You Will Want to Be Present

In less than a month messengers from Baptist churches across Alabama will gather for the 178th annual session of the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC). The site will be the Montgomery Civic Center; the dates, Nov. 14-15. You will want to be present.

Claiming the attention of messengers will be missions and evangelism opportunities within Alabama and around the world. “Through Every Door,” the theme of this year’s annual meeting, will help messengers focus attention on evangelism needs in Alabama. The Tuesday evening program will feature partnership missions efforts in the northeastern section of the United States and in Venezuela.

Three of the four annual meeting sessions will begin with theme interpretation led by Tuscaloosa pastor Gil McKee, Etowah director of missions Bob Thornton and evangelist Perry Neal. Through Every Door is also the name of a new evangelism program led by the evangelism section of the State Board of Missions.

Sammy Gilbreath, state evangelism director, recently reminded members of the State Board of Missions executive committee that Alabama has had three consecutive years of 25,000-plus baptisms. He said the new program, which also will be recommended as the ABSC theme for 2001, can help Alabama Baptists reach record baptismal levels and reduce the baptismal ratio of one baptism for every 40 Alabama Baptists to one baptism for every 20.

Alabama Baptists’ partnership missions director Reggie Quimby will help messengers focus on missions efforts outside Alabama Tuesday evening. He will be joined by Venezuelan Baptist leaders and officials from Impact Northeast, a joint effort to reach persons in an 11-state area stretching from Maryland to Maine. Messengers will celebrate God’s blessings on volunteer missions efforts in both places during the past year and hear about Cooperative Program support which continues to undergird missions efforts at home and around the world.

A highlight of the upcoming convention will be a concert by gospel music star Larnelle Harris. The recording artist will perform near the beginning of the Tuesday evening program. The evening also will feature a mass choir and orchestra drawn largely from Montgomery-area churches. Noted preacher and writer Calvin Miller will be the speaker for the evening.

Miller will not be the only well-known preacher at the annual meeting, however. The Tuesday morning session will feature the President’s Address, this year delivered by Buddy Gray, pastor of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover. Under Gray’s leadership, Hunter Street relocated to its present site several years ago. Since that time, it has grown from about 300 members to become one of the leading churches in Alabama. Sunday School enrollment now stands at more than 6,300.

The convention sermon will be delivered by Tom Whatley, pastor of Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals. Whatley is former chairman of the State Board of Missions and vice president of the ABSC. His sermon will be the closing agenda item Wednesday morning.

In addition to the inspiration of the sermons and emphasis on missions and evangelism, messengers will conduct the business of the state convention as well as elect officers.  A record Cooperative Program budget of $38,670,000 will be recommended for the messengers’ consideration. The proposal is a 3.5 percent increase over the current budget. Forty-two point three percent of the funds will go to causes outside Alabama. The remaining portion will be used to support the work of the State Board of Missions, Samford University, the University of Mobile, Judson College, the Children’s Homes, the Baptist Retirement Centers and other cooperating entities and causes within the state.

Messengers also will approve persons to serve as directors and trustees of Alabama Baptist related entities, commissions and committees as well as receive reports about the work of each during the past year.

New officers of the ABSC also will be elected Wednesday morning. President Gray completes his second term of office with this convention and is not eligible for reelection.  First vice president Mike McLemore, pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Birmingham, and second vice president John Long, director of missions for Madison Baptist Association, also complete their second terms in office and are not eligible for the same office.

Speculation is high about who will be nominated for the various positions but, at the time of this writing, no one has officially announced permission to place a name in nomination for a convention office.

However, official announcements are likely within the next few weeks.

The annual meeting is always a highlight of Alabama Baptist life. It is informative. It is inspiring. It is the place to learn about God’s work in and through Alabama Baptists. This year will be no exception. Again, you will want to be present. If you cannot attend all of the annual meeting, plan to attend part of it.

If you cannot attend, please join in praying for God’s blessings and leadership of those who assemble in Montgomery to conduct the business of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.

Only as Alabama Baptists respond obediently to God’s will can our annual meeting truly be successful no matter what else transpires.