By Brian Koonce
Baptist Press

DALLAS — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention proposed 20 motions during two 15-minute scheduled segments of the 2018 annual meeting in Dallas June 12.

Messengers debated then defeated June 13 a motion by Tom Hatley of Immanuel Baptist Church in Rogers, Ark., that messengers dismiss Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s trustee Executive Committee. The debate included comments from two current SWBTS trustees, a former convention president and a laywoman. [Read more…]

By Erin Roach
Baptist Press

DALLAS — Kie Bowman, pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, preached the convention sermon from Ezekiel 37, calling on Southern Baptists to ask God to breathe life into families, churches and the Southern Baptist Convention at the annual meeting in Dallas June 13. [Read more…]

By Tom Strode
Baptist Press

DALLAS — Messengers to the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention affirmed the dignity and worth of women, denounced all forms of abuse and called for sexual purity among Christian leaders in adopting 16 resolutions Tuesday (June 12). [Read more…]

By Julie McGowan
Baptist Press

DALLAS — International Mission Board trustees approved the appointment of 47 new missionaries sent by Southern Baptist churches to take the Gospel to the nations during their June 10-11 meeting in Dallas.

The new missionaries were part of a Sending Celebration June 12 during the evening session of the SBC annual meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.

Trustees also heard an update on the presidential search; received a financial report on the entity; reiterated IMB’s “zero tolerance” policy on abuse; and elected 2018-2019 officers during their meeting held in conjunction with the June 12-13 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas.

Chuck Pourciau, presidential search committee chairman, reported the committee is making progress and working in unity toward determining God’s direction for the entity’s next leader. He said the committee has moved from determining what kind of person they’re seeking to considering candidates.

“This is a great committee,” said Pourciau, senior pastor of Broadmoor Baptist Church in Shreveport, La. “God’s been in our midst, and I thank God for how He led [Rick Dunbar] in putting together this committee.

“We are committed to finding God’s leader,” Pourciau said. “We want to see God glorified.”

Lottie Moon $5m ahead

In their support services committee, trustees reviewed IMB’s 2017 audited financials and its current financial position. “We are on strong financial footing, and by God’s grace we have the resources we have,” reported Seth Polk, the committee chair. “We thank God for the faithfulness of His people in giving.”

At the end of May, IMB had received $66,840,768 in Cooperative Program (CP) funding for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. The total is $1,014,337 (1.54 percent) ahead of last year. The IMB had received $142,683,654 so far for the 2017-2018 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering campaign, which began Oct. 1, 2017, and ends Sept. 30, 2018*. This total is $5,161,874 (3.75%) ahead of last year’s LMCO receipts. The total represents money received by the IMB or postmarked by the close of the last business day of May 2018 and includes receipts from the SBC Executive Committee, state conventions, churches and individuals.

Trustees also adopted a resolution of appreciation for the work of Randy and Kathy Arnett, who served as missionaries from 1986-2018, and died on March 14 while serving in Africa. The resolution reads: “The International Mission Board, SBC, herein expresses deep appreciation for faithful service to God through this board and pledges special prayer support for the family during days ahead.”

‘Zero tolerance’

In response to issues arising in the SBC in recent months, trustees and IMB leaders reiterated the board’s policy on abuse and harassment.

Dunbar said, “The IMB leadership and the trustees want you to know that we are committed to zero tolerance for child abuse and sexual harassment among our personnel — and we are also committed to communicating and cooperating with our partners to guard against those behaviors.”

If anyone “sees or suspects something, they need to say something,” Dunbar said, noting IMB policies provide multiple avenues to make a report, including a confidential hotline designated for this purpose: –866-292-0181. If anyone has personally experienced or observed child abuse or sexual harassment among IMB personnel in the past, they are urged to contact IMB through the confidential hotline. It is IMB’s policy to investigate all cases regardless of when they occurred.

Whenever a church, SBC entity, other ministry or any employer sees “IMB” on the resume of someone looking to serve with them, they are urged to contact IMB for a reference. Reference requests can be submitted to IMB’s HR department at references@imb.org. (The full text of IMB’s Statement on Child Abuse and Sexual Harassment is below.)

‘Everything hinges on God’

In his report to the trustees, IMB President David Platt shared two truths: 1) When God is with you, nothing and no one can stand against you; 2) When God is not with you, you have no hope. “Everything hinges on the fullness of God’s presence — everything,” he said.

Referring to Joshua 7:1-12, Platt explained that because of one man’s secret, hidden sin, God’s presence was not with the entire people of Israel. He told trustees, “We cannot underestimate the consequences of one man’s sin. Our sin never just affects us. Our sin always affects the people around us.

“I want to plead with you, for your own sake, for the sake of people right around you … for the sake of these missionaries we’re about to send out and, ultimately, for the Name [of Jesus] — to repent of any hidden or secret sin in your heart,” Platt exhorted trustees. “I want to urge us to repent of sin and to receive the grace that is available in Christ.

“The IMB’s greatest need in trustees and leaders around this room (including myself) is not innovation or organizational this-or-that — the greatest need is holiness and humility before God, that says, ‘I don’t want to hold onto any sin in my heart that will jeopardize the fullness of the blessing of God, not only in my life, but in the lives of those I’m leading, the lives of those I’m influencing,'” Platt said, inviting trustees to spend a few moments in silent confession before God.

Trustees also spent concerted time in prayer for the Walangchung people group of Nepal. The East Asian people has a population of 22,000 who primarily practice Buddhism, specifically Lamaism. There are possibly two known believers among the entire population, and the Bible is not translated into their language. Trustees prayed that God would call someone to take the Gospel to these people.

Six trustees were recognized for their service as they complete their terms: Dick Avey (Arkansas), June Coleman (Georgia), Andy Finch (Oklahoma), Jaye Martin (Texas), Richard Richie (Alabama) and John Ross (Texas).

Dunbar, a member of First Baptist Church in Madison, Miss., was elected trustee chairman for 2018-2019; Seth Polk, lead pastor of Cross Lanes Baptist Church in Cross Lanes, W.Va., was elected as first vice chair and Cecil Sanders, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Headland, Ala., second vice chair. Lisa Lovell, a member of First Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ark., was reelected as recording secretary.

The next IMB trustee meeting and Sending Celebration is slated for Sept. 26-27 in Richmond, Va.

* The LMCO campaign year historically ran from June 1 to May 31 each year, but that campaign year did not align with IMB’s fiscal year, which runs January 1 to December 31. To help alleviate confusion, IMB finance leaders, in conjunction with the board of trustees, proposed to align the fiscal year and the LMCO campaign to October 1 through September 30. Messengers voted to approve the fiscal year change during the 2017 SBC annual meeting in Phoenix. Therefore, gifts contributed from Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018, will apply to the 2017-18 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Julie McGowan is public relations manager for IMB.

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IMB Statement on Child Abuse and Sexual Harassment

The IMB is committed to zero tolerance for child abuse and sexual harassment among our personnel. Further, the IMB is committed to communicating clearly and cooperating with our partners to guard against child abuse and sexual harassment.

Zero Tolerance Among Our Personnel

We regularly ask that anyone in the IMB who (a) believes he or she has personally experienced child abuse or sexual harassment, or (b) observes it happen to someone else, bring this conduct into the light by means of a secure report to IMB leadership. In other words, if anyone suspects or sees something, they need to say something. IMB policies provide multiple avenues to make a report, including a confidential hotline designated for this purpose: (866)-292-0181.

Anytime we receive a report of suspected child abuse or sexual harassment, we investigate those situations immediately and, if warranted, take the appropriate action to report it to local authorities and remove individuals from IMB employment. In the case of child sexual abuse, if we conclude that one of our personnel has committed child sexual abuse, that individual is terminated immediately. If IMB believes that any personnel has committed child abuse, our practice is to make a report to Child Protection Services in the state where the incident occurred or to the alleged offender’s home state. Moreover, IMB is committed to complying with mandatory reporting requirements and cooperating with any criminal investigations of abuse by our personnel. Further, we are committed to providing compassionate care to anyone who has experienced child abuse or sexual harassment.

Cooperation With Our Partners

All volunteers who serve with the IMB must undergo a 3-part background screening (criminal background check, references, and an interview) to ensure there is no history of activity that would pose a danger to children or others. All volunteers must also undergo training concerning child protection (IMB provides a training video that covers this). Specific resources and guidance for churches and volunteer trip team leaders is available here on our website: https://www.imb.org/for-churches/mission-trip-prep/.

Whenever a church, SBC entity, or other ministry sees “IMB” on the resume of someone looking to serve with them, we urge them to contact us. IMB’s practice is to terminate individuals who have engaged in child sexual abuse or other forms of misconduct. However, in some cases, an individual has resigned before IMB can terminate the individual, or the IMB does not find out about the misconduct until after the individual has left service with IMB. Therefore, IMB strongly encourages any church, entity, or other employer who is considering working or partnering with a former IMB personnel to contact IMB to obtain a reference on that individual. Reference requests can be submitted to IMB’s HR department at references@imb.org. IMB quickly responds to all reference requests by providing a release for that former personnel to sign authorizing IMB to share information from its HR file. In most all cases, IMB will have positive information to share. However, in the rarer cases where IMB has information to share concerning child abuse or sexual misconduct by that former personnel, or the former personnel refuses to sign the release, then the church, entity, or employer will be in a better position to evaluate a future relationship with that former IMB personnel.

Confidential Contact

The above statements reflect IMB’s present policies and practices. If anyone has personally experienced or observed child abuse or sexual harassment among IMB personnel in the past, we invite you to contact us on our confidential hotline at (866)-292-0181. It is our policy to investigate all cases regardless of when they occurred.

By Diana Chandler
Baptist Press

DALLAS — Personal evangelism and tithing are imperative for reversing declines in key Southern Baptist Convention metrics, SBC Executive Committee Interim President D. August Boto told messengers June 12.

Key statistics including top-enrollment seminaries and the largest Protestant membership in the U.S. can camouflage less favorable trends such as declining baptisms and a sharp dip in personal giving, Boto said.

“I think it’s important that we not overlook the whole picture,” Boto said in the EC’s Tuesday afternoon report at the SBC annual meeting. “I do want my report to be encouraging … but I also want it to cast a true picture, so we can be inspired to reach greater heights.”

In his interim role, Boto heads the national SBC office that receives donations for the national and international causes through the Cooperative Program (CP), the Southern Baptist channel that also supports missions and ministries at the state level, where gifts are received from local churches.

At least six states give 50 percent or more of their receipts through the CP, yet on average, local church giving to the CP has declined from 5.5 percent in 2013 to 4.86 percent in 2017, according to the SBC’s Annual Church Profile (ACP), Boto said.

“In the last 18 years, though our national ministry receipts have improved by just over $17 million, our state ministry support has shrunk by over $41 million,” Boto told messengers.

“We cannot forget that missions and ministries at the state level depend on the Cooperative Program too,” Boto noted.

Personal giving has dipped sharply since the 2008 economic recession, Boto said, and according to latest SBC statistics, baptisms have declined for eight of the past 10 years. The 254,122 baptisms churches reported in 2017 are 26.5 percent fewer than in 2007, according to the ACP. If each of the 15 million Southern Baptists led one person to Christ in one year, the size of the church family would double, Boto said, and simple tithing could greatly expand the SBC’s reach.

“Multiple studies reveal that if those of us who earn a wage simply tithed and did nothing more, our CP receipts would quintuple,” Boto said, defining a tithe as 10 percent of income. “If we just tithed and did nothing more, we could afford five times the number of the missionaries at home. We could support five times the number of missionaries abroad. Maybe have five times the number of college ministries to reach and strengthen students; perhaps a similar increase in the number of the seminary graduates.

“By any estimate, we could certainly expect a gigantic increase in all of our present fruit,” Boto said. “I do not mean to be self-righteous. My tithing may be a habit, but habits don’t make people righteous. Being washed in the blood of the Lamb does. A real relationship with Jesus does.”

Boto, an attorney and layman who serves as EC executive vice president, turned to Scripture to encourage Southern Baptists in evangelism and stewardship. He focused on 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Ephesians 6:19 and Ephesians 6:29-32.

A new resource the SBC is offering in partnership with popular financial speaker and author Dave Ramsey, “Leverage,” can help Southern Baptists not only give financially, but to share with spiritual testimonies, Boto said. Witnessing doesn’t require deep theological knowledge or a wealth of answers to potential inquiries, he said.

“Those things are helpful, of course, but it is most helpful to remember that God does all the leading, and provides the words,” Boto told messengers. “Some of the words He has already provided are in John 3:16. Those are great words, all by themselves.”

Also during the EC report, the importance of ministry on college campuses was underscored to messengers.

“Historically Southern Baptists have been at the forefront of reaching college students,” said Josh Miller, who is leading a church plant, Center Church, at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

“From the Northwest to the Southeast, pockets of Southern Baptist churches … are reprioritizing the campus with incredible results,” Miller said. “But if we’re going to reach the 22 million college students in North America, we as Southern Baptists must all reprioritize the campus.

“We must start seeing college students in our towns not as ‘those’ college students but as our college students. … [The] opportunity is in front of us and the question is how will we respond to it,” Miller said.

Justin Leitch who, with his wife Bailey, is assisting Miller and his wife Meredith in starting Center Church, told messengers, “When we were lost, you planted a church and reached us. When we were moldable, you trained us. When we wanted to plant a church, you invested in us and now commissioned us and sent us.

“To our Southern Baptist family, thank you … for the way that you are now launching us out to reach university students in a new context,” Leitch said.

By Barbara Denman
Baptist Press

DALLAS — J.D. Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area, was elected the 60th president of Southern Baptist Convention during the 2018 SBC annual meeting in Dallas.

Greear will lead a diverse slate of officers including A.B. Vines, pastor of New Seasons Church in San Diego, first vice president; Felix Cabrera, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Central in Oklahoma City, second vice president; John Yeats, executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention, recording secretary; and Don Currence, minister of children and administration at First Baptist Church in Ozark, Mo., registration secretary. [Read more…]

By Erin Roach
Baptist Press

DALLAS — Personal finance speaker and author Dave Ramsey, addressing the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 12, urged pastors to lead people out of debt by teaching them what the Bible says about money.

“When you stand up in front of your congregation, you’re looking at a large number of people who do not have the ability to handle their money,” Ramsey, CEO of Ramsey Solutions and author of “Financial Peace University,” told messengers. [Read more…]