It’s time for the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting again, but if you’ve never been, then don’t be fooled into thinking it’s all business.
A lot of it is business, true — but it is also a reunion, according to Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
“It’s a time of business, but it’s also a time of worship. It’s an annual gathering of fellow Baptists who may not have gotten to see each other in a long time,” he said.
The two-day meeting, set for Nov. 14–15 at Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, in Birmingham Baptist Association, will mark the first time the church has hosted the convention since 1969 and the first time ever at its John Hawkins Parkway (state Highway 150) location.
Henry Cox, convention president, said he expects it to be “a good convention” with high attendance and a spirit of togetherness.
“As we come closer together and closer to the Lord, it will enable us to reach more people for Christ,” said Cox, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, in Baldwin Baptist Association.
Reaching more for Christ through personal outreach is the center of the annual meeting for the third year in a row.
Presentations and speakers will emphasize the theme of Intentional Evangelism, the state’s outreach push for 2005–2007. Messages on the theme will be preached by Jerry Wilkins, director of missions for Tuscaloosa Baptist Association; Les Hughes, pastor of Westwood Baptist Church, Alabaster, in Shelby Baptist Association; and Paul Matthews, pastor of Jubilee Baptist Church, Daphne, in Baldwin Association.
Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, Fla., will be the featured speaker at the Tuesday night service, and Jerry Henry, pastor of First Baptist Church, Fairhope, in Baldwin Association, will preach the convention sermon Wednesday.
During the SBOM report, Lance will offer a challenge to state Baptists to “reach someone and give something for the Savior.”
It’s a challenge Alabama Baptists have met heartily in projects like Impact Northeast, through which they have partnered with New Jersey and Pennsylvania since 1999.
During the annual meeting, messengers will have the opportunity to consider forming an additional partnership with Baptists in Michigan.
They will also vote on the insurance changes coming from GuideStone Financial Resources and the SBOM. For details about the changes, go to www.thealabamabaptist.org and search for “ChRP.”
State Baptist churches are encouraged to send messengers to vote on business items and submit or consider resolutions. Churches may request messenger cards by visiting www.alsbom.org and clicking on “Annual Meeting, Alabama Baptist State Convention.”
Joe Bob Mizzell, director of the SBOM office of Christian ethics and chaplaincy ministries, said several messengers have already turned in resolutions ranging in topic from Cooperative Program promotion to language missions.
Mizzell encouraged those Baptists who wish to submit other resolutions to e-mail them to Joanne Farmer at jfarmer@alsbom.org before Nov. 6, when the resolutions committee will meet.
“If you get [resolutions] in before that time, the chances of getting them through are much, much better — it gives the committee time to do them right,” he said, adding that “nothing of consequence” would be altered in the resolutions without the writer’s permission.
For more information about the upcoming annual meeting of Alabama Baptists and related meetings, watch future issues of The Alabama Baptist and visit www.thealabamabaptist.org.
Annual meeting to focus on evangelism, vote on insurance, Michigan partnership
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