‘One Mission … The Great Commission’

One Mission … The Great Commission.” That has been the watchword of Alabama Baptists for the past decade and will be front and center when they gather for their 187th annual meeting Nov. 17–18 at Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville.

The Great Commission includes “all nations,” according to Matthew 28:19. Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8 enlightens that term by commanding that Christians are to be witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all [Judea,] and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Baptists generally understand that verse to mean that we are to be witnesses in our own city, state and nation, as well as to the ends of the earth.

As Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) Executive Director Rick Lance is fond of saying, “We go into all the world all the time, and we go at the same time.”

Certainly that will be the emphasis of this year’s convention program. International Mission Board (IMB) President Jerry Rankin will highlight the opening session of the annual meeting Tuesday morning. Rankin knows hundreds of Alabama Baptists through his role with the IMB. There are currently 244 active IMB missionaries who claim Alabama as their home state, and through the years, 984 missionaries have been from Alabama.

In addition to providing international missionaries, Alabama Baptists work in partnership missions efforts with the Baptists in Ukraine and Guatemala. Shannon Ford, the IMB missionary who has provided general direction for the partnership in Ukraine, will also speak during the annual meeting. Ford will bring one of three theme interpretations during the two-day event.

Coupled with the emphasis of reaching the “uttermost parts of the earth” will be an equal emphasis on reaching people for the Lord in the United States with particular responsibility for Alabama. Messengers will hear a great deal about GPS — God’s Plan for Sharing. This annual meeting kicks off Alabama Baptists’ version of a decade-long evangelistic emphasis sponsored by the North American Mission Board. Alabama Baptist Evangelism Director Sammy Gilbreath called GPS “the most concentrated effort to get the gospel to Alabama that I have ever seen.”

Because 2010 marks the first in a series of GPS evangelistic efforts, it is highlighted by the annual meeting’s theme “The Great Commission … GPS.” We hope that at the end of this decade, every person in Alabama and every person in the United States will have had opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Theme interpretations will help messengers see how the heightened interest in religion around the Easter season can be used to share the gospel whether a church is large or small. Messengers are likely to leave with new vigor for participating in GPS, along with practical helps on how their churches can participate.

Messengers are expected to adopt a $46 million Cooperative Program (CP) budget for calendar year 2010. The single largest percentage of the budget will go to Great Commission ministries outside of Alabama through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The budget calls for 42.51 percent, or $19,554,000, to go to SBC causes. The SBOM will receive 29.95 percent, or $13,775,298. Christian higher education will receive 20.83 percent, or $9,580,326. All other Alabama Baptist-related entities and auxiliaries will share 6.72 percent, or $3,090,376.

Since the IMB receives half of all SBC CP funds, if the 2010 budget is met, then the IMB will receive $9,777,000 from Alabama Baptists. That equals 21.25 percent of every dollar an Alabama Baptist church gives to Great Commission ministries beyond itself through the CP.

Messengers are likely to celebrate what God has done through Alabama Baptists related to CP giving. A resolution has been introduced expressing gratitude to God that Alabama Baptists gave the largest amount to SBC Great Commission ministries through the CP of any state Baptist convention for the 2008–09 SBC fiscal year. Alabama Baptists also contributed the most money to SBC ministries when designated giving and CP giving are combined.

This is the first time Alabama Baptists have led both categories at the same time. For that blessing, Alabama Baptists need to thank God.

Alabama Baptists foster a number of Great Commission ministries in our state including such ministries as the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, Alabama Woman’s Missionary Union and the state Baptist paper, just to name a few.

Messengers will hear from every entity and auxiliary as they share reports about their involvement in the kingdom of God as a Great Commission ministry. This information is important to help Baptists know all the ways God is working in our state and how He is using these ministries to touch lives in our nation and the world.

There will be so much more. More at the annual meeting and more at the annual Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference. Steve Scoggins, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Opelika, will preach the convention sermon. Alabama Baptist State Convention President Jimmy Jackson, a frequent host of the annual meeting at Whitesburg Baptist, where he serves as senior pastor, will also preside over the convention and preach during an inspirationally focused service Tuesday evening.

The pastors conference meets at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, Athens, which is about 35 minutes from the annual meeting site. Participants will want to allow ample travel time in their plans.

Pastors conference President Dusty McLemore, senior pastor of Lindsay Lane Baptist, has an outstanding program with perennial favorites like Gilbreath, Junior Hill, Bob Pitman and Mike McLemore. SBC President Johnny Hunt will be the closing speaker Monday evening, which will also include Richard Land, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

Alabama Baptists really do have one mission, and that is the Great Commission. This meeting will again illustrate that commitment.

Pray that God will bless the meeting to His glory. Be a part of what God is doing through the state convention by participating in the annual meeting if at all possible. For more information, visit www.alsbom.org/convention.