Members of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC)
Board of Directors met recently for the second time this year to conduct
business.
During the May 17-18 meeting at Caraway
Conference Center
near Asheboro, members heard from a
variety of committees as well as updates about other ministries.
Bobby Blanton, Board president and pastor of Lake
Norman Baptist Church
in Huntersville, presided over the meeting.
Great Commission Partnerships
Mike Sowers, senior consultant for Great Commission
Partnerships, introduced Board members to three men helping lead efforts with
the Toronto partnership: Peter Blackaby, mobilization director with the North
American Mission Board (NAMB) for the Canadian Region; Dan Collison, director
of Toronto Church Planting and the southern Ontario lead church planting
catalyst for the Canadian National Baptist Convention and NAMB; and Jeff
Christopherson, vice president of the Canadian Region with NAMB.
“The kinds of people immigrating to Canada are world leaders,”
said Chistopherson. “If we can reach them there we are reaching world leaders.”
He said the partnership has “been a blessing already.”
Sowers also updated the Board about the kickoff to the Moldova
partnership with a trip in March and the continuing partnership with New
York.
Sowers said the Boston
partnership will be more defined by the September Board meeting as NAMB
appointments put key people in place.
Biblical Recorder report
Pastor Gerald Hodges of Westwood Baptist Church in Roxboro,
who is chairman of the Biblical Recorder Board of Directors, gave a synopsis of
the search process for the Biblical Recorder’s new editor. The board met April
18 and announced the election of K. Allan Blume as editor/president. He
officially started May 25.
BR photo by Dianna L. Cagle Jeff Christopherson, standing, vice president of the Canadian region for the North American Mission Board, shares with the Baptist State Convention Board of Directors about the need for the partnership in Canada. |
“My desire is simply to take the first word of the paper’s
name and live up to it,” said Blume, who left Mount
Vernon Baptist Church
in Boone where he was pastor. In his time with the Board, Blume asked them to
pray for him, his wife and the staff at the Biblical Recorder. He also
encouraged them to subscribe. One way Blume hopes to bring change is to appeal
to a younger audience. In that regard he encouraged the use of BRnow.org. The
www.biblicalrecorder.org site will still be available but the BRnow.org is
easier to remember and spell.
Board members welcomed Blume as Recorder editor in a
reception following its first day’s meeting.
Vision Fulfillment
Milton A. Hollifield Jr., executive director-treasurer,
distributed a printout to the Board members to highlight the ministries of the
Baptist State Convention and yielded his time to Blume, who was chairman of the
Vision Fulfillment committee.
Blume led the Board through a Vision Fulfillment Forum to
get feedback on how the BSC is doing in
promoting its Seven Pillars for Ministry, which was written by Hollifield
shortly after becoming executive-director treasurer. One of the younger Board
members thanked those who had held the line against liberalism.
The group kept returning to one of the questions — how to
reach a younger generation. They also wanted to know how the institutions and
agencies of the Baptist State Convention fit in the seven pillars.
Blume stepped down from his chairman role after taking his
new position at the Biblical Recorder. Aaron Wallace, who was the vice
chairman, will now take that role.
The next vision forums are:
- May 26 at Highland
Baptist Church,
New London
- June 23 at Elizabeth
Baptist Church,
Shelby
- June 30 at Cape Carteret
Baptist Church
- July 14 at Village
Baptist Church,
Fayetteville
- July 21 at Lewis Fork Baptist Church, Wilkesboro
North Carolina Baptist
Hospital
Paul Mullen gave an update of the North Carolina Baptist
Hospital (NCBH) and Mother’s Day Offering (goal = $700,000).
“God is working in very powerful ways with what we do
together,” he said.
One of the largest CareNet Counseling facilities operated by
NCBH is in Fayetteville. Mullen
said 750 military families are served here every year.
Articles and Bylaws
After looking over the articles and bylaws, Shannon Scott,
pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Raleigh, indicated the committee has
more changes in store. Scott said two pages of changes will be available before
the next meeting.
Study committees
Blanton announced that study committees for the Baptist
Faith and Message and Social Use of Alcohol have begun meeting. Both committees
were formed in response to recommendations at the 2010 annual meeting.
Business Services
Board members approved the following: The Business Services
committee moves that the annual audit report be accepted and that 20 (percent)
of the operating net revenues from Convention activities be transferred to the
Contingency Reserve.
The Board also approved the first phase of Fort
Caswell’s master plan to build a
youth cottage building to hold approximately 100 young people and their
chaperones. Initial estimates have the cost at $1.8 million but leaders feel
that they will be able to hit below that mark when all the proper permits and
contracts are made. This is the first of a four-phase plan for Caswell.
Board members were also reminded that Caraway
Conference Center
is in the midst of its capital campaign New Beginnings. Pastors are invited to
special lunches June 28 or July 19 to raise awareness of the $7.8 million
campaign.
Christian Life and Public Affairs
Jarrod Scott referred to the Vision Fulfillment forums and
how it applies to this committee.
“We don’t speak for Baptists; it’s not our role,” said
Scott. “But we do speak to Baptists.”
Scott mentioned HB 854 which is before the North Carolina
House and encouraged Board members to call their representatives in support of
a woman’s right to know, a bill about abortions.
Scott also mentioned that the committee hopes to present a
breakout session at this year’s annual meeting in Greensboro
on how to minister to homosexuals as well as work with Eddie Thompson, senior
consultant for marriage and family, on creating materials for pastors and other
church leaders to use in ministry.
The committee is also promoting 40 Days for Life
(www.40daysforlife.com), a national movement in which churches conduct 24-hour,
40-day prayer vigils outside local abortion clinics. They are looking at March
2012.
He also highlighted the committee’s blog: clpablog.org.
Church planting and missions development
Todd Marlow shared that in the first quarter of 2011, church
plants in North Carolina are
averaging 6,835 in worship and have amassed 794 professions of faith and 406
baptisms.
“God’s doing something,” said Marlow. “It’s pretty
exciting.”
He reported that 91 church plants are receiving financial
and training assistance from the Convention; 37 more await approval and
funding. Since 2006, the Convention planted 613 new churches through the end of
2010.
After sharing about the importance of church planting,
Marlow yielded some of his time to BSC’s
Chuck Register, executive leader of the church planting and missions
development group. Each Board member received a personalized demographic study
to help churches build its ministries. Other N.C. Baptist churches can get a
survey for $20 via Shirley Sells at [email protected]. If churches are
thinking about planting a church they can upload names and addresses of church
members and find out members’ drive time. Visit www.link2lead.com.
Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute
David Horton reported that the school is adding to its
satellite campuses. In conjunction with the BSC’s
articles and bylaws committee, Horton said changes have been made to update
Fruitland’s constitution. Copies of the new document were made available
to the Board members and were approved.
Financial report
While the Convention continues to operate in the black, John
Butler, executive leader for business services, said the entity is five percent
behind where it usually is at the end of April 2010. Butler
credited the late Easter holiday with the shortfall.
Butler said the
budget was ahead at the end of March but fell $500,000 behind by April. The
Convention had reduced that shortfall by half on May 6, and Butler
said money for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering was expected to jump as
well.
Butler also
reported that the Convention’s auditing firm issued a clean audit.
Woman’s Missionary Union
Ruby Fulbright, executive director of Woman’s Missionary
Union of North Carolina introduced the organization’s new president to the BSC
Board.
Tana Hartsell, who is from Concord,
is a member of First
Baptist Church
in Kannapolis. Hartsell was elected as president at the
WMU-NC April meeting, which drew 1,100 participants. WMU-NC is celebrating 125
years. She praised the “courageous women who laid the vision.”
“We remain diligent, and we remain faithful,” she said.
(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical
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