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GCR report tops annual meeting agenda


ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–The final report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will highlight the Southern Baptist Convention’s 153rd annual meeting when the two-day event convenes June 15 in Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.

The report, to be unveiled May 3 at www.pray4gcr.com, has been the centerpiece of discussion in Southern Baptist circles since messengers at the 2009 meeting in Louisville, Ky., authorized the SBC president to appoint a task force. The public conversation intensified when the GCRTF released a preliminary version of its report Feb. 22, with some hailing it as innovative and others expressing concerns that it would negatively impact cooperation with state conventions and hurt giving through the SBC’s Cooperative Program.

While the task force expects to present its report June 15, they have not announced whether its recommendations will be offered as a single motion or several. The Feb. 22 progress report was organized into six components, but task force chairman Ronnie Floyd has said the final version will be significantly different, because the task force has received substantial feedback from a wide range of Southern Baptists since the original’s release.

Another matter of major interest is the fact that three Southern Baptist entities (International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, SBC Executive Committee) have presidential search committees at work. Candidates for any or all of those positions may be announced and voted on by the respective trustee boards before the annual meeting convenes, although none of the three committees has released information that would suggest that possibility.

THEME

SBC President Johnny Hunt has selected “LoveLoud through the Great Commission” (1 John 3:18) as the theme for this year’s sessions.

“We’ve got to ‘Love Loud’!” Hunt, senior pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Church in Woodstock, said. “Loud Love moves beyond the four walls of the church. I hope to encourage our folks to roll up their sleeves and get after it.

“Our theme verse is clear,” Hunt said of 1 John 3:18 — “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”

“It is not simply enough to say; we must do!” Hunt added. “We have embraced what we believe. It is now or never to engage this generation with what we believe — the Gospel. Our nation is lost. We have the answer. Let’s do it!”

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Among the highlights planned for this year’s program:

— Musical features throughout the meeting presented by the worship choir and orchestra of First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Ga., and a 1,000-voice combined choir and 200-piece combined orchestra.

— Opening session reports by Morris H. Chapman, retiring president of the SBC Executive Committee, and the presidential message by Hunt.

— The election of officers set to begin at 2:20 p.m. June 15. Candidates for president, as of press time, were Jimmy Jackson, senior pastor of Whitesburg Baptist Church in Huntsville and president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, and Bryant Wright, senior pastor of the Atlanta-area Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta.

— The convention message by Mac Brunson, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., on Wednesday morning and, that evening at 8:40, a closing sermon by Southern Baptist evangelist Tony Nolan of Woodstock, Ga.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

-– Crossover Orlando 2010 will extend evangelistic block parties door-to-door and street witness on Saturday, June 12, across the city and three-county Orange, Seminole and Osceola region. In conjunction with Crossover, a Hispanic family festival will be held at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.

— The 2010 SBC Pastors’ Conference, which opens at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, June 13, with a concert by popular Christian musician Travis Cottrell, features a wide range of speakers from diverse backgrounds, including Tony Evans, senior pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and president of The Urban Alternative; C.J. Mahaney, pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and president of Sovereign Grace Ministries; apologetics speaker and author Ravi Zacharias; and Francis Chan, teaching pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi, Calif. The program also will feature the launch of a national campaign to help pastors adopt children.

— Gatherings for pastors’ wives that feature a June 14 conference and June 15 luncheon, as well as a Women’s Expo to build community, share resources and exchange ideas.

— The June 13-14 Woman’s Missionary Union Missions Celebration and Annual Meeting, gathering under the theme “Unhindered!” The program emphasis includes ways to address human exploitation, which is the focus of WMU’s Project HELP for 2010–12. The missions celebration will be held in the Orange County Convention Center’s Chapin Theater (West Concourse, Level 3), beginning at 6:30 p.m. June 13. Among the speakers at the missions celebration: Jennifer Kennedy Dean, author of this year’s WMU emphasis book, “Life Unhindered: Five Keys to Walking in Freedom,” and Gen. Douglas Carver, chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army.

— The Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists annual worship service will be held Wednesday afternoon, June 16, instead of prior to the convention, as in recent years. The change is intended to increase participation of pastors who don’t arrive at the convention until after Sunday morning. The service will be held from 2-5 p.m. in a theater just up the escalators from the meeting hall at the Orange County Convention Center. The timing is intended to allow messengers to attend seminary luncheons, make it back for the worship service and then attend the closing session of the SBC annual meeting. The program includes music by Greater Vision, a Southern gospel trio, a message from evangelist Tim Lee, a former Marine who lost his legs in Vietnam, and a videotaped message from evangelist Billy Graham.

— Associational directors of missions will convene for their 50th meeting June 12-14 with the theme “Celebrating 50 Years of Partnership in Kingdom Work.” Speakers for the event, which will begin at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Rosen Plaza Hotel, will include Frank Page, Ed Stetzer, O.S. Hawkins and Jerry Rankin. DOMs also will have a chance to dialogue with a representative from NAMB regarding the report from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.

REGISTRATION

Registration for the Orlando annual meeting once again will provide churches with the online opportunity to register their messengers at www.sbc.net to avoid waiting at the counter upon arrival at the convention.

After online registration, the SBC website provides a church with 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 registrations.

The traditional registration method also is available for those churches that are unable or may not opt to access the online registration. Registration cards are available from state convention offices.

For further information about online registration and hotel choices for the SBC annual meeting in Orlando, visit www.sbc.net.

RESOLUTIONS

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”). Resolutions may be submitted online but must be followed up by a letter of credentials from the submitter’s church.

CONVENTION ARRANGEMENTS

Shuttle service will be available to and from all the hotels on the official housing list posted at www.sbcannualmeeting.net, according to Don Magee, director of information/financial systems for the SBC Executive Committee. Shuttle passes can be purchased for $10 at the convention center for buses running June 15-16. Complimentary shuttle service will run from the convention hotels to the convention center, beginning June 13 at 2 p.m. and continuing Monday.

Parking at the Orange County Convention Center costs $11 each time a car enters the lot, Magee said.

Additional information about airport shuttle and local trolley service also is available at www.sbcannualmeeting.net, as are details about discount tickets to Disney World. Information about other Orlando attractions may be found at www.sbc.orlandomeetinginfo.com.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

Childcare for newborns through 3-year-olds will be available from Sunday evening through Wednesday, June 13-16. There is a non-refundable registration fee of $10 per child for preschool care. This fee is in addition to the session fees for the convention. The cost per session is $5 per child, not to exceed $40 per family, plus the $10 non-refundable registration fee. Lunch also will be available for preschoolers on Monday and Tuesday at $5 per meal. Complete payment is due for all sessions, and lunch if selected, no later than arrival at the first session. Registration is being handled exclusively online at www.sbcannualmeeting.net.

Children ages 4-12 can participate in an age-graded, Scripture-based conference conducted by Children’s Conferences International. The cost for the children’s conference is $45 per child, which includes a nonrefundable $20 registration fee. Questions about the children’s conference program can be phoned to Children’s Conferences International at 248-346-5373 or e-mailed to [email protected]. The deadline for enrollment is June 1 and is limited to 400 children.

Students who have completed grades 6 through 12 will have opportunities for worship and recreation in the Fuge program sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, beginning Monday night, June 14, and continuing into Wednesday morning, June 16. The program will include a day at Universal Studios. The cost for Fuge is $60 per student, including all materials as well as tickets and food at Universal Studios. Students can pre-register online at www.Fuge.com or sign up outside room W101A-B, level 1, in the Orange County Convention Center when they arrive in Orlando. For more information, check the website or contact Spratt at [email protected].

All children’s programs will be held in the Orange County Convention Center (West Building). Full information about programs for children and youth may be found at www.sbcannualmeeting.net, under the “Children & Students” tab.
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Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.

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