In an effort to protect funding for work in pioneer areas as well as ministries traditionally organized for rural America, the Alabama Baptist Conference of Directors of Associational Missions is speaking out. It wants Southern Baptists to slow down the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) funding changes, specifically as they relate to the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and make sure they understand the results of “pulling the plug” on some of the ministries.
The GCR Task Force report recommended phasing out the “cooperative agreements” that govern state convention and local association relationships with NAMB and has many state conventions and local associations reassessing their vision, strategy and financial plans.
An open letter to all Southern Baptists (see below) from Alabama directors of missions (DOM) was overwhelmingly approved during the group’s annual meeting Nov. 15 at Gardendale First Baptist Church.
“We want to address the areas that are going to be left out of the Great Commission Resurgence paradigm,” said Steve Loggins, president of the conference and DOM for North Jefferson Baptist Association.
Selma Baptist Association DOM Tom Stacey brought the idea to the attention of the DOMs. “He is very concerned about work in the pioneer areas of the country,” Loggins said. “He has been connected to new work areas since serving as a summer missionary in Wyoming almost 30 years ago.”
Stacey said work in pioneer areas “is not just observatory” for him. It is real. “My dear friends and background are invested in this,” he said, noting Selma Association has had an unofficial partnership in a new work area for 13 years.
After the GCR Task Force report passed at the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla., in June, “I decided I wanted to do something,” Stacey said.
“[Tom] knows the devastation that GCR will have and has shared with us things we needed to hear,” Loggins noted. “But we kept our letter focused on the way GCR is going to affect missions in North America because of the changes GCR is going to make to the North American Mission Board.
“We hope it will make people stop and think about some areas they didn’t think about,” he said. “We all want to see the gospel go to the ends of the earth, but we can’t abandon what we have here. It doesn’t have to be an either/or but a both/and.”
Loggins said, “Some people want to abandon everything for just the uttermost, but I don’t see that we have to choose. We’ve got to do it all.”
While the letter is an expression of support for the Cooperative Program (CP), he said DOMs also are committed to keeping existing ministries in place.
“We are not going to let those ministries being abandoned by NAMB fall through the cracks,” Loggins said, noting the director of the International Ministries Center in Mobile is one of the positions for which the longterm funding is unsure.
NAMB vice president for communications Mike Ebert said the position is guaranteed through the end of 2011.
“We are in a very active, ongoing process with state executive directors about how states and NAMB can most effectively partner to reach North America for Christ,” he said. “It’s a collaborative process and it’s going well. This is the top priority issue for our president, Kevin Ezell, right now, but just two months into his presidency, it’s too early to have answers for everyone.”
Still, the DOMs want Southern Baptists to hear what they have to say, but Loggins said they didn’t want to be confrontational in their efforts, so they decided an open letter was the best way to share their message.
“We hope all Southern Baptists will have an opportunity to see our heart,” he said. “We would like folks looking at giving through the GCR viewpoint to consider what we are presenting here, something beyond that paradigm.”
Stacey added, “What I pray happens is that we as Southern Baptists can come together at the table and … can work out a unified plan that we can all still be on board with.
“We’re praying Kevin Ezell will start understanding more and that these entities and agencies will do some studies before they pull the plug on whatever they are going to pull the plug on,” he said. “We are backed into a corner, and we are trying to be as gentlemanly as we can.”
Both Stacey and Loggins agreed that Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions Executive Director Rick Lance has worked to communicate this message with a cooperative spirit, but they realize he can’t do it by himself.
“Rick Lance has been an eloquent spokesman for Alabama Baptists and has said so much about this to us and beyond about the fears of what will happen when GCR comes to pass,” Loggins explained.
“And since GCR has been passed, he has done his best to partner with this paradigm.
“But it is time for someone to step up, come alongside him and say it as well.”
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