FRANKLIN — Ten years ago messengers at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention adopted the Five Objectives, a strategic 10-year plan for the ministry of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and churches throughout the TBC to reach the state for Christ.
As the decade for the massive effort draws to a close at the end of the month, Tennessee Baptist leaders assessed the impact the Five Objectives have had on the convention’s network of churches across the state.
The Five Objectives were the vision of Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of TBMB, and were designed to shape the direction of the convention through 2024, the 150th anniversary of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.
Davis acknowledged that it “is always a very risky thing to have a stated numerical goal with a deadline. But this scoreboard was needed. The risk had to be taken.”
Roc Collins, director of strategic objectives for TBMB, agreed. During the 2024 Summit in Murfreesboro, he reminded messengers that the Five Objectives “had pretty lofty goals. They were high numbers, numbers that perhaps we haven’t seen before in some of these areas, but they were numbers that were set to give us something to shoot for that would challenge us and push us. It did.”
Collins and Davis weighed in with their assessment of each of the Five Objectives.
• Seeing at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship by 2024. Over the 10-year period Tennessee Baptist churches baptized more than 180,000 people, an average of 18,000-plus a year, Collins said.
“We rejoice for every one of those because they represent a soul that is not going to hell, but they’ve accepted Christ and found their way to heaven, and so we rejoice in those numbers.”
Mike Young, pastor of Zion Baptist Church, baptizes BlueOval City worker David Lacke.
Collins acknowledged that “some will say that it was not very successful because we didn’t reach all of those numbers that we put out there. But the fact is, if it was your mother or your daddy or your child or your grandparent, you would find those numbers pretty significant.”
When all is said and done, “history will record that these 10 years as one of the strongest baptizing decades in Tennessee Baptist life,” Collins said.
Davis agreed that though not all the objectives were met, the results were positive.
In one of his Clarity columns published in the Baptist and Reflector this past year, Davis observed, “This Five Objectives marathon has been a challenge at times. No one could have predicted the immediate and long-term impact COVID has had on churches. Despite that, we can glance back through the years and see all the Lord has done and how He has used Tennessee Baptists.
“I get weekly calls, texts or e-mails about spiritually lost people coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ, being baptized and set on the road to discipleship at a TBC church. A highlight for me throughout this 10-year journey is that we as Tennessee Baptists regularly talk about lives being transformed as part of our collective conversation.”
• Having at least 500 Tennessee Baptist churches revitalized by 2024. “We believe that churches are in continual revitalization. During the past 10 years we have exceeded our goal of seeing 500 churches that are revitalized or are in the process of becoming revitalized,” Collins said.
Davis observed that prior to COVID 19, 85 percent of all Southern Baptist churches were experiencing no growth and many of those churches were in decline.
“After COVID, every church needed some type of revitalization. Having made church revitalization such a topic of conversation, churches now are far more ready to admit that they are sick and in need of revival,” Davis said “That culture shift is so very positive.”
• Planting and strategically engaging at least 1,000 new churches by 2024. “We had such a great emphasis on church planting and engaging new churches and God has been so faithful,” Collins said.
“We did not reach the thousand, but we went over 500 churches that have been planted or strategically engaged with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. That’s the most Tennessee Baptists have done in a 10 year period in our history,” he said.
• Realizing an increase in local church giving through the Cooperative Program that reaches at least 10 percent by 2024. Though Cooperative Program giving has been flat as far as dollar amount, the decline in giving among some state conventions has been very pronounced, Davis observed.
The latest statistics show that Tennessee Baptist churches give 5.4 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program while the SBC average is 4.48, according to TBMB’s accounting office.
Collins agreed. Through the Cooperative Program, Tennessee Baptists are supporting missionaries around the world and helping to win Tennessee for Christ.
“We are giving to evangelistic efforts, church growth efforts, church revitalization, church planting and more. We support collegiate ministries all across our state that are carrying the gospel to those who need to hear the Good News.”
• Realizing an increase in annual giving for the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions that reaches at least $3 million by 2024. As a result of Tennessee Baptists recognizing that their state is a mission field, giving through GOTM has experienced incredible growth, Davis said.
In 2014 Tennessee Baptists gave $1,532,060 through GOTM. Ten years later, Tennessee Baptist set a new record for gifts for the sixth time in eight years total gifts of $3,128,219.03.
The total includes $2,451,737.21 in gifts from churches and $676,481.82 in Golden Opportunity Projects, a fund established this year to allow donors to give money or in-kind gifts (such as property) to specific GOTM-funded ministries.
“The generosity of Tennessee Baptists through their gifts through the Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions Baptists have impacted the kingdom of God through evangelistic efforts all across our state, Collins affirmed.
“Tennessee Baptists are affecting the kingdom of God through giving to the GOTM,” he said.
The bottom line
“Some will say Tennessee Baptists did not reach their objectives, but I would say that Tennessee Baptists have elevated the emphasis in the areas of reaching Tennessee for Jesus and resourcing those efforts as never before,” Collins said.
Collins
“Tennessee Baptists have the opportunity as we strengthen gospel leaders, extend our evangelistic efforts and renew our desire and our efforts in giving to support the work in the state of Tennessee. We can make a difference until Jesus comes.”
Davis said he hopes that Tennessee Baptists have viewed TBMB and the state convention as a whole “in a good light” because of the Five Objectives. “The important thing, however, is how have they viewed their own communities and the state.
“If they have begun to see opportunities for gospel impact in their own towns and neighborhoods, then we can rejoice that we have been ringing this bell for the last nine years. If they have ‘lifted up their eyes and looked at the field and have seen that they are white ready for harvest’ we can rejoice.
“If they now could clearly see that any way you slice it we are a mission field, we can rejoice,” Davis continued.
Though the 10-year emphasis is ending, the Five Objectives are woven through the new Acts 2:17 Initiative, Davis said. “The bridge between the Five Objectives and the Acts 2:17 Initiative will be the same bridge that links 1874 (the formation of the TBC) to 2024 (the 150th anniversary): the Great Commission,” Davis said.
He noted that a clarifying statement in the adopted Acts 2:17 report is “ … until EVERY Tennessean hears the gospel.” That remains at the tip of the priority spear, Davis maintained. B&R
