GCR Articles & Papers
June 15, 2010
June 4, 2010
Open Letter to Southern Baptists about the GCRTF Recommendations
An open letter to Southern Baptists has been released by Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, regarding issues to be decided at the convention's June 15-16 annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.
June 4, 2010
'A Better Way Ahead' –- alternate recommendations released by EC's Chapman
A list of alternate recommendations to those of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force have been released by Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee.
June 3, 2010
PERSPECTIVE (Morris H. Chapman): The Great Commission Task Force Final Report: An Analysis and Thoughtful Questions
To my knowledge, the release of the Final Report of the Great Commission Task Force is a first. There has been no previous committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that has brought a report to Convention that has so challenged the fragile nature of the cooperative relationships that make up the fabric of the Convention as this Report. I have continued to analyze it for what it actually says. In my years of service to Southern Baptists, I have not seen anything framed more appealingly that has such potential to damage our cooperative work than this document.
June 2, 2010
PERSPECTIVE: The downside of the GCTF recommendations -- would likely harm the SBC and its Executive Committee
The Great Commission Task Force (GCTF) has recommended gutting the SBC Executive Committee (EC) by taking away $2 million of its budget! This amount is 30 percent of the receipts allocated by the Southern Baptist Convention to the EC through the Cooperative Program (CP) Allocation Budget. The GCTF chose to use a term that appears in the SBC CP Allocation Budget, namely "Facilitating Ministries." Lest anyone be confused, let me clarify that this is a reference to the SBC Operating Budget and the Executive Committee budget, a fact that the GCTF does not clarify in its Final Report. Whatever you call it, this budget is administered by the Executive Committee and this drastic cut of $2 million will force the EC to slash ministries that have been very successful.
May 7, 2010
What's In A Name?
The Final Report of the Great Commission Task Force (GCTF) was released on May 3, 2010. It contains a Component called “Celebrating and Empowering Great Commission Giving” (Component Three). The GCTF plans to recommend to the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Florida, June 15-16, a new category of giving for Southern Baptists to celebrate what the task force calls “Great Commission Giving” (GCG). It will encompass “the total of all monies channeled through the causes of the Southern Baptist Convention, the state conventions, and associations” (Final Report, p. 8).
April 9, 2010
Just the Facts
Finding the facts concerning our structure, methodology and finances is a difficult undertaking. I know it has been for the task force, as their recent need to correct some erroneous data they had been given has illustrated. Our Southern Baptist distribution systems are multiple and varied, and our emphases and perspectives are also.
April 2, 2010
Letter to the Great Commission Task Force, EC Member Gary McKean
As have so many, I have been thinking a great deal about all that has been said and written about the Great Commission Task Force and its Progress Report. We can all acknowledge that we are scripturally charged with fulfilling the Great Commission. We should also acknowledge that that it is wise and reasonable to assess how we are doing and how can we do more and do it better. In the midst of the mounting debate and discussion about the recommendations in the Progress Report, we need all the more to embrace a God-centered perspective, lest we forget that we are His and it is His Kingdom that we are seeking to help build.
April 1, 2010
Suggestions to the Great Commission Task Force, EC Member Gary McKean
First, as a member of the SBC Executive Committee, I want to thank you for your efforts and services with the Great Commission Task Force. I take the liberty of sending this memorandum to you with the hope that you will be able to consider and distribute it to the Task Force members for the upcoming Task Force meeting.
March 19, 2010
Cooperative Program Promotion, Stewardship Education, and the Southern Baptist Convention
On February 22, 2010, the Great Commission Task Force issued a “Progress Report” on ways it hopes to assist Southern Baptists to “work
more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The 32-page report contains a brief sermon
outline, eight core values, and six principal “components.” This brief essay will evaluate its Component #4 in light of the
85-year history of promotion of the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Cooperative Program Promotion, Stewardship Education, and the Southern Baptist Convention
An Historical Review
On February 22, 2010, the Great Commission Task Force issued a “Progress Report” on ways it hopes to assist Southern Baptists to “work
more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.” The 32-page report contains a brief sermon
outline, eight core values, and six principal “components.” This brief essay will evaluate its Component #4 in light of the
85-year history of promotion of the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention.
February 22, 2010
SBC Executive Committee President’s Report
As a member of the Executive Committee, you serve in one of the most critical positions in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). The Convention relies heavily on you to be trustworthy and wise in your deliberations and judgments. The committee always will have its critics, and lobbyists who attempt to pressure you “to see it their way.” Those who live and die by the political sword in the Convention believe that you can be convinced of their position because of your desire for political good will. But in the years I have been here, members of the Executive Committee have displayed rare and courageous resistance against those who attempt to influence your vote on everything from issues to officer nominees.
February 22, 2010
Progress Report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention
Delivered by Dr. Ronnie W. Floyd, Chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention
February 22, 2010
