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ATLANTA – On the eve of the 19^th annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Houston, Texas, the Fellowship commissioned six individuals to full-time missions service. More than 800 people attended the commissioning service at South Main Baptist Church, a CBF partner church.

 

“You see, tonight really isn’t about you who are being commissioned at all,” said Rob Nash, the Fellowship’s coordinator of global missions. “If it is about you, then we’re focused on the wrong thing and asking the wrong question. It is about the most neglected. It is about the least evangelized and the most marginalized people in the world. It’s about homeless people in North Carolina, poverty-stricken children in Miami, churches and suffering people in China. ‘Who is my neighbor?’ the lawyer asked. Jesus responded, ‘Who will be a neighbor to those who live in poverty and spiritual despair and oppression?’ My prayer is that you will be.”

 

During the service, the Fellowship also recognized the Sichuan China Ministry Network, a group of congregations and individuals focused on ministry in the Sichuan Province of China. The network includes South Main Baptist; First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Tenn.; Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga.; and CBF field personnel Bill and Michelle Cayard, who serve in the Sichuan Province.

 

“In some respects, this network is but one among hundreds, perhaps thousands of networks that are emerging among congregations and partners in many places around the world,” Nash said. “This commissioning of a network is simply one way of expressing gratitude to God for what God is doing in the world – our effort to indicate our willingness to join with God in this engagement.”

 

Newly commissioned field personnel include the following:

• LaCount Anderson will serve alongside churches in Scotland Neck, N.C., assisting with ministries to people who are homeless.

• Cecelia Beck will serve in Shelby, N.C., as an outreach worker with the Northeast Shelby Weed and Seed, a comprehensive strategy designed to assist communities in bringing people and resources together to prevent and control crime and improve the overall quality of life.

• Christy Craddock will serve at Touching Miami with Love, a ministry center in the Miami, Fla., neighborhood of Overtown, one of the poorest areas in Florida.

• John and Michele Norman will work to develop a network of individuals and churches in the United States to pray, financially support and actively participate in the work of CBF in China.

• Gabe Orea will work in partnership with the local registered church in China to build relationships and opportunities to minister with the most neglected and least evangelized in Xiamen, Fujian, China. 

 

 

At Wednesday’s Leadership Institute, more than 225 church leaders participated in small group discussions based on “Growing an Engaged Church,” led by author Albert Winseman of Gallup Inc. Attendees also heard a presentation from Winseman, who said that churches have done a good job of creating a generation of believers in America but have not addressed discipleship.

 

“Growing disciples is a bit harder,” Winseman said. “The crisis facing the American church right now is a crisis of discipleship. We’re not sure what discipleship means and we’re not sure how to get there. We’re just sure that our approach is not working.”

 

As attendees dialogued about how churches measure commitment, Winseman suggested that there is a difference between involvement and engagement in the local church, saying engagement is “about rediscovering how to be the Church.”

 

At the Houston Sessions, a collegiate missional experience, more than 30 students explored issues related to poverty and are participating in aspects of the Assembly, such as serving communion during Friday evening’s worship service and leading a workshop about ministry to college students. 

 

“There’s energy among these students,” said Mike Young, missions coordinator at Tennessee CBF who helped lead the event. “This event gives them some handles on how they can serve and engage with CBF.”

 

At one Houston ministry, students heard about human trafficking, how it is often disguised and what they can do. Another group of students traveled to nearby Galveston, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike last year. They picked up trash on the beach and also learned about how a local non-profit is responding to poverty and other social needs.

 

“Our generation wants to go something about these issues. Our job is how can we fix this? How can we take action?” said Amanda Price, a senior visual communications student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.

 

Fellowship Baptists began the week of the Assembly with mission service projects in Houston. One ministry where groups are serving is Star of Hope, which ministers to Houston’s homeless.

 

“Christ is the center of everything we do from the start,” said Troy Williams, a minister at Star of Hope.

 

In addition to participating in a blood drive on Friday, Assembly attendees are collecting much-needed items for five ministries, including local homeless ministries, small toys for inner-city orphans, clothing items for ongoing border ministry and items requested by CBF field personnel to enhance their ministries. This is the second year that mission and collection projects have been part of the Assembly.

 

“We want to leave something positive behind in the cities where we meet,” said Chris Boltin, the Fellowship’s short term assignments and partnerships manager.

 

 

The CBF Coordinating Council met Wednesday and heard a finance report from CBF controller Larry Hurst. Hurst reported that as of May 31 CBF revenues were at $9,724,721, 80 percent of projected. CBF expenditures at the end of May were at $8,744,087, 82 percent of projected. On March 1, the Fellowship began a 20 percent spending reduction, part of a 19-month financial contingency plan.

 

The Coordinating Council announced that $2,500 would be given to the Asia Baptist Graduate Theological Seminary scholarship fund in memory of the consortium’s president, Lilian Lim, who died June 25. The first woman to lead the 50-year-old seminary consortium, Lim had planned to attend the General Assembly in Houston.

 

Thursday’s schedule includes the first business session, workshops, state and regional meetings, worship and a concert by Dove-award winning singer/songwriter Kyle Matthews. For more coverage, visit www.thefellowship.info/houston.

 

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.