GCR In The News
June 10, 2010
June 10, 2010
Editorial: A Great Commission Resurgence
There’s been much discussion in Southern Baptist life in the last year or so about a Great Commission Resurgence-especially the desire of many to see Southern Baptist Convention entities, state Baptist convention entities, and local associations be more effective in fulfilling our Lord’s missionary mandate in Matt. 28:18-20.
June 9, 2010
Editorial: A Great Commission Resurgence
There’s been much discussion in Southern Baptist life in the last year or so about a Great Commission Resurgence-especially the desire of many to see Southern Baptist Convention entities, state Baptist convention entities, and local associations be more effective in fulfilling our Lord’s missionary mandate in Matt. 28:18-20.
June 8, 2010
Associational leader offers GCRTF perspective
The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) report certainly serves an admirable purpose. Yes, there is a great need for a recommitment to the direct command of our Lord to “make disciples.” When William Carey’s essay and sermon kicked off the Modern Mission Movement, he made his case based on the Great Commission. His text was Isaiah 54:2-3 with its plea to Enlarge the place of your tent … lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. (Note that tent cords can be lengthened only so far unless the stakes are strengthened.) The theme he used then is also our challenge today — Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. (The order of these two phrases is significant.)
June 8, 2010
Oklahoma Baptists’ Great Commission Resurgence
The June meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention promises to be the most significant meeting in decades as messengers will vote on the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. Reading the GCR Task Force report has prompted me to think about the Great Commission impact of Oklahoma Baptists. As one well acquainted with our cooperative work, I can testify that much of what we do within our state results in penetrating lostness in the world beyond our state.
June 3, 2010
Differences among us must not divide us
In an April 30, 2009 telephone interview with the Florida Baptist Witness, Southeastern Seminary president Danny Akin stated that he and SBC president Johnny Hunt had “spent a great deal of time together since Hunt’s election talking about what could be done “to reverse stagnation within the SBC.”
June 2, 2010
Young Southern Baptists Urged Not to Walk Away Yet
As the Southern Baptist Convention prepares to embrace the Great Commission Resurgence this month, Pastor J. D. Greear wants fellow SBC members to know that the new movement is "something of God" and has nothing to do with saving the denomination.
May 31, 2010
Will a statesman arise?
It appears that more people are lining up behind the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommendations than are advocating for their rejection. The task force has done a good job in utilizing all the media available to get its message out, and task force members have made themselves available across the nation and on numerous conference calls to answer questions and advocate for their recommendations.
May 27, 2010
Final GCRTF letter to SBCV pastors
Dear Pastor, I trust that you have been praying for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) over the course of the last year. As you know, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) formed the GCRTF to look at how we as a convention could more faithfully and effectively fulfill the Great Commission.
May 26, 2010
Point of View: Focus on Great Commission—‘Pretty simple. Great challenge’
I love being a Southern Baptist. However, being one doesn’t mean I necessarily understand one! Case in point: It seems to me that we are more fired up about the report to the Southern Baptist Convention on the Great Commission than we are about the Great Commission.
May 26, 2010
Worship renewal and the Great Commission Resurgence
The conversations surrounding the recent Great Commission Task Force Report reflect passion for ministries and mission at all levels of Baptist life. Through these conversations no one, to my knowledge, has indicated disinterest in the fundamental concern that Southern Baptists renew efforts to follow the command of our Lord voiced in Matthew 28:19-20. To the contrary, the need to see people, churches, associations, state conventions and the national convention itself revived in the application of our whole selves to the fulfillment of this command has been re-emphasized at every hand.
May 25, 2010
Hollifield affirms GCR Task Force Report
North Carolina Baptist Executive Director-Treasurer Milton A. Hollifield Jr., will be voting “yes” for the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force when messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., consider them June 15.
May 25, 2010
GCRTF Viewpoint: A Plan of Action to Guide Us to Penetrate Lostness
In the last issue of The Baptist Courier, I expressed my support for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report, recommendations and challenges. I stated that two emphases in this document give me hope about the future of our denomination: a focus on theology, and a call to redirect more Cooperative Program funds to international missions and church planting. I explained the first emphasis in that article. I will focus on the second one here.
May 20, 2010
Boots or ballots
When God’s people get their priorities right they might well get in a position to experience revival. The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has challenged Southern Baptists, our churches, our agencies, and our Convention to penetrate the lostness of our world. That will happen not because we have adopted a report or passed a resolution, but when we have experienced a genuine revival.
May 19, 2010
GCR report has changed the conversation
In the movie"Braveheart" there is a scene where the landowners are plotting secretly around a banquet table to betray William Wallace, who is leading a revolt against the English in Scotland. As they talk, the body of one of their conspirators thuds onto the table from above.
May 18, 2010
GCRTF asks Baptists to prioritize reaching lost
A yearlong self examination process by a 22-member task force handpicked by Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Johnny Hunt last year will ask Southern Baptists to “reset every priority” to focus on a single goal of “pushing back lostness” according to its final report issued May 3.
May 14, 2010
Alabama Baptist executive director presents 'state of the state' on GCR
No matter what happens with the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force proposal, "we (the State Board of Missions) are not going to allow disagreements to define relationships," Rick Lance told those attending the SBOM meeting in Montgomery May 14.
May 13, 2010
Thoughts: Needed: Worthy Examples of CP Support
Albert Mohler was right when he told students at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., that "we do need a great example from the leaders of our convention in terms of support for the CP (Cooperative Program)."
May 12, 2010
Dockery discusses final report of GCR Task Force
Union University President David S. Dockery answered questions from faculty, staff and students about the final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force during a May 12 presentation.
May 12, 2010
A resurgence will come with missions education emphasis
To be honest, I still haven’t been able to fully “digest” the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. With the severe weather and flooding that occurred last week, I have only been able to give it a cursory reading. I have read what others have written and I participated in a conference call between members of the media and the task force last week.
May 11, 2010
Sullivan says ‘no question’ GCR report will affect Florida Baptists
few days after the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force released its final report, John Sullivan, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, for the first time answered questions about GCR in a wide-ranging interview with Florida Baptist Witness.
May 10, 2010
GCRTF Viewpoint: Keeping the Theological Foundation of Missions Before Us
I am encouraged by what I have read in the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report, “Penetrating the Lostness: Embracing A Vision For A Great Commission Resurgence Among Southern Baptists.” While not a perfect document, it charts a course that I believe will help guide our convention of churches to recommit ourselves and realign our resources to become more intentional about fulfilling the Great Commission.
May 10, 2010
PERSPECTIVE: Real GCR
By the time you read this article, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will have presented its report. The work of the task force has been engulfed in rhetoric, and from the beginning both members of the task force and outside observers have used inflammatory language regarding state conventions and others.
May 7, 2010
What does GCR mean for DOMs?
Directors of missions (DOMs)might be the persons in Southern Baptist Convention life most directly affected by recommendations to come June 15 from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. Much of their work is accomplished through cooperative agreements between them, state conventions and the North American Mission Board.
May 5, 2010
First reaction to GCR second verse
The long awaited second edition of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force was released Monday and interest is high. Revisions indicate task force members heard the reactions of Baptists to their initial progress report which came out Feb. 22. Committee Chairman Ronnie Floyd’s assertion that it would be “significantly” different is an exaggeration for which he is easily forgiven. He’s likely just glad to be done with it, except for the task of explaining it in numerous conference calls for the next six weeks. He said in an April call that he has been working “from dawn to exhaustion.”
May 3, 2010
Shouldn’t common language unite?
My pastor preached on the Lord’s Prayer and said one of its great effects through history is to give Christians a common language. Then, on pages two and three of this issue, persons on different ends of the current Baptist continuum use remarkably common language to describe their intentions, hopes and purposes. It makes me dizzy.
April 29, 2010
Point of View: Great Commission? YES. GCR? NO
It is as though an outside consulting firm has been hired to do an efficiency study of the Southern Baptist Convention. In reading the Feb. 22 “progress report,” it is obvious the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has made a very serious attempt to say something significant, while at the same time ignoring some harsh realities. Chairman Ronnie Floyd stated at the first listening session last August, “Our commission is to reveal the honest and true status of this denomination.”
April 29, 2010
Point of View: Great Commission? YES. GCR? NO
Florida’s Imagine If Great Commission Task Force met twice this Spring and is “moving forward” in reaching a consensus of priorities to present to Florida’s State Board of Missions at its May board meeting, according to task force chairman Danny de Armas.
April 29, 2010
EC budget will require deep cuts if GCR approved
Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Chairman Ronnie Floyd believes Southern Baptists want to see more of their dollars reaching the nations with the Gospel. By cutting a slightly more generous slice for the International Mission Board’s piece of the Cooperative Program pie, another $1.4 million will be provided for this effort.
April 28, 2010
Task force: Orlando will mark resurgence beginning
Southern Baptists in the future will mark their annual meeting June 15 in Orlando as the beginning of a Great Commission Resurgence in the same way they refer to 1979 as the start of the conservative resurgence that changed the face of the Convention, according to panelists at a Great Commission Resurgence discussion at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary April 28.
April 27, 2010
Great Commission Hope
I have been asked on numerous occasions about the progress report issued in February by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I have certainly had some concerns but I am encouraged by the response of the task force to feedback and look forward to the release of the final version on May 3. I am prayerful that new language in the report will relieve concerns and permit a little more flexibility in its implementation.
April 27, 2010
GCR Task Force: Move CP promotion from Nashville to the state conventions
There’s no denying that Southern Baptists individually, corporately and as a denomination are lagging in their stewardship of God’s resources. While the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommends shifting primary responsibility for Cooperative Program and stewardship promotion to state conventions, task force chairman Ronnie Floyd is counting on local pastors to teach their members to honor God through tithing.
April 27, 2010
Alabama exec lances his own argument
Alabama Baptists’ state missionary and executive director Rick Lance is not a fan of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s work. I appreciate Lance’s quick and clear response to the task force recommendations. He defends the work of Baptist state conventions and was an early voice in prompting what task force chair Ronnie Floyd says will be significant changes when the second version of their recommendations is released May 3.
April 22, 2010
GCR at the crossroads
Southern Baptists in emerging regions are expressing grave concerns about the restructuring of their working relationship with the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board suggested in initial recommendations from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
April 15, 2010
What Has Changed in Four Years?
Do you remember 2006? Southern Baptists were gathering in Greensboro, N.C., for their annual meeting. Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., had declined to be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He promoted Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church, Springdale, Ark., for the office. But concern about the Cooperative Program (CP) giving of Floyd’s church, which was less than 1 percent of undesignated receipts at that time, caused widespread concern.
April 15, 2010
Baptist21 hosts GCR panel at Southeastern
The young Baptist network Baptist21 and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary will host a panel discussion on the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force work during the chapel service at Southeastern at 10 a.m. April 28.
April 14, 2010
Point of View: Cooperative Program—The way to go
Most Southern Baptists know that we are anticipating a report and recommendations from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force at the 2010 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando. The Task Force was initiated at the June 2009 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention to study and recommend how the SBC can become more involved in penetrating the lostness of the world. I commend the group for their honest and open candor and willingness to listen to what Southern Baptists are saying.
April 13, 2010
Spiritual concerns of GCR progress report get little attention
As Southern Baptists debate a Feb. 22 preliminary report of its Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, little attention is being paid to what Chairman Ronnie Floyd calls Southern Baptists’ “number one need”—a “return to God in deep repentance” and to “experience a fresh wave of [the Holy] Spirit.”
April 13, 2010
SBC leaders disagree on whether new GCR vision is really new
The first “Component” of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s interim “progress report“ calls Southern Baptists to rally around a missional vision focused on the Great Commission and to “create a new and healthy culture within the Southern Baptist Convention.”
April 10, 2010
Some thoughts on the GCR Task Force progress report
The Southern Baptist Convention 2010 in Orlando Florida promises to be one of the most important meetings in recent Southern Baptist History. The progress report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has certainly generated great discussion and at the very least will cause some concern.
April 8, 2010
GCR Task Force Progress Report looks iffy
Some of you may be echoing the words of the late, great President Ronald Reagan. Presidential Candidate Reagan was speaking to then President Jimmy Carter during the 1980 Presidential Debates. President Carter had just answered a question, and he seemed to be going on and on about (ironically) national health insurance. He had misquoted his opponent and misrepresented Reagan’s views on various issues. When he finished his diatribe, Reagan came back with the now famous line “There you go again.” When asked about that line, President Reagan, referring to President Carter’s words, said, “Well, it felt kind of repetitious, [like] something we had heard before.”
April 8, 2010
Floyd says final report will unify
Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, has grown weary leading the task force while pastoring two large churches in Arkansas, working, he said, “from dawn to exhaustion.”
April 8, 2010
Missouri Baptist leaders focus on GCR
Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Director David Tolliver is sticking with his recommendation that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) table for a year the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force report, which is on track to be presented to messengers of the SBC annual meeting June 14-16 in Orlando, Fla.
April 8, 2010
Western state execs petition Task Force to modify document
Executive directors from nine western state conventions and Canada have made formal suggestions to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force regarding how the committee’s proposed restructuring of the North American Mission Board would impact their ministries.
April 7, 2010
Great Commission Task Force podcast with David S. Dockery, Part II
On March 15, David Dockery, President of Union University, was interviewed following a presentation on the interim report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force originally presented to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention on Feb. 22. The complete recording of the podcast is available at http://baptistmessenger.com/gcrtf-podcast-with-david-s-dockery/. The following is an edited transcript of part two of the interview.
March 31, 2010
GCR could trigger MBC ministry cuts
Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Director David Tolliver candidly told staffers March 11 at In-Office Day that Missouri would be “devastated” by structural changes being proposed by the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force.
March 31, 2010
Great Commission Task Force podcast with David S. Dockery
On March 15, David Dockery, President of Union University, was interviewed following a presentation on the interim report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force originally presented to the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention on Feb. 22. The complete recording of the podcast is available at http://baptistmessenger.com/gcrtf-podcast-with-david-s-dockery/. The following is an edited transcript of part one of the interview. Part two will appear in next week’s edition.
March 30, 2010
Examining the GCR Task Force report
Change: to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of [something] different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. That is the dictionary definition of change. And, we have been hearing a lot lately about change. Change, of course, is in the MBC and in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). In the SBC, the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force (GCRTF) has the assignment of recommending appropriate changes to the structure of our convention.
March 29, 2010
Letter from Dr. Jeff Ginn to SBCV Pastors
The following is an electronic letter from Dr. Jeff Ginn, Executive Director of the SBCV, sent to all pastoral staff members of SBC of Virginia churches. This letter spells out SBCV's response to the preliminary report of the GCR Task Force following a special meeting of SBCV officers and staff leadership.
March 26, 2010
Hunt addresses GCR questions
During a question-and-answer time with South Carolina Baptist pastors March 23 at White Oak Conference Center, Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt talked about the idea of “Great Commission Giving,” a proposed realignment of resources for the North American Mission Board and a timetable for implementation of the recommendations of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
March 25, 2010
Executive Committee urges GCR Task Force to preserve Cooperative Program identity
The Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Convention approved has a motion to fully endorse the Cooperative Program as “the historical and proven method of missions support” for the Southern Baptist Convention.
March 24, 2010
State Convention president voices appreciation for GCRTF leadership
JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Noting an emphasis on revival and spiritual renewal—both personal and corporate—in the progress report presented to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Feb. 22, John Cross, president of the Florida Baptist State Convention, said he is grateful for a focus on the Great Commission—“because obviously that’s where it starts.”
March 19, 2010
Executive Director Viewpoint on GCRTF: Cooperation Missing
I have been an active Southern Baptist for more than 40 years. I have witnessed Southern Baptist missions as a pastor of a local church, as an appointed missionary on an associational staff, and from the perspective of a state convention worker. I have seen our high moments. I have experienced the underbelly. Yet, through it all I have remained convinced that our commitment to the Word of God and our cooperative efforts to accomplish the Great Commission still put us head and shoulders above so many other groups in our Acts 1:8 effectiveness.
March 18, 2010
Offer Practical Ideas for a Real Resurgence
The Great Commission Resurgence TF may be well intentioned, but I am afraid they have no idea what they are about to do to the majority of SBC churches, local associations and State Conventions. The first red flag should fly when two entities such as NAMB and IMB are looking to cover the same territory. Doing this will change the focus of both entities. The current focus of NAMB is cooperating with State Conventions and State Conventions cooperate with local associations. This is the best possible ministry direction in my opinion because the local associations know the area better than someone in a plush office with a substantial budget at their disposal. Associations are all about getting the most work out of volunteer churches all at the expense of usually one paid associational leader (who is often bi-vocational with partial salary).
March 18, 2010
GCRTF podcast with David S. Dockery
In the Fall of 2008, voices began to surface across various places in the Southern Baptist Convention calling for renewal and revival in local congregations and in the agencies, institutions, commissions and entities found by Southern Baptists.The phrase, “Great Commission Resurgence,” was originally coined by Lifeway Christian Resources President Thom Rainer; further defined by the Southeastern Seminary’s president, Danny Akin—in a Spring 2009 chapel address—“Axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence”—and championed by Johnny Hunt, Senior Pastor of Woodstock, Ga., First, and president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
March 17, 2010
GBC asks Task Force to strengthen CP wording
Don’t mess with the Cooperative Program. That’s the message Georgia Baptists are sending to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force in the wake of the unveiling of their interim report on Feb. 22.
March 17, 2010
The Great Commission Resurgence: Southern Baptists aim to do more, together, for the glory of God
God’s people are never without an assignment, and the Southern Baptist Convention came into being more than a century and a half ago as a means of answering the call of the nations and mobilizing Southern Baptists for the Great Commission. Thankfully, we are still focused on that call. Strategically, we must ask if there is a way to do even more.
March 16, 2010
Call lowers anxiety over GCR recommendations
Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, lowered the anxiety level of some participants in a national conference call Tuesday with up to 500 participants arranged by the Network of Baptist Associations.Floyd reaffirmed that any recommendations concerning the North American Mission Board would still involve partnerships and that NAMB would not be a strategy “island.”
March 15, 2010
Bad data skewed GCR position
In all the dialog about the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s study of processes in Southern Baptist life as it seeks efficiencies to get more money “to the nations,” the single most arresting fact that committee members quoted was that two-thirds of missions money and personnel allocated through the North American Mission Board was deployed in the old south states.
March 13, 2010
Vocal CP cutter to be SBC president nominee
DULUTH — Marietta, Ga., pastor Bryant Wright will be nominated as president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the SBC's annual meeting June 15-16 in Orlando, Fla.
March 13, 2010
My Reactions to the Great Commission Resurgence Report
Most people in Southern Baptist life would like to see us become more effective in evangelism. Most are not so selfish or such turf guarders that if you showed them how lost people could really be brought to the Lord - in our communities, in our nation, in the world - that we wouldn't grit our teeth and step up to the plate to get it done.
March 12, 2010
An Alternative GCR Plan?
I would be very interested in reading thoughts from the Directors of Missions, especially those in the newer convention areas, about an alternative GCR (Great Commission Resurgence) plan.
March 12, 2010
Bryant Wright to be nominated SBC president in Orlando
Bryant Wright, senior pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist Convention during the June SBC annual meeting in Orlando, David Uth, pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, announced March 11.
March 12, 2010
Rankin-Chapman differences are 'unfortunate,' SCBC's Austin says
A public airing of differences between two leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention is “unfortunate,” said Jim Austin, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
March 11, 2010
Missourians view initial GCR report cautiously
An idea put forth by Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Director David Tolliver concerning a progress report released Feb. 22 by the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) drew support from two of Missouri’s three representatives on the SBC Executive Committee.
March 11, 2010
Opinion: Passion for Great Commission great -- when amiable
I'm a passionate guy. Not only do I understand when a person's commitment to his or her ministry prompts a passion that excludes consideration that another ministry might be just as valid, I often applaud it. Every ministry needs advocates willing to stand on a hill and wave the banner for it or that ministry will suffer the ignominious fate that befalls the lukewarm and anonymous.
March 11, 2010
If adopted, GCR proposal could ‘change face of evangelism in Alabama’
Sammy Gilbreath didn’t mince words. “It would devastate us,” he declared. Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), was referring to the proposal for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) to withdraw all of its funding for work with Alabama’s convention and other state conventions.
March 11, 2010
Critique of Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report
The initial report to the Executive Committee of the SBC from the “Great Commission Task Force seems exceedingly verbose and dangerously pernicious to our Baptist community’, since those, who ignore history, are bound to repeat its mistakes. In its present form the report may guarantee the failure of NAMB rather than improve it.
March 11, 2010
Great Commission Resurgence demands a Cooperative Program Resurgence
“In One Sacred Effort,” Chad Owen Brand and David E. Hankins, stated, “If the New Testament churches cooperated with one other to provide relief in times of financial hardship and in the expression of love, so can we for those who stand in need of help in our day.
March 10, 2010
Church planters’ task ‘unchanged,’ Harris says
A sobering state-of-North America message was voiced to 320 church planting missionaries by the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) interim president during the 2010 Church Planting Missionary Forum, at which Baptist State Convention of North Carolina church planter Ralph Garay was recognized as “Asian Church Planting Missionary of the Year.”
March 10, 2010
Point of View: It’s time for a GCR
I’m sure you’ve probably read the report released by the Southern Baptist Convention Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. I’m deeply grateful for the vision, passion, and leadership given by this team of leaders. We were all reminded that the foundation for a Great Commission Resurgence begins in our lives personally and in our churches corporately.
March 10, 2010
Florida Baptists respond to GCR Task Force ‘progress report’
Florida Baptists in Nashville for a Feb. 22-23 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee voiced a variety of opinions about a progress report issued by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
March 10, 2010
GCR report could put TBC partner states ‘out of business’
Smaller Baptist state conventions in new work areas could cease to exist if the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force is adopted without any changes in June by messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Fla.
March 9, 2010
More Reflections on the GCR Task Force’s Preliminary Recommendations
The Task Force Report contains a glaring statistical error based on inaccurate information that was given to them by NAMB. An article explaining this mistake can be found at: http://www.namb.net/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=9qKILUOzEpH&b=227361&ct=8062375. It includes this description of the nature of the error:
March 9, 2010
NAMB corrects missionary count data to GCR Task Force
The North American Mission Board has informed the Great Commission Task Force that data it provided last summer regarding the geographic distribution of missionaries in North America contained a significant error. The NAMB error resulted in incorrect data being published in the Feb. 22 "progress report" issued by the GCRTF.
March 8, 2009
Guest Editorial: Don’t Stop Short
The release of the progress report from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force on Feb. 22 creates an exciting time for Southern Baptists and is bound to spark discussion within the convention.
March 7, 2010
Southern Baptists map 'resurgence
f there's one thing Southern Baptists agree on, it's this: They have big problems. Baptisms are lower than in the 1950s, membership is down, and missionaries have been cut. Southern Baptist leaders say it's time for drastic change.
March 4, 2010
IMB head welcomes proposed funding hike
The head of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board welcomed a recent progress report by a Great Commission Task Force as a "token" step toward redistributing more resources to the denomination's primary task of reaching the lost in a report to IMB trustees March 2.
March 4, 2010
Rankin welcomes GCR report's 'token commitment' to IMB funding boost
The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board welcomed a recent progress report by a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force as a "token" step toward redistributing more resources to the denomination's primary task of reaching the lost in a report to IMB trustees March 2.
March 4, 2010
Floyd: GCR is 'missional impact movement'
The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force hopes to spark a “missional impact movement,” not a denominational reorganization, Ronnie Floyd said in a wide-ranging interview with state Baptist newspaper editors Feb. 23.
March 4, 2010
GCR Task Force recommends changes to ‘business as usual’
Southern Baptists must be gripped anew by the lostness of the world, repent of their self-centeredness and focus their local churches on taking the gospel to those who have yet to hear, the chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force said Feb. 22.
March 4, 2010
GCR Task Force calls for changes for states, NAMB
Major changes for the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and state conventions were among the recommendations outlined in a progress report by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), presented Feb. 22 in Nashville.
March 3, 2010
Tennesseans opine on Great Commission Resurgence report
Reactions of Tennessee Baptists present for the progress report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force varied, but were generally positive, mixed with a desire to see the final report with specific recommendations.
March 3, 2010
GCR terminology a CP disaster
The irony of life in the Southern Baptist corral is that for most of the past 30 years Southern Baptists have elected to national leadership men who did not demonstrate deep seated, heartfelt, convictional support of the Southern Baptist Convention. Being a convention with a majority of small churches, bivocational pastors, rural roots and minimal theological education, we’ve almost always elected men from large churches with charisma who could look sharp and speak well on the national stage and make us feel good about the Southern Baptist image.
March 3, 2010
GCR task force initial report shows it’s still a work in progress
Southern Baptists must be gripped anew by the lostness of the world, repent of their self-centeredness and focus their local churches on taking the Gospel to those who have yet to hear, the chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force said Feb. 22.
March 2, 2010
Probable Impact of the GCR Task Force’s Recommendations
Most Southern Baptists are completely clueless about how their denomination has supported its domestic mission efforts in the decades since World War II. This ignorance is not limited to the average layperson in the pew but is shared by most pastors as well. Even Southern Baptists who belong to our churches in such remote denominational outposts as Minnesota and Wisconsin are usually uninformed on this subject. This reflects a widespread failure on the part of Southern Baptist leaders at the national, state, association and local church levels to do meaningful missions and stewardship education and has, I believe, directly contributed to the looming crisis that the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s preliminary report has triggered.
March 1, 2010
Commentary: Go Forward, Not Backward … by Don Kirkland
The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force has released a report, though not the final one.
March 1, 2010
GCR Task Force recommends ‘missional vision,’ ‘core values’
When Southern Baptists meet in Orlando June 15-16, they will be faced with the choice of retreating to the past, preserving the present or rising to a future of advancing the Gospel to the nations, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Chairman Ronnie Floyd told the SBC Executive Committee meeting Feb. 22 in Nashville.
March 1, 2010
GCR Task Force releases its long awaited progress report to EC
Southern Baptists must be gripped anew by the lostness of the world, repent of their self-centeredness and focus their local churches on taking the Gospel to those who have yet to hear, the chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force said Feb. 22.
December 28, 2009
Resurgence group making ‘great’ progress, expects to report in Feb.
The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force reported significant progress in its Nov. 30-Dec. 1 meeting in Atlanta and plans to present a substantial report during the February meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee in Nashville, according to task force chairman Ronnie Floyd.
November 2, 2009
In the beginning ... has SBC purpose changed?
The viability of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) as a dynamic, growing, focused and effective convention of churches has been a matter of wide and constant debate since this spring; ever since Southeastern Baptist Seminary President Danny Akin floated 12 axioms for a Great Commission Resurgence that became the framework around which SBC President Johnny Hunt named a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.
October 22, 2009
Tulsa area pastors welcome GCR priorities during session
The appeal for a Great Commission Resurgence found a warm reception among the 100 or more Oklahoma pastors and laymen gathering at First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow for a GCR Task Force listening session Oct. 22.
October 20, 2009
Akin: SBC’s future ‘hopeful’ if committed to Great Commission
With “seismic changes” creating an “unprecedented” historical moment for the Southern Baptist Convention, Danny Akin is not optimistic about the future of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination but he is “hopeful”—if Southern Baptists will fully commit themselves to the Lord ship of Christ and His Great Commission.
October 19, 2009
Gilbert, Akin give insights into GCR
Members of the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force appointed by Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Johnny Hunt in June are not releasing any information about their deliberations, but recent comments by two North Carolina members offer some insights into at least what they are thinking.
October 15, 2009
Naples church aims to personalize missions with ‘Great Commission Connection’
In what he hopes will be a “game-changer in terms of the Cooperative Program and our whole relationship with missions,” Hayes Wicker has led First Baptist Church in Naples to launch the “Great Commission Connection.”
Sept 25, 2009
Morris H. Chapman: A leadership retrospective
Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, has called on Southern Baptists –- every church, every pastor, every entity head, every Sunday school class or small group –- to pray this next year for "just one more soul" in a prayer initiative to support the Great Commission Resurgence. Thus, Chapman, who announced his projected 2010 retirement date at the fall Executive Committee meeting (September 21-22), will close his 18-year tenure with the Executive Committee in the same way he began -- with a call for corporate prayer and personal evangelism.
Sept 22, 2009
Chapman urges prayer for 'one more soul'
Announcing "a prayer initiative to support the Great Commission Resurgence," Morris H. Chapman called Baptists to each pray for one person to be saved.
Aug 27, 2009
GCR task force calls for input, prayer
Interest is "huge" in the Southern Baptist Convention's Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and the group wants grass-roots Southern Baptists to share their thoughts and mobilize their congregations to pray for the task force's work, its chairman said Aug. 27.
Aug 27, 2009
SBC President Hunt urges 'personal Great Commission resurgence'
Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt called on the denomination's pastors Aug. 26 to seek "a personal Great Commission Resurgence" and lead their congregations to "embrace in the greatest degree ever the lostness of the world."
August 25, 2009
Task force has potential, if it stays on task
Is the creation of a Great Commission Task Force for Kentucky Baptists a good thing?
August 18, 2009
Task force chairman Floyd encouraged after first meeting
Atlanta—The first meeting of the task force charged with helping spark a “Great Commission resurgence” among Southern Baptists held its first meeting Aug. 11-12 in Atlanta, and chairman Ronnie Floyd came away feeling both encouraged by the spirit of the gathering and burdened by the enormity of the challenge before them.
July 30, 2009
NAMB task force discusses name, purpose; closes meetings to media
The North American Great Commission Task Force held its first working meeting July 28, discussing its purpose and the need for a new name -- and voting to hold its meetings in private.
July 28, 2009
Task force to meet twice in August, 4 more appointed
The Southern Baptist Convention’s newly minted Great Commission Task Force will meet twice next month, once in Atlanta, Ga. and once in Rogers, Ark.
July 28, 2009
Great Commission, not 'old wars,' will be focus of GCR task force, chairman says
Ronnie Floyd knows many Southern Baptists had reservations about the "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration and some are concerned the "Great Commission Task Force" appointed during the annual meeting in June will turn the Southern Baptist Convention structure on its head.
June 25, 2009
Hunt expresses urgency about Great Commission
Encouraged by attendance exceeding 8,600 registered messengers on the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 23 -- twice as many as he expected -- SBC President Johnny Hunt said there is a "sense of urgency" among the brethren.
June 24, 2009
Great Commission Task Force approved by SBC messengers
Overwhelming approval of a Great Commission Task Force climaxed 25 minutes of discussion during the Tuesday evening session of Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.
June 24, 2009
SBC needs to be serious about Great Commission, Hunt stresses
Despite membership declines compounded by an apparent generation gap, the Southern Baptist Convention faces a bright future, SBC President Johnny Hunt predicted June 23.
July 6, 2009
Southern Baptists rally to president's call for Great Commission Resurgence
Messengers to the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention enthusiastically embraced SBC President Johnny Hunt's plan to appoint a task force to study how Southern Baptists can work "more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission."
July 9, 2009
Hunt adds four to GCR task force
Four members have been added to the Great Commission task force appointed June 24 by Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt during the SBC annual meeting in Louisville, Ky.
July 2, 2009
SBC messengers overwhelmingly approve Great Commission Task Force
Overwhelming approval of a Great Commission Task Force climaxed 25 minutes of discussion during the Tuesday evening session of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting.
July 2, 2009
Great Commission Task Force Is the Story
The story of the 164th annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is the Great Commission Task Force (see story, page 1). From start to finish, the meeting was orchestrated to keep attention focused on the proposal championed by SBC President Johnny Hunt.
June 29, 2009
Undercurrents indicate change in SBC
Even though the Great Commission Resurgence grabbed the headlines, three undercurrents of young pastors, John Calvin and Mark Driscoll pulled like riptides through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in Louisville June 23-24.
June 23, 2009
Pastors' Conference looks toward unity
On the second day of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville June 22, speakers exhorted pastors to lead with "One Love," "One Spirit" and "One Purpose."
June 23, 2009
'There's gold in them there pews,' Hunt tells pastors
"Getting serious doesn't mean you adopt something," Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt said in his presidential message June 23 at the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Ky.
June 23, 2009
Revival will lead to Great Commission Resurgence, Hunt predicts
Revival in the Southern Baptist Convention will lead to a Great Commission Resurgence, SBC President Johnny Hunt asserted in his president’s address to the convention’s annual meeting.
2009
Chapman: Missions trumps doctrinal divide
As the Southern Baptist Convention considers the specifics of a Great Commission Resurgence, Morris H. Chapman said a fervor for missions trumps doctrinal divides and Southern Baptists will unite for the sake of lost souls.
June 22, 2009
Pastors: Loveless gospel attracts no one
Until Baptists demonstrate love for each other, the gospel of love they preach will not attract others according to speakers at the opening session June 21 of the annual Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Pastors’ Conference.
June 16, 2009
Hunt responds to GCR critics, predicts approval of task force
Greater funding of the Cooperative Program will occur when Southern Baptists have greater confidence their gifts support the priorities of North American church planting, global pioneer missions around the globe and theological education, declared Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt in an interview with four state Baptist paper editors.
June 12, 2009
Spiritual Awakening is the change we need
Let the record show that I am in favor of the Great Commission! If there is anything that characterizes Christianity, it is the parting earthly words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said as we are going into the world to make disciples, baptize them and teach them to observe the Word of God. This was given to the church as a mandate to extend to all cultures, languages, and ethnicities until Jesus returns.
June 8, 2009
Hunt responds to GCR critics
Greater funding of the Cooperative Program will occur when Southern Baptists have greater confidence their gifts support the priorities of North American church planting, global pioneer missions around the globe and theological education, declared Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt in an interview with four state Baptist paper editors.
June 5, 2009
Hunt responds to GCR critics, predicts SBC will approve task force
Greater funding of the Cooperative Program will occur when Southern Baptists have greater confidence their gifts support the priorities of North American church planting, global pioneer missions around the globe and theological education, declared Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt in an interview with four state Baptist paper editors.
May 28, 2009
Give the Great Commission Resurgence a chance
Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt, of Georgia, has put his finger on a need and a sore spot for the churches of our denomination. For a variety of reasons, most unrelated to associational, state convention, or SBC agency work, we don’t witness to our neighbors and our churches are not making disciples at the rate they did decades ago. Energy, bright ideas, strategies, and cleverly named emphases have rolled through for the past 30 years with little effect on the decline. What next? President Hunt hopes he knows the answer to that.
May 27, 2009
More than hurt feelings hang in balance with Article 9
SBC President Johnny Hunt plans to name a task force or study committee at the annual meeting in June to address the issues he raised in the call “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence.” Because nine of the 10 items in the declaration urge individual or local church action, they are likely to see little action. No task force, no matter how searing and insightful its report, can jump start a stalled Christian.
May 24, 2009
In June, Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting will concentrate on a disputed report urging rededication to evangelism.
A report urging Southern Baptists to re-energize efforts to spread the Gospel and plant churches will top the agenda at the denomination’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., next month.
May 22, 2009
Kentucky GC Task Force Plans Listening Sessions
Kentucky Baptists will get a chance to share their ideas about how our Convention can most effectively fulfill the Great Commission through two upcoming listening sessions being planned by the KBC’s Great Commission Task Force.
May 22, 2009
Akin offers specifics for GCR
A document declaring the Southern Baptist Convention at all levels needs a drastic overhaul naturally begs for specifics and the “Great Commission Resurgence” author is happy to provide some.
May 21, 2009
Great Commission Declaration requires restraint
Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and primary author of the document along with Johnny Hunt, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., and current president of the SBC, have released a document called “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention: A Declaration.” And it seems that everybody is lining up to sign it. Well, not everybody. Let me explain to you why I have not signed the GCR Declaration.
May 19, 2009
Go and make disciples — reflections on the GCR report
On Tuesday afternoon, June 15, messengers will gather in Orlando, Fla., at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, to consider the final report from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. The report calls for Southern Baptists to find ways to push back the lostness that characterizes so much of North America and the rest of the world.
May 14, 2009
Hunt says church is ‘king’ to bureaucracy’s ‘prince’
Part of the reason SBC President Johnny Hunt was ready to “shock the system” with a strongly worded call to a “Great Commission Resurgence” is that he and other leading Southern Baptist pastors feel a large denominational structure that depends on gifts from churches is not flexible enough to appreciate churches that sometimes do missions outside of that structure.
May 14, 2009
Hunt says GCR was needed ‘shock’ to ‘adrift’ SBC
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS (FBW) – The Southern Baptist Convention is a ship “adrift” and so low in the water that it “probably” needs to rid itself of some unnecessary “cargo” to “float and be healthy and strong again,” SBC president Johnny Hunt said in a May 13 interview with Florida Baptist Witness.
May 13, 2009
Signers say ‘Great Commission Resurgence’ needed
The “Great Commission Resurgence” declaration being circulated by Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt represents a heartfelt effort to deal with the challenges churches face with witness and ministry in today’s culture, four men who signed the declaration have told Baptist Press.
May 13, 2009
Non-signers question tone, focus, clarity of declaration
Reaction to the “Great Commission Resurgence” declaration in various quarters of Southern Baptist life includes questions about its tone, focus and lack of clarity.
May 13, 2009
Blackaby: Relationships will fuel ‘Resurgence’
If Southern Baptists want to see a “Great Commission Resurgence,” Henry Blackaby believes they need to focus on the relationship between disciples and the living Lord Jesus, not launch a new emphasis on evangelism.
May 8, 2009
State leaders endorse ‘Great Commission Resurgence’
Two leaders of the South Carolina Baptist Convention have voiced their support of Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt’s call for a Great Commission Resurgence
May 7, 2009
‘On the Great Commission Resurgence’ (excerpt)
The following is excerpted from the SBTC resolution titled “On the Great Commission Resurgence,” approved by messengers in November 2008.
May 7, 2009
Great Commission Resurgence gains traction
A declaration released by SBC President Johnny Hunt calling for a “Great Commission Resurgence” among Southern Baptists has drawn more than 1,500 signatures since it was posted April 27 at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com.
May 5, 2009
GCR: Merge mission boards, chairman of North American Mission Board says
The trustee chairman of the North American Mission Board believes the "Great Commission Resurgence" declaration creates an opportunity for dialogue about an issue he believes needs to be addressed: a merger of the SBC's two mission boards.
May 5, 2009
GCR: GPS rally cry will unite Southern Baptists around Great Commission
When the North American Mission Board began discussing a new denomination-wide evangelism initiative with our state and local partners back in 2006, we had no idea what the world would be like in the days leading up to the launch of the emphasis. Back in 2006, jobs were plentiful, credit was flowing, mortgages were easy to get and the bull market seemed like it would never end.
May 5, 2009
GCR: My bloated bureaucracy
The following FIRST PERSON was adapted from a letter sent by the executive director-treasurer of the Baptist Convention of Iowa to his fellow state executive directors in response to the Great Commission Resurgence declaration released Monday, April 27.
May 5, 2009
GCR: 'Great Commission Resurgence' needs Great Commission partners
Over the past two years we have called for consensus, renewal and bridge building in our shared work across Southern Baptist life. We applaud the fact that the spirit of that call is reflected in so many aspects of the recently released statement, "Toward a Great Commission Resurgence," by SBC President Johnny Hunt.
April 30, 2009
SBC president calls for ‘Great Commission Resurgence’
A declaration released by Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt calling for a “Great Commission Resurgence” among Southern Baptists has drawn more than 700 signatures since it was posted on the Internet April 27.
April 29, 2009
Hunt declares: ‘Great Commission Resurgence’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A declaration released by SBC President Johnny Hunt calling for a “Great Commission Resurgence” among Southern Baptists has drawn more than 700 signatures since it was posted April 27 at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com.
April 27, 2009
