With the focus on evangelism and the goal of winning and baptizing 1 million people in a year, the Southern Baptist Convention will gather at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., June 13-14, for its annual meeting.
It will be the second consecutive year Southern Baptists have gathered under the banner of “Everyone Can” — a reference to the fact that all Christians are called to share their faith. Also, for the second straight year, baptisms will be held throughout the sessions.
This year's Scripture text is Matthew 28:19-10 — the Great Commission — and the theme is “Everyone Can … I'm It!” The “Everyone Can” challenge to win and baptize 1 million people officially began last October and ends the final week of September.
Breaking with tradition, Welch will deliver his president's address Wednesday evening, the same night the International Mission Board gives its report and presentation. Recording artist Casting Crowns and the “Everyone Can” People's Mass Choir and Orchestra also will perform that night.
This year's Crossover rally, held on Saturday and Sunday, June 10-11, will set the tone for the witnessing theme. During “Crossover Triad” hundreds of Southern Baptists will hit the streets of Greensboro and the surrounding cities of Winston-Salem and High Point to share the gospel.
The SBC Pastors' Conference will continue the Great Commission theme Sunday and Monday with its own theme, “Reaching Today's World for Jesus Christ.” This year's Pastors' Conference will feature something different — breakout sessions that will include more than 10 topics, including the doctrine of election and The Da Vinci Code.
Among the other highlights of the convention:
• Southern Baptists will elect a new president.
• A larger-than-life statue of a young Billy Graham will be unveiled. The nine-foot-tall statue eventually will be moved to a location near LifeWay Christian Resources.
• Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, will preach. Franklin Avenue's building had eight feet of water inside it during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
• Messengers will be asked to consider a report from the Ad Hoc Cooperative Program Committee that encourages “all Southern Baptist churches to adopt a missional mindset as they contribute at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program to local and global missions.” The report also encourages “the election of officers at the state and national level whose churches give at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.”
• Donald Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, S.C., will deliver the convention message.
• Directors of missions and associations will be spotlighted.
• Four pastors will deliver evangelism-themed “Everyone Can” sermons: Luter; Gene Mims, pastor of Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.; James I. Walker, pastor, Biltmore Baptist Church, Arden, N.C.; and David Cox, co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Online registration is available to churches for their messengers. Churches can register their messengers online at www.sbc.net to avoid waiting at the counter upon arrival at the convention. By registering online, the SBC website gives a church 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 registration.
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”).
Baptist Press