There has already been a lot of ink spilled on the events of SBC21. But before we close the  book on a very good annual meeting, I thought I would take the opportunity to set forth a few highlights and offer my own perspective about the state of the SBC as we move forward together.

Few of us knew what to expect heading into this year’s annual meeting. From the messenger pre-registration numbers, we could tell it was going to be a capacity crowd that shattered attendance records from recent years. The number of anticipated messengers continued to climb in the weeks before the meeting, and as they did, curiosity and concern about what would happen rose along with them.

Would the annual meeting be a fractured and contentious two-day civil war? Would the debate over CRT reach a boiling point? Who would be the next president? And how would we feel when it was all over? Those were just a few of the questions being kicked around ahead of our time together in Nashville. 

Unity 

But when the day finally arrived, something amazing happened: Southern Baptists came together. We didn’t just meet together physically; we came together under the banner of Christ. 

At the outset, I found myself sitting next to two men, older saints whose views and preferences (even clothing) in many ways certainly did not match my own. But we stood shoulder to shoulder and prayed next to one another. We sang praises to God together. At several points, we cast votes the same way. And when we didn’t, we simply turned to one another to discuss the reasons why. Honestly, it was wonderful. 

There is something special about being together in the room. For too many of us, two years without an annual meeting and the coldness of online discourse allowed a defensive posture to develop. But from my vantage point, that largely dissipated once we were in that room. I don’t mean that every person in the room was totally unconcerned about our differences. But I do mean that I think most of us felt grateful to be there together and proud of the faith and practice we hold in common.

Among the two big stories coming out of the annual meeting, our shared sense of unity is certainly one of them. Looking at the final tallies from the presidential runoff, you might think the two candidates being separated by less than 600 votes represents a deep divide. But if you were there, you know that one vote doesn’t tell the whole story, because on so many occasions, the room overwhelmingly expressed the same opinion on a range of issues. For my part, I could not be more grateful for the sweet spirit of unity that permeated so much of those two days.

Sexual abuse

The other major story coming out of the annual meeting was the resolve of the messengers to continue to address with absolute seriousness the scourge of sexual abuse among us. The abuse of the vulnerable is heinous. And it is especially so when those being preyed upon are victimized in places where they are supposed to receive spiritual care and instruction. Ahead of the annual meeting, significant allegations surfaced about the potential mishandling of the SBC’s response to the issue of sexual abuse in some of our churches by certain members of the Executive Committee. 

In response to those allegations, Grant Gaines and Ronnie Parrott, local church pastors in Tennessee and North Carolina, announced their intention to call for the newly-elected SBC president to appoint a task force to oversee an independent, third-party investigation of these allegations. Gaines called for that action in the form of a motion on the first day of the meeting. But because it involved a specific SBC entity, under the convention’s rules that action was automatically referred to the Executive Committee. The following day, Gaines rose to speak to the issue and urged those to whom it pertained to treat such allegations with the utmost seriousness. But when another messenger requested a floor vote on the issue, the messengers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the motion to form the task force to oversee the investigation.

To be clear, the investigation is merely that. It is an inquiry to determine what, if any, wrongdoing occured in the course of the Executive Committee’s response to the issue of sexual abuse. But even this reflects a firm commitment on the part of the messengers, and the whole SBC by extension, to accept nothing less than our very best efforts to make our churches places that are safe for survivors and safe from abuse. 

Ed Litton

The vote for SBC president was probably the most anticipated vote of the convention. And it was close. The four candidates each represented a unique vision for the future of the SBC. Each man also had a particular emphasis about what the SBC needed most at this time. Ultimately, after a memorable nomination speech from former SBC president Fred Luter, the messengers narrowly elected Ed Litton, pastor of Redemption Church in Mobile, Alabama. Providentially, Litton’s point of emphasis was unity. As a pastor, he has championed the ideas of racial reconciliation and worked with other pastors in his community to bring the body of Christ together and address points of tension and division. God willing, Litton will continue to lead efforts to pursue unity and reconciliation during his tenure as the leader of our denomination.

Sermons

One of the highlights of any annual meeting are the sermons preached from the stage in the main hall. This year, J.D. Greear delivered his final sermon as president of the SBC. And he held nothing back. In it, he addressed the issues of sexual abuse and race within the convention. He called for Southern Baptists to keep our eyes focused on our mission and to avoid allowing politics to create division. 

Similarly, pastor Willy Rice of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida, preached the convention sermon. Rice challenged messengers to embrace not only the teachings of Jesus but the manner of Jesus as well. Specifically, Rice insisted that Southern Baptists should not be jerks in the way we treat others and warned of the divisiveness that often emanates from discussions online. Both sermons are well worth (re)watching in full.

Events & exhibits

Outside of the business of the convention are dozens and dozens of ancillary events and a massive exhibit hall. If you’re not careful, you can spend most of your time simply wandering from booth to booth picking up free swag. We had an incredible time at the ERLC booth talking to folks, giving away t-shirts, and highlighting the work of our Psalm 139 initiative that places ultrasounds in crisis pregnancy centers around the country (and soon the world). This annual meeting also featured a number of incredible events including the Send Conference, the SBC Women’s Leadership Network gathering, the seminary lunches, and the B21 panel. But an unexpected highlight for many, many people was the hymn sing that happened in conjunction with the 9Marks events that were hosted at First Baptist Nashville.

Resolutions

This year’s Resolutions Committee was an all-star team. They brought forward nine important resolutions that the messengers approved including resolutions on Baptist Unity, the Equality Act, the Hyde Amendment, and Race and the Sufficiency of Scripture. Each one was careful and precise, and to the best of my memory, all of these resolutions garnered strong support in the room. (We wrote about the ones pertaining to the ERLC here).

But at the conclusion of the time for resolutions on Tuesday, a pastor made an earnest appeal for his resolution on the abolition of abortion to be brought to the floor (it was one of several dozen the committee did not put forward to the messengers). Southern Baptists, never missing an opportunity to oppose abortion, voted convincingly to bring that resolution to be debated on the floor. 

The following day, the resolution calling for the abolition of abortion was debated on the floor. I ended up speaking against the adoption of that resolution from the floor, not because I opposed its aim but because there were (and are) troubling aspects about this particular resolution. As originally written, it called for the total rejection of any law or statute to curtail abortion that fell short of total abolition. That would mean that the vital tools employed by the pro-life movement such heartbeat bills, pain-capable bills, informed-consent laws, and parital-birth abortion bans would be taken of the table. 

After I spoke, another messenger successfully moved to amend the resolution to reopen the door for these measures. But even so, in my view, substantial problems remain with this resolution, which have now been addressed by seven SBC professors and separately by a member of the 2021 Resolutions Committee. Simply put, even the amended resolution provides no exception for the physical life of the mother and seems to indicate support for the prosecution of post-abortive women, both of which represent significant departures from both the SBC’s historic approach to this issue as well as the consistent messaging of the pro-life movement. The enemy in the fight for life is not vulnerable women but the abortion lobby: doctors, lawyers, and activists who profit from the destruction of innocent human life. Though women who pursue abortions unquestionably commit a grievous sin, it is still critical to distinguish between these vulnerable women and the abortion industry that preys upon them.

Ultimately, I absolutely affirm the messengers’ desire to make a clear statement demonstrating their resolve to end abortion at the nearest possible opporunity. And honestly, I believe that is what most believed they were voting for: a resolution calling for the immediate abolition of abortion. Unfortunately, this resolution went further than that in ways that actually repudiate the efforts of the pro-life movement in which countless Southern Baptists labor every day. In any case, it presents an opportunity to potentially revisit this opinion next year at the annual meeting in Anaheim, California.

Conclusion

To wrap this up, I would simply say that for myself and so many others, this year’s annual meeting was a surprising and welcomed breath of fresh air. Regardless of which candidate we may have supported to succeed Greear, last week so many Southern Baptists were able to come together and remember how wonderful it is to partner with millions of other Baptist Christians through the SBC for the purpose of reaching and discipling the nations. From my vantage point, we were unified and filled with joy, and we left with confidence that the SBC has exciting days ahead of us.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Meeting a refugee at a community center helped set the trajectory on which Evie Tucker* finds herself today, working among Middle Eastern refugees in a community center overseas.  

Nashville, Tucker’s hometown, is home to the largest population of refugees from one Middle Eastern people group. Many of the refugees live in one section of town that has become a refugee resettlement location.  

Tusculum Hills Baptist Church is located in this part of town, and before moving overseas, Tucker taught at an English as a Second Language (ESL) center located in the church.  

Evie Tucker drinks black tea as she disciples Kala, a refugee living in the country where Tucker serves. IMB photo

Tucker, now a missionary with the International Mission Board, said there are 91 different people groups in middle Tennessee and between 30 to 40 unreached people groups represented in a one-mile radius of the church. She recalls hearing how Tusculum Hills began praying for the Lord’s direction and how they could be involved in reaching their neighbors. The Lord answered by directing them to open their facilities for ESL classes. Tucker’s home church, Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, and Nashville First Baptist Church partner with Tusculum Hills to minister to refugees.  

At the ESL center, Tucker met a woman who shared her story of fleeing her country, living in a refugee camp for five years, losing her husband in the camp and her difficult journey to the U.S.

Through listening to her story, the Lord planted a love for the woman’s people group in Tucker’s heart. Tucker had begun the process to serve with the IMB and prayed as she drove to a job-matching conference about where the Lord would have her serve.  

The Lord kept bringing to mind the faces of the refugee women at the center. She accepted a position serving among the same refugee people group overseas.

Gathering the scattered

Tucker and her IMB teammates are using community outreach to minister among refugees. 

Children play under a parachute during an outreach. IMB photo

Language classes have met a particularly important need. Many of the refugee women did not go outside their houses in their home country for cultural reasons, and some assumed it would be the same in the country they fled to, so they viewed learning the language as unnecessary. Tucker said many refugees did not have a long-term mentality of staying in the country. Some expected they would return to their home country, and others planned on resettlement in another country. Since moving appears less and less likely, they are seeing the value of learning the language.  

Local Christians are teaching the language classes, and Tucker says it gives the Christians a chance to serve and show their concern.

The refugees have remarked on the untainted love they see being displayed by the local Christians.

Tucker, other IMB missionaries and Christians are often invited over to refugees’ homes after the classes. The home visits allow them to be open about what they believe, ask if they are interested in studying the Bible and build a Christ-centered community. 

In their home country, refugees had strong communities, but war scattered their families and friends like shards of glass. Trust was also shattered. Refugees in Tucker’s city often reside in small communities and are reluctant to trust outsiders. Tucker focuses on helping them build connection and trust within their community,  

COVID-19 necessitated the closure of many outreach efforts, but Tucker and her teammates adapted their programs to meet in smaller groups and homes. 

“It’s been really amazing to see how doing it in their homes has really been transformative to build relationships,” Tucker said. “It’s gotten us more connected in those communities, and it is already planting the seeds of what a house group or house community looks like.” 

The pandemic has also changed the forum for discipleship. Tucker is unable to travel to visit a refugee she is discipling who lives in another city, so the women moved their study online. At the end of one of their lessons, Tucker asked the woman, Kala*, if there was someone with whom she could share the Gospel. Kala immediately named several people.  

Kala began sharing with the people she mentioned and over phone calls took the lessons she learned from Tucker to share the Gospel with her sister, who still lives in their hometown. Her sister recently committed her life to Christ.  

Kala is married to a non-Christian, but some of her daughters join her in the Bible study. She is faithfully sharing with them, and she prays they will choose to commit their lives to Christ soon.  

Initially, when Kala started studying with Tucker, Kala didn’t feel confident enough to teach the Bible on her own, but now, Kala hopes to start a study group in her home. She is praying for the four people she plans to invite to study the Bible with her. 

At home and abroad 

Short-term teams from the U.S. have come to partner with Tucker. These teams have allowed Tucker different opportunities to invest in the refugee community. Each team has been able to use their gifts and backgrounds to hold different community outreach events to meet the needs of the refugee community.  

Tucker encourages churches to look for opportunities to serve domestically as well.  

There is a natural connection between Tucker’s ministry among the refugee people group overseas and the Nashville church’s ministry among refugees. 

“This people group is in Nashville; they’re in your backyard. These people that you’re praying for me to be here working with, they live right down the street from you too,” Tucker told her church. 

Come alongside Tucker and her teammates in prayer.

Pray outreach activities will resume soon.
Pray for their IMB team, as many team members will be in the U.S. over the summer.
Refugee men work long hours and often are not able to attend events. Pray for more opportunities to share the Gospel with men. 
Pray for the few followers in the people group to be bold and committed to Christ and for the gospel to spread through their families and networks.

*Names changed for security  

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Vision Stage in the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting exhibit hall saw approximately two dozen different panels over three days discuss topics ranging from the sending missionaries to leading a church in a post-pandemic world – all with a focus on the Great Commission.

Below are descriptions of some key panel discussions, followed by video recordings of each one. See earlier Baptist Press reports on panel discussions about diversity in the SBC as well as a discussion among past SBC presidents about the status of the convention.

Young leaders

By Timothy Cockes

Several panel discussions during the Vision Stage at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting revolved around the topic of training up young leaders.

During the Monday morning, June 14, hours on the 2021 Vision Stage, moderator Jordan Easley hosted many younger pastors speaking on topics related raising up other young leaders.

Easley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Tenn., oversees the SBC Leadership Pipeline, which was created this year at the request of SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Ronnie Floyd.

The Leadership Pipeline serves as a way to train Southern Baptist ministry leaders under 40 and allow space for them to have important or challenging conversations about the convention.

Panel discussions during the 9-11 a.m. time slot included:

Preparing for Revival
How Do We Truly Become a Great Commission Convention?
What is it Going to Take to Reach the Next Generation?
A Convention Conversation with a Handful of Generals
Calling out the Called

Panelists included Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tenn.; Jeff Lorg, president of Gateway Seminary; H.B. Charles Jr., pastor at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist in Jacksonville, Fla.; and Vance Pitman, pastor of Hope Church in Las Vegas.

Easley said he hopes the panels and the Leadership Pipeline as a whole will encourage young leaders in the SBC to pay less attention to the things that divide people, and instead focus on unity around the Gospel.

“The SBC is not a great big dumpster fire to put out; it is a great big family,” Easley said. “We need to focus on things that are going to matter in 100 years. What’s going to matter in 100 years is what we did with Jesus.”

Advancing the vision

By Kirby Cochran

International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood shared the story of his journey to a relationship with the Lord and then to a calling to missionary mobilization Monday, June 14, on the Vision Stage.

Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, joined Chitwood on stage for a relaxed conversation about following a life calling. Floyd opened the conversation by asking Chitwood to share his story and his path to the IMB and missionary mobilization.

Living in a small town with two brothers and a single father, Chitwood was not initially raised in church. One day, a pair of deacons knocked on their front door, and the following Sunday their family joined the deacons for church. 

“That then became the pattern of our life,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood’s family remained in that small church family where he and his brothers would eventually be saved and baptized. In his first year of college, Chitwood felt the Lord call him toward pastoral ministry, which he pursued at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and then as a pastor in churches around Kentucky.

Chitwood said that during a “missions week” while in his first pastorate, he felt the Lord calling him to help mobilize missionaries. He later served as a trustee of the IMB and has been president since 2018.

Floyd then turned the conversation toward the missionary calling and asked Chitwood if he believed there was such a calling.

“We believe in the Great Commission,” Chitwood answered, “and we believe we all have a part to play in the Great Commission, every person. I think it’s as clear as – is my role a mobilizer or is my role that of a missionary in getting the Gospel to the nations?”

As the discussion continued, Chitwood praised the courage of missionaries who are called internationally as they not only go to the nations but stay and are prepared to give their lives for the Gospel. He shared stories of missionaries who first surrendered their lives as they followed the Lord and their calling, and who later gave up their lives for it.

“Those are the kind of people we get to support,” he said. “They’re taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth to the hardest to get places and willing to die to do it. Our job is to hold the ropes.”

Adding 500 missionaries

By Kirbi Cochran

A June 14 panel discussed Vision 2025 and the SBC’s four-year push to live out the Great Commission by “reaching every person for Jesus Christ in every town, every city, every state and every nation.”

IMB President Paul Chitwood (left) talks with Ronnie Floyd, SBC Executive Committee president and CEO, and moderator Jordan Easley about how to mobilize 500 more missionaries to take the Gospel to the world. Photo by Abby Duren

The panel speakers consisted of Jordan Easley, pastor of First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tenn., Ronnie Floyd, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee and Paul Chitwood, president of the International Mission Board.

They began their discussion by covering Vision 2025’s Strategic Action #3 “Calling out the Called,” which seeks to increase the number of workers for the Gospel by encouraging pastors to call out those in the church who receive a calling from the Lord. Once they accept that call, the church must equip and prepare them to go in obedience to the Lord. 

“God is the one who calls, but we have the privilege of putting a voice to that call,” Chitwood said. “We have the privilege of pointing to God’s call in Scripture upon the lives of those who He would use, and in this, people respond. They respond to the Lord to the Lord’s word, and we get to be a part of that.”

As the number of those called increases, so will those ready be sent as international missionaries. The SBC plans through Strategic Action #1 of Vision 2025 to increase the number of active missionaries by 500. Currently there are 3,361 fully-funded missionaries supported by the IMB as well as 2,700 children serving as part of their missionary families. 

However, raising that number requires more than just 500 new missionaries. Every year, around 300 missionaries return home due to age, health issues or other needs. So, to reach the 2025 goal of and additional 500, the IMB must send 425 new missionaries abroad every single year.

Easley said 500 should be the floor, not the ceiling. The panel agreed that they all hoped to surpass the goal. 

“These are strategic requests to push the mission forward to get us to the edge of lostness and get the Gospel where the Gospel isn’t,” Chitwood said. “How do we do that? It’s by calling out the called. How do we do that? It’s by working together.”

Floyd, Chitwood and Easley all stressed the importance of Visions 2025’s Strategic Action #5, which calls to increase giving through the Cooperative Program, the fund which supports all national and international missions and SBC ministries, to at least $500 million by 2025. By increasing funding for the Cooperative Program, churches increase the ability of the IMB to send more missionaries and provide resources and support for them on the field.

Who’s Your One and reaching young people

By Kirbi Cochran

A June 15 Vision Stage panel discussion dealt with the continual decline in baptisms of 12-17-year-olds and the Vision 2025 plan to reverse this trend through the North American Mission Board ‘s (NAMB) “Who’s your one?” initiative.

Panel speakers included Jordan Easley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Cleveland, Tenn.; Johnny Hunt, NAMB senior vice president of evangelism and leadership; NAMB President Kevin Ezell; and Shane Pruitt, NAMB national director of next gen evangelism.

Since the initiative’s launch in 2019, NAMB has hosted 27 “Who’s Your One?” conferences across the country. These conferences are a time of worship, teaching and prayer to equip believers as they bring the Gospel to the world around them. “Who’s Your One?” is also an individual and church movement where NAMB encourages everyone to identify one non-believer whom they commit to pray for and intentionally share the Gospel with.

“If you’ve been bought with the blood of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit of God,” Pruitt said. “Whether you’re a 13-year-old, 18-year-old or 20-year-old, you’re not the future of the church, you are the church right now. So, go be the church.”

Church leaders and pastors play a large role in the evangelistic initiative of a church in its community. Hunt spoke on the importance of leaders modeling evangelism rather than delegating it. 

“There is no evangelistic church without an evangelistic pastor,” Hunt said.

In the fall of 2020, NAMB conducted a poll on Twitter asking current believers at what age they surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ. The age options listed were 13 and under, 13-18, 18-30 and 30-plus. Of these options, 48 percent surrendered their life before the age of 13 and 77 percent surrendered their life to Christ before the age of 18 (including the first two categories).

“I know God is sovereign,” Pruitt said. “He can save whom He wants when He wants. But practically speaking, if we don’t reach a generation before they turn 18, then we lose a generation. So, now is the time.”

To close the session, the panel encouraged everyone to support the Cooperative Program, which funds the establishment and growth of new churches. Churches planted since 2010 account for 17 percent of baptisms in the SBC.c

Everyone can take part in the “Who’s Your One?” initiative by texting “One” to 888123 and including the first name and city of the one person you are committing to pray for that they would come to know Christ.

Rebuilding the church post-COVID-19

By Kirbi Cochran

A panel of pastors discussed their churches’ experiences during COVID-19 as well as methods for churches and pastors to recover and grow as they exit the pandemic season.

(Right to left) Panelists Whitney Clayton, Buddy Champion and Ronny Raines discussed pastoring a church in a post-COVID world. Photo by Abby Duren

The June 15 Vision Stage panel included Whitney Clayton, pastor of Living Stone Community Church in Mesa, Ariz.; Buddy Champion, pastor of First Baptist Trussville, Ala.; and Ronnie Raines, pastor of First Baptist Church, Clarksville, Tenn.

Champion recounted his own church’s navigating the pandemic, saying he was thankful for the trust his congregation placed in him. He said he sought new technological solutions as well as new methods to minister to people even with the physical distance. 

“Let’s do everything we can to be effective in what we’re doing although we’ve never done it this way before,” he said. “Let’s embrace it because good comes from bad, Romans 8:28 really is true.”

Raines’ experience differed greatly from the other pastors. He became pastor of his church in the middle of the pandemic. So unlike Clayton and Champion, he did not have a bank of trust built up with his congregation, so he started from scratch. In order to meet the members of his church who were unable to attend in-person, he scheduled time every day to contact five or six families through a phone call.

All three panel members shared the same struggle of attempting to continue administering pastoral care even without a face-to-face connection.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever walked through a season as a pastor that demonstrated so clearly to me that I need all the saints to do the work of the ministry more than this season,” Clayton said.

Clayton acknowledged that many pastors in the last year d new methods and technologies to reach their church membership. He said now the challenge is to decide which of those changes will remain moving forward and which will be laid aside.

Although online services worked well for families who could not come to church in person, Raines pointed out that it also isolated people from their Christian community. He urged everyone who is able to return to in-person services. There, the church body can better support its members in discipleship, in spiritual growth and in the midst of trials.

The panel also stressed how deeply pastors need a similar network of support with other pastors. When in hard seasons such as COVID-19, Champion said that church leaders must invest in one another so that they have a stronghold of brothers to lean on.

“Pastors need to be healthy to lead healthy,” Raines said.

In closing, the group encouraged pastors to seek out one another both through in-person meetings or group messages and phone calls in order to build healthier pastors who go on to lead healthier churches.

Watch videos below of panel discussions from the Vision Stage.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Presidents of the six Southern Baptist seminaries gave reports to messengers and guests attending the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting Wednesday (June 16). A common theme of the reports was God’s faithfulness during the challenges of 2020. Below are summaries of each report submitted by the seminaries.

IORG: Gateway reflects kingdom diversity; celebrates milestone

By Tyler Sanders

Gateway Seminary’s mission is exemplified in biblical diversity and by a significant graduation milestone, President Jeff Iorg told messengers. “Gateway is your daily demonstration of the power of the Gospel to unify people from a wide variety of cultural and racial perspectives,” he said.

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Iorg said in the past semester the seminary offered master’s level courses in English, Korean and Mandarin, and diploma training at its learning centers in English, Korean, Spanish, Burmese, Cantonese, Chin, Thai, Lao, Karen, Main, Nepalese, French, Haitian-Creole, Hmong, Vietnamese and Mongolian. Anglo students have made up less than 50 percent of Gateway’s student body for more than 25 years.

“We have current employees who are African American, Mexican, Romanian, Chinese, Korean, Pacific Islander, Filipino, Australian, Zambian, Taiwanese and Anglo,” Iorg said.

“Because of this diversity, Gateway has been addressing racial issues and the global problem of racism for decades.”

Iorg said Gateway faculty depend on biblical, theological and missiological tools to train students to confront racism. He told messengers that following his April report to Gateway trustees, a trustee asked if the seminary could produce a document detailing how faculty address racism in the classroom.

“Our faculty responded to this request with pages of examples of how they address racism and racial issues throughout the curriculum – from biblical studies to theology to church history to counseling to spiritual formation to early childhood development and every discipline in between,” Iorg said. The document is available at gs.edu/curriculum.

Iorg shared a personal story, relating his invitation to serve as the first Anglo elder of a historic African American church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Ontario, Calif.

“My relationships with the leaders at Mt. Zion have become a profound source of spiritual strength for me,” he said.

“For the past six years, we have been tithing our income, helping start a second site, going to prayer meetings, and giving to the building program. Ann teaches Sunday School, and I preach a few times each year.

“It has been a life-changing experience to build leadership credibility in a church where we are learning new ways of being the church as white minority members within a majority black culture.”

Iorg asked messengers to share in celebrating Gateway’s 10,000th graduate, Yoon Sagong. Sagong earned the master of divinity and serves as a pastoral intern alongside a Gateway faculty member in a southern California church plant.

“Some of you may be surprised [by 10,000 graduates] because you think of Gateway Seminary as your small seminary out West. We are now a leader-producing powerhouse making a global impact,” he said.

“We thank you Southern Baptists for standing with us, giving through the Cooperative Program, praying for us and sending us students.”

Allen emphasizes MBTS’ commitment to local churches

By Michael S. Brooks

Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Jason Allen’s report to the messengers at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting reflected the institution’s ongoing determination to serve the local church.

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Citing God’s faithfulness to the seminary over the past year, Allen noted that Midwestern Seminary is standing strong, remaining faithful and enjoying continued growth.

“I am delighted to report that our Convention’s youngest seminary is standing strong, serving faithfully, and, once again, enjoying another year of record enrollment,” Allen said. “Our ambition is to be undeniably faithful when it comes to serving the local church. In sharper focus, our desire is to serve Southern Baptist churches faithfully.

“We are not here to lecture to you; we are here to hear from you. We are not here for you to serve us; we are here so we can serve you. That is a precious stewardship that we enjoy. We are for the church and will continue to persist in that vision on your behalf.”

Alongside the seminary’s sustained efforts to serve Southern Baptist churches, Allen pointed to the institution’s theological convictions as an additional reason for the seminary’s progress.

“We are proudly, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly a Southern Baptist institution,” Allen said. “We hold to the Baptist Faith and Message, the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, the Nashville Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, all with full confidence and conviction.”

Allen further suggested it is necessary for Midwestern Seminary to do more than merely affirm the collection of doctrinal statements, saying, “It is also our role to defend and advocate for these statements.”

“What is more, we refuse to be forced into false binaries,” he continued. “We can be and are cheerfully, convictionally, and confidently complementarian while, all the while, honoring and protecting our sisters as joint heirs in Christ. We can clearly and confidently reject secular ideologies and critical theories, such as Critical Race Theory, that have a negative impact while, all the while, being intentional to bear the burdens of our African American brothers and sisters. We can bring them into our midst, serve and grow with them, and honor them as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Regarding enrollment, Allen credited God’s kindness and the resolve of the seminary community as contributing factors in the seminary’s continued growth. He announced the past year’s total student headcount was 4,374, more than four times the number of students enrolled at MBTS 10 years ago. In addition, the total number of full-time enrolled students for the past year was 1,615, an increase from just over 400 students 10 years ago.

Allen closed his address by thanking messengers for their continued prayers and support, saying, “This is your seminary: Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, founded in 1957. If you know much of the history of the past 60 years, you know it took a while for this institution to hit its stride. But, by God’s grace and with your support, we are pursuing and growing in greater faithfulness to the great truths we hold. And we are doing so, I believe, in ways that make Southern Baptists proud.”

Dew: NOBTS to prioritize servanthood, devotion, Gospel proclamation and missions

By Gary D. Myers

In his report to the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College President Jamie Dew expressed hope for the future of the SBC and excitement about what is happening in New Orleans. Dew also pledged to prioritize servanthood, devotion, Gospel proclamation and missions at NOBTS.

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

Due to the COVID-19-related cancellation of the 2020 annual meeting, Dew’s Wednesday (June 16) address marked his first opportunity to present the seminary report to SBC messengers since his 2019 election.

“When I went down to New Orleans and moved our family there, I discovered all sorts of beautiful and wonderful things about this calling,” Dew said. “It is a life of deep joy and great meaning in doing this work for you and for the kingdom.”

Dew commended the students and faculty at New Orleans Seminary and Leavell College for their humility and the way they serve Southern Baptists. He said it has been a joy to do the work God has called him to, and the convention has entrusted to him with the NOBTS team.

While acknowledging the problems and difficulties in New Orleans, Dew sought to reframe the way believers think about the city. Dew sees real beauty and Gospel opportunities in New Orleans.

“We believe that New Orleans is the perfect laboratory for men and women to come to prepare for ministry,” Dew said. “In short, if you can do ministry in our city, then you can do ministry anywhere that God puts you.”

“That’s why we say, ‘Prepare Here. Serve Anywhere,’” Dew said.

Next, Dew shared hopeful words regarding the Southern Baptist Convention. Social media can give a skewed perception of Southern Baptists and cause despair, he said. However, spending time with faithful Southern Baptist pastors and visiting churches across the country has given Dew a truer picture of the SBC and given him reasons for optimism.

“At the end of the day, Southern Baptists are faithful people. They are humble people. They are servant people,” Dew said. “They just love Jesus and want to win the world for Christ.”

“Despite what other problems we have. Despite what other difficulties we may face, I have hope. I see your work, and I am honored to join with you.”

When Dew began serving NOBTS, he took time to listen and learn about the school and understand the city of New Orleans. After this time of reflection and discovery, Dew and his leadership team drafted a new mission statement for the school extolling servanthood, devotion, proclamation and missions. The statement, “New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and Leavell College prepares servants to walk with Christ, proclaim His Truth, and fulfill His mission,” became the blueprint for every class, program and initiative at NOBTS.

“Brothers and sisters, if we are anything as Christians, we are supposed to be servants,” Dew said. “We are supposed to be people who take up the towel and basin and serve not just each other but the broken of this world and there in the darkest places, shine the light of Jesus.”

Devotion is essential for any Christian Dew said. He said the faculty seeks to shape students spiritually to become who God has called them to be.

NOBTS has long been known for training preachers and evangelists, Dew said. Proclamation of the gospel remains a top priority for the school.

“In the last year, our students shared the gospel 11,313 times. They have led 1,087 people to faith in Christ,” he said. “Since 2014, students and faculty have shared the gospel 94,190 times, that we know of, and they have led 9,203 people to faith in Jesus Christ. We have been, and we are a school of proclamation.”

NOBTS and Leavell College are reprioritizing missions to meet the needs identified by the two SBC mission boards.

“Paul Chitwood reminds us that there are 155,000 people who die every day without Christ and that they need 500 new missionaries every year to do their work,” Dew said. “Kevin Ezell said we need to plan 1,200 new churches each year.”

To help with these tasks, Dew appointed missiologist Greg Mathias to the NOBTS faculty and relaunched the school’s Global Missions Center to help train missionaries for service with the International Mission Board. NOBTS also partnered with the North American Mission Board to start a new church planting center on the NOBTS campus.

“It is time for NOBTS to stand up and give back to you and to the kingdom the very best that we can,” Dew said.

SEBTS continues to fulfill the mission, Akin reports to messengers

By Lauren Pratt

During his report to Southern Baptist messengers and guests June 16, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) President Danny Akin celebrated the many avenues by which students are training to fulfill the mission around the world. Akin highlighted how this is happening through training the school’s nearly 6,000 students, through Global Theological Initiatives and through the North Carolina Field Minister Program.

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

“When we say at Southeastern, ‘every classroom a Great Commission classroom,’ and ‘every professor a Great Commission professor,’ that is not a slogan. That is who we are.”

Akin also celebrated the Global Theological Initiatives (GTI) at SEBTS, which works with strategic partners on six continents to create cohorts of selected, positioned leaders from their seminaries, mission boards, denominations and key churches. GTI’s goal is to equip these national leaders so that they will train the local pastors and missionaries from within their various contexts. GTI is currently equipping more than 2,800 vetted, positioned leaders in more than 30 nations and global cities. This is done through partnership with educational and missions entities in these countries and by locking arms with these global leaders in helping to develop curriculum, organizational strategies and more.

“We’re training leaders in these various countries to disciple and to raise up more leaders within their particular people group,” Akin said, adding that SEBTS is continuing to train Farsi-speaking believers through its Persian Leadership Initiative by offering a Bachelor of Science in pastoral ministry, the only such program offered in the world.

Also highlighted in Akin’s report to messengers was The North Carolina Field Minister Program, which trains incarcerated men to fulfill the Great Commission even behind prison walls. In December of this year, the program will be celebrating its first graduating class of 26 students. The program, which began in 2017, was launched in partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Joe Gibbs Racing and Game Plan for Life. The program is designed for incarcerated men with a sentence of 12 or more years in the North Carolina prison system. These men are equipped with a four-year bachelor’s degree in pastoral ministry that allows them to bring the Gospel and fulfill the mission in a highly inaccessible context.

Akin celebrated the continual growth of Southeastern’s ever-growing student population, which has surpassed 5,800 students. The Master of Divinity still proves to be the seminary’s flagship degree.

In all of the degree programs offered at SEBTS, the desire is to see every graduate come away loving God, the truth, the Church and the world more deeply, Akin said. These four loves are what compel a Great Commission lifestyle no matter the cost, and these are the kind of students SEBTS seeks to train and send out for the glory of King Jesus.

“All of this is being done because of your generosity, your kindness, and your gifts,” Akin told messengers.

Southern emerges from pandemic stronger than before, Mohler says

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

In his report to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting Wednesday morning (June 16), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler told messengers the seminary had withstood the challenges which the pandemic posed and had come out on the other side in a healthier state than before it began.

“We have more young men at SBTS training to be preachers and pastors than at any time in SBC history and more M.Div. students than at any other time in Christian history,” Mohler said. “During the trial of COVID-19, we had a higher enrollment than when it began. We expect to have more than 70 different nations represented on the SBTS campus when we begin fall semester later this year.

“We are told that in heaven there is great rejoicing over one sinner who repents, so just imagine the rejoicing in heaven amongst those who have gone before us to see what the Lord has done in our time and in our midst and what He will do in the future.”

Greenway addresses CRT query, explains college name change

By Art Toalston

A messenger’s question about critical race theory during the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary report to the Southern Baptist Convention June 16 led President Adam W. Greenway to explain the theory’s incompatibility with the Baptist Faith and Message, while also apologizing to African American believers who have been offended by the Council of Seminary Presidents’ statement about the controversial subject.

Photo by Karen McCutcheon

“For any way in which I personally have hurt you, I apologize, and I ask you to forgive me,” he said. “That is not my heart, that is not our heart at Southwestern Seminary.”

Before addressing the question, Greenway announced that Texas Baptist College is the new name of the seminary’s undergraduate school and noted Southwestern Seminary became majority non-Anglo in enrollment last year for the first time since its founding in 1908.

“I am thankful to serve as president of a seminary that the Lord is bringing back to new life,” Greenway said, quoting the “Amazing Grace” stanza with the words, “Through many dangers, toils and snares we have already come.”

With Texas Baptist College replacing the name of Scarborough College (named for Southwestern’s revered second president, L.R. Scarborough), Greenway said people have asked, “What’s the real reason you did that?” thinking there was “some nefarious political scheme involved by this group or that group.”

A primary reason, he noted, stemmed from being weary “of hearing from people who’ve said, ‘I searched Google for Baptist colleges in Texas, and I can’t find yours.’

The new name of Texas Baptist College denotes “a distinctive, Scripture-driven, Christ-centered, student-focused undergraduate education,” Greenway said. “When others run away from our Baptist identity and distinctives, we’re going to run toward and embrace these things because we believe being Baptist means something valuable.”

The question-and-answer time for Greenway’s report to the SBC moved to critical race theory after a first-time messenger, Conner Smith, senior pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Perris, Calif., said he was discouraged by the lack of resources for “defining these ideologies for pastors to help us pastor our people through some of those questions.” Smith asked whether the seminaries or a task force could provide help.

Greenway recounted that a statement by the SBC’s six seminary presidents in November 2020 was “something that at a bare minimum we felt like we needed to say, but it is not all that all of us could say” about the issue.

He read from Article 15 in the Baptist Faith and Message on the Christian and the Social Order: “All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.”

Emphasizing the second sentence, Greenway said, “Critical race theory as an academic, philosophical theory rejects that claim,” noting that a book on the sufficiency of Scripture by Southwestern Seminary faculty members will be published next year by the school’s Seminary Hill Press to help examine a key facet of Christian response to such theories.

“However, many of our African American brothers and sisters, when they hear critical race theory, what they hear and what they heard from us [as seminary presidents] was that we were denying the reality of structural or systemic racism,” he continued.

“And I want to say not only as president of Southwestern Seminary but as a pastor at heart … it breaks my heart that anything that we could have done as a [Council of Seminary Presidents] could in any way hurt or alienate or estrange our African American brothers and sisters in Christ.

“I will say publicly: For any way in which I personally have hurt you, I apologize and I ask you to forgive me. That is not my heart, that is not our heart at Southwestern Seminary.”

Earlier in his report, Greenway had described Southwestern Seminary as “committed unreservedly, unswervingly to the inerrancy, infallibility, inspiration, authority, sufficiency, indestructibility, indescribability” of Scripture. “Our confidence is in the Bible as the written Word of God. And it is the primary textbook in every classroom at Southwestern Seminary.

“We are a confessional seminary,” he continued.

The faculty’s adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, the Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the Nashville Statement on Gender and Sexuality make clear that “Southwestern Seminary is committed to upholding the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints,” Greenway said.

“With confidence and conviction, you can be assured that your Cooperative Program dollars are going to invest in a theological education that echoes the heartbeat of our Southern Baptist Convention of churches.”

Charlie Worthy, IMB European student mobilizer who serves in Italy, reported that more than 400 students will be serving around the world this year.

Directly following the IMB report on Tuesday, June 15, 2021, at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, IMB President Paul Chitwood hosted a panel discussion featuring global highlights of God’s work through IMB around the world.

The panel included John Brady, vice president for global engagement, Victor Hou, associate vice president for global advance, and Charlie Worthy, European student mobilizer. The IMB leaders spoke to Southern Baptists’ long-term commitment to reach the world’s lost with the gospel and thanked churches for their continued prayers, financial gifts and service.

John Brady told the crowd of church messengers and guests that someone came to Christ from a people group in Northern Africa. This believer was the first one in their history. God has used Southern Baptists from the beginning, Brady said, recounting the history of how this woman came to faith.

Twenty years ago, a missionary from Texas who worked in the region asked churches to pray that workers would be sent to this people group. Among the churches who began to pray were two children who were discipled in their faith and their understanding of God’s heart to reach the nations. The children grew up, went to college, served on short-term mission teams, married, and followed God in obedience to serve in Northern Africa. They learned to teach more than 35 Scripture passages in this people group’s language. In 2020, one woman committed her life to Christ. She is the first believer from this people group and is being discipled to teach others.

“Because of Southern Baptists’ commitment, this people group will now be represented around the throne!” Brady said.

Brady also reported on two Christians who met at seminary after one served as a journeyman, married and answered God’s call to South Asia. Few people came to faith in the early years of their ministry, but they remained steadfast. Through leadership training and broad seed-sowing efforts, they have seen thousands come to Christ in the past year. Though their financial support, Southern Baptists provided audio devices with gospel recordings that are being distributed so more can hear the gospel, have an audio Bible and discipleship tools, and be trained to share the good news. Send Relief efforts have also been important in this “new movement of God.”

In Brady’s final story, he reflected on the December 2002 murder of IMB medical workers Bill Koehn, Martha Myers and Kathy Gariety at Yemen’s Jibla Baptist Hospital. Through the years, people have watched Southern Baptists live in Christ and die in Christ, Brady said. Today, the church is growing, and people are responding to the gift of salvation.

“God is on the move and God is working!” Brady exclaimed as the crowd applauded. “I thank you, Southern Baptists. We want to be on the move together!”

Victor Hou reported about recent needs in Ukraine and how Southern Baptists responded. An IMB team saw a great need for medical care among Ukraine’s internally displaced refugees. They worked with a local church to set up mobile clinics, but the need for medical professionals was great. When a request for healthcare volunteers was spread to U.S. churches, Southern Baptists responded and flew to Ukraine to staff the clinics. They were able to meet medical needs and share the gospel with hundreds of refugees.

Hou further explained one of IMB’s 2025 targets – to engage 75 global cities with comprehensive strategies to ensure every segment and people group have access to the gospel. As an example of the need to understand how people intersect in large cities, Hou reported that in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is a city of more than 12 million people, 2 million refugees currently live in the city’s abandoned buildings. Hou said he is joining the local team and partners by praying for 200,000 new believers among these refugees.

“Will you pray with me?” he invited the crowd.

Charlie Worthy, who serves with the IMB in Italy, encouraged the event’s participants with news that students are on mission and anxious to go to the nations. In addition to journeymen, who make a two-year commitment to serve, Worthy reported that more than 400 students would be going across the globe this year, as borders reopen.

He also shared the positive news that the IMB would once again be sending high school students on mission trips to the nations. Pointing out how many missionaries first felt God’s call to missions during an overseas experience as teenagers, Worthy said that involving this age group would be a strong priority for IMB’s student work.

Chitwood closed the panel discussion by adding his thanks to Southern Baptists for their continued commitment to the Great Commission and encouraging every believer to find their place in God’s call to reach the nations.

Join the Seven Nine Community to be a part of spreading the gospel 365 days a year. Ready to go or explore options for serving overseas? Visit imb.org/go for more information or email info@imb.org to get started.

Leslie Peacock Caldwell is managing editor for IMB communications.

The post IMB panel emphasizes Southern Baptists’ involvement in past, present and future of missions appeared first on IMB.

NASHVILLE – The 973 Korean Southern Baptist churches in the United States unanimously passed one resolution at their annual fellowship meeting in mid-June. It was to tell the government of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) they oppose that nation’s efforts to pass an “equality act” that would in effect silence preaching on biblical marriage.

The fellowship’s executive board dealt last summer with the same issue in the United States.

“It was important to act quickly,” Executive Director James Kang told Baptist Press. “We agreed last summer to send a letter to all the [Korean] churches in America to ask them to pray about this and sign a petition to their senators objecting to it because it could limit what a pastor could preach about a biblical view of marriage.”

This year’s resolution was to send to the South Korean government notice of the fellowship group’s objection to what is going on in the Koreans’ homeland.

Photo by Chinsop Chong

Praying, worship and preaching formed the basis for each day’s schedule, supplemented by reports from each of the Korean Council’s ministry departments, small group breakout sessions for in-depth training and network-building, and fellowship times at breaks and at meals. Business matters were handled in morning and afternoon sessions of the group’s final meeting day.

That’s when the Korean Council discussed a constitutional amendment, passed a “conservative” budget and elected officers during its three-day meeting.

Of the 2,017 Asian American churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, 973 relate to the Korean culture, according to 2020 ACP reports. That’s up more than 100 from 2019 statistics.

They gather each summer for a three-day annual meeting at the same time and in the same city as does the SBC and its auxiliary meetings. Known formally as the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America, the fellowship group drew nearly 600 people June 14-16 to First Baptist Church of Goodlettsville, a north Nashville suburb.

“Everybody was really happy to meet and excited to meet,” Kang said. “We missed each other after a year. Every speaker focused on this year’s theme of evangelism and missions, and truly everyone’s heart has been revived with passion for the global mission.”

Volunteers from Tennessee Korean churches as well as the host church worked from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day on kitchen duty. Korean churches in Georgia and Florida also helped support the ministry of providing Korean cuisine to people who prefer bulgogi and rice to hamburgers and fries.

James Kang was re-elected nearly unanimously to his second four-year term as the Korean Council’s executive director. Photo by Chinsop Chong

“It’s been a great experience for our church,” Lyle Larson told Baptist Press. Larson has been pastor of First Goodlettsville for 14 years. “It gives you a taste of what international worship is like, what heaven will be like, and cooperating together like this helps us grow in our love for Christ.”

The heart of the Korean Council’s annual meeting starts each day with early morning prayer, a typical Korean practice. Men and women alike entered the worship center at 6 a.m., bowed their heads before the Lord, and made their petitions aloud to Him. The ebb and flow in the spacious worship center of multiple soft and loud voices simultaneously seemed to encourage more and more impassioned prayer.

Each day’s messages focused on an aspect of the Korean Council’s 2021 theme: Revive the passion for the Great Commission.

Preaching

Ki Dong Kim, pastor since 2011 of Precious Community Church in Yorba Linda, Calif., and a former evangelist in Korea, preached Monday evening from Romans 1:16-17 on four basic components of a Gospel presentation: God, humans’ sin, Jesus and faith.

Kim spoke of a sweet potato as a way of discerning a person’s readiness to give his/her life to Jesus. To find out if a sweet potato is fully cooked over an open fire, it is poked with a chopstick, he said. If it’s not ready, the chopstick won’t go in. Keep poking, a bit at a time so as not to injure the sweet potato, and in time it will be ready, Kim said. Poke easy. The first poke might be, “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” If they say no, back off and come back later with another poke.

“By asking different questions you can measure how ready they are to receive the Gospel,” Kim said. “Keep saying, ‘It is good to believe in Jesus.’”

Before Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, preached Tuesday morning, he announced that Midwestern has more Asian students than any other Southern Baptist seminary: 790 Asian students, out of a campus – online and in person – of 5,000. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a distant second, with 270 Asian students, Allen said.

Allen preached from 2 Timothy 2:2-4 about the resolutions pastors need to make: to have courageous ministry, to endure through hardship, to keep a focused ministry, to guard their heart, and to be Christ-centered.

After a “free afternoon” so Koreans could vote at the Music City Center for 2021-22 SBC officers, Johnny Hunt brought the Tuesday evening message from Psalm 126:5-6. Hunt is senior vice president of evangelism and leadership at the North American Mission Board.

In addition to sharing his testimony, Hunt talked about Who’s Your One, a NAMB evangelism strategy.

“His message was very well received,” Kang told Baptist Press. “People were very touched by his passion, his personal testimony. We could really feel his love.”

When Hunt finished talking, Kang took the unusual step of interrupting the planned order of events to approach the podium and ask permission of Hunt to translate the Who’s Your One materials into Korean, which already are available in English and Spanish.

“We will work on translation in cooperation with NAMB, and make it available to churches,” Kang said later. “That will be a good result that came from this annual meeting. Johnny Hunt was very happy. He said, ‘No problem. We are with you.’”

Edwin Y. Lim, pastor of Shining Star Community Church in Falls Church, Va., spoke Wednesday evening from Daniel 12:3 on the blessings that come from being missions-minded.

The church he pastors has sent out 100 missionaries so far, Lim said. When he planted the church in 2005, he set a goal that 75 percent of the church’s income should be used for missions. To date, about $1.5 million is used for missions, which is at least 50 percent of its income.

“I have many examples of how God meets needs when it comes to missions,” Lim said.

Business

Kyung D. Kim, pastor of Flower Mound Korean Baptist Church in Flower Mound, Texas, was unopposed as president for a one-year term, and elected unanimously. Haeng Bo Lee, pastor of Korean Unity Baptist Church of Antioch, Tenn., a Nashville suburb, was elected first vice president. Young Ha Kim, pastor of Shalom International Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., was elected second vice president. Dong Soon “Daniel” Moon was elected secretary. He is pastor of Korean-American Baptist Church in Annandale, Va. Pil Sung “Cornell” Yi, pastor of Korean Baptist Church in San Diego, Calif., was elected auditor.

James Kang was re-elected nearly unanimously to his second four-year term as the Korean Council’s executive director. He was first elected in 2017.

“I’m ready to do more work,” Kang told Baptist Press. “I’m planning to develop more software for the churches to use. You may have a really fancy computer, but without good software, the computer is not worth very much. Sometimes even a good ministry project is not effective without good software.”

The Korean Council’s 2020-21 budget was set at $950,000. Despite the pandemic, $1,231,533 was received, in part to help churches hard-hit by COVID-19. In all, 77 churches each received $1,000.

Members passed a 2022 budget that totaled $1,032,000. Of that amount, $651,200 was earmarked for missionaries supported in part by the Korean Council’s member churches. Another $130,000 was allocated for the Home Mission Board.

In all, 57 Korean missionaries serving in 20 regions received support from the Korean Council’s churches: Africa, East Asia, Cambodia, Cuba, Guatemala, Jordan, Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela.

In other business, outgoing President Sung Kwon Lee, pastor of Power Mission church in Cincinnati, discussed the need for an amendment to the Korean Council constitution, to allow for options to in-person meetings in case of obstacles such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In keeping with governing documents, the matter was tabled until the Korean Council’s 2022 annual meeting.

“The Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America is a key partner of the Asian American Collective in advancing the gospel here and abroad,” Peter Yanes told Baptist Press. Yanes is executive director of Asian American relations and mobilization for the SBC Executive Committee. “I congratulate Dr. James Kang and the officers in leading the 40th year celebration of God’s faithfulness in the life and ministry of the Korean American churches.”

Kyung Won Song, pastor of Korean Baptist Church of Binghamton, New York, reported and translated for this article.

Refugee women display bracelets they made with the help of volunteers.

Meeting a refugee at a community center in Nashville, Tennessee, helped set the trajectory where Evie Tucker* finds herself today, working among Middle Eastern refugees in a community center overseas.  

Nashville, Tucker’s hometown, is home to the largest population of refugees from one Middle Eastern people group. Many of the refugees live in one section of town that has become a refugee resettlement location.  

Tusculum Hills Baptist Church is located in this part of town, and before moving overseas, Tucker taught at an English as a Second Language center located in the church.  

Tucker, a missionary with the International Mission Board, said there are 91 different people groups in middle Tennessee and there are between 30 to 40 unreached people groups represented in a one-mile radius of the church. She recalls hearing how Tusculum Hills began praying for the Lord’s direction and how they could be involved in reaching their neighbors. The Lord answered by directing them to open their facilities for ESL classes. Tucker’s home church, Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and Nashville First Baptist Church partner with Tusculum Hills to minister to refugees.  

At the ESL center, Tucker met a woman who shared her story of fleeing her country, living in a refugee camp for five years, losing her husband in the camp and her difficult journey to the U.S. 

Through listening to her story, the Lord planted a love of the woman’s people group in Tucker’s heart. Tucker had begun the process to serve with the IMB and prayed as she drove to a job-matching conference about where the Lord would have her serve.  

The Lord kept bringing to mind the faces of the refugee women at the center. She accepted a position serving among the same refugee people group overseas.  

Gathering the scattered  

Tucker and her IMB teammates are using community outreach to minister among refugees. 

Language classes have met a particularly important need. Many of the refugee women did not go outside their houses in their home country for cultural reasons, and some assumed it would be the same in the country they fled to, so they viewed learning the language as unnecessary. Tucker said many refugees did not have a long-term mentality of staying in the country. Some expected they would return to their home country, and others planned on resettlement in another country. Since moving becomes an ever-decreasing reality, they are seeing the value of learning the language.  

Local Christians are teaching the language classes, and Tucker says it gives the Christians a chance to serve and show their concern.  

The refugees have remarked on the untainted love they see being displayed by the local Christians.  

Tucker, other IMB missionaries and Christians are often invited over to refugees’ homes after the classes. The home visits allow them to be open about what they believe, ask if they are interested in studying the Bible and build a Christ-centered community. 

In their home country, refugees had strong communities, but war scattered their families and friends like shards of glass. Trust was also shattered. Refugees in Tucker’s city often reside in small communities and are reluctant to trust. Tucker focuses on helping them build connection and trust within their community,   

COVID-19 necessitated the closure of many outreach efforts, but Tucker and her teammates adapted their programs to meet in smaller groups and homes. 

“It’s been really amazing to see how doing it in their homes has really been transformative to build relationships,” Tucker said. “It’s gotten us more connected in those communities, and it is already planting the seeds of what a house group or house community looks like.” 

The pandemic has also changed the forum for discipleship. Tucker is unable to travel to visit a refugee she is discipling who lives in another city, so the women moved their study online. At the end of one of their lessons, Tucker asked the woman, Kala*, if there was someone with whom she could share the gospel. Kala immediately named several people.  

Kala began sharing with the people she mentioned, and over phone calls took the lessons she learned from Tucker to share the gospel with her sister, who still lives in their hometown.  Her sister recently committed her life to Christ.  

Kala is married to a non-Christian, but some of her daughters join her in the Bible study. She is faithfully sharing with them, and she prays they will choose to commit their lives to Christ soon.  

Initially, when Kala started studying with Tucker, Kala didn’t feel confident enough to teach the Bible on her own, but now, Kala hopes to start a study group in her home. She is praying for the four people she plans to invite to study the Bible with her. 

At home and abroad 

Short-term teams from the U.S. have come to partner with Tucker.  These teams have allowed Tucker different opportunities to invest in the refugee community.  Each team has been able to use their gifts and backgrounds to hold different community outreach events to meet the needs of the refugee community.  

Tucker encourages churches to look for opportunities to serve domestically as well.  

There is a natural connection between Tucker’s ministry among the refugee people group overseas and the church’s ministry among refugees in Nashville. 

“This people group is in Nashville; they’re in your backyard. These people that you’re praying for me to be here working with, they live right down the street from you too,” Tucker encouraged her church. 

You can come alongside Tucker and her teammates in prayer. 

Pray outreach activities will resume soon.  
Pray for their IMB team, as many team members will be in the U.S. over the summer. 
Refugee men work long hours and often are not able to attend events. Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel with men.  
Pray for the few followers in the people group to be bold and committed to Christ and for the gospel to spread through their families and networks. 

*Names changed for security  

Caroline Anderson writes for the IMB from Southeast Asia.

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NASHVILLE—The North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Network hosted its first live, in-person episode of the “We Are Send Network” podcast during the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Nashville. Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, shared his perspective on the direction of church planting after a tumultuous year.

“Churches have been remarkably hard hit during this time,” Stetzer said. “The isolation [from the pandemic] created a cultural tumult that has fast-forwarded cultural change, maybe 10 years in a year.”

Ed Stetzer (right), executive director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center, served as a special guest of the “We Are Send Network” podcast during the Send Network Breakfast at the SBC Annual Meeting. Pictured from left to right: Noah Oldham, a senior director at NAMB; Heiden Ratner, Las Vegas Send City Missionary; and Dhati Lewis, president of Send Network. NAMB photo

Stetzer recounted many of the divisive issues that arose to the forefront during the pandemic season—racial tension, political tension, tension over how to handle the pandemic.

“All of these things took place, and I used to say for pastors, if five percent of your church isn’t mad at you, you’re probably not doing anything significant. That’s just part of leadership,” Stetzer said. “But now we’re finding it’s 20-25 percent. Most of us are not prepared for this scenario, and I believe this scenario is going to last years. I don’t believe the pandemic ends the cultural convulsion.”

In helping church planters grasp how to navigate the cultural moment, Stetzer pointed the audience back to the last cultural upheaval that took place in the 1960s. He provided an example of one church in California that saw a move of God during that season.

“The question to me is, will we join Jesus on his mission in the midst of this cultural tumult and show and share the love of Jesus today,” Stetzer said. “I think the opportunity is great if we will say, ‘Here I am, Lord; send me.’”

Every year, NAMB invites church planting missionaries from around North America to come and be a part of the SBC Annual Meeting. While there, they receive training during events like the Send Network Breakfast, but the main purpose is to help them meet and connect with their Southern Baptist family.

“It’s important for our planters to be with the churches who support them through things like the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® and the Cooperative Program,” said Noah Oldham, a senior director in NAMB’s Send Network. “NAMB set up a virtual prayer experience for Southern Baptists where they were able to do a virtual prayer walk through planters’ neighborhoods, and some of those planters were there in person to meet their SBC family face-to-face.”

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the International Mission Board set up a virtual prayer experience for Southern Baptists at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville. Attendees were able to do a virtual prayer walk through church planters’ neighborhoods, and some of those planters were there in person to meet their SBC family face-to-face. NAMB photo

NAMB especially seeks to invite those who have never been a part of an SBC Annual Meeting so that they can see the overall value of belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention. NAMB provides some financial assistance so that it’s not too much of a burden, but those who decide to come must cover the cost of travel.

Church planting missionary Michael Byrd planted Faith Community Bible Church in St. Louis and attended this year’s annual meeting. Byrd spoke about the joy of being in the room rather than trying to follow along with highlights posted to social media.

“There’s a joy being in the room, even the organization and the structure and polity of our churches, where we can still disagree and resolve to work together and go back to our churches to pursue Jesus and rally our people to pursue Jesus,” Byrd said.

Michael Byrd (left) planted Faith Community Bible Church in St. Louis and attended the Send Conference and Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Nashville to connect with his Southern Baptist family. For Lawrence Baker (right), pastor at FCBC, this was his first time attending the SBC. Photo submitted by Michael Byrd.

Just before the Annual Meeting, a Washington Post article incorrectly framed the attendance of church planters to the 2021 Annual Meeting as centering on SBC politics.

“Times like these Annual Meetings are very important for new church planters to see the overall value and importance of participating in SBC life and to gain a broader view of what our Southern Baptist family is all about,” NAMB president Kevin Ezell said. “We don’t tell anyone how to vote.”

Helping North American missionaries feel a part of the Southern Baptist family is important to their sense of connection to the SBC and for the SBC to feel a sense of connection to their missionaries.

“They live on the mission field every day, and we wanted them to be around their family for a couple days—the family who sends them, who prays for them,” Oldham said “And we wanted those missionaries to have the sense when they went home that they were being sent out by their SBC family.”

During the Send Network Breakfast, Heiden Ratner, NAMB’s Send City Missionary in Las Vegas, expressed his excitement that next year’s annual meeting would be in the West.

“There hasn’t been a ton of sustaining revival-type movements in the West,” said Ratner. “I really believe it’s coming, by faith, that there’s stuff that’s about to happen in church planting on the West Coast. I think those days are ahead of us. We have faith for that.”