ORLANDO, Fla. — The
final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) will
highlight the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) 153rd annual meeting when the
two-day event convenes June 15 in Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.
The report, which was unveiled May 3 at www.pray4gcr.com, has been the centerpiece of
discussion in Southern Baptist circles since messengers at the 2009 meeting in
Louisville, Ky., authorized the SBC president to appoint a task force. The
public conversation intensified when the GCRTF released a preliminary version
of its report Feb. 22, with some hailing it as innovative and others expressing
concerns that it would negatively impact cooperation with state conventions and
hurt giving through the SBC’s Cooperative Program.
While the task force
expects to present its report June 15, they have not announced whether its
recommendations will be offered as a single motion or several. The Feb. 22
progress report was organized into six components, but task force chairman
Ronnie Floyd has said the final version will be significantly different,
because the task force has received substantial feedback from a wide range of
Southern Baptists since the original’s release.
Another matter of major
interest is the fact that three Southern Baptist entities (International
Mission Board, North American Mission Board, SBC Executive Committee) have
presidential search committees at work.
Candidates for any or
all of those positions may be announced and voted on by the respective trustee
boards before the annual meeting convenes, although none of the three
committees has released information that would suggest that possibility.
Theme
SBC President Johnny
Hunt has selected “LoveLoud through the Great Commission” (1 John 3:18) as the
theme for this year’s sessions.
“We’ve got to ‘Love
Loud!’” Hunt, senior pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Church in
Woodstock, said. “Loud Love moves beyond the four walls of the church. I hope
to encourage our folks to roll up their sleeves and get after it.”
“Our theme verse is
clear,” Hunt said of 1 John 3:18 — “My little children, let us not love in word
or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
“It is not simply
enough to say; we must do!” Hunt added. “We have embraced what we believe. It
is now or never to engage this generation with what we believe — the gospel.
Our nation is lost. We have the answer. Let’s do it!”
Program highlights
Among the highlights
planned for this year’s program:
- Musical features
throughout the meeting presented by the worship choir and orchestra of First
Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., and a 1,000-voice combined choir and
200-piece combined orchestra.
- Opening session
reports by Morris Chapman, retiring president of the SBC Executive Committee,
and the presidential message by Hunt.
- The election of
officers set to begin at 2:20 p.m. June 15.
- The convention
message by Mac Brunson, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville,
Fla., on Wednesday morning and, that evening at 8:40, a closing sermon by
Southern Baptist evangelist Tony Nolan of Woodstock, Ga.
Pastor’s conference, meetings
- Crossover Orlando
2010
will extend evangelistic block parties door-to-door and street witness onSaturday, June 12, across the city and three-county Orange, Seminole and
Osceola region. In conjunction with Crossover, a Hispanic family festival will
be held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
- The 2010 SBC Pastors’
Conference
, which opens at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 13, with a concert by popularChristian musician Travis Cottrell, features a wide range of speakers from
diverse backgrounds, including Tony Evans, senior pastor at Oak Cliff Bible
Fellowship in Dallas and president of The Urban Alternative; C.J. Mahaney,
pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and president of Sovereign
Grace Ministries; apologetics speaker and author Ravi Zacharias; and Francis
Chan, teaching pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi, Calif.
The program also will
feature the launch of a national campaign to help pastors adopt children.
- Gatherings for
pastors’ wives that feature a June 14 conference and June 15 luncheon, as well
as a Women’s Expo to build community, share resources and exchange ideas.
- The June 13-14
Woman’s Missionary Union Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting, gathering
under the theme “Unhindered!” The program emphasis includes ways to address
human exploitation, which is the focus of WMU’s Project HELP for 2010–12.
The missions
celebration will be held in the Orange County Convention Center’s Chapin
Theater (West Concourse, Level 3), beginning at 6:30 p.m. June 13. Among the
speakers at the missions celebration: Jennifer Kennedy Dean, author of this
year’s WMU emphasis book, “Life Unhindered: Five Keys to Walking in Freedom,”
and Gen. Douglas Carver, chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army.
- The Conference of
Southern Baptist Evangelists
annual worship service will be held Wednesdayafternoon, June 16, instead of prior to the convention, as in recent years. The
change is intended to increase participation of pastors who don’t arrive at the
convention until after Sunday morning. The service will be held from 2-5 p.m.
in a theater just up the escalators from the meeting hall at the Orange County
Convention Center. The timing is intended to allow messengers to attend
seminary luncheons, make it back for the worship service and then attend the
closing session of the SBC annual meeting. The program includes music by
Greater Vision, a Southern gospel trio, a message from evangelist Tim Lee, a former
Marine who lost his legs in Vietnam, and a videotaped message from evangelist
Billy Graham.
- Associational
directors of missions
will convene for their 50th meeting June 12-14 with thetheme “Celebrating 50 Years of Partnership in Kingdom Work.” Speakers for the
event, which will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, will
include Frank Page, Ed Stetzer, O.S. Hawkins and Jerry Rankin. DOMs also will
have a chance to dialogue with a representative from NAMB regarding the report
from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
Registration
Registration for the
Orlando annual meeting once again will provide churches with the online
opportunity to register their messengers at www.sbc.net to avoid waiting at the
counter upon arrival at the convention.
After online
registration, the SBC web site provides a church with a messenger reference
number form to be printed out and presented by each messenger at the SBC
registration booth in exchange for a nametag and a set of ballots. The
appropriate church-authorized representative must complete all online
registrations.
The traditional
registration method also is available for those churches that are unable or may
not opt to access the online registration. Registration cards are available
from state convention offices.
For further information
about online registration and hotel choices for the SBC annual meeting in
Orlando, visit www.sbc.net.
Resolutions
Messengers wishing to
propose resolutions must submit them at least 15 days prior to the annual meeting,
giving the Resolutions Committee a two-week period in which to consider them.
Detailed guidelines on submitting resolutions are available at
www.sbcannualmeeting.net (by clicking on “Resolutions”). Resolutions may be
submitted online but must be followed up by a letter of credentials from the
submitter’s church.
Convention arrangements
Shuttle service will be
available to and from all the hotels on the official housing list posted at
www.sbcannualmeeting.net, according to Don Magee, director of information/financial
systems for the SBC Executive Committee. Shuttle passes can be purchased for
$10 at the convention center for buses running June 15-16. Complimentary
shuttle service will run from the convention hotels to the convention center,
beginning June 13 at 2 p.m. and continuing Monday.
Parking at the Orange
County Convention Center costs $11 each time a car enters the lot, Magee said.
Additional information
about airport shuttle and local trolley service also is available at
www.sbcannualmeeting.net, as are details about discount tickets to Disney
World. Information about other Orlando attractions may be found at
www.sbc.orlandomeetinginfo.com.
Children and youth
Childcare for newborns
through 3-year-olds will be available from Sunday evening through Wednesday,
June 13-16. There is a non-refundable registration fee of $10 per child for
preschool care. This fee is in addition to the session fees for the convention.
The cost per session is $5 per child, not to exceed $40 per family, plus the
$10 non-refundable registration fee.
Lunch also will be
available for preschoolers on Monday and Tuesday at $5 per meal. Complete
payment is due for all sessions, and lunch if selected, no later than arrival
at the first session. Registration is being handled exclusively online at
Children ages 4-12 can
participate in an age-graded, scripture-based conference conducted by
Children’s Conferences International.
The cost for the
children’s conference is $45 per child, which includes a nonrefundable $20
registration fee. Questions about the children’s conference program can be
phoned to Children’s Conferences International at 248-346-5373 or e-mailed to
[email protected]. The deadline for enrollment is June 1 and is
limited to 400 children.
Students who have
completed grades 6 through 12 will have opportunities for worship and
recreation in the Fuge program sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the
Southern Baptist Convention, beginning Monday night, June 14, and continuing
into Wednesday morning, June 16.
The program will
include a day at Universal Studios. The cost for Fuge is $60 per student,
including all materials as well as tickets and food at Universal Studios.
Students can pre-register online at www.Fuge.com or sign up outside room
W101A-B, level 1, in the Orange County Convention Center when they arrive in
Orlando.
For more information,
check the web site or contact Spratt at [email protected].
All children’s programs
will be held in the Orange County Convention Center (West Building). Full
information about programs for children and youth may be found at
www.sbcannualmeeting.net, under the “Children & Students” tab.
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