Almost 1,000 attend 21-C to explore P.E.A.C.E. plan

More than nine hundred people from 10 states attended Virginia Baptists' “P.E.A.C.E in 21-C” conference Feb. 2-3 at The St. Paul's Baptist Church in Richmond. An annual event, the 21-C conference is intended to be a vision-casting experience for courageous church ministry.

The focus of this year's 21-C was the global P.E.A.C.E. Plan, developed by Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. “P.E.A.C.E.” is an acronym for a fivefold ministry strategy to address five problems of global proportions:

• Plant churches (to address the problem of spiritual emptiness)

• Equip servant leaders (to address the problem of corrupt leadership)

• Assist the poor (to address the problem of extreme poverty)

• Care for the sick (to address the problem of pandemic diseases)

• Educate the next generation (to address the problem of illiteracy and lack of education)

The conference also featured six Virginia Baptist churches whose ministries mirror elements of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan: Spring Hill Baptist Church in Ruckersville; Blacksburg Baptist Church in Blacksburg; Powhatan Community Church in Powhatan; Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Herndon; Shining Star Community Church in Falls Church; and The Light Global Mission in Vienna. Through video presentations and live interviews, these churches and their pastors shared their congregational stories and ministry strategies during a Friday morning session.

Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, executive director of Saddleback Church's HIV/AIDS Initiative, were scheduled to speak at the conference on Friday afternoon and evening. But both were forced to cancel after Rick Warren's brother, Jim Warren, died unexpectedly on Jan. 29.

In their absence, Rick Warren addressed the conference in a 90-minute video message, which began with him greeting Virginia Baptists and expressing his regret at being unable to attend. “I can't tell you how much I wish I was there with you right now,” said Warren. “It breaks my heart. I've been looking forward to this meeting now for about a year. And every bone in my body wishes that I was there with you right now.

“My older brother, my only brother, Jim … passed away unexpectedly this week. And today as you're watching this , I'm doing his funeral.

“So evidently God had another idea. But that's not going to stop me from delivering the messages that I've had in my heart and wanted to share with you, Virginia Baptists, now for some time.”

Warren then began his message by relating how three things that happened to him in 2002 caused him to re-evaluate his ministry goals. First, his wife, Kay, became interested in the AIDS pandemic and how to respond to it. Then he traveled with Kay to Africa, where he saw the effects of AIDS and the plight of churches there firsthand, and he found himself asking God: “What else have I been missing?” And third, the phenomenal success of Warren's best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life, which brought him huge amounts of money and widespread fame. He decided that the best “stewardship of this enormous affluence and influence” was to use them on behalf of the poor and those who have no influence.

Warren then discussed several trends that he believes are precursors to a “second reformation” that he foresees in the church. Whereas the first reformation in the 16th century was a reformation of beliefs, he argues that this second 21st century reformation will be a reformation of actions and will rest on five bases: the mobilization of ordinary Christians, the multiplication of local churches in both quantity and quality, the eradication of global social problems, a new congregation-to-congregation networking among churches, and ultimately the evangelization of the entire world.

Warren's goal now is to help “move the American church from selfish consumerism to unselfish contribution.” Warren concluded his message by quoting from Acts 13:36, which describes David as a man “who served God's purpose in his generation.” “That's what I want on my tombstone,” said Warren. “And that's what I hope you will be inspired to do through this video.”

Noting that in less than 30 minutes Rick Warren would be conducting his brother's funeral in California, John Chandler, former leader of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's courageous churches team and now leader of the Ray and Ann Spence Network for Congregational Leadership, closed the session with a prayer for Warren and his family.

In a separate 45-minute video of an address he delivered to an AIDS summit at Saddleback, Warren discussed the five global problems and the P.E.A.C.E. Plan in more detail.

The Friday evening worship service was also modified to accommodate the Warrens' absence. One of the scheduled speakers, Cheryl Allen, pastor of Troyeville Baptist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, was given additional time for her message. And a second speaker, Jimmie Davidson, pastor of Highlands Fellowship, a church of about 2,600 active members in Abingdon, was invited to share his church's involvement with the P.E.A.C.E Plan.

Allen's message was preceded by a brief video introducing the Door of Hope children's mission, which was founded by the Berea-Hillbrow Baptist Mission Church in inner-city Johannesburg while Allen was pastor there. Relying entirely upon donations and volunteers, this ministry receives and cares for abandoned infants. Since its founding in 1999, Door of Hope has taken in almost 550 children and now has three baby houses, each capable of caring for a dozen infants until they are adopted, enter foster care, or are placed in an AIDS home.

As pastor at Troyeville Baptist, also an inner-city church, Allen has established a day care center to provide a safe and nurturing environment for toddlers who otherwise would spend the day unsupervised in a neighborhood infested with drugs, prostitution, gangs and violence. The day care center currently has 60 children and has had to turn away another 40 “until we can get more toilets” to meet local government regulations. At present, the children cannot spend the night at the center, but Allen hopes to be able to provide overnight housing at Troyeville Baptist soon.

In her address to the conference, Allen preached on Matthew 9:35-38. “The church must stand up and do something in this generation,” said Allen. “We must learn to see people as Jesus saw them.” Allen was moved to found the Door of Hope ministry after seeing a child abandoned on a piece of newspaper in a trash can. “I could not do nothing,” she said.

The local community has nicknamed Berea-Hillbrow “the hole-in-the-wall church” because of the bin in the church wall into which mothers can place unwanted newborn babies so that they will not be abandoned on the street. “Our record was 10 babies in 10 days,” Allen said. “But we just surpassed that recently when we received five babies in one day. They come to us as young as half an hour old; we know this because the cord is still pumping.”

Acknowledging that this is a difficult ministry, Allen admonished the audience not be deterred by the pain and hard work that come with helping those who are suffering, nor to forget that the reason for social ministry is not only to meet human need but also to share the gospel. As a South African native speaking to an American audience, Allen stated frankly: “American churches have great resources; therefore you also have great responsibility.”

“It's sad to have lots of opportunity and few laborers,” she concluded. “We need to go out in the power of the Spirit and bring in the harvest.”

In his message, Jimmie Davidson recounted how he attended a Purpose-Driven Church conference at Saddleback in May of 2003 and first heard Rick Warren's vision to touch the world “for the global glory of God.” Davidson returned to Highlands Fellowship and “drove the church crazy” with this idea. He has since traveled to Egypt at Saddleback's invitation to lead a Purpose-Driven Church conference. And when a neighbor of Highlands Fellowship complained that the church's growth had devalued their property, the church purchased the house and now uses it to host three conferences a year that bring influential church leaders from around the world so that they can learn the P.E.A.C.E. Plan and return to implement it in their churches.

At the end of the worship service, participants were invited to indicate their commitment to the P.E.A.C.E. Plan by signing 10 large banners placed throughout the room. A special love offering was also collected for the Jim Warren Memorial Rwanda P.E.A.C.E. fund.

On Saturday, participants were offered a variety of track options. An all-day session provided extensive training in implementing the P.E.A.C.E Plan in local churches, led by Saddleback staff members Mike Constantz and Skip Lanfried. Other half-day tracks also explored ways to deploy the P.E.A.C.E Plan in specific ministry contexts.

A track on ministering to people with HIV/AIDS was to have been facilitated by Elizabeth Styffe, director of Saddleback Church's HIV/
AIDS Initiative. But Styffe also remained in California to attend Jim Warren's funeral. In her absence, Cheryl Allen and her husband, Don, who has conducted extensive AIDS training for the government of South Africa and for local congregations, along with YuVonda Garrett and Eric King, leaders of the AIDS ministry at The St. Paul's Baptist Church, volunteered to lead this session.

Other half-day track options included a workshop for worship pastors, led by Rick Muchow, musical director and music pastor at Saddleback Church; an exploration of mission opportunities with Virginia Baptist partners, facilitated by retired pastor Charles Benton, disaster relief volunteer Gerri McDaniel and members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's glocal missions and evangelism team; and a dialogue session with the six pastors of the featured Virginia Baptist churches, moderated by John Chandler.

“This has been my favorite 21-C,” Chandler said after the conference had ended. “And the coolest thing is that Virginia Baptists have had the opportunity to learn from each other, to learn from other churches that are in the same ministry context as they are.”

The day before the 21-C conference, 67 people participated in a pre-conference seminar on congregational spiritual formation led by Israel Galindo, professor of Christian education at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

Excited by the missions and outreach potential of this year's P.E.A.C.E. in 21-C conference, two Virginia Baptist ministers and their congregations took the initiative to make the P.E.A.C.E. Plan training available to a wider audience. In January, Jimmie Davidson and Highlands Fellowship offered to pay the 21-C registration fees for two key leaders from any Baptist General Association of Virginia church to attend the conference. “This is an act of love from our church,” said Davidson in announcing the offer. “We believe Jesus really meant the Great Commission, and this is a way for us to encourage people to do missions together, no matter who we are or what part of the state we're from.” About 200 people registered for the conference through Highlands Fellowship's offer.

Like Davidson, Louis Orsatti, minister to the Hispanic congregation at Branch's Baptist Church in Richmond, wanted to expose more people to the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. Orsatti, who is also the Mission Board's Hispanic catalyst missionary for the Capital Region, contacted Saddleback Church and asked if their staff could help organize a one-day P.E.A.C.E. conference for Hispanic pastors at Branch's Baptist on Feb. 2. As a result, Brian Harper from Saddleback provided P.E.A.C.E. Plan training in Spanish for 35 pastors from several East Coast states. Saddleback also assisted with food and advertising for this concurrent 21-C event.