By Editor Bob Terry
Alabama Baptists will have a complementary focus on evangelism at home and abroad when we gather in Huntsville Nov. 15–16 for the annual meeting of the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC). The theme for the gathering is Intentional Evangelism, but the primary focus will be on international evangelism.
For the first time, an International Mission Board (IMB) missionary appointment service will be combined with the annual meeting of the ABSC. As many as 89 new Southern Baptist international missionaries are expected to be appointed, making it one of the largest appointment services in IMB history.
The appointment service will be held Tuesday at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville at 6:45 p.m. The service is part of the IMB trustee meeting being held in Huntsville. The appointment service will be complete with a colorful parade of flags, missionary testimonies and an address by IMB President Jerry Rankin.
Those arriving early at the Von Braun Center can participate in a world missions fair beginning at 4:30 p.m. More than 30 missionaries from around the world are expected to exhibit items from their many fields of service and be available to visit with attendees.
But by this point, the ABSC’s emphasis on international evangelism will have begun three days earlier. That is when hundreds of Alabama Baptists are expected to gather at Willowbrook Baptist Church, Huntsville, to celebrate the conclusion of a six-year missions partnership with Venezuela.
Convention officials indicated the Tuesday evening appointment service tightened the schedule for convention business, and it was deemed best to have a pre-convention celebration for the hundreds of Alabama Baptist volunteers who participated in the Venezuelan partnership.
In order to avoid conflict with the annual Pastors Conference on Monday, the celebration is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 at 5 p.m. Several Venezuelan Baptist leaders will be present to join in thanksgiving to God for the victories won during the five years of working together.
The emphasis on international evangelism includes still more. On Tuesday afternoon, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions will recommend Alabama Baptists accept invitations from the Baptists of two nations to begin missions partnerships with them. Baptist leaders from Ukraine and Guatemala will be present to greet Alabama Baptists as the invitations are considered. Already Alabama Baptist leaders have visited these nations and planned various projects to be included in the partnerships if messengers approve them.
International evangelism is Intentional Evangelism, to be sure. But Intentional Evangelism is larger than international evangelism. It also includes focused evangelistic efforts in local communities throughout our state and nation.
Three Alabama pastors — Douglas O’Brien of North Highlands Baptist Church, Hueytown; Dusty McLemore of Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, Athens; and Clint Pressley of Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile — will remind messengers of the needs and opportunities to do Intentional Evangelism by sharing about the efforts of their congregations.
Providing additional inspirational features will be ABSC President Henry Cox, pastor of First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, in his president’s address and John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Pell City, in the annual convention sermon.
Most of the annual meeting will be devoted to convention business. Messengers will consider a proposed record budget of $42.6 million, an increase of 2.75 percent over the current budget. Of that amount, 42.3 percent will go to Southern Baptist Convention causes, including international missions. Trustees and directors for convention-related entities, commissions and committees will be approved. Resolutions will be considered. Entities will provide an accounting of their work for the past year.
Cox is expected to be re-elected convention president for a customary second one-year term. Also expected to be re-elected first vice president is Roger Willmore, pastor of Deerfoot Baptist Church, Trussville. Only one candidate for second vice president has been announced at this time. That is Jimmy Jackson, pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, where the annual meeting will be held.
Convention officials are hoping for 6,000 people to participate in the missionary appointment service and missions fair Tuesday evening. They are also hoping that the turnout for Tuesday evening’s events will boost the number of registered messengers attending the business sessions of the state convention.
Last year’s registration of 1,053 was the smallest number of registered messengers in more than 50 years. The year before in Mobile, registered messengers totaled 1,088, the second lowest number in more than 50 years.
The annual meeting should be a priority for all Baptist leaders. The business of the convention is important. That the work of the convention and related entities is strong and healthy is no reason to miss the annual meeting. Baptists should participate in the annual convention every year, not just when there is a controversy or contested election.
The missionary appointment service will be of interest to all Baptists within driving distance of Huntsville.
If you cannot attend the annual meeting, then at least attend the appointment service. You will be blessed by what God does there. And every Alabama Baptist can pray for God’s blessings on the annual meeting and all that transpires there and in the many related meetings.
Share with others: