gather again at our next meeting it will be under the strong and capable leadership of our newly-elected president and CEO,” Stone said in calling the body to prayer. Floyd is in his thirty-third year as the pastor of Cross Church, which celebrates its sesquicentennial in 2020. Under Floyd’s leadership, the multisite congregation has planted 148 churches and baptized more than twenty-two thousand people, according to a press kit distributed by the SBC Executive Committee in advance of the vote. Cross Church reached $1 million in annual giving to the SBC Cooperative Program in 2015 and has since exceeded that amount annually. Floyd has been active in various arenas of Southern Baptist life and interdenominational ministry. He has served as president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force since 2017 and is a member of the board of directors of the Family Research Council in Washington. Floyd has forty-three years of pastoral experience dating back to First Baptist Church in Cherokee, Texas, in 1976 and subsequently including congregations in Milford, Palacios,

and Nederland, Texas. He began leading Cross Church in 1986 when the congregation was known as First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas, and expanded the ministry to include campuses in Pinnacle Hills, Rogers, and Fayetteville as well as a campus in Neosho, Missouri. Weekly Sunday attendance encompasses more than nine thousand people in eleven worship services across the various Cross Church campuses, according to the SBC Annual Church Profile. Floyd is the author of more than twenty books and host and lead speaker of The Summit businesspersons’ luncheon of northwest Arkansas, equipping more than four hundred business leaders each week. He was president of the SBC from 2014– 2016, chaired the SBC Great Commission Task Force from 2009–2010, and chaired the SBC Executive Committee from 1995–1997. Diana Chandler is general assignment writer/editor for Baptist Press and is a member of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. This article was previously published in Baptist Press.

Floyd Hears Hearts, Extends Hands

A Ronnie Floyd at a press conference following his April 2 election as president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. Members of the media attended in person and via video conference. photo by adam covington

diversity of hundreds of Southern Baptist leaders interacted with SBC Executive Committee President and CEO-elect Ronnie Floyd in conference video sessions and calls he hosted on April 2–3 in Dallas immediately following his election. “One of the things I talked about strategically was that if I was elected, that we

by Diana Chandler

would spend that first many hours . . . to try to touch base with as many leaders as we can, to let them know that they’re important to us accomplishing this mission,” Floyd said. “My heart is to just equip them and encourage people to know they’re valuable to us,” he said. “We need them on the team. It’s a time to get engaged. Let’s do it.” continued on page 12

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2019 SBC ANNUAL MEETING—CITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Welcome to Birmingham by Rick Lance

n behalf of more than 3,200 churches and as state missions leader of the third-oldest state convention in the SBC, let me say welcome to Alabama and welcome to Birmingham. One of the common nicknames for Birmingham in our state is “The Magic City.” I prefer to think of Birmingham as “A City on the Move.”

SBCLIFE SBC LIFE is published by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention 901 Commerce Street Nashville, Tennessee 37203 615-244-2355 E-mail: sbclife@SBC.net

Things to Do

Maybe while in the area you will have the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which features a series of galleries including the Movement Gallery that depicts the Civil Rights movement from 1955 to 1963. The Institute’s Processional Gallery uses life-size figures to represent all ages and races to portray the “walk to freedom.”

There are dozens of other family-friendly destinations available, such as these suggested by the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau (GBCVB): • The Birmingham Zoo, 122-acre home to nine hundred animals from six continents. • Alabama Splash Adventure, located in nearby Bessemer—a combination water park and amusement park with waterslides, rides, and an eight-hundred-thousand-gallon wave pool, lazy river, and water playground. • McWane Science Center, with four floors of hands-on exhibits and an IMAX Dome Theatre. • Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, a thirty-three thousand-square-foot facility with more than five thousand sports artifacts, including exhib its about Paul “Bear” Bryant, Jesse Owens, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Joe Louis.

• Vulcan Park and Museum, home to the world’s largest cast-iron statue, which is fifty-six feet tall and made of one hundred thousand pounds of iron, overlooking the city from atop Red Mountain. • Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds, home to more than 1,200 vintage and modern motorcycles and race cars, ranging in manufac ture date from 1902 to recent years. The museum is adjacent to Barber Motorsports Park, a world-class 2.3-mile road course and home to the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama. • Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, a 1,011-acre nature preserve with easy- to moderate-level hiking trails. Visitors will see a diversity of plant and animal life, including resident and migratory birds. The Visitors Center has exhibits including raptors, turtles, and other native Alabama wildlife.

D. August Boto

Interim President and Executive Vice President

Roger S. (Sing) Oldham Executive Editor

Andy Beachum

Art Director/Designer

Rebecca Manry

Communications Specialist SBC LIFE is published three times per year: PreConvention, Summer, and Winter. It is distributed to pastors, ministers of education, ministers of music, full-time denominational workers, chaplains, missionaries, and vocational evangelists of the Southern Baptist Convention. Workers retiring from any of these groups may continue to receive the magazine upon request. Subscriptions are free of charge. Bulk subscriptions are available at reduced prices. For SBC LIFE subscriptions, call 866-722-5433 (toll-free). * All Scripture is from the Christian Standard Bible unless noted otherwise. * Any article without attribution is by SBC LIFE staff.

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute © greater birmingham convention and visitors bureau

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Canoeing on the Cahaba River © greater birmingham convention and visitors bureau

Historic Kelly Ingram Park—Civil Rights District

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

McWane Science Center

Birmingham Zoo

• Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, once the world’s largest manufacturer of pig iron, stands as a monument to the Industrial Revolution. Guided and self-guided tours are available. The visitor center offers a self-guided tour brochure, a short video, storyboards, exhibits, and a gift shop. For dozens of other possibilities compiled by the GBCVB, check out www.inbirmingham.com.

pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham’s Vestavia Hills area, is president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference. The Birmingham Metro Baptist Association is a family of 128 congregations with Chris Crain as associational missionary, Jim Cooley of First Baptist Church of Birmingham as moderator, and Rosevelt Morris, Sr, associate pastor of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, as immediate past moderator.

June 5. On June 8, volunteers will participate in door-to-door evangelism. Please check out the details and register at namb.net/crossover. I hope you can participate in both Crossover Birmingham and the Convention meeting. Please pray for those who hear the Gospel—that they will receive it gladly and experience the new, abundant life that only Christ can offer.

Southern Baptist Cooperation

Crossover Outreach

As someone who grew up in Birmingham and served as pastor in the city early in my ministry, it is obvious that Birmingham is under construction to become a new city. This is literally true with our interstate highways being reconstructed in a major way, even as the time for the SBC meeting draws near. The city has been and is being renovated during an extended period of time. In fact, as you pray for the SBC meeting in Birmingham, a

Alabama Baptists take pride in being team players with the Southern Baptist Convention. Alabama Baptists are pacesetters in giving through the Cooperative Program, our unified budget which supports our missions endeavors in Baptist life. Our state convention’s president, Tim Cox, serves as senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Chelsea, part of the Birmingham metropolitan area in nearby Shelby County. Danny Wood,

Not since 1941 has Birmingham hosted an SBC annual meeting, and we are especially grateful for the opportunity to help facilitate Crossover Birmingham, an evangelistic outreach initiative that will see the Gospel shared across the metro area. NAMB has set a goal of reaching twenty thousand homes with the Gospel through this effort. An evangelism training and kick-off rally will be held for all volunteers on the evening of

A City of Change

| ted tucker

prayer for patience would be in order! The Birmingham of the twenty-first century is not the Birmingham of the past. This is a forward-looking city with an eye on the goal of becoming an even better place to live, to work, and to worship. However, those of us who have lived in Alabama, and particularly in the Birmingham metro area, have learned some difficult lessons from the past. We pray we will not allow those lessons to be forgotten. The city has had some rocky days in the past but it has a hopeful present. Please pray that it will have a vibrant future with important seeds being planted during Crossover Birmingham as the Gospel is shared with people who need to know Christ and His love. Rick Lance is executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions and is a member of First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Birmingham of the twenty-first century is not the Birmingham of the past. This is a forward-looking city with an eye on the goal of becoming an even better place to live, to work, and to worship. However, those of us who have lived in Alabama, and particularly in the Birmingham metro area, have learned some difficult lessons from the past. We pray we will not allow those lessons to be forgotten.

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CROSSOVER

Crossover is the evangelistic outreach initiative preceding the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. For thirty years, NAMB has partnered with state conventions, associations, and local churches to saturate the Convention’s host city with evangelistic events. Volunteers from across the country arrive in the city a few days prior to the annual meeting to participate alongside local church members. These efforts result in hundreds of souls won for Christ.

Join us for an exciting experience as we share the hope of the Gospel and demonstrate it in tangible ways to those in the Birmingham community.

Hub Churches Include: The Baptist Church at McAdory, McCalla, Bessemer Association First Baptist Trussville, Birmingham Association Sixth Avenue Baptist, Birmingham, Birmingham Association

Wednesday, June 5 | 6:30–8:30p

Kick-off Rally and evangelism training with Johnny Hunt

The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, Birmingham Association

The event will be at The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham (main location) with simulcasts at The Baptist Church at McAdory, McCalla; First Baptist Church, Mt. Olive; and First Baptist Church, Trussville.

First Baptist Oak Grove, Adger Association

Saturday, June 8 | 8:30a

First Baptist Mt. Olive, North Jefferson Association First Baptist Pelham, Shelby Association

Training followed by door-to-door evangelism.

First Baptist Moody, St. Clair Association Training begins on Saturday morning at 8:30 at the location where the participants will be serving for those that do not attend the training and rally on Wednesday night. Those that do attend Wednesday night should arrive at 9:30a. Teams of three will begin knocking on doors by 10:00a. Each team will have approximately thirty to fifty homes.

Mt. High Baptist, Warrior, Sulphur Springs Association www.namb.net/events/crossover-birmingham/

BIRMINGHAM SBC PASTORS’ CONFERENCE SCHEDULE SUNDAY, JUNE 9 // 6:00p MONDAY, JUNE 10 // 9:00a, 1:30p, 6:00p www.sbcpc.net See page 6 for more information.

CROSSOVER

PRESCHOOL CHILDCARE (infants to 5 years)

www.namb.net/events/crossover-birmingham/

All registrations must be completed in advance— there will be NO on-site registrations. Register soon as space is limited.

SBC ANNUAL MEETING

GIANT COW MINISTRIES will again provide activities

JUNE 11–12

www.sbcannualmeeting.net

for children ages 5–12 Sunday through Wednesday. A special thanks to WMU for providing missions education as part of the curriculum.

YOUTH ON MISSION for those children who have

completed grades 7–12 will be provided again by WMU Tuesday and Wednesday. Space is limited to 106 youth and pre-registration is REQUIRED—there will be NO on-site registration—deadline for registration is May 10 or when capacity is reached (whichever comes first).

“SBC ANNUAL MEETINGS” APP Updates are

being made as information becomes available—stay connected by downloading the 2019 “SBC Annual Meetings” app from the Play or App Stores.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS can still be secured. SHUTTLE SERVICE will be offered. SPECIAL NOTE: To ensure the orderly flow of attendees and enhance security of the convention hall, each MESSENGER, EXHIBITOR, and INVITED GUEST must be registered and properly badged for entrance into the general sessions on TUESDAY and WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11–12, 2019.

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2019 SBC ANNUAL MEETING 10:00

Joint Seminary Presentation and Reports— Daniel L. Akin, president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, North Carolina; Jason K. Allen, president, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri; Adam W. Greenway, president, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; Jeff Iorg, president, Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, Ontario, California; Charles S. Kelley Jr., chancellor, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana; R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky

11:15 Worship—Branden Williams 11:30 Convention Sermon—Stephen Rummage, senior pastor, Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 12:15 Closing Prayer—Cyndi Logsdon, senior project manager, International Mission Board, Richmond, Virginia

TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 11

2:50 Introduction of New Motions (Last Opportunity)

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 1 2

8:00 Worship—Branden Williams, Convention music director; worship pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina

3:10 Election of Officers (Second)

2:30 Worship—Branden Williams, Convention music director; worship pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina

3:20 Panel—Undivided: Your Church and Racial Reconciliation 8:25 Prayer—Rick Lance, executive director-treasurer, Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, Prattville, Alabama

3:50 Election of Officers (Third)

8:30 Welcome and Call to Order—J. D. Greear, SBC president; 3:56 Woman’s Missionary Union Report— pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina Sandra Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer, Woman’s Missionary Union, Birmingham, Alabama 8:45 Registration Report and Constitution of Convention— Don Currence, SBC registration secretary; minister of 4:08 International Mission Board Report— administration, First Baptist Church, Ozark, Missouri Paul Chitwood, president, International Mission Board, Richmond, Virginia 8:50 Committee on Order of Business Report (First)— Adam W. Greenway, president, Southwestern Baptist 4:20 Mission Sending Celebration—Paul Chitwood Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas 8:55 Celebrating Freedom—J. D. Greear; General Douglas L. Carver, executive director of chaplaincy, North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, Georgia 9:05 GuideStone Financial Resources Report— O. S. Hawkins, president and CEO, GuideStone Financial Resources, Dallas, Texas 9:17 Executive Committee Report (Part 1)—Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO, SBC Executive Committee, Nashville, Tennessee 10:02 Introduction of New Motions (First) 10:22 Crossover Report & Birmingham Schools Postcard Project—Johnny Hunt, senior vice president for evangelism and leadership, North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, Georgia 10:33 North American Mission Board Report—Kevin Ezell, president, North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, Georgia 10:45 North American Mission Board Presentation— Kevin Ezell 11:15 Worship—Branden Williams 11:30 President’s Address—J. D. Greear 12:15 Closing Prayer—John L. Cantelow III, senior pastor, Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, JUNE 11 2:30 Worship—Branden Williams, Convention music director; worship pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina 2:40 Prayer—Liz Encinia, executive director-treasurer, Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union, Louisville, Kentucky 2:45 Election of Officers (First)

5:05 Election of Officers (Fourth) 5:10 Committee on Order of Business Report (Second)— Adam W. Greenway, president, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas 5:25 Election of Officers (Fifth) 5:30 Executive Committee Report (Part 2)—Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO, SBC Executive Committee, Nashville, Tennessee 6:15 Closing Prayer—Susie Hawkins, author; speaker, Susie Hawkins Ministry, Dallas, Texas

WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 1 2 8:00 Worship—Branden Williams, Convention music director; worship pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina

2:40 Prayer—Ray Gentry, executive director, Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders, McDonough, Georgia 2:45 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Presentation (Part 1)—Russell D. Moore, president, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Nashville, Tennessee

President’s Sexual Abuse Study Group—J. D. Greear, SBC president; pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina

3:05 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Report— Russell D. Moore 3:17 Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Presentation (Part 2)—Russell D. Moore 3:37 Panel—Indispensable Partners: The Value of Women in God’s Mission 4:08 LifeWay Christian Resources Report—Brad Waggoner, acting president; executive vice president, LifeWay Christian Resources, Nashville, Tennessee 4:20 LifeWay Christian Resources Presentation— Brad Waggoner 4:40

Committee on Resolutions Report—Curtis A. Woods, chairman; co-interim executive director; associate executive director for convention relations, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Louisville, Kentucky

5:20 Previously Scheduled Business—J. D. Greear 5:40 Committee on Order of Business Report (Fourth)— Adam W. Greenway, president, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

8:25 Prayer—Cameron Triggs, lead pastor, Grace Alive, Orlando, Florida

8:30 Committee on Order of Business Report (Third)— Adam W. Greenway, president, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

5:50 Recognition of Past SBC Presidents & Honoring Joyce Rogers—J. D. Greear

8:40 Committee on Committees Report—Sky Pratt, chairman; associate pastor, mobilization, Prince Avenue Baptist Church, Bogart, Georgia 8:50 Committee on Nominations Report—Bucky Kennedy, chairman; evangelist, Bucky Kennedy Ministries, Gainesville, Georgia 9:00 Previously Scheduled Business—J. D. Greear, SBC president; pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, North Carolina 9:20 Panel—Gospel Above All: Keeping Secondary Issues Secondary

Election of 2020 Convention Preacher, Alternate Preacher, and Music Director

6:00 Presentation of SBC Officers— Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO, SBC Executive Committee, Nashville, Tennessee 6:10 Closing Words and Birmingham hand-off to Orlando—J. D. Greear 6:15 Closing Prayer—Tommy Green, executive director treasurer, Florida Baptist Convention, Jacksonville, Florida

The Committee on Order of Business may recommend adjustments to the foregoing program as needed.

SBCLIFE Pastors’ Conference Kingdom Character June 9–10

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena www.sbcpc.net Twitter: @SBCPastorsConf Registration: This event is free to all who wish to attend. No registration is required.

Session 1: Sunday, June 9 (6:00–9:00p) Speakers: Ed Litton, Robert Smith, Jay and Katherine Wolf

Session 2: Monday, June 10 (9:00–11:30a) Speakers: Russell Moore, David Platt, Martin Young

Session 3: Monday, June 10 (1:30–4:00p) Speakers: Dhati Lewis, Ben Mandrell Roundtable on Racial Reconciliation: Noe Garcia, Buddy Gray, Tracy Hipps, Mike McClure, Jr, Michael Wesley, Danny Wood

Session 4: Monday, June 10 (6:00–9:00p) Speakers: Andrew Brunson, Jimmy Scroggins Roundtable on Persecution: Andrew and Norine Brunson, Jim Campbell, Timothy George, Jack Phillips, Nik and Ruth Ripken Worship Led by: Michael Adler with Shades Mountain Baptist Church Worship Band & Orchestra; Shades Mountain Baptist Church Worship Choir; Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church Choir; Sixth Avenue Baptist Church Choir

Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders June 8–10

Hilton Birmingham at UAB

Saturday, June 8 Pre-Conference For New and Prospective AMSs

Registration Cost: $25 Wives may attend at no additional cost. For more information and to register: sbcassociations.org 6:30–7:15p

Session 1: Greetings/Introductions; “How to Prepare and Become an Associational Leader” Speaker: David Stokes

7:30–8:15p Session 2: “Dos and Don’ts for New Associational Leaders” Speaker: Steve Laughman 8:30–9:00p

Session 3: Roundtable with Ray Gentry, Steve Laughman, and moderator David Stokes

Sunday, June 9 Main Conference

Registration Cost: $99 (before May 1); $109 (after May 1) Wives may attend at no additional cost. Wives workshop track offered. 9:00–9:30a

Check-in/Ministry Fair/Networking

9:30–10:45a Worship Service Speaker: Johnny Hunt 11:15a–12:45p Plated Lunch Speaker: Sandy Wisdom-Martin 1:05–1:55p Plenary 1 Speaker: Ted Traylor 2:15–2:45p

Business Session 1

3:05–4:05p

Workshops 1

4:25–5:25p

Workshops 2

5:45–5:55p

Business Session 2

PRE-CONVENTION 2019

WMU® Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting Pursue June 9–10

Registration is $15 and includes a small tote bag and advance release of On the Journey, a 30-day devotional written by Linda Cooper and Sandy Wisdom-Martin.

Sunday, June 9

The Church at Brook Hills 2:00p

Welcome/Check-In Opens

3:00p • WMU Missions Celebration— General Session • Praise and Worship • Welcome: Linda Cooper, president, National WMU • Prayer for Missionaries: Ruth Ripken • Kevin Ezell, president, NAMB • Missionary Speakers: Philip and Jummai Nache, NAMB • Praise and Worship • Dellanna West O’Brien Award • Election of Officers • President’s Address: Linda Cooper, national WMU 4:15p Dessert Party and Light Refreshments 4:50p Pre-session music by Native American Praise Choir 6:00p • WMU Missions Celebration— General Session • Praise and Worship • Welcome: Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer, National WMU • Testimonies: 2019 National Acteens® Panelists and National WMU Presidents emerita • Todd Lafferty, executive vice president, IMB • Missionary Speakers: Hun and Eunjoo Sol, IMB • Praise and Worship • Missionary Speaker: Nik Ripken, IMB

Monday, June 10

There is no registration fee for Monday, but Chick-fil-A boxed lunches may be reserved for $5 each.

National WMU

8:00a Welcome/Check-In Opens 9:00a–5:00p Immerse yourself in a variety of missions activities (131 options!) Visit wmu.com/birmingham for details and to register for Sunday and/or reserve an optional boxed lunch for Monday.

Women’s Session Partners in the Gospel Monday, June 10 9:00–11:30a

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex South Meeting Rooms A–J • Panel discussion: Kathy Litton, moderator; Amy Whitfield, Missie Branch, Kandi Gallaty, and Ashlyn Portero • Features: Message from Lori McDaniel; Interview with Norine Brunson The Pastors’ Wives Expo will be in the foyer outside the meeting room on Monday, June 10, and Tuesday, June 11.

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National African American Fellowship, SBC 2019 Annual Meeting and Banquet Monday, June 10

Sixth Avenue Baptist Church 4:00p NAAF Annual Meeting 6:30p NAAF 25th Anniversary Banquet Speaker: Marshal Ausberry Sr., president Banquet Tickets: $50 per person RSVP for Banquet: www.naafsbc.org/giving

National Asian-American Fellowship/Asian-American Second Generation Fellowship Monday, June 10 7:00p

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex 1st level, East Ballroom B • Welcome/Announcements: Sammy Joo, president, National Asian-American Fellowship • Opening Prayer: Ramon Osorio, NAMB • Greetings: Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO, SBC Executive Committee; Doug Carver, NAMB • Presentation of Appreciation Awards: Ashley Clayton and Bill Townes, SBC Executive Committee; Art Toalston, Baptist Press • Second Generation NAMB Initiative Report: Chris Wong • Asian Ministries of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina: Sammy Joo • Testimonies • Closing Prayer: Thomas Wong

Southern Baptist Hispanic Leaders Council Celebration Celebrating our Diversity and Unity in Christ Monday, June 10

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Forum G/H/I

5:30–6:15p • Dinner • Welcome: Carlos Gomez and Pablo Moscoso • Hispanic Reality: Daniel Sanchez 6:15–6:30p • Worship: Estaban Vasquez • Posthumous Recognitions of Pastors Walter Montalvo and Daniel Sotelo • Presentation: Southern Baptist Hispanic Leaders Council officers and members • Invitation to 2020 SBC in Orlando: David Perez 6:30–7:00p • A Call to Unity: Felix Cabrera • Panel Discussion on Sexual Abuse Prevention: Ramon Osorio, moderator 7:00–8:00p • LifeWay Equipa Training Platform: Freddy Noble and Ariel Irizarri

For more information, contact Bobby S. Sena, Hispanic relations consultant, SBC Executive Committee: bsena@sbc.net.

Messenger Orientation Monday, June 10 4:30p

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Forum A

7:30–8:40a

Executive Team Breakfast

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, South Meeting Rooms A–J

9:00–10:00a

Workshops 3

Featured Guest: Lauren Chandler

There will be a free orientation regarding messenger participation in the annual meeting for anyone wishing to attend. The session will include an explanation of “high interest” times, program personalities and processes, how and when messengers may use the floor microphones, how to use the registration materials, etc. There will also be a “Q&A” time. Interested messengers are encouraged to register at the registration desk prior to attending and bring their registration materials to this session. Convention attendees who are not messengers are also welcome. No advance registration or reservation for this session is required.

Tickets: $20 www.lifeway.com/en/events/ministers-wives-luncheon/

Information communicated to the Executive Committee as of April 17, 2019.

5:55–7:25p Plated Dinner Speaker: J. D. Greear

Monday, June 10 Main Conference (continued)

10:20–11:30a Plenary 2 Speaker: Robert Smith

SBC Ministers’ Wives Luncheon Steadfast Love Tuesday, June 11 Noon

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SBC ANNUAL MEETING CONFERENCE SCHEDULES SBC Evangelists’ Southwest Supper Sing-a-Long Monday, June 10, 4:30p BJCC Forum J SBC Evangelists’ Worship Celebration Sunday, June 10, 10:30a McElwain Baptist Church SBC Women’s Leadership Network Tuesday, June 11, 8:30p BJCC Forum A photo courtesy of the birmingham -jefferson convention complex

• All event listings are accurate according to the Executive Committee’s information at press time and are subject to change. Please refer to the “SBC Annual Meetings” app for updates and to plan your schedule. • Some of these events require registration and/or ticket purchase.

Please check with the hosting organization for more information. • BJCC=Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex

SBC SEMINARY ALUMNI EVENTS

AFFINITY/MINISTRY GROUPS

Gateway Seminary Alumni and Friends Luncheon Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p BJCC Forum J

9Marks@9 Monday, June 10, 9:00p Tuesday, June 11, 9:00p BJCC Theatre

Midwestern Seminary Alumni and Friends Luncheon Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p BJCC South Exhibition Hall New Orleans Seminary Alumni and Friends/Kelley Retirement Tuesday, June 11, 6:00p Sheraton Birmingham Ballroom II–IV, VI–VIII, X–XII Southeastern Seminary Alumni and Friends Luncheon Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p BJCC South Meeting Rooms D, E, F, J Southern Seminary Alumni and Friends Luncheon Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p Sheraton Birmingham Ballroom II, III, VI, VII, X, XI Southwestern Seminary Alumni and Friends Luncheon Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p Sheraton Birmingham Ballroom I, V, IX

OTHER ALUMNI EVENTS Luther Rice Alumni and Friends Tuesday, June 11, 12:00p BJCC Forum B Mid-America Seminary Alumni and Friends Tuesday, June 11, 11:00a BJCC Forum G/H/I Ouachita Baptist University Alumni and Friends Tuesday, June 11, 4:30p BJCC Forum D Samford University Alumni and Friends Wednesday, June 12, 2:00p BJCC Forum A Union University Alumni and Friends Tuesday, June 11, 5:00p Cantina Laredo

B21 Panel Tuesday, June 11, 11:30a BJCC Concert Hall Baptist Communicators Association Sunday, June 9, 9:00p BJCC North Room I CMBW Pastor’s Panel Breakfast Tuesday, June 11, 7:00a BJCC Concert Hall— Symphony Rehearsal Hall Fellowship of Baptist World Ministries Monday, June 10, 7:30a BJCC Forum H Fellowship of Native American Christians Tuesday, June 11, 10:00a BJCC Forum J Filipino International Mission Board Tuesday, June 11, 9:00a BJCC Concert Hall—Ballet Rehearsal Hall Filipino Southern Baptist Fellowship of North America Monday, June 10, 1:00p BJCC East Ballroom B Gathering of Chinese Messengers Tuesday, June 11, 3:00p BJCC Forum E Hispanic Leaders Council Celebration Monday, June 10, 5:30p BJCC Forum G/H/I National African American Fellowship Business Meeting Monday, June 10, 4:00p Sixth Avenue Baptist Church

Second Generation Church Planting and Replanting Monday, June 10, 1:30p BJCC Concert Hall—Green Room Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders Saturday, June 8–Monday, June 10 Hilton Birmingham at UAB Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship Annual Meeting Sunday, June 9, 12:00p Restaurant at The Westin Women and Work Tuesday, June 11, 7:00p BJCC Forum Theatre

MINISTRY EVENTS Bivocational Luncheon (NAMB) Wednesday, June 12, 12:00p BJCC Forum G/H/I Cooperative Program Stage and Platform Monday, June 10–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC North/East Exhibition Hall Exhibits Monday, June 10–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC North/East Exhibition Hall Family/Sensory Area Sunday, June 9–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC Arena Club For the Church (MBTS) Tuesday, June 11, 11:30a BJCC South Exhibition Hall IMB Dinner Monday, June 10, 4:30p Sheraton Birmingham, Ballroom I–XII LifeWay Breakfast Tuesday, June 11, 6:30a BJCC South Exhibition Hall LifeWay Dinner and Movie Screening Tuesday, June 11, 5:00p BJCC South Exhibition Hall LifeWay Movie Screening Tuesday, June 11, 6:30p BJCC Concert Hall Messenger Orientation Monday, June 10, 4:30p BJCC Forum A

National African American Fellowship Banquet Monday, June 10, 6:30p Sixth Avenue Baptist Church

Ministers’ Wives Luncheon Tuesday, June 11, 12:00p BJCC South Meeting Rooms A–J

National Asian American Fellowship Monday, June 10, 7:00p BJCC East Ballroom B

NAMB Ambassador Dessert Fellowship Monday, June 10, 1:30p BJCC Concert Hall—Lounge

NAMB Chaplains Fellowship Monday, June 10, 3:00p BJCC Concert Hall—Ballet Rehearsal Hall NAMB Send Network Church Planter Fellowship Monday, June 10, 1:30a BJCC Concert Hall— Symphony Rehearsal Hall Pastors’ Conference Sunday, June 9–Monday, June 10 BJCC Legacy Arena Prayer Center Sunday, June 9–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC Arena Concourse SEBTS Women’s Leadership Breakfast Wednesday, June 12, 7:00a BJCC East Ballroom B Send Luncheon Monday, June 10, 11:30a BJCC Concert Hall BJCC Theatre Sexual Abuse in the SBC (ERLC) Monday, June 10, 9:00p BJCC South Exhibition Hall Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia Reception Monday, June 10, 8:00p BJCC Concert Hall—Green Room Southern Baptists of Texas Reception Monday, June 10, 8:30p BJCC Concert Hall—Lobby Tennessee Baptist Messengers Fellowship Monday, June 10, 8:30p BJCC Forum B Woman’s Missionary Union Missions Celebration and Dessert Party Sunday, June 9, 3:00p The Church at Brook Hills Monday, June 10, 9:00a National WMU Offices Women’s Expo Monday, June 10–Tuesday, June 11 BJCC South Meeting Rooms Lobby Women’s Session Monday, June 11, 9:00a BJCC South Meeting Rooms A–J

CHILDCARE/YOUTH • Pre-registration is required for all childcare/youth activities: sbcannualmeeting.net Preschool Childcare (birth–4 years) Sunday, June 9–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC East Meeting Rooms Giant Cow Ministries (ages 5–12) Sunday, June 10–Wednesday, June 13 BJCC East Room N & East Room O Youth on Mission (completed grades 7–12) Tuesday, June 11–Wednesday, June 12 BJCC East Room F

BE THE DIFFERENCE

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CP STAGE AND SBC APP

Cooperative Program Stage and Platform by C. Ashley Clayton

he Cooperative Program Stage and Platform provides an opportunity for messengers to the 2019 SBC annual meeting to “listen in” on a variety of hard-hitting, relevant panel discussions. The panels feature thought leaders, entity heads, missionaries, church planters, bloggers, and other key leaders from across the SBC. Highlights of the programming include SBC President J. D. Greear speaking on a variety of issues, such as sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches and his “Who’s Your One?” evangelistic initiative. Messengers will hear from NAMB President Kevin Ezell, IMB President Paul Chitwood, state convention and national Convention leaders, seminary presidents, and other thought leaders. Movie producers Alex and Stephen Kendrick—known for their films War Room, Courageous, and Fireproof—will discuss their soon-to-be-released feature film Overcomer. Other interviews and panel discussions will touch on topics such as church planting, Send Relief, Send Network, adoption, the role of women in ministry, diversity within the SBC, racial reconciliation, Greear and ERLC’s sexual abuse study, unreached people groups, international missions, and more. Programming will run Monday through Wednesday, June 10–12, beginning at 8:30am each day. A complete interview and panel discussion schedule will be available on the SBC mobile app, in the SBC Bulletin, and at talkCP.com. The CP Stage and Platform is easy to find. Look for lights, cameras, and crowds of people gathered in the exhibit hall, positioned between the NAMB and IMB displays. So, grab a cup of coffee and join the discussion! C. Ashley Clayton is vice president for Cooperative Program and stewardship with the SBC Executive Committee and is a member of Living Stone Community Church in Mesa, Arizona.

Beth Moore, left, author and speaker, Russell Moore, center, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, discuss preventing and dealing with sexual abuse within the church at the Cooperative Program Stage and Platform in Dallas, Texas. photo by kathleen murray

Jon Akin, far left, director of Young Leader Engagement at the North American Mission Board (NAMB), moderates a panel discussion on Diversity and Race Relations in the Southern Baptist Convention. Panelists included: Danny Akin, left, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Jarvis Williams, associate professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; and Dhati Lewis, associate professor for New Testament at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and pastor of Blueprint Church in Atlanta. photo by samuelle grove

2019 SBC App

ttendees to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting can stay up to date with our mobile app, which includes more than a dozen features, including schedules, maps, alerts, speakers, newsfeeds, the Book of Reports, the SBC Bulletin, and much more. Developed by Core-Apps, the app will include: • Push alerts that give users up-to-date news, such as changes in the meeting schedule should the posted schedule change.

•

A newsfeed of Baptist Press news stories and photos covering Crossover, the SBC annual meeting, and related meetings that take place during the week.

• PDF versions of the Book of Reports, the SBC Bulletin, and SBC LIFE. • Scheduled times for seminary luncheons and other affinity groups meeting in conjunction with the SBC annual meeting. • Twitter stream discussions about the SBC annual meeting. Use the hashtag #sbc19 to join the conversation.

• The programs for the SBC Pastors’ Conference and the SBC annual meeting.

• A list of exhibitors, including contact information for each exhibitor and an interactive map showing directions to the exhibitor’s booth location.

• A list of Pastors’ Conference and SBC annual meeting speakers, including their scheduled speaking times.

• A “friends” icon where users can keep up to date with their friends and send them notes (users are required to fill out a brief profile).

• Downloadable copies of Meet Southern Baptists and The Southern Baptist Conven tion: A Closer Look, two brochures produced by the SBC Executive Committee for use in church member training classes. Additionally, a free e-copy of The Many Faces of the SBC is available for download. The free app is available for iPhone, iPad, and Android users. It can be downloaded by searching for “SBC Annual Meetings” in the App Store or Google Play and then installing the 2019 SBC Annual Meeting within the app.

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FLOYD HEARS HEARTS, EXTENDS HANDS continued from page 1

Members of the SBC Executive Committee pray for Ronnie Floyd and his wife of forty-two years, Jeana, after his election as president and CEO of the EC on April 2. photo by adam covington

Two video conferences and six conference calls engaged groups ranging in size from a dozen to more than one hundred invitees, including associational mission strategists and PrayerLink prayer leaders, bivocational and small-church pastors, members of the SBC’s Great Commission Council, the Large Church Roundtable, the MegaMetro pastors fellowship, the EC’s Convention Advancement Advisory Council (CAAC), ethnic fellowship leaders, state convention executive directors and presidents, and younger pastors active with the Baptist 21 (B21) organization. Each group has unique gifts that are valuable and essential to Southern Baptist work, Floyd said, uplifting all groups and closing each session with prayer led by a conference participant. Floyd presented himself as a pastor committed to helping churches and not governing them. Prevalent in the conversations were four initial core values Floyd told the SBC Executive Committee in executive session and later shared with Baptist Press: (1) Upholding that people need Jesus; (2) Assisting all churches, generations, ethnicities, and languages in cooperative relationships; (3) Sharing the many compelling stories of Southern Baptists working at home and globally; and (4) Mobilizing and sharing resources among Southern Baptists. Floyd otherwise expressed his values, to the EC and subsequently to BP, in five priorities: • Fulfilling the Great Commission; • Promoting a biblically-based, Christ-centered, and Holy Spirit-led Southern Baptist culture anchored in John 13:34; • Communicating “compelling stories of what God is doing” through Southern Baptist ministries; • Positioning the SBC for “an era of exponential growth and advancement” including all ethnicities, generations, women, church membership, and technology, and; • Encouraging concerted giving to the SBC Cooperative Program of supporting ministry locally, nationally, and globally.

“We’re just really trying to do everything we can to instill confidence and unity in as many areas that we can” is the way Floyd communicated his goal to the Great Commission Council composed of SBC entity presidents and Woman’s Missionary Union executive director. “We know we have challenges, but we also have great things.” Popular culture is not the only problem Southern Baptists face, Floyd said on many of the calls, but the culture promulgated among Southern Baptists needs to be corrected to exemplify the love Jesus commanded. “I am highly concerned about our own culture within our Southern Baptist Convention,” Floyd told fellow Southern Baptists. “We need to learn to love one another again. We need to learn that we’re a family. “We need to learn that people need each other again,” Floyd said. “And we need to help control our minds, control our thoughts, control our words, control our actions towards one another. Our enemy is the enemy called Satan, and our enemy is not each other.” The SBC’s stand against sexual abuse was prevalent in the discussions as well, with Floyd and other leaders emphasizing the importance of

a wise and unified effort to prevent such crime as the SBC prepares for its 2019 annual meeting June 11–12 in Birmingham, Alabama. “It’s ungodly, it’s sinful, it’s criminal, and obviously we would be against it,” Floyd said. “But how we get to the common path of what we do, that has become the issue.” Floyd’s response to a question on the conference call with the CAAC and ethnic fellowship leaders summed his game plan in preventing and addressing sexual abuse. “Before Birmingham it will be our goal to get in a room [with SBC leaders] and come to a common solution we can all agree upon,” Floyd said. When Southern Baptists leave Birmingham, Floyd said, there should be no doubt about where the SBC stands on the issue of sex abuse “and everything we’re going to try to do to help the churches, everything we’re going to try to do to have safe environments for our children and the vulnerable, and to do everything we can to extend repentance of any of our actions, and move forward in relationship with . . . a clear convictional, compelling, and compassionate commitment and declaration.”

SBC PrayerLink Leaders

Floyd assured SBC PrayerLink that he would prioritize prayer ministry, hoping to reverse what some described as a decade-long trend of declining budget resources for prayer. “If we will lift up prayer from the beginning, then hopefully we can see this trend reversed eventually,” Floyd said. “I think that if we could just heighten prayer from the office of president and CEO of the Executive Committee, some of that would help it.” SBC PrayerLink includes the newly launched Pray SBC Facebook group for churchauthorized prayer leaders (see related story on page 20).

Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders

The Southern Baptist Conference of Associational Leaders leadership team, composed of associational mission strategists with Baptist associations across the US, expressed various concerns including promoting evangelism, strengthening small churches, reaching younger generations, energizing corporate prayer, and helping churches prevent sex abuse. Local churches and associations have a role to play regarding the issues addressed, Floyd said, particularly the prevention of sex abuse. “It’s got to start with training people and resourcing churches,” Floyd said, “and hopefully that’s going to go to a new level at the state convention and national level.”

Smaller Churches and Bivocational Pastors and Leaders

The perceived value of small churches to the SBC, making the SBC accessible to bivocational pastors, and the capability of small-church and

Ronnie Floyd addresses media and others at a press conference following his election on April 2. photo by adam covington

“I am highly concerned about our own culture within our Southern Baptist Convention. We need to learn to love one another again. We need to learn that we’re a family. We need to learn that people need each other again. And we need to help control our minds, control our thoughts, control our words, control our actions towards one another. Our enemy is the enemy called Satan, and our enemy is not each other.” Ronnie Floyd president and CEO-elect, SBC Executive Committee Nashville, Tennessee

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“I really hope that whatever time I have . . . in doing this that when I put it down, we have taken care of removing the stuff that doesn’t need to go forward, and we will hand [the SBC] to a generation that wants it and believes in it all the way. If we just move the dial some, we can move it forward. We’ve got to rise up and make a difference.” Ronnie Floyd bivocational pastors holding national leadership positions were concerns pastors and leaders expressed. “Don’t underestimate your value, pastors,” Floyd said. “All of you, you have gifts in certain ways. . . . You’re used by the Lord 24/7 in the workplace. There’s no greater opportunity than the university campus and the marketplace. “To manage what you manage, working full time, weekends, never giving up,” Floyd told bivocational pastors, “that takes discipline, that takes commitment, that takes faithfulness, and you all have proven it.” More than two-thirds of Southern Baptist churches have one hundred people or fewer in Sunday morning worship, according to a 2015 study conducted by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Floyd himself grew up in a church of about forty Sunday worshippers, he said during the conference call, and he also led small congregations in his early pastorates.

Women are worthy of inclusion in Southern Baptist leadership, Floyd said, while adhering to gender roles affirmed in the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. “Our heart would be to do everything we can to not hold back just because of what we know Scripture says,” he said, “but let godly women flourish and be recognized, and let them help us navigate the future in this challenging day.”

State Convention Leaders

Great Commission Council

Floyd assured the Great Commission Council he would be “totally committed to what we do as Southern Baptists.” Floyd has dialogued with SBC President J. D. Greear, he said, and will work in unity to accomplish shared goals. “One of the greatest things I think all of us can do,” he told the council, “is to unify around, really, a compelling vision to reach this world with the Gospel. And if we can do that . . . we can really make a difference.”

Large Church Roundtable

Proactive marketing including advertising campaigns, better use of technology, educating pastors on proper background checks and employment protocol to address sexual abuse, encouraging the involvement of Southern Baptist pastors in cooperative ministry, and making the SBC attractive to young pastors were among key concerns pastors expressed. Within the past decade the SBC has seen an increase in young pastors, Floyd said, encouraging pastors to reach out to their younger counterparts. “I really hope that whatever time I have . . . in doing this,” Floyd said, “that when I put it down, we have taken care of removing the stuff that doesn’t need to go forward, and we will hand [the SBC] to a generation that wants it and believes in it all the way.

SBC Executive Committee President and CEO-elect Ronnie Floyd addresses PrayerLink Leaders via video conference on April 2. photo by rebecca manry

“If we just move the dial some, we can move it forward,” Floyd said. “We’ve got to rise up and make a difference.”

that is advancing the Gospel of Christ,” Floyd said, “planting Gospel churches, advancing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”

Mega-Metro Pastors Fellowship

CAAC and Ethnic Fellowship Leaders

Focusing on the local church, creating new paths for church involvement in Southern Baptist life beyond church planting, a renewed focus on the Gospel, and mobilizing Southern Baptists in prayer were raised by megachurch leaders. “We need to find paths that people can become a part of us,” Floyd said, “that may be a little bit different paths” to church cooperation. “I agree completely that there [are] many, many churches across this Convention, or outside of this Convention, that would want to be a part of who we are because they love what we do,” Floyd said. “How we get there, I don’t know, but I’m going to start working on it.” Floyd encouraged diversity in Southern Baptist life. “We need to become known for being the most multigenerational, multiethnic, multilingual denomination in the United States

Reengaging communication with the National Baptist Convention USA (NBC USA) that rose during Floyd’s SBC presidency, respecting diversity by closing the floor of the SBC to political leaders and partisan politics, achieving greater diversity among Southern Baptist leaders, and intentionally involving women at all levels of the SBC were among concerns the council and ethnic leaders raised. Leaders also expressed a desire for congregations to be included in daily Southern Baptist life, and for technologically engaging ethnic pastors who are largely bivocational with limited funds and time. At the center of adhering to a culture of loving every ethnicity is the fact that everyone is created in the image of Christ, Floyd told pastors.

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Developing a unified Great Commission strategy, energizing Cooperative Program giving, cooperating with likeminded denominations in Kingdom building, improving communication between state conventions and national Southern Baptist leadership, and energizing prayer ministries were concerns state executive directors and presidents voiced. Floyd has encouraged pastors to evaluate, elevate and prioritize their Cooperative Program giving, he told state leaders, pledging to remain a faithful encourager of CP giving. Southern Baptists can work with other denominations in spreading the Gospel, Floyd said, committing to renew his relationship with the NBC USA in particular for Kingdom building.

B21 Younger Pastors

Ethnic diversity in leadership, cultural awareness, attracting young pastors to Southern Baptist life, unity, promoting the Cooperative Program, and incorporating women in leadership were among concerns B21 Young Leaders raised. Floyd expressed optimism in all areas. “I want to see us grow, obviously, ethnically,” Floyd said. “I want to see us grow generationally. I want us to grow in relation to what women can do to help us move forward the Great Commission around the world.” Diversity in leadership will help Southern Baptists advance the Great Commission, he said. “We have to trust the Lord in that,” Floyd said, “. . . but I know there also has to be intentionality. And I think that’s where our heart needs to be, is intentionality.” Diana Chandler is general assignment writer/editor for Baptist Press and is a member of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. This article was previously published in Baptist Press.

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COOPERATING FOR THE GOSPEL

“My guiding principle is that small churches can make a significant impact for the Kingdom, in church planting, in missions, and in your community. You just have to be willing to work hard.” Kim Grueser pastor, Pittsburgh Baptist Church Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pastor Kim Grueser preaches at Pittsburgh Baptist Church. photos courtesy of pittsburgh baptist church

Pittsburgh Baptist Leads the Way to Discipleship by Karen L. Willoughby

hen he’s not coaching church planters or mentoring young pastors, Kim Grueser leads Pittsburgh Baptist Church members to become multiplying disciples. And on Thursdays, he disciples people who live in a part of Pittsburgh that has about eleven thousand residents and not a single church. “The value of discipleship is anchored in the Great Commission, which tells us to go and make disciples,” Grueser told SBC LIFE. “The Great Commandment to love God and our neighbors is validated when we make disciples.” Other facets of the church are its ministry to ethnic congregations, and to church planting. “Pittsburgh Baptist Church has always had a heart for church planting,” Grueser said. “In 1959 it was about the first [Southern Baptist] church in Pennsylvania, and in its first twenty years, it was involved in seventeen church plants. . . . “We’ve partnered with five church plants in the twelve years I’ve been here,” Grueser, who is on the SBC Executive Committee, said. “We’ve sent at least sixteen members to church plants.” Pittsburgh Baptist Church is a Multiplying Church Center (MCC) for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. An MCC possesses “a strong system of discipleship and leadership development,” one that “demonstrates the responsibility to help them succeed,” according to the regional convention’s website. “Probably the most important aspect we’ve been involved in is sending members with the plants when they launch,” Grueser said. “It’s an expensive gift. We sent ten members at once with one plant, and were averaging 130 in worship. That was over two years ago and now we’re averaging ninety-two.” Limited parking at the church’s building is also a challenge, he said. Nonetheless, the church also readily opens its doors to ethnic congregations. A Ukrainian congregation meets Sunday afternoons at Pittsburgh Baptist; a Vietnamese congregation meets in the chapel Sunday mornings; a Tamil (East Indian) congregation meets once a month; a Bhutanese congregation recently went out on its own; and Grueser plans to go to Nepal in August to do pastor training and connect with a pastor there who might be interested in leading the “fairly vibrant” group of Nepalese in Pittsburgh.

More of Grueser’s time, however, revolves around coaching church planters and mentoring pastors. A coach and planter have a “very structured” coaching relationship that has a specific beginning and end, with about six one-hour telephone conversations over a four- to five-month semester, Grueser explained. “In coaching, I’m drawing out of a church planter how they would solve an issue, build a strategy, handle a problem, deal with a situation,” the veteran pastor continued. “It’s a very effective method of helping planters realize they know more than they think they know. You have to ask good questions and be an excellent listener. I have to listen to what they’re saying and not saying to ask good questions.” Grueser’s mentoring relationships are much more informal and open-ended, as a long-time pastor offering wise counsel out of his experience to pastors with whom he has developed personal relationships. Grueser has been a mentor to several of the pastors in the Pittsburgh area, and a coach for area church planters, said David Ludwig, the Baptist Resource Network’s associate director of healthy churches. “We believe there are fourteen million people in Pennsylvania and the southern part of New Jersey who don’t know Jesus as their personal savior, so church planting is a big effort in our state,” Ludwig said. “We desire for all our churches to be healthy and Kim helps with both planters and pastors.” In 2017, Grueser approached Pittsburgh Baptist with an additional way to be effective Kingdom growth agents. “We were looking for ways to impact the most dangerous parts of our city,” Grueser said. “Two years ago I implemented ‘House2House Ministry,’ to meet in peoples’ homes in these areas because the churches have all left and traditional church planting doesn’t work. “I asked the Lord to send a person of peace to bridge the gap between the church and the community,” the pastor continued. The Sunday Grueser introduced House2House Ministry to the congregation, an infrequent visitor asked to speak. “[The visitor] told the church he was from that community, was raised in it and knows everybody in it, and if we

Members of the Vietnamese congregation that meets at Pittsburgh Baptist Church.

are serious, he would help,” Grueser said. “That was a pretty clear affirmation this ministry was a step we should take.” House2House Ministry started in February 2017, and as of January 2018 had baptized sixteen people. Today the group being discipled meets in a funeral home. Grueser said he is praying for more “people of peace” to open their homes elsewhere in the targeted community some three miles north of Pittsburgh Baptist. “The goal is to create a network of disciplemaking outposts in these very spiritually dry and underserved communities around us,” the pastor explained. “We want people to stay in their communities and reach others, discipling them in their community. “The people we’re reaching are very far from God in that few of them ever had a Bible, been to Sunday School, or anything except a funeral in regard to being in church,” Grueser continued. “We start with the very basics, what it means to be lost, to be saved, how to worship. . . . We want

them to learn to reach people where they are.” Pittsburgh Baptist gives 11.5 percent of undesignated offerings to missions through the Cooperative Program. “That’s what you do when you’re grateful for what God has done,” Grueser said. The church is 2.5 miles south of the center of town, in an area with about fifty thousand residents within a one-mile radius of the church. Grueser also works five days a week as a chaplain for “probably the largest senior adult community in Pittsburgh,” the pastor said. The facility has four hundred residents, 450 employees, and two hundred volunteers. And in his spare time, Pastor Grueser trains for marathons. “My guiding principle is that small churches can make a significant impact for the Kingdom, in church planting, in missions, and in your community,” Grueser said. “You just have to be willing to work hard.” Karen L. Willoughby is national correspondent with SBC LIFE and is a member of First Baptist Church in Pleasant Grove, Utah.

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BEHAVIORAL HEALTH Banks notes that Birchwood’s staff can’t impose its beliefs upon the children whom they help, but he also notes “there’s no such thing as valueless therapy.” “We share with them what works from our perspective,” Banks said. “If they have already some Christian background and they invite spiritual discussion, that’s an open door. We ask kids if they would like to have prayer, the treatment counselors pray over meals, and we have kids who ask for prayer at bedtime.” He also notes that church groups come in regularly and do programs for the kids, and the children go to church every Sunday.

A Gifted and Trusted Ally Part of the routine developed for children in the inpatient program at Birchwood Behavioral Health includes recreation time. photo courtesy of birchwood behavioral health

Alaska Baptists Partner Together To Bring Christ-Centered Help to Traumatized Children by Tobin Perry

ost traumatized children and teens have few places to turn for help in today’s society. Mistreated and abused by adults who’ve been entrusted to care for them, many face a lifetime of regrets. But through Birchwood Behavioral Health, Alaska Baptists are providing a source of help. “Birchwood Behavioral Health has been a stable influence in the lives of many young people through the years and continues to provide a haven of rest and comfort for children in crisis,” said Randy Covington, the executive director of the Alaska Baptist Convention. “Alaska Baptists are committed to addressing the developmental needs of children, which includes the foundational truth that there is a perfect Father in heaven who loves them.” The Alaska Baptist Convention began Birchwood as an orphanage in 1948 after a statewide diphtheria outbreak left many of the state’s children without families. In 1972, Alaska Baptists converted the orphanage into a treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children. Today, the center focuses specifically on helping children who have faced trauma. “We are about helping children who have been traumatized in some shape, fashion, or form in their lives,” said David Banks, Birchwood’s

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executive director. “Trauma causes all kinds of problems later in life. Kids often get in this fight, flight, or freeze mode. That’s the correct response for trauma when it’s happening. But after a trauma is over, you should be able to go back to life as normal. But the kids are not. It’s similar to PTSD.”

Overcoming the ‘Flight or Fight’ Syndrome

The agency offers both inpatient and outpatient services. For the inpatient services, they provide a home-like environment for boys ages eight to thirteen. They also provide a similar environment for girls age thirteen to eighteen. The average length of stay is six to nine months. “We try to help them see they’re in the here and now,” Banks said. “They’re no longer in danger. They can feel safe. Then we teach them certain skills, called resiliency or coping skills, so when negative things come, they can deal with them instead of throwing a chair or turning a table over.” Banks says they try to build a regular routine into the children’s lives while they are at the home. All the children attend public school. They have regular emotional check-in times, participate in group and individual counseling sessions,

and attend family therapy (usually weekly). They also have time for recreation and tutoring during their week. “We try to bring stability into their lives because a lot of the kids come from an unstable home,” Banks said. “We build structure into their lives from the first day they are here.” The outpatient program serves children four and up, adolescents, adults, families, and couples.

A Christ-centered Approach

Birchwood is a member of the Baptist Coalition of Children and Families, which represents twenty-one Christ-centered ministries throughout the United States. While many of those other agencies are funded solely through the support of Baptist churches within the state, Birchwood gets most of its funding through government sources (either through grants or Medicaid). “Many would think this funding would restrict Birchwood from sharing the Gospel with these youth, but the state realizes that spirituality is a strong component in an individual and can be a great help in the healing process,” Banks said. “Birchwood Behavioral Health uses Jeremiah 30:17 as its pillar of hope: But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds, declares the Lord.”

Corey Pepiton, who serves as the student pastor and the Huffman campus pastor for Anchorage’s Rabbit Creek Church, has seen Birchwood’s value firsthand as both a former board president and as a foster parent. After leaving the board a few years back, Pepiton and his wife became foster parents of eight- and nine-year-olds. They soon realized the two children had difficulties that were deeper than they first understood. “As we struggled for resources to provide for their needs and help them work through the difficulties they were experiencing, my friends at Birchwood Behavioral Health were the first place I turned,” Pepiton said. “Though their schedule for counseling was indeed already packed, they found room for my two children. The growth that my two foster children have experienced under the care of Brittney at Birchwood Behavioral Health has been startling. They see her as a trusted friend and feel welcome to share their struggles with her. I see her as a gifted and trusted ally in the care that we provide for these two youngest members of our family.” Banks can point to numerous other success stories from Birchwood. For privacy concerns, he can’t share the names of the children though. One of those children who recently graduated from the program said of her time at Birchwood: “Birchwood has been helpful. It may not be a place where you want to be, but in the end you can see it’s helping. The people and the staff are okay, and they keep you busy. I really enjoyed the therapy dog. The therapy can be hard, but it’s helpful and keeps you going in the right direction.” Banks asks Southern Baptists to pray that God would bring staff to the agency who love the Lord and will incorporate their love for Christ into their love for children. He also asks Southern Baptists to pray that God would continue to supply the finances and the volunteers needed to help Birchwood fulfill its mission. Tobin Perry is a freelance writer in Evansville, Indiana, and is a member of Center of Hope Church in Evansville.

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MENTAL HEALTH

Pastors and Depression by Tony Rose

Editor’s note: This article is the second of a two-part series about pastors and depression. See sbclife.net and the Winter 2018 print issue for the previous installment.

hristopher Love wrote, “Melancholy [depression] in a man darkens the understanding and troubles the fancy [imagination]. It disturbs the reason, saddens the soul, and clothes it in mourning weeds. And when these meet together, it must cast the man down and suspend the sense of God’s favor from him. Melancholy is the mother of discomfort and discontent; it is the nurse of doubts.” 1 He penned these words in the seventeenth century. Obviously the malady of depression has been with us for a while. Ideas and opinions concerning mental health run strong among us today. Gaining wisdom from the church’s past might teach us, humble us, and soften us toward one another. At times it appears we are more concerned about correcting those who differ with us than we are about comforting and healing the broken among us. John Newton, commenting on conflicts in his day, wrote, “The longer I live, the more I see of the vanity and the sinfulness of our unchristian disputes: they eat up the very vitals of religion. I grieve to think how often I have lost my time and my temper that way, in presuming to regulate the vineyards of others, when I have neglected my own.” 2 Listen to this wisdom from another pastor in the seventeenth century. “[T]o those that find that melancholy is the cause of their troubles, I would give this advice. Expect not that rational, spiritual remedies should suffice for this cure; for you may as well expect that a good sermon, or comfortable words, should cure the falling sickness, or palsy, or a broken head as to be a sufficient cure to our melancholy fears; for this is as real a bodily disease as the other.” 3 Caregivers in the past realized that reasoning with someone whose reasoning ability

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So what is a depressed pastor to do? I have been lost in the lightless caverns of depression and suffocated by unreasonable fears. But, God has been ever faithful, giving me grace to step forward when it was too dark to see. He will do the same for you! was broken was, well, unreasonable—even if you were reasoning about Scripture. Before spiritual issues can effectively be addressed, the individual suffering a mind-darkening depression needs the compassionate, healing wisdom of one who understands his state. The same pastor said, “My last advice is to look out for the cure of your disease, and commit yourself to the care of your physician and obey him; and do not as most melancholy persons do, that will not believe the physic [medicine] will do them good, but that it is only their soul that is afflicted . . . till the body be cured, the mind will hardly ever be cured, but the clearest of reasons will be all in vain.” 4 So what is a depressed pastor to do? I have been lost in the lightless caverns of depression and suffocated by unreasonable fears. But, God has been ever faithful, giving me grace to step forward when it was too dark to see. He will do the same for you! I offer this simple counsel. 1. Sin can cause depression in a pastor. But, is it really that hard for us pastors to know if we are sinning? No. If you are attempting to serve God

and live in sin at the same time, the only cure for your depression is repentance. Such depression is the easiest to diagnose and heal. 2. If you find yourself dealing with fears, haunting intrusive thoughts and doubts about your call and your faith, and experiencing a darkness you cannot describe but you certainly can feel—you need to tell someone! (Our North American Mission Board provides a free, confidential help line for pastors). Secrecy and shame are the devil’s tools, and the fertilizer of depression’s darkness. Telling a trusted friend or counselor is the best weapon to defeat the stranglehold of secrecy and shame. Yes, telling someone can be risky for the pastor. It is worth the risk. It is time to stop being so ashamed of your own humanity. The only people who condemn a depressed pastor are Pharisees. Like me, you will have to get over your pride to call a counselor. You may have to get over your pride about taking medication. I thought taking medicine meant I was trusting doctors and science over God. I even thought it was a moral and spiritual wrong to take medication for my

depression. The best information I know of to guide you through these issues was written by my good friend Brad Hambrick. You can find his article at bradhambrick.com/medication. 3. Stop viewing your depression as a spiritual problem or a human weakness. It is in just such weakness that the power of Christ is made perfect in us. My shame over being depressed was as high as Everest and as deep as the Pacific Ocean. As long as I kept my depression hidden it continued to extinguish my hope and my increase my shame. I learned there is a hard-won freedom in Christ when we openly admit our brokenness and weakness before His throne of grace. Join with me and quit the charade of “Preacher Perfect”! Please admit your weak humanity. Jesus is not ashamed of you. He died to save you—yes you, depression and all. Your depression and your admission of it may be the widest door you have ever known into the depths of God’s mercies. Tony Rose is pastor of LaGrange Baptist Church in LaGrange, Kentucky, and served as chairman of the Executive Committee’s Mental Health Advisory Group, 2014–2015.

1 Christopher Love, The Dejected Soul’s Cure (Morgan, PA; Soli Deo Gloria, 2001), 70 2 Newton, John. Letters of John Newton, 2007. The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. p. 42 3 Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria, 2000), 2:888 4 Ibid., 1: 267

Secrecy and shame are the devil’s tools, and the fertilizer of depression’s darkness. Telling a trusted friend or counselor is the best weapon to defeat the stranglehold of secrecy and shame.

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RAMSEY SOLUTIONS The state convention partnerships dovetail with an effort launched by the SBC Executive Committee at its 2018 annual meeting in Dallas. Under an SBC-Ramsey Solutions partnership, pastors at the annual meeting received free twelvemonth access to Financial Peace University (FPU), Dave Ramsey’s signature personal finance course. Additionally, Ramsey Solutions discounted FPU leader kits to $99 for Southern Baptist churches from their usual cost of $159. Dave Ramsey, best-selling personal finance author, speaker, and president and CEO of Ramsey Solutions, addresses messengers during the 2018 SBC annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. Ramsey Solutions has partnered with sixteen Baptist state conventions to teach believers biblical money management. photo by kathleen murray

Dave Ramsey Partners with Sixteen State Conventions

by David Roach

t an average of $8,300 per family, New Mexico leads the nation in credit card debt, according to media reports at the end of 2018. New Mexico also has one of the highest poverty rates in the US, with one in five people living below the poverty line. Those realities are among factors that provoked Joseph Bunce, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, to forge a partnership with Ramsey Solutions, an organization led by personal finance author and speaker Dave Ramsey. The BCNM is among sixteen Baptist state conventions to launch such partnerships with Ramsey Solutions this year in an effort to help believers learn to manage their money. Additional state convention partnerships are in the works, according to Ramsey Solutions. From Arizona to Pennsylvania-South Jersey, state convention meetings last fall highlighted the partnerships. “We really want to equip churches to have something in their toolbox to assist people” with finances, Bunce told Baptist Press in a December interview. The state convention partnerships dovetail with an effort launched by the SBC Executive Committee at its 2018 annual meeting in Dallas. Under an SBC-Ramsey Solutions partnership, pastors at the annual meeting received free twelve-month access to Financial Peace University (FPU), Dave Ramsey’s signature personal finance course. Additionally, Ramsey Solutions discounted FPU leader kits to $99 for Southern Baptist churches from their usual cost of $159. The SBC Executive Committee offered a further $20 discount on FPU leader kits for the first five hundred pastors to sign up.

State conventions were invited by the Executive Committee late last summer to consider similar partnerships with Ramsey Solutions. The state partnerships feature free FPU access for pastors and the $99 rate for leader kits. Of the sixteen state convention partnerships to date, fourteen include a further $20 discount funded by the state convention. The number of churches eligible for the additional discount varies from twenty-five to five hundred, depending on the respective state convention’s needs and budget. In Arizona and New Mexico, the state conventions also will offer Momentum Training events in 2019, where speakers from Ramsey Solutions will help leaders understand how to equip their entire congregations—from children to senior adults—to handle money well. Dave Ramsey told Southern Baptists during last year’s SBC annual meeting in Dallas of the urgent need to teach Christians nationwide about biblical money management. He told messengers that 70 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, while 16 percent are coming into bankruptcy, going out of bankruptcy, or are currently in bankruptcy, and 2 percent are in dire poverty. Brent Spicer, Ramsey Solutions’ director of strategic relationships, said one goal of the state convention partnerships is “to help churches who either had never done an FPU class, or maybe haven’t done one in several years, and might not have the leadership materials to help get them started.” The “ultimate goal of offering those classes is to help the families in the churches become more financially healthy,” Spicer said, “which would allow the families then to be able to be more generous to the churches in their local community. The churches then are able to support the Cooperative Program in a bigger way.”

Dave Ramsey, left, responds to a question during an interview with Baptist Press. Last fall, sixteen state conventions featured Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University” program at their annual meetings. Also pictured, Baptist Press editor Shawn Hendricks, center, and Maina Mwaura, a freelance writer based in Atlanta. photo courtesy of baptist press.

Tennessee Baptists have set a goal of five hundred churches offering FPU classes in the next thirty-six months, said Randy Davis, president of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Over the past eighteen months, 137 Tennessee Baptist churches have offered FPU. Financial stewardship is “one of the biggest issues we face,” Davis said. “We see so many of our families in financial bondage. They do not believe they can give generously. They do not believe they can tithe. “When they implement the principles of Ramsey Solutions, it will help them not only get out of debt, but manage what God has placed in their hands in a more effective manner—for the sake of the Kingdom and the sake of their own families,” Davis said.

If Tennessee Baptists as a whole got their personal finances in order and began tithing, Davis said, the increased revenue to churches could in turn increase CP giving 30–40 percent in the “near future.” Davis and Bunce agreed, however, that while a CP increase would be nice, it isn’t the primary goal of their partnerships with Ramsey Solutions. “The primary motive,” Bunce said, “is to help people be obedient to God.” State conventions interested in partnerships with Ramsey Solutions can contact Spicer at BrentS@DaveRamsey.com. David Roach is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press and is a member of First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. This article was previously published in Baptist Press.

The state partnerships feature free FPU access for pastors and the $99 rate for leader kits. Of the sixteen state convention partnerships to date, fourteen include a further $20 discount funded by the state convention.

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WOMAN’S MISSIONARY UNION “We invite you to draw close to God and experience His presence through worship and be captivated by His work in the world through incredible missions stories. We are unalterably committed to helping you pursue God. He beckons and awaits your response. Learn how to chase Him with everything you’ve got.” Sandy Wisdom-Martin executive director-treasurer, WMU Birmingham, Alabama Exterior of WMU national headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama photos courtesy of wmu

WMU Missions Celebration Encourages Pursuit of God by Julie Walters

he stage is set in Birmingham—the home of WMU—for a missions experience like none other. With the theme Pursue, participants will hear inspiring stories of how individuals have pursued God and accounts of how God has pursued them, all the while considering ways the idea of “pursuit” applies to their own lives. “This year I’m praying your missional journey will lead you to our hometown for a time of renewal and encouragement through inspiring missionaries, worship, and reuniting with other WMU family members,” said Linda Cooper, president, national WMU. “God is doing amazing things all around the world and you are a part of it. Come celebrate with us! You will be inspired, challenged, and equipped for your missional journey.” On Sunday, the WMU Missions Celebration will kick off at The Church at Brook Hills located at 3145 Brook Highland Parkway in Birmingham, which is less than two miles from national WMU. Sunday’s celebration will consist of two general sessions, one at three o’clock and the second at five o’clock, with a dessert party and light refreshments in between. Hear from inspiring missions leaders including Nik and Ruth Ripken, who have served around the globe with the International Mission Board for more than thirty-two years. Their focus is on expanding the Kingdom of God by sharing truths and practices learned from believers in persecution. Nik is the author of The Insanity of God and The Insanity of Obedience. Hun and Eunjoo Sol, born in South Korea, immigrated to the US where they planted and served in Korean churches for more than eighteen years. Since 2012, they have served with the International Mission Board among East Asian peoples, and are currently serving in South Korea. Philip and Jummai Nache, church planters serving in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with the North American Mission Board, have now started two churches in the Twin Cities. Philip left his home of Nigeria in 2010 to attend seminary in the US. Soon thereafter he was approached by a group of South Sudanese living in Minneapolis

who wanted help starting a church. Philip shared, “I was captivated by the idea of reaching out to Africans here. The Great Commission is about disciples. So many of our people want to be trained. They want to reach out to their people and plant churches here in America and in Africa.” Hear how God is blessing their efforts today as they have opportunities to make disciples in Minneapolis, home to more than one hundred thousand African refugees and immigrants. In addition to these and other missionary speakers, participants will enjoy music for worship and hear from national WMU presidents emerita and national Acteens panelists. “We invite you to draw close to God and experience His presence through worship and be captivated by His work in the world through incredible missions stories,” encouraged Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer, national WMU. “We are unalterably committed to helping you pursue God. He beckons and awaits your response. Learn how to chase Him with everything you’ve got.” On Monday, June 9, the Missions Celebration continues beginning at nine o’clock in the morning at national WMU located at 100 Missionary Ridge, with 131 missions activities planned for both inside and outdoors. “We are filling every square inch of space with a tremendous variety of missions experiences for all ages,” Wisdom-Martin said. “As we celebrate 131 years of missions involvement through WMU, we are excited to offer 131 options throughout the day.” Just to list a few, opportunities include an interactive refugee simulation; monologues from past missions leaders; an unveiling of the Walk of Faith, an honor/memorial garden with inscribed bricks in recognition of those who love missions; lots of fun games and activities, including a Royal Ambassadors sailboat gutter regatta; self-guided audio tours of missions artifacts and history; a dedication of a prayer chapel reflective of design in 1888 when WMU was founded; interactive conferences on topics such as creativity and experiencing the persecuted church; packing

The lobby of national WMU features a number of missions artifacts, including one of Lottie Moon’s trunks and a desk from the family of Annie Armstrong. Audio tours of these items and others significant to Southern Baptist missions are available Monday through Friday the week of the SBC annual meeting. The globe in the center of the lobby is a reminder of Acts 1:8, which reads, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

boxes for refugees; being part of creating a world mosaic using glass tiles; and many more. A full schedule of activities will be posted at wmu.com/birmingham. Registration for Sunday is $15 and includes a small tote bag and advance release of On the Journey, a thirty-day devotional written by Cooper and Wisdom-Martin. There is no registration fee for Monday, but boxed lunches may be reserved for $5 each. Those attending Monday should park at The Church of Brook Hills; there will be free roundtrip shuttle service to national WMU. Visit wmu.com/birmingham to register and for more information. Prior to the WMU Missions Celebration, WMU will host an “Acteens for Life” dinner at national WMU on Friday, June 7, at six o’clock, marking fifty years of lives changed through Acteens. This gathering is for all women whose lives have been impacted through Acteens in their teenage years, as well as current and

former leaders of Acteens. Visit wmu.com/ ActeensforLife for more information and to register. Registration is required; the cost is $30. “This event will be a great time for women who have experienced Acteens to celebrate how involvement in missions impacted their lives while also considering the value of missions discipleship for today’s teens,” said Heather Keller, missions consultant for Acteens. “Those in attendance will also be encouraged to volunteer on teams during Crossover Birmingham on Saturday morning.” All Southern Baptists are invited to visit WMU while in Birmingham for the SBC Annual Meeting. Following Monday’s activities at WMU, audio tours of WMU are available the remainder of the week, Tuesday–Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Julie Walters is corporate communications manager for WMU and is a member of Hunter Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

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PRAYER

2019 National Day of Prayer Theme by Diana Chandler

“L

ove One Another” is the theme for the 2019 National Day of Prayer, event president Ronnie Floyd announced on October 30, 2018. Anchored in John 13:34, the theme seeks to mobilize the nation in prayer on May 2, 2019, in every US locale across generational, ethnic, and linguistic lines, said Floyd, newlyelected president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee. “I realize that our task today is daunting and quite intimidating,” Floyd said in his Facebook announcement, “but it is not impossible. “I don’t have all of the answers, and I don’t think anyone of us would have all of the answers,” he said, “but we do know ultimately Who does have all of the answers, who has a greater passion and a greater vision to redeem the world. And that’s Jesus Christ, the living Son of God.” Floyd, president and CEO-elect of the SBC Executive Committee and a former Southern Baptist Convention president, announced the theme and Scripture during a two-day National Leadership Summit. National Day of Prayer is seeking to reach the nation’s 328 million people in 3,142 counties and 19,510 incorporated places, including cities, towns, and villages. “The vast majority of America does not look like us, believe like us, talk like us, and understand us,” Floyd said. “But that also goes to the opposite side. We do not look like the

majority of America. Nor do we believe like the majority of America, nor do we talk like the majority of America, and we certainly do not understand the majority of America.” Nearly a third, 29 percent, of Americans are nonreligious, ranging in extremes from religious resistance to solid secularism, Floyd said, referencing Pew Research Center numbers released in August 2018. Juxtaposed to the nonreligious are 17 percent of Americans that Pew categorized as Sunday stalwarts, Floyd said, “meaning religious traditionalists actively involved in their faith and engaged in their congregations.” “The remaining persons beyond these extremes,” Floyd said, “they believe all kinds of things and participate in all kinds of ways in American life today.” At least one event in every city, town, and county of America, in more than three hundred thousand churches spanning two hundred denominations, and including all generations, ethnicities, and languages spoken in the US is the prayer effort’s goal. “Wouldn’t it be absolutely remarkable that one day,” Floyd asked, “the National Day of Prayer is heard in every language that is spoken in the United States?” In addition to Floyd, the summit offered insight from fourteen national leaders spanning ethnicities, Christian denominations, and generations, and including both sexes. Kie Bowman, senior pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church and The Quarries Church of

“I don’t have all of the answers, and I don’t think anyone of us would have all of the answers. But we do know ultimately Who does have all of the answers, who has a greater passion and a greater vision to redeem the world. And that’s Jesus Christ, the living Son of God.” Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO-elect SBC Executive Committee Nashville, Tennessee

“Take the prayer meeting out of the closet. It’s time for prayer to go to the group. It’s time to take it to the congregation. It’s time to take it to the public square. Prayer meetings change the world. And in those settings, the Holy Spirit speaks.” Kie Bowman, senior pastor Hyde Park Baptist Church and The Quarries Church Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas, was among summit presenters. He encouraged attendees to mobilize their churches in prayer. “Take the prayer meeting out of the closet,” said Bowman, who preached the 2018 SBC annual meeting sermon in Dallas. “It’s time for prayer to go to the group. It’s time to take it to the congregation. It’s time to take it to the public square.

“Prayer meetings change the world,” he said. “And in those settings, the Holy Spirit speaks.” Additional National Day of Prayer information is available on the event website, nationaldayofprayer.org, and its Facebook page. Diana Chandler is general assignment writer/editor for Baptist Press and is a member of First Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. This article was previously published in Baptist Press.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER TIMELINE

he modern law formalizing the annual observance of a National Day of Prayer was enacted in 1952, although earlier days of fasting and prayer had been enjoined by the government. The first Continental Congress called for a national day of prayer in 1775. The Second Continental Congress continued this as an annual event from 1775 until 1783. President John Adams declared national days of prayer in 1798 and 1799 and, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of prayer in 1863. In 1952, by a joint resolution, Congress established the National Day of Prayer as an annual event, signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Ronald Reagan, designating the National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May (36 US Code §119). The constitutionality of the law was upheld by the Seventh Circuit in 2011 in Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Barack Obama. According to the National Day of Prayer website, since 1789 there have been 147 national calls to prayer, humiliation, fasting, and thanksgiving by the President of the United States, with sixty-nine presidential proclamations for a National Day of Prayer since the adoption of the 1952 law. Thirty-five of the forty-five US Presidents have signed proclamations for a National Day of Prayer, including every President since 1952. Presidents Gerald Ford [1976], George H. W. Bush [1989–1991], and Barack Obama [2012] signed multiple National Day of Prayer Proclamations in the same year. Sidebar compiled by Roger S. Oldham, vice president for Convention communications and relations with the SBC Executive Committee and a member of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

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IN ALL THINGS PRAY / PRAYERLINK FACEBOOK GROUP

‘In All Things Pray’ Website, Resources Updated

n All Things Pray, a repository of state convention and SBC entity prayer resources posted on SBC.net since 2015, has been redesigned to assist pastors and other church prayer ministry leaders foster a movement of prayer. “We were glad to create In All Things Pray in 2015 and are now pleased to improve its further for use by pastors, church prayer ministry leaders, and others,” D. August Boto, interim president of the SBC Executive Committee, told SBC LIFE. “Prayer is an act of obedience, praise, and worship. It is our connection and communion with the Creator,” he said. The landing page for In All Things Pray links to 52 Sundays, a Cooperative Program resource widely used in many in Southern Baptist weekly church services. It also contains links to prayer updates from the International Mission Board (IMB), North American Mission Board (NAMB), and Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). The PrayerLink leadership team, which helps populate In All Things Pray with Southern Baptist-generated resources, includes representatives from IMB, NAMB, LifeWay, WMU, the Executive Committee, and five Baptist state conventions. Chris Schofield, director of the prayer office at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, leads the team as volunteer executive director.

PrayerLink hosts an annual prayer gathering each October for prayer leaders from local churches, associations, SBC entities, state Baptist conventions, ethnic minority fellowships, and others involved in numerous prayer ministry networks. The prayer gathering is designed to “share ideas, strengthen partnerships, and spend time in corporate prayer toward revival, spiritual awakening, and the Great Commission,” Schofield said. PrayerLink, now in its thirtieth year of encouraging prayer through Southern Baptist churches, was originally called the Bold Mission Thrust Prayer Committee. The group changed its name when the Convention-wide Bold Mission Thrust initiative ended in 2000. In a Zoom conference following his April 2 election to serve as seventh president of the SBC Executive Committee, President and CEOelect Ronnie Floyd assured PrayerLink leaders he would “heighten prayer from the office of president and CEO of the Executive Committee.” “If we will lift up prayer from the beginning, then hopefully we can see this trend [of declining priority in prayer] reversed,” Floyd said. Boto said, “If this utility helps more Southern Baptists engage in prayer regularly, deepening their walk with the Lord, creating it will have been worth the effort.”

screen capture from www. sbc.net/inallthingspray

‘Pray SBC’ Facebook Group Connects Local Church Prayer Leaders by Erin Roach

Ronda Davenport, prayer ministry coordinator at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, and a Pray SBC administrator, posted the initial “welcome” message on Pray SBC on February 6, 2019, in preparation for the launch of the church-leaders Facebook prayer community. screen capture from the mobile version of the ‘pray sbc’ facebook group page

rayer leaders across Southern Baptist life have a new opportunity to connect through “Pray SBC.” The “SBC” represents a Southern Baptist Community of churches praying in concert with one another. Launched March 18, Pray SBC is a Facebook group for members to share expertise, ask questions, and offer ideas to “foster a culture of Kingdom-focused prayer toward revival and spiritual awakening,” according to the group’s description. The page will be maintained by SBC PrayerLink, a network of prayer leaders from Southern Baptist Convention entities, state Baptist conventions, local associations, ethnic fellowships, and local churches. “The idea for Pray SBC came about as members of SBC and PrayerLink leadership discussed the amazing platform social media provides for mobilizing prayer,” said Ronda Davenport, prayer ministry coordinator at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, and a Pray SBC administrator. “We want to make ideas, resources, and personal connections with other prayer leaders available in a Facebook community because it is an easy and effective avenue to reach many who influence prayer,” Davenport said. Eight members of the Facebook group spent some time populating the page before it opened to new members. Some of the topics already shared include the upcoming National Day of Prayer; resources available through “In All Things Pray,” a website containing resources produced by PrayerLink, SBC entities, and state conventions; prayer movements that are springing up around the country; and recommended books about prayer. Church-recognized prayer leaders, both lay

leaders and staff, can join by searching for Pray SBC on Facebook. They will need to identify themselves and the church they represent and enter their church’s seven-digit SBC ID number, which is used by the church clerk or pastor to submit an Annual Church Profile. All group members are encouraged to introduce themselves, ask questions, share ideas, and dive into discussions, Davenport said. Chris Schofield, director of the prayer office at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said that PrayerLink’s goal with the Pray SBC Facebook group is to move the Convention toward a culture of prayer focused on Kingdom activity. “We need the Lord desperately in revival and spiritual awakening, and this group is very committed and devoted to doing whatever it is we can to help fan those flames of God’s activity in calling His people to return to Him in godliness and holiness and to seek Him with all their heart,” said Schofield, who serves in a volunteer capacity as executive director of PrayerLink. Lorna Bius, a North American Mission Board worker and PrayerLink leader who helped brainstorm the idea for Pray SBC, described it as “an online gathering of individuals in the SBC who desire to pray and seek a movement of God across our nation and the world.” “The group focuses on prayer influencers,” Bius said, “whether they are staff or non-staff. Our hope is through interaction and awareness of resources, individual and corporate prayer will be strengthened.” One of the impetuses behind the development of Pray SBC was an article published in SBC LIFE last fall about the War

Room prayer ministry at First Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. The article mentioned that the church uses a specific plan to lead people in praying through the Word, and the church received numerous requests for a copy of the plan. Phyllis Ingram, a prayer ministry leader at First Baptist Montgomery and a member of the SBC Executive Committee, said that since the topic of sexual abuse gained traction in the SBC early this year she has been “grieved and praying for repentance” among churches and among their members. “But now I see that another sin is prayerlessness among the church,” Ingram said. “God is calling His people to repentance and prayer so He can bring revival and spiritual awakening. From the SBC LIFE article, the prayer leaders and pastors that have reached out to FBC for a copy of the prayer plan has been amazing.” Now the SBC LIFE article and a PDF of the War Room prayer plan are posted on the Pray SBC Facebook page for broader dissemination. Pray SBC is meant “to provide prayer resources to churches who want to start a prayer ministry, or they have a prayer ministry but want to expand to include more people and more prayer times,” Ingram said. Schofield is hopeful about the eternal implications of the Facebook group. “I’m excited about the possibilities of prayer leaders being encouraged, about seeing the activity of God online—what He’s doing here, what He’s doing there—and how that might encourage them to adopt an approach or a method, or an idea might be shared that will encourage and will result in more and more people seeking the Lord,” Schofield said. Aside from searching for the group on Facebook, more information about prayer ministry in Southern Baptist churches is available at www.sbcprayerlink.org. Erin Roach is a writer in Nashville and is a member of First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee. This article was previously published in Baptist Press.

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STATE BAPTIST PUBLICATIONS “Good journalism is vital to the health of the Southern Baptist Convention. Our churches cooperate voluntarily, so they need reliable information in order to trust one another and the entities that serve them.” Seth Brown editor, Biblical Recorder North Carolina Baptist State Convention

Tim Yarbrough, 2018–2019 ASBP president, left, passes the gavel to David Williams, who will serve as president for 2019–2020. photo by caleb yarbrough

Southern Baptist Editors Challenged to ‘Press On’ by Margaret Colson

ore than thirty members of the Association of State Baptist Publications (ASBP) gathered for their annual meeting February 11–14 in Charleston, South Carolina, where they learned from author and university professor Penelope Muse Abernathy, heard reports from denominational leaders, and sharpened one another spiritually and professionally. With the theme “Press On,” based on Philippians 3:14, participants were encouraged to persevere in their callings as Christian journalists, in spite of today’s daunting challenges. “The ASBP meeting gives those who lead state Baptist newspapers and other publications the opportunity to discuss opportunities and challenges faced in today’s ever-changing publishing environment,” said Tim Yarbrough, 2018–2019 ASBP president and editor/executive director of the Arkansas Baptist News. Even with the focus of this year’s meeting on current and future state paper opportunities and challenges, the organization is historic in nature. Launched in 1895 as the Southern Baptist Press Association (SBPA), “with hearty endorsement from all of our Southern Baptist papers,” SBPA held its first meeting in May 1896 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with fifteen editors present. “Though it has experienced zeniths and nadirs in its one-hundred-year history, the Southern Baptist Press Association likewise has proved its value. Editors through the years have profited from the fellowship, mutual support, journalistic training, and cooperative actions the Association has facilitated (and) have sought out the organization as a source for information and professional growth,” wrote C. William Junker in “Contending for the Right to Know.”

Community Journalism

Abernathy, who holds the Knight chair in journalism and digital media economics at the University of North Carolina, led three sessions on Tuesday, February 12. Her topics were: How the World Has Changed/What We Know So Far, A New Model for Nurturing Community, and What I’ve Learned and What I’ll Do Differently. Abernathy, who has done extensive research on community newspapers, is author of the book Saving Community Journalism. She explained that she uses the term “community newspaper” in a broad sense to include

magazines, podcasts, and “everything you have to tell your story. “It is critical that community newspapers survive,” she said. Yarbrough said, “It was refreshing to hear from researcher Penelope Abernathy, who states, ‘(W)hat is important is not the size of a paper’s print circulation, but rather the mission of the paper.’ “Abernathy offered leaders of Baptist newspapers and publications strategies for improving their reach as they seek to compete during the digital age and inform, inspire, and involve Southern Baptists in our ‘community’ of Kingdom work,” he said. The 2019 meeting was a first for Seth Brown, newly-elected editor of North Carolina’s Biblical Recorder. “My top three goals were to learn, learn, learn. The workshops led by Penny Abernathy were both practical and insightful. It’s no secret that newspapers are diligently trying to chart a course for the future amid rapidly changing cultural, technological, and financial realities. It would be difficult to overstate how beneficial Abernathy’s expertise and experience were to our group as she guided us through discussions about best practices that could help our ecosystem of Baptist news agencies thrive in the years ahead,” Brown said.

Denominational Leaders

Throughout the meeting, participants heard from Southern Baptist entity leaders, including Paul Chitwood, newly-elected president of the International Mission Board (IMB). As he settles into his new role, Chitwood said he is taking time to “ask, listen, and learn.” He acknowledged that in recent years the IMB has been challenged, due to downsizing and other factors, in its task of communicating God’s work in the world. He committed to “beef up” communications at the IMB with plans to bring on board a seasoned communications specialist as IMB communications vice president. Chitwood, former executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), explained that KBC’s decision to merge the historic Kentucky Baptist paper, Western Recorder, with the KBC communications office was largely a cost-saving measure as well as a move intended to expand the KBC’s ability to communicate with a larger audience. North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell spoke briefly to the group, outlining

NAMB’S church planter assessment process and describing NAMB’S organizational leadership, before introducing Johnny Hunt, NAMB’S vice president of evangelism and leadership. Hunt introduced a new evangelism initiative, Who’s Your One?, and he described how one person leading him to salvation has made such an enormous impact worldwide. J. D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, spoke to state paper editors and staff about the sexual abuse issue in the denomination today, stating, “Now is not the time to defend ourselves,” but rather now is the time to “lament and mourn.” He further expressed, “The safety of victims is priority over reputation of churches.” Participants also heard reports from O. S. Hawkins, president/chief executive officer, GuideStone Financial Resources; Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer, Woman’s Missionary Union; Carol Pipes, director of corporate communications, LifeWay Christian Resources; Shawn Hendricks, editor, Baptist Press; and Randy Adams, state executive director, Northwest Baptist Convention. Devotionals were led by Yarbrough; David Williams, editor of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist; and Kevin Parker, editor of the Baptist New Mexican.

Sharpening One Another

In addition to hearing from a variety of speakers, state paper editors listened and learned from each other. “Having just completed nineteen months as managing editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, the ASBP meeting helped me glean ideas from longtime veterans of the Southern Baptist state paper world. There’s an instant connection (between colleagues) because, one way or another, we share similar struggles, concerns, and goals as we attempt to educate and inform Baptists in each of our states,” said Mark MacDonald, strategic communication catalyst for the Florida Baptist Convention. He added, “Many great discussions and friendly debates spilled over into our free time because we all want to accomplish much, even with the limitations we’ve been given. “The more I pour into this group, the more I receive from each member. I’m not only developing invaluable connections in the Southern

Baptist news world, I’m developing friends who will sharpen me.” Brown echoed those sentiments. “Good journalism is vital to the health of the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said. “Our churches cooperate voluntarily, so they need reliable information in order to trust one another and the entities that serve them. As Southern Baptist news agencies, journalism is our process, but the real product we create is trust. That makes any venue for us to encourage and sharpen one another invaluable, especially in the context of such an historic organization like the Association of State Baptist Publications.”

Unity in Diversity

Participants also heard a synopsis report on a recent state Baptist paper survey conducted by ASBP. The survey revealed great diversity in how state Baptist papers accomplish their mission but a common commitment to the mission of communicating with Southern Baptists. “What started out decades ago as an organization for traditional state Baptist newspapers now consists of leaders of a variety of different styles of print and digital publications. While each of us faces similar challenges in the content management and communications ministry world, we all have somewhat different purposes, budgets, staffing, and distribution schedules. We all are working to provide information to members of Southern Baptist churches in our respective states, but we are also consistently evaluating what that looks like,” said Jennifer Rash, newly-elected president and editor-in-chief of The Alabama Baptist. ASBP, she believes, can help Baptist state paper editors “encourage and assist each other in our roles, even though our purposes and structures are different.”

Business Session

In the ASBP business session on Thursday, February 14, members honored K. Allan Blume, who retired May 31, as editor of North Carolina’s Biblical Recorder. In a resolution of appreciation read by Hendricks, Blume was described as “a noted North Carolina Baptist minister, statesman, and journalist with a long history of serving Southern Baptist churches.” The group also remembered Jack Harwell, former editor of The Christian Index (Georgia) and former ASBP president, who died January 18. In closing, Yarbrough passed the ASBP gavel to Williams, who will serve as ASBP president 2019–2020. Rash was elected ASBP president-elect, to serve 2020–2021. The next ASBP annual meeting will be held February 10–13 in Tucson, Arizona. Margaret Colson is executive secretary for Association of State Baptist Publications, writer/ copy editor for Arkansas Baptist News, and freelance writer for numerous Southern Baptist publications, and is a member of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia.

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Resources to Help You Tell the Southern Baptist Story

Meet Southern Baptists is designed to introduce

The Southern Baptist Convention: A Closer Look is a wonderful resource to help

newcomers to the common convictions and farreaching ministries of Southern Baptists. It explains: • Who Southern Baptists Are • What Southern Baptists Believe • What Southern Baptists Do • How Southern Baptists Advance the Gospel • Why Southern Baptists Do What They Do

your church members better understand the organization, structure, and activity of the Southern Baptist Convention on local, state, and national levels, as well as how autonomous local Southern Baptist Convention churches partner together in ministry and mission.

Meet Southern Baptists is available for download in seven languages at www.sbc.net/aboutus.

HOW TO USE THESE RESOURCES

Please send me the following quantities of brochures:

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Cut out this form and mail it, along with your check, to Convention Relations, SBC Executive Committee, 901 Commerce Street, Nashville, TN 37203-3699.

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SBCLIFE

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CONVENTION ADVANCEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL

SBC CALENDAR MAY 2019 NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER May 2 SENIOR ADULT SUNDAY May 5

Members of the Convention Advancement Advisory Council gathered in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 7–8, 2019. Ken Weathersby (second row, third from right), EC vice president for Convention advancement, chairs the Council which is charged to work with SBC entity leaders to develop ways to increase ethnic minority engagement and participation throughout their ministries. SBC President J. D. Greear (front row, third from left) and WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin (second row, fourth from right) met with and addressed the Council. photos by roger s. oldham

Greear, Wisdom-Martin Address Executive Committee Convention Advancement Advisory Council

he Convention Advancement Advisory Council (CAAC) heard from SBC President J. D. Greear and WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin during its March 7–8 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. The council also received updates from various ethnic minority representatives concerning increased involvement in SBC life, awareness and support of Cooperative Program giving, evangelism, church planting, and representation on SBC boards of trustees and committees. In addition, the council welcomed its newest representatives from the Young Leaders Advisory Council, who joined the larger group for the first time following presentation of its report to the EC. Elevating the “Gospel Above All” theme for this year’s SBC annual meeting in Birmingham, Greear gave an overview of six major initiatives of his presidency: • Re-elevating and being “a people that are known for the Gospel”; • Reflecting “diversity in leadership” at every level of Convention life and work so that the SBC “looks more like heaven”; • Engaging the next generation of Southern Baptists to stay connected to and involved with the Convention, not viewing them as “the church for tomorrow, but [recognizing] they are the church for today”; • Challenging churches to renew their commitment to cooperative missions through state conventions and associations even while calling on states and associations to “look at all options with regards to how we work together”; • Calling on every Southern Baptist church to be “personally involved in church planting” at some level; and • “Returning to the place where evangelism is our primary goal” as Southern Baptists.” Speaking on “What’s New at WMU,” Wisdom-Martin gave an overview of the four sides of what she called WMU’s “vision frame”: WMU’s mandate, motives, map, and measures. “In June of last year, our board approved our mandate. It is ‘making disciples of Jesus who

CHRISTIAN HOME WEEK May 12–18

JUNE 2019 CROSSOVER—SBC, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA June 8 SBC ANNUAL MEETING, BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA June 11–12 BAPTIST MEN’S EMPHASIS June 16 MISSION:DIGNITY SUNDAY June 23 CITIZENSHIP AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY SUNDAY June 30

JULY 2019 SEND RELIEF SUNDAY July 14 CHILDREN’S MINISTRY DAY July 21 SOUTHERN BAPTIST MEDIA DAY July 28

AUGUST 2019 SOCIAL ISSUES SUNDAY August 4 STUDENT EVANGELISM DAY August 11 SBC President J. D. Greear challenged members of the EC’s Convention Advancement Advisory Council to embrace the “Who’s Your One” evangelism initiative and fielded questions about the SBC and its upcoming annual meeting during the group’s March 7–8 meeting.

WMU Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin gave an update on the missions organization’s continuing efforts to promote support for and involvement in domestic and global missions during the EC’s Convention Advancement Advisory Council meeting in Atlanta.

“In June of last year, our board approved our mandate. It is ‘making disciples of Jesus who live on mission.’ This is what we do.”

Sandy Wisdom-Martin executive director-treasurer, WMU

live on mission.’ This is what we do,” she said. Speaking of the motives that drive the missions organization’s vision, Wisdom-Martin told the council that WMU is “biblically rooted,” “missions focused,” “church based,” “world aware,” and “denominationally supportive.” In terms of the organization’s map and measures, Wisdom-Martin listed a variety of resources WMU makes available to churches and lifted up several relationships WMU fosters with SBC entities, state conventions, and other Southern Baptist ministry endeavors. These include collaborative work with PrayerLink, Mississippi

River Ministry, Appalachian Regional Ministry, Global Hunger Relief, Baptist Global Response, Bivocational and Small Church Leaders, and the One More Child initiative with Florida Baptists. Everything we do, she said, “is to get us to our compelling vision,” of “making disciples of Jesus who live on mission.” Representing over ten thousand ethnic and language congregations and thirty thousand bivocational and smaller membership congregations, the CAAC helps the Executive Committee and SBC entity heads better understand each group’s unique perspectives and needs.

WORSHIP MUSIC WEEK August 18–24

SEPTEMBER 2019 SINGLE ADULT SUNDAY September 1 BAPTISM DAY September 8 ANTI-GAMBLING SUNDAY September 15

OCTOBER 2019 COOPERATIVE PROGRAM MONTH October 1–31 PERSONAL EVANGELISM COMMITMENT DAY October 6 GLOBAL HUNGER SUNDAY October 13 WEEK OF PRAYER FOR BAPTIST ASSOCIATIONS October 20–26

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WOMAN TO WOMAN—FOR THE PASTOR’S WIFE

Being fit for all the right reasons L

by Kathy Ferguson Litton

et’s talk about a touchy issue on which people demonstrate dramatic excesses. Some obsess and fixate on this topic, while others ignore and reject it entirely. Americans today are grossly unhealthy in record numbers. Despite having tons of resources and education, Americans are more obese than ever. The language of a recent Reebok advertising campaign caught my eye: “Honor the body you’ve been given.” It chastened me a bit, because their call to “honor” your body is one we as believers should be pursuing. We have more reason to honor our bodies than anyone—and yet we don’t. When we honor our bodies, we honor God.

As 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 puts it: Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. Unfortunately, those of us who live and work in the world of vocational ministry have a bad track record when it comes to our health. Statistics from GuideStone indicate that approximately half of insurance claims are for largely preventable diseases: hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease. Often these problems are caused by excess weight, poor diet, and high stress. What does it mean to be “fit”? It is not trendy eating fads or extremist behaviors. It is not body-shaming anyone. It is about an

ongoing, comprehensive approach to nutritious eating, combined with consistent physical activity that is maintainable for each unique individual that viably improves health. What are the right reasons to be fit?

Obedience

The number one reason is clearly a spiritual one. God has commanded us: So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). It is unavoidable because the language, “eat or drink,” is clear. We have far better motives than vanity. We understand that even what we eat and drink glorifies God. Think about that: We reflect His glory by how we handle our appetites. Spiritual maturity requires that we have control of our fleshly desires and resist being controlled by temptations. While we might be strident on this teaching when it comes to sexuality, our emotions, character, and morality, this also includes the desire to overeat and the propensity to be sedentary. To neglect this is sin. Without discipline, moderation, and self-control, it is easy for our appetite for food to overtake us and derail our intentions for a healthier life.

Influence

We cannot isolate the fact that our health and fitness affect others. Our choices, behaviors, and mindset say something to a watching world. • In our families, our health choices deeply impact our children. We can shape their understanding and choices about food as well as exercise and activity. Children may develop lifelong eating and exercising habits under our influence. No, it’s not automatic that they emulate our behaviors, but it’s fairly likely. • In the world around us, our culture has increasingly become more health-conscious. The science and mountains of evidence have changed many behaviors. Do we look unin formed, undisciplined, and unintelligent when our bodies, behaviors, and mindset scream denial about this issue? When we move in a Christian culture that speaks of controlling the flesh in other areas—yet are glaringly inconsistent in the physical realm—we lose credibility.

Stewardship

God has given us resources He intends for us to steward, like our time, talent, and money. The Bible is clear that we will be accountable for what we have done with those resources. This includes how we manage, maintain, and value our bodies. Yes, we have been given one body to inhabit, and we are responsible to maintain it and use it fully. Ignoring its needs and ignoring its maintenance means we are not stewarding the body God gave us. So, if we are loading up on obscene amounts of sugar or fat that creates hypertension, diabetes, or heart disease, we are not taking care of the temple of God and, in fact, we may be destroying it prematurely. If we want to get the most out of our bodies, we must steward them attentively and intentionally. At sixty-two years old, I fully appreciate the aging process. Stamina, energy, strength, and vitality become more critically important to me every day. Physical movement and what I eat add tremendous value to my daily life. These are the right reasons; swimsuit season is not! I ask this question of you as a friend . . . a friend who deeply cares. Where do you need to start to develop an ongoing, comprehensive approach to nutritious eating, combined with consistent physical activity, that is maintainable for you? Consider taking the next step you need to take to be fit, for all the right reasons.

Kathy Ferguson Litton lives in Mobile, Alabama, where her husband Ed is pastor of Redemption Church. Their lives have encountered the unexpected as they both lost their former spouses in car accidents. Ed and Kathy share six children and ten grandchildren. She has been a pastor’s wife twice and is currently the director of planter spouse development at NAMB. Kathy is also on the Steering Committee of the newlylaunched SBC Women’s Leadership Network. This article first appeared on namb.net.