Author: Jayson Larson

New book celebrates Southern Baptists’ Great Commission cooperation

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.—In 2023, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee assembled a small team to help prepare for the centennial anniversary of the Cooperative Program in 2025. Tony Wolfe, executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, was part of that team and suggested commissioning a book as part of the celebration.

Wolfe was then tasked to serve as an editor of the volume, which became known as “A Unity of Purpose” to be published by B&H Publishing Group. Last year, W. Madison Grace II, provost and vice president at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, joined as co-editor. For Wolfe, the book’s purpose is to be a theological, historical, and missional celebration of the Cooperative Program’s past, present and future.

But for him, the book and the Cooperative Program itself are personal. “The earliest days I can remember included celebration of CP-funded overseas missionaries and state convention discipleship ministries,” Wolfe said. His father serves as a Southern Baptist pastor. He followed in those pastoral footsteps before stepping into denominational leadership roles.

Now, Wolfe wants to help Southern Baptists better understand the funding mechanism that has served as a unifying force and disciple-making multiplier for a century.

What was the heart behind the creation of the Cooperative Program 100 years ago?

Wolfe: In 1925, Southern Baptists were emerging from a five-year, $75 million campaign that overpromised but underdelivered on unified funding for the entirety of their Baptist work. Direct appeals from Baptist institutions and the mounting debt of those institutions were choking out effective ministry and wasting precious resources. But money was not the real problem—strategy was. A model for a unified funding strategy had been tested and proven in the Kentucky Baptist Convention. SBC leadership looked to this model while they developed the Cooperative Program as a comprehensive, unified funding strategy for the entirety of SBC enterprises.

How has the Cooperative Program impacted the world?

The Cooperative Program has carried the Great Commission work of Southern Baptists all over the world. The gospel has been proclaimed in the remotest corners, and churches have been planted in the darkest places. Entire families and tribes have repented from sin and called on Jesus Christ for salvation. Generations of Southern Baptist pastors, church leaders, and missionaries have been theologically trained and sustainably mobilized. Widows and orphans have been cared for. The hungry have been fed and the thirsty have drunk clean water—all while being pointed to the bread of life, who is also the living water.

The hands and feet of the Cooperative Program are the faithful, everyday Southern Baptists giving sacrificially through local churches that are giving sacrificially through the CP. However, the face of the Cooperative Program is the spiritually lost Hindu, the emotionally struggling pastor’s wife, the church leader desperate for theological training, the neighborhood in crisis from disaster, the trafficked teenage girl in an overpopulated city, and the engineer or schoolteacher called to vocational missions. Only the ledgers of heaven can record the extent of Southern Baptists’ global Great Commission impact effected through their Cooperative Program these past 100 years.

What do you think people don’t understand about the Cooperative Program?

Sometimes Southern Baptists don’t quite grasp how dependent upon the Cooperative Program is the entirety of our convention’s work. While the CP doesn’t populate 100% of the budgets for each supported entity, each SBC entity is dependent upon the CP in various ways including: direct funding (the CP supplies 100% of the budget for at least two national entities and most state conventions); entity interconnectedness (seminary-trained students mobilizing with the IMB); and organized representation (nominations for trustees, boards, and committees), convention polity (annual motions from the floor), and timely distribution of funds (CP and designated offerings) managed by the administrative work of the Executive Committee.

Why is this book called A Unity of Purpose?

In 1925, at the SBC’s Annual Meeting when the Cooperative Program was unanimously approved by messengers, M.E. Dodd was the chairman of the committee that brought the CP to the messenger body for a vote. In his address, he said, “Your Commission believes that the very time has come when this entire convention should commit itself, with a unity of purpose and consecration never known before, to the common task of the enlistment of our people and the working out of this plan. We need to see that any other course means only chaos and ruin.”

The CP is the most obvious and most strategic outworking of the “unity of purpose and consecration” that Southern Baptists share. To categorize the Baptist Great Commission impulse as a “unity of purpose” is simply to restate its original declared agenda, from the 1845 Constitution, to “elicit, combine, and direct the energies of the whole denomination in one sacred effort, for the propagation of the gospel.” Our one sacred effort is a unity of purpose. It keeps us moving forward together through crises and disagreements of many kinds in urgent, sacrificial, strategic Great Commission cooperation.

How have you seen God’s grace to Southern Baptists through the writing and editing of this book?

As the book manuscript floated around the country for review, we began to hear Southern Baptists using common language to describe the Cooperative Program as they celebrate the CP’s past, present, and future. Language creates culture, and A Unity of Purpose is giving Southern Baptists language of theological justification, historical celebration, and missional focus surrounding our Great Commission cooperation.

Prayerfully, this common healthy language will begin to facilitate a culture of excitement and expectation among us. A book can capture words and convey thoughts, but only God can multiply His grace through a shared language to unite hearts and voices in renewed commitment to one sacred effort. I believe He is already using this book, at least in some way, for that purpose.

Why is a 100-year-old funding mechanism still important today?

The genius of the CP is not in its historical precedent, but its biblical foundation and philosophical timelessness. The CP is a mechanism that maintains and extends the united efforts of tens of thousands of autonomous churches; it is an elective giving pathway that underwrites the entirety of a voluntarily shared missional ecosystem, all built upon biblical foundations for inter-congregational cooperation. Because Baptists share strong convictions against ecclesiastical hierarchy, if they are to advance the Great Commission together, they must also share strong convictions for pooling resources and relationships for their common mission.

In 1925, from the outgrowth of these timeless principles, the CP became the unified giving plan for Southern Baptists to support the entirety of their missional enterprise. The CP is still relevant and still important because it’s the most natural and most effective outworking of the shared and confessed Baptist theological impulse for convictional Great Commission cooperation between locally autonomous churches.

What are the main challenges facing the future of the CP?

Every challenge we face today is just a contemporary expression of perennial challenges in our convention of autonomous churches and institutions.

First, division and dissension within the convention are not new, but today’s social media culture exacerbates them. Secondly, the downward trajectory of CP-giving over the last 20 years is concerning, but several times throughout history, we’ve had to climb out of financial holes and embarrassing shortfalls. Thirdly, talks of entity consolidation, doctrinal clarity, and financial accountability are pressing upon our cooperation in this generation, but these are not new to Southern Baptists who, for 180 years, have expanded and combined entities, clarified and confessed doctrinal positions, and reframed and reformed fiduciary responsibilities. All things considered, if the question is, “Can we recover extravagant CP giving in our generation?” the only answer is: “If we will, we can.”

As Southern Baptists gather to celebrate milestone, SBTC embraces ‘a profound responsibility’

MEMPHIS, Tenn.—It was not only a commemoration, but a renewed call to action.

Southern Baptist Convention leaders from across the country gathered Tuesday, May 13, to mark the 100^th anniversary of the 1925 SBC Annual Meeting. Messengers at that meeting adopted two foundational structures that have defined Southern Baptists since—the Baptist Faith & Message and the Cooperative Program, the latter of which funds worldwide missions.

Seventy-three pastors and leaders celebrated the anniversary by signing a Declaration of Cooperation thanking Southern Baptist churches for a century of generous giving, commending “all who promote, support, and renew their commitment to the Cooperative Program among our family of churches, mission boards, seminaries, entities, local Baptist associations, and state conventions,” according to a report in Baptist Press.

Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Executive Director Nathan Lorick was among those who signed the declaration. Other SBTC pastors who signed included Eddie Lopez, First Baptist Church Forney’s En Español pastor who also serves as the SBC’s second vice president, Caleb Turner, senior pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, and Hyoung Min Kim, senior pastor of Saebit Baptist Church.

Speaking about the adoption of BF&M and CP, Lorick said, “Both of those decisions have had a profound impact on the gospel’s advancement not only in our nation, but around the world … and now we share a profound responsibility to carry forward this legacy.”

Lorick said the 1925 SBC Annual Meeting had a tremendous impact on the SBTC’s founding in 1998, noting it laid the groundwork for the “missional cooperation and theological agreement” that unify more than 2,800 churches today.

“Considering this centennial anniversary year, I am thanking God for our Bible-believing and missions-sending Southern Baptist legacy and family,” he said.

During the event’s keynote address, SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg called CP a “never-before-attempted method” of funding shared ministry and mission efforts. A century later, what was once an unknown has become a “practical, proven” method to tell the world about Jesus.

“My appeal today is to reaffirm our commitment to cooperation and the Cooperative Program in its simplest form—a shared funding mechanism for state and regional conventions and the national convention to substantially provide the funding needed for all our work,” Iorg said.

When SBTC churches give through the Cooperative Program, 45% of undesignated receipts are used to mobilize SBTC churches and 55% is forwarded to the SBC to fund entities including the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board.

Lorick encouraged churches to continue to give through CP “to send the gospel to the nations.” He also reiterated a three-pronged way churches have been encouraged to mark the 100^th anniversary of CP:

Pray, asking God how they might give to mark the milestone year;
Plan a Cooperative Program Sunday on Oct. 5 to emphasize the impact of CP giving; and
Post stories on social media sharing how God has used CP to bless them using #cp100story.

Information from Baptist Press was used in this report.

In the UK, a promising development: more young people are interested in Jesus, the Bible

NASHVILLE (BP)—A curiosity about Scripture and God may be one of the leading factors behind a study that claims a “quiet revival” is expanding among young people in the United Kingdom, said an International Mission Board leader.

“In churches across society something amazing is happening, challenging long-held predictions about the future of Christianity in the 21st century,” said the report produced by the UK-based Bible Society. “Where once we saw aging congregations and a steady decline in attendance, we see dramatic growth, led by the young.”

That growth is showing among several key findings from the study.

An increase in church attendance among 18-24-year-olds from 4% in 2018 to 16% in 2024, with young men’s attendance jumping from 4% to 21%.
Among churchgoers, 67% read the Bible at least weekly, up from 54% in 2018. Bible reading has doubled from 6 to 12% in England and Wales.
A more diverse church has emerged, with 19% of churchgoers part of an ethnic minority. Among 18-54-year-olds, that figure rises to 32%.

Kenny Dubnick, the IMB’s European People’s Affinity cluster leader for the UK and Ireland, said most of the study’s findings reflect his own observations and those of other IMB personnel.

“On the whole, we are seeing an interest in spiritual matters, including Christianity, among 18-24-year-olds,” he told Baptist Press. “They are not necessarily interested in ‘church’ or religion, but in spirituality and Christ’s teachings. For many, they are initially often suspicious and cynical towards religion and the church, but not Jesus.”

Those observations generated changes in how to share the gospel.

“One of our primary evangelistic practices is to invite people to study the Bible,” said Dubnick. “Sometimes this is done in a formal gathering of 10 to 15 people who meet once a week for dinner and a Bible study.”

Those studies typically begin with about seven weeks of going through the gospel of Mark and usually meet in a home, pub, or community center. Those early gatherings are more informal, as missionaries meet almost weekly with individuals for one-on-one Bible study.

The American Bible Society, a separate organization whose founding was influenced by its UK counterpart, recently reported a similar growth in Scripture engagement among men.

Although women are still more engaged with the Bible, men are more likely to be “Bible-curious” and have surged in their Bible-reading practices from 34% in 2024 to 41% now. What’s more, Millennial men reported a 25% increase from in Bible use last year, while Gen X men reported a 29% increase.

Dubnick’s observations match the UK study’s findings on diversity and immigration. Christians arriving from elsewhere have helped spur church growth.

“We trust that the Spirit is bringing believers to the UK to spread the gospel among the Brits,” he said. “The UK was once a missionary-sending nation. Now, it is a missionary-receiving one.”

The UK study also put forward what it called “a clear difference between church-going and non-churchgoing Christians.” Namely, fewer Britons see themselves as Christians “by default.”

In 2018, 32% identified as Christians even though they didn’t regularly go to church. That number dropped to 27% in the recent study while reflecting increasing desires for discipleship and Bible study.

That mirrors Dubnick’s observations.

“In my 18 years serving in the UK and Ireland, every person I’ve seen come to faith in Jesus has done so via studying the Bible,” he said. “People are not interested in church or organized religion, but the Bible and Jesus are topics they are more willing to engage with.”

The latest report on Southern Baptist engagement indicates something similar.

While church membership continued a downward trend, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination recorded the highest number of baptisms in seven years. That came with increases in total worship attendance as well as small group or Sunday School participation.

“The Quiet Revival” also reported a deep desire “for meaning, order and belonging.”

“With the normalization of Christianity in culture, and the confidence and comfort of Christian friends to share their own faith experience, a large number of young adults now appear to be looking towards the Church as a space for finding healing and community as well as a deeper sense of meaning in their life,” it said.

Those thoughts reflect the Global Flourishing Study released on May 1 by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Most of the countries that reported high overall composite flourishing may not have been rich in economic terms, but they tended to be rich in friendships, marriages, and community involvement—especially involvement in religious communities,” wrote the study’s authors.

The report also described young people as “struggling” in terms of mental health, with flourishing scores staying consistent from 18-49 years of age before showing stages of increase.

Matthew Spandler-Davison, a Kentucky Baptist pastor still heavily involved in ministry in his native Scotland, noted the encouraging signs of the UK study while calling for discernment and a “need to look beyond the surface.”

“In some of our church plants in Scotland, we have seen a growing group of teenagers interested and curious about the church,” he said. “However, many of them are navigating a syncretism in their belief and worldview. They’re piecing together their worldview from various voices, including online and social media influencers.”

The result is an amalgamation of different beliefs, with Jesus sprinkled in. This points to the ongoing importance of discipleship.

“It’s a gift to have them with us, but the exclusivity of Christ—that He alone is the way, the truth and the life—is a real stumbling block for some,” Spandler-Davison said. “We may see some drift away in the coming year if we are not clear about the claims of Jesus and the call to a life of repentance and faith in Christ alone.”

As in America, there are also long-held associations with organized religion keeping many from the church. White, working-class men in particular, said Dubnick, view the Church of England as the “Religion of the Royals” and are thus disconnected from it in almost every way.

There are others, though, such as many Anglican churches that are “doing a good job in contextualizing the gospel to the working classes.”

“These Anglican churches are committed to sharing the gospel in urban-deprived communities,” he said. “We are thankful for these Anglican brothers and sisters. The work is a marathon and not a sprint, but the Lord is at work!”

This article originally appeared in Baptist Press.

For Peoples, passion for special needs equipping ministry is personal

When Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Ph.D. student Sandra Peoples recognized God’s call to ministry in her life as a teenager, she knew it was a call to discipleship and specifically women’s ministry. Little did she know at the time that God would use the special needs ministry of her family’s church to shape her calling.

Peoples was born in Oklahoma and grew up going to First Baptist Church in Duncan, where she was part of the fourth generation in her family that had been faithful members, volunteers, and leaders in the church.

Peoples recalls praying in her bedroom when she was seven years old with her mother, confessing her sins and her need for Jesus. From that early age, Peoples said she “saw the importance of plugging in and being part of a church family and serving with our gifts.”

While still a teenager, Peoples began to have the opportunity to use her gifts to help lead Bible studies for other girls and was also mentored by youth and children’s leaders. But while she was being invested in by other women, Peoples said the church had another lasting impact on her life in how they cared for her family and specifically her sister Sybil, who had Down syndrome.

Peoples said their church provided disability programs that supported her family as well as four other families. Of those families, Peoples said four of them now have siblings of the special needs members serving in full-time ministry.

“I just think about how if that church hadn’t accepted Sybil and welcomed her, then I couldn’t have attended either, and that really would have changed our family for generations, potentially,” Peoples said. “It certainly would have made it harder for us to love Jesus and love the church. So that church was a real gift to my family and to the families that attended.”

Peoples attended Hardin-Simmons for her undergraduate, taught for a year in Dallas, and then went to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where she met and married her husband Lee and had their first son. She was pregnant with their second son when she graduated with her Master of Divinity in Women’s Studies in 2007.

Upon graduating, Peoples began to lead women’s Bible studies and disciple other believers while her husband pastored. But in 2010, while they were living in Pennsylvania, their son James was diagnosed with autism, and they realized that the small church they were a part of, and many other Baptist churches in the nation, did not have programs and resources in place that would help their family and other special needs families. While she had grown up in a special needs family and in a church that supported families such as theirs, Peoples faced the realization that not all churches had that available to the congregation.

“What I had kind of taken for granted growing up wasn’t available to me as a mom,” Peoples said, adding that reality led to her “wanting to make churches more accessible and inclusive.”

Peoples’s husband spent time pastoring in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and for the past 10 years in the Houston area, where Lee has pastored Heights Baptist Church in Alvin, Texas, for eight years. At each church, Peoples and her family helped create programs that would ensure their son and others could receive the discipleship opportunities they needed.

In 2021, she began working for the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention (SBTC) as their disability ministry consultant, SBTC being the first Baptist state convention to have that position, working closely with and for Karen Kennemur, Southwestern’s professor of children’s ministry and children’s and family ministry associate with the SBTC.

In working with the SBTC, Peoples has the opportunity to travel and provide training, visiting churches and assessing what their needs are as they provide a place for families with special needs to worship and fellowship.

In 2022, Peoples decided to continue her education at Southwestern as a Ph.D. student with Kennemur as her supervisor.

“When I thought about getting my PhD, Southwestern was at the top of my list,” Peoples said, adding the online options were especially a blessing. “… I love the family ministry and generational studies area. It fits so well with my passion of inclusion for special needs families. So it really was just the perfect fit at the perfect time.”

Peoples said she has enjoyed the family ministry degree program at Southwestern, which has led her to look at her own experiences through a biblical lens, asking questions such as what discipleship looked like in the early church and the Old Testament, and to consider how families might have participated in the church.

“All of that has been really interesting to think through and then apply to our context,” Peoples said, adding she has enjoyed her classes and learning with her classmates.

Peoples said her Southwestern education has also helped her as she teaches classes at Liberty University on disability ministry, leading her to look at that ministry as discipleship for the entire family.

“We’re not just talking about programs for a kid with disabilities; we’re really talking about holistic discipleship, and how a church welcoming somebody with a disability allows their entire family to attend,” Peoples said.

Using her experiences of training churches, consulting with the SBTC, teaching at Liberty, and even joining churches that did not have resources available to her own family, Peoples authored Accessible Church: A Gospel-Centered Vision for Including People with Disabilities and Their Families, set for a July 1 release through Crossway.

Peoples said the catalyst for the book was hearing from so many churches asking the same questions about disability ministry and believing “that they’re starting from scratch because there just aren’t a lot of resources out there.”

The book looks at elements of disability ministry, including how it fits with other ministries of the church, how to disciple an individual with disabilities, and how to make the proclamation of the Gospel priority in that ministry. Specifically, Peoples said her studies at Southwestern led her to write the book focusing on ministering to the entire family, not just in the children’s ministry or to the individual with a disability.

“How do we support the whole family in our churches?” Peoples said of what sets her book apart from others. “And then how do we make sure that we’re building ministries that meet people with disabilities at every age and stage, because we don’t want the inclusion to end when they’re done with children’s ministry, or even done with youth, next-gen ministry.”

Peoples said this book is to help churches of all sizes, but that it is also more than just a how-to book as it looks at the theology of disability and what the Scriptures say about disabilities. She said leaders of any area of church ministry could benefit from the information.

In her studies at Southwestern, her writing, and her teaching, Peoples said “my goal is always just to help churches, [to] do that however I can as a pastor’s wife and as a consultant and as a professor, all these ways. The goal is just to make churches stronger and to help them, especially as they reach special needs families and people with disabilities.”

What’s next after nearly a year stranded in space? For astronaut, a church elders meeting

PASADENA, Texas (BP)—Barry Wilmore attended his first elders meeting in nearly a year at Providence Baptist Church on April 10. His absence was understandable.

Wilmore, known by many as “Butch,” had an unexpected extended stay at the International Space Station after the Boeing Starliner carrying himself and fellow astronaut Suni Williams developed issues docking with the ISS. Their plight and return home last month became worldwide news.

In speaking with media outlet after media outlet, Wilmore’s faith also received an astronomical stage. For him, though, it’s nothing more than a matter of obedience.

“If you’re a true believer, you’re directed by a Holy God who draws us to His Word and teaches us,” said Wilmore, who had joined fellow Providence member Tracy Dyson aboard the ISS. “My experience may not be common to people. But perseverance and knowing God is in control is really the focus for every situation in life.”

To quote an ‘80s icon, life comes at you fast. Wilmore experienced that 250 miles above the earth, and his faith helped him deal with intense, second-by-second situations.

“Jesus should be everything, all-encompassing,” Wilmore told Baptist Press. “If you are born again as part of the redeemed, then trust Him and His direction.

“We have to deal with life as it comes at us. How we handle it, comes a lot from the Word.”

No small details

There are parallels to his experiences in space and as an elder, lessons for anyone claiming to follow Christ.

“The battles are not won in the battle alone. They are won in preparation,” Wilmore told BP.

Decades of practice and training go into the systems, jet structures and innumerable other aspects of space missions. But then, something happens. Things don’t work together the way they should.

That is when the thousands of hours in a simulator—like Wilmore accumulated, often early on Saturday mornings—come into play. You don’t only sharpen a knife right before you need it, and the time an engineer spends examining data in his or her office becomes a matter of life or death.

“There are no small details. They all matter,” said Wilmore. “I’ve had enough experiences that prove it time and again.”

There is a correlation with church leadership such as the elders’ meetings at Providence. They last as long as necessary and are scheduled for the last Thursday of the month. But others, like last week’s, take place as needed.

“Barry is an action guy,” said Tommy Dahn, who is in the process of transitioning out as pastor after founding the church 25 years ago. His successor is the other staff member among the elder group.

“We missed him for those nine months. He’ll poke and prod where others don’t,” he said. “He definitely brings another level of intensity with his background.

“Barry is always thinking through things and developing a plan. There is never a wasted minute.”

Wilmore said being back with his fellow elders last Thursday was “rich” and “wonderful.”

“We talked about a lot of things, primarily about shepherding the flock,” he said. “We talked about how people get into situations over which they have no control. I know something about that.”

A perfect life

His house had some deferred maintenance. Wilmore’s brother and dad helped him do some foundation work recently—pulling out some shrubs and painting the front and back porch to get ready for his daughter’s high school graduation party.

He missed volleyball season but was thankful to see her off to the prom last Friday night.

“I should’ve gotten a haircut,” he groused about pictures with her.

Now with 464 total days in space over three missions, he is willing to complete another. It’s who God created him to be, but not the only thing.

“There are many lines of work,” he said. “The world needs Jesus; it needs biblical truth. The Word is the only place to get it, as it guides us to truly know hope. If you’re not living that, ensconced in it, then when things happen failure is imminent.

“We had a mantra when I was selected as an astronaut—‘Know everything and perform it well.’ It’s the goal to be perfect, but we can’t attain that in the flesh. Through the eyes of God, though, it’s not about perfection but direction.”

While at the ISS, Wilmore viewed livestreamed services from Providence as well as Grace Baptist Church in his hometown of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., where he is friends with Pastor Alan Herd and where Wilmore’s childhood best friend is an elder.

Dahn remembers Wilmore coming to the church 17 years ago, an obviously intelligent guy who was humble enough to tell them “he didn’t know what he didn’t know.”

Many know him as one of those astronauts who was stuck in space. His church knows him as a leader, a guy who is very involved in others’ lives.

A year ago, Wilmore was preparing for what was supposed to be a nine-day trip to the ISS. He was also spending time with a senior adult in his final days, not only watching Providence’s worship services with him at times, but also handling his business matters to the end.

“That’s who he is,” said Dahn. “He looks for needs and works to meet them. He’s everywhere.”

Turner to be nominated for SBTC president

Michael Criner, senior pastor of First Rockwall, has announced his intention to nominate Caleb Turner, senior pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, as president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention at its annual meeting in October.

Turner has been Mesquite Friendship’s senior pastor since 2023, having previously served as the church’s equipping/teaching pastor, assistant pastor, and co-pastor.

Criner said Turner’s nomination was “years in the making and developed through sincere prayer and ongoing conversations” with a number of SBTC pastors. Through those conversations, Criner said it became clear that Turner—whom he called a “legacy Southern Baptist” and the product of a church plant—has led well on the denominational level, the local church level, and within his own family.

“If you were to visit [Mesquite Friendship] on a Sunday, you would find a church that is in love with the Lord, but a church that trusts their pastor,” Criner said. “ … I believe he has the strength of character, wisdom, and leadership experience to serve well as our president.”

Turner has held multiple leadership positions in Southern Baptist life, including his service as a trustee for the North American Mission Board. He was also the youngest and first African American to serve as chairman of the SBTC’s executive board.

“All were led and served with excellence,” Criner said.

Turner said he would be grateful for the opportunity to serve as president, if elected.

“It is my belief that the SBTC is the greatest state convention in the country,” he said. “God has used godly, capable, and gifted men to lead our convention, and it would be an honor to follow in their footsteps.”

After graduating from John D. Horn High School in Mesquite, Turner attended the University of Oklahoma on a track and field scholarship. Prior to graduating, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, working with its Special Operations Command while stationed at Hurlburt Field in Florida. He was also stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for a time.

While in Florida, Turner served several churches in youth and children’s ministry. Upon completing his active-duty commitment, Turner attended Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago, earning a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies.

Mesquite Friendship gave $205,100 through the Cooperative Program in 2023 and $181,650 in 2024.

Turner and his wife, Tamera, have three children: Caden, Cason, and Camden. Turner’s father, Terry—Mesquite Friendship’s founding pastor—served as SBTC president from 2011- 2013.

The SBTC Annual Meeting is Oct. 27-28 at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock.

Easter remains high attendance day for most churches, study shows

Most pastors are expecting one of their largest crowds on Easter, but those expectations have tempered some in the past decade.

The three highest-attendance Sundays for pastors—Easter, Christmas and Mother’s Day—have remained the same since 2011, but each is now less likely to be among the top days, according to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors.

“While many churches consider high attendance as something from their pre-pandemic past, seasonal changes have resumed,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Church attendance is predictable again with periods of consistency in the fall and early spring, as well as holiday crowds at Christmas and Easter.”

Today, 90% of pastors identify Easter as the day their church has its highest, second-highest, or third-highest attendance for worship service. Four in 5 (81%) say the same for Christmas, and 51% identify Mother’s Day. But fewer pastors point to high attendance on those three days compared to 2011. Easter, down from 93% to 90%, and Christmas, down from 84% to 81%, dropped three percentage points, while Mother’s Day fell eight points from 59% to 51%. A day the church designates to invite friends is the only day to have a statistically significant increase in the past decade, climbing from 14% in 2011 to 20% in 2024.

An additional study finds several of the top days for church attendance are among U.S. Protestant churchgoers’ favorite holidays to celebrate.

Easter Sunday gatherings

More than half of U.S. Protestant pastors (52%) identify Easter as the day their church typically has its highest attendance for worship services, statistically unchanged from the 55% who said the same in 2011. Another 30% say Easter is the second most attended day at their congregation, while 8% identify it as the third-highest-attendance worship service.

“On any given Sunday, a large minority of a congregation may not be present for worship,” said McConnell. “Easter is the day when the most church members get to church—and for a good reason: No other theme is as profound to a Christian than celebrating that they died with Christ and as Jesus was raised to life, so too Christians are now alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Pastors of churches that exceed 100 attendees are more likely than small church pastors to say Easter is one of the highest attended services, if not the highest, at their churches. Those at churches with 250 or more for an average weekend worship service (67%) and those with 100 to 249 (60%) are more likely than pastors at churches with 50 to 99 on average (51%) and those with fewer than 50 (44%) to say Easter is their highest-attendance service of the year. Additionally, those at churches that average 100-249 for worship services (93%) and those at churches with 250 or more (98%) are more likely than pastors of churches with attendance of less than 50 (87%) to rank Easter in their top three high-attendance days.

Non-denominational pastors are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed pastors to have their largest crowds on Easter (64% vs. 45%). Also, Lutherans (98%) and Methodists (95%) are more likely to have Easter near the top than Presbyterian/Reformed (87%), Pentecostal (84), or Restorationist Movement pastors (78%).

Among churchgoers, Easter ranks third among their favorite holidays to celebrate (10%). Those who attend worship services at least four times a month are more likely than those who attend one to three times a month to pick Easter (14% v. 5%). Also, churchgoers with evangelical beliefs are more likely than those without to choose the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection (13% vs. 6%).

Christmas crowds

Perhaps unsurprisingly, U.S. Protestant pastors say Christmas is also one of their most well-attended services. More than a quarter (28%) say they typically have their highest attendance for worship services as they celebrate the birth of Jesus, statistically unchanged from 29% in 2011. Around 2 in 5 (39%) point to Christmas as the second in their attendance rankings, while 14% place it third.

“Pastors may have been thinking of different types of worship services for Christmas since the question did not specify a Sunday morning or weekend worship service,” said McConnell. “Different churches have different traditional Christmas celebrations that may not land on December 25. The largest attendance may be on Christmas Eve, the nearest Sunday or the day of a concert.”

Mainline pastors are more likely than their evangelical counterparts to identify Christmas as their best-attended service (35% v. 26%). Protestant pastors in the Northeast are also more likely than those in the South to have Christmas at the top of their attendance rankings (33% v. 24%).

Additionally, pastors in the Midwest are more likely than those in the South to have Christmas in their top three (84% vs. 78%). The largest churches, those 250 or more, are more likely than the smallest churches, fewer than 50 in attendance, to say Christmas is one of their three most well-attended services (89% v. 79%).

Christmas is by far the favorite holiday of Protestant churchgoers (63%), but those at the smallest churches are least likely to agree. Those attending churches with weekly worship services that average 500 or more (69%), 100 to 249 (69%) and 50 to 99 (63%) are more likely than those at churches with fewer than 50 (53%) to say Christmas is their favorite holiday to celebrate.

Mother’s Day visits

While pastors identify Christmas and Easter as far and away their highest-attendance seasons, Mother’s Day remains the clear third, despite dropping in popularity in the past decade. Few Protestant pastors say Mother’s Day is their highest (6%) or second-highest attendance day (14%), but a plurality (31%) point to the holiday as their third highest.

African American pastors are more likely than white pastors to say they have their highest attendance for a Mother’s Day service (12% v. 5%). They are also more likely than white pastors to rank the holiday in their top three (66% v. 49%). Additionally, pastors 65 and older (55%) are among the most likely to say Mother’s Day is one of their three highest attendance services.

Non-denominational pastors (64%), Baptists (59%), Restorationist Movement pastors (59%) and Pentecostals (54%) are more likely than Presbyterian/Reformed (39%) and Lutheran pastors (30%) to place Mother’s Day in their top three.

Other days

U.S. Protestant pastors say the other days that make their three highest-attendance services include a day the church designates to invite friends (20%), homecoming or anniversary of the church’s founding (18%), Fourth of July (3%) and Father’s Day (3%). Around 1 in 8 say part of their top three includes no particular Sunday (12%).

Around a quarter of pastors (22%) said another specific day. The top choices offered among those included Thanksgiving, Palm Sunday, a baptism service, Reformation Day, Confirmation Sunday, Christmas Eve and All Saints Day. Each of those had fewer than 3% mention them.

The special day to invite friends is the only day that saw significant growth since 2011, with 20% of pastors now including it in their top three, compared to 14% in 2011. The special friend day is more popular in the Northeast (29%) than the Midwest (18%) and South (17%). Pentecostals (32%) are among the most likely to include this as part of their three highest-attended services. Pastors at churches with an average attendance of 250 or more are among the least likely (11%).

“Only the most visible church in the community is likely to get visitors who simply appear at church on Christian holidays,” said McConnell. “People who don’t think of themselves as Christians or who do not have a church typically need a personal invitation before they will show up at a church. Many are open to these invitations, as evidenced by higher attendance when they are emphasized.”

Large churches are also among the least likely to say homecoming or the anniversary of the church’s founding is one of their most popular services (8%). For African American (33%) and Baptist pastors (28%), however, this is more likely to be among their top three attended services.

U.S. Protestant churchgoers also have clear favorite holidays to celebrate, whether that includes a visit to church or not. Christmas (63%) and Easter (10%), along with Thanksgiving (14%) are the most popular holidays among churchgoers, followed by Halloween (4%), New Year’s Eve and Day (3%) and Independence Day (3%). Fewer choose Memorial Day (1%), Labor Day (1%), Juneteenth (1%), Columbus Day (<1%) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (<1%), while 2% say they’re not sure.

Korean churches prepare to gather, coinciding with SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas

CARROLLTON (BP)—More than 1,000 people say they plan to participate in the 44^th annual gathering of the Korean Council, set for June 9-11 at New Song Church in this northwestern suburb of Dallas. This includes pastors, staff and lay members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s 973 Korean churches.

Known formally as the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America, the fellowship each year meets in conjunction with the SBC’s Annual Meeting.

“Our future direction aligns with the SBC’s Vision 2025,” Korean Council’s Executive Director James Kang told Baptist Press. “You can’t simply sit back and maintain the status quo. We must look to the future by sending more missionaries, planting more churches, revitalizing existing ones and cultivating ministries for the next generation.”

Among additional initiatives is a partnership with IMB to host 10 regional missions conferences. The first four took place at Semihan Church in Metro Dallas, New Life Church in Metro San Francisco Bay, Tacoma First Baptist in Metro Seattle, and Global Missions Church in Maryland, Metro D.C.

“Thanks to many prayers, these conferences, and God’s activity, we are seeing more missionaries being recruited for the IMB,” Kang said. “We’re also witnessing a revival of missions within the church, especially among the laity.”

A Southern Baptist thrust to Korean immigrants started with the Home Mission Board appointment of Don and Esther Kim to reach international university students in Los Angeles. That led in 1957 to the start of Berendo Street Baptist Church, which today is known as the “mother” of all Korean churches in the SBC.

At least 1,700 people attend Sunday morning worship services at the church, which changed its Korean name in 2022 to Saenuri, or “New Community.”

While perhaps 80% of the SBC’s Korean congregations see fewer than 100 people in Sunday morning worship, Berendo/Saenuri is among a handful with at least 1,500. This includes New Song Baptist and Semihan Church, both in Carrollton. Other similarly large Korean churches: New Vision Church in San Jose, Calif., Good Community Church in Torrance, Calif., Tacoma (Wash.) First Baptist Church and Seoul Baptist Church of Houston.

About 15 Korean Southern Baptist churches draw at least 1,000 people in Sunday morning worship.

“We also have many small churches in rural areas that are decreasing in number and need to be revitalized,” Kang said. “Americans tend to retire in the places where they used to live, while Koreans often retire near the city, and young people also move to urban areas. As a result, we’re seeing a decline in the Korean population in smaller towns.”

About 1.8 million Koreans live in the U.S., according to 2022 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. About 70% consider themselves Christian.

“In the early years of the council, the Home Mission Board hired Dr. Daniel Moon to lead the Korean church planting initiative, which resulted in the establishment of many Korean churches,” Kang said.

There is not currently an SBC-wide initiative to plant Korean churches—a need the Korean Council is trying to meet.

“Here in Metro Dallas, where the headquarters for the Korean Council is located, there are 150,000 Koreans and 60 Korean churches. In New York, there are fewer than 10, and in Toronto, fewer than five.”

About 220,000 Koreans live in Metro New York City. More than 100,000 live in Ontario, Canada, most in Toronto.

“We decided to support Korean church planters at $1,000 per month for two years, specifically those planting in strategic cities in the North where there is no Korean church or not enough, much like the SBC does,” Kang said. “Additionally, we are working to help churches grow by offering seminars to help pastors train in evangelism and the revitalization of the church.”

The Korean Council also is working with seasoned pastors to provide coaching and revitalization support to churches requesting it, the executive director added.

At least 30 Korean Southern Baptist churches include English ministries designed to reach all Asians because “our children mingle very well with other Asian peers,” Kang said.

“A lot of churches are asking for help with English ministries,” the executive director continued. “Our young people like to be associated with Koreans but too many churches cannot provide them with what they need in English. We are losing our youngsters in a sense, and when we don’t have the younger generation, we lose the churches and the future.”

The future for the Korean Council started in 1974, when Korean pastors met after the SBC annual meeting in Los Angeles to discuss how they could work together. In 1981, they met again to establish a formal fellowship of Korean pastors “to foster relationships and consolidate the strengths of Korean churches to advance church planting and missions,” according to a recent book by Jongsu Heo titled “The History of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in Ameria, 1956-2021: Communication, Connection and Cohesion Toward a Holy Calling.”

That pastors’ fellowship, which met for its first meeting in 1982—when there were 203 Korean Southern Baptist churches—evolved into an association of churches in 1993 when there were 600 churches in what today is known as the Korean Council. Members today include 35 churches and 44 pastors in Canada, 16 churches in six South and Central American nations, and more than 900 across the U.S.

“Unifying the Korean churches spread out throughout the United States helps us to know that we are not alone in the mission and call to spread the gospel,” New Song Pastor Peter Hyun told Baptist Press. “Through the different pastor seminars and retreats specified for Koreans in pastoral ministry, pastors are refreshed throughout the year and churches are strengthened by the work of the Holy Spirit. The annual Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America (CKSBCA) is a time that many pastors and families joyfully await throughout the year.”

This article originally appeared in Baptist Press.

Pastoring well when members leave

“It’s not personal.”

When members leaving the church tell us this, it’s hard not to take it personally. Even as they express their gratitude for your friendship, your ministry, and the church, it hurts when people leave.

Our church recently experienced a season of departures (for myriad reasons), and I’ve become far too familiar and weary of battling doubts and temptations of defensiveness, having to tell my young kids about more of their friends leaving the church, and pleading with the Lord to bring friends for my wife for the long haul.

While we can’t decide who, when, or how someone leaves, we can control how we respond. However it plays out, pastors are called to be an example to the flock of God and care for them in a way that reflects our chief shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-5).

Before I share some lessons I’ve learned, I want to make a distinction: Some members leave better than others. I’m not necessarily talking about why they feel called to leave, but rather how they go about leaving. Regardless of why someone might leave, they can still leave in a healthy way.

For instance, if a member has a disagreement with you, a change of conviction that does not align with the church’s, or feels like the Lord may be leading them to serve another church body, they will ideally discuss this with you. Recently, a former pastor at our church expressed that his time with us may be coming to an end. Since he was still discerning this, I was able to encourage, shepherd, and pray for him. He was even willing to share this with our members at a meeting, and after I honored his faithful service to our body and thanked him for loving us well and inviting us to walk through this transitional season with him and his family, we gathered around them, thanked God for them, prayed that He would lead them to a great church home, and encouraged them.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Divisive departures can be a lot more hurtful and/or messy. In that case, how do we pastor difficult departures? It is not lost on me that pastoring does not make us immune to the assault of hurtful daggers of accusations or passive aggressive emails thrown as the backdoor slams shut. There’s so many things that run through your head, from wishing they would have talked to you sooner to wanting to defend yourself from off-base, untrue accusations.

While Scripture instructs handling those who intentionally cause division (Romans 16:17-18, Titus 3:10), the hurtful accusations may be contained between you and them. More often than not, these are emotional responses in moments of weakness. In navigating instances like this, here are a few helpful principles I’ve learned:

Clothe yourself with humility (1 Peter 5:5)

As we seek to posture ourselves with humility (Philippians 2:1-11), let us look to Christ, who empowers us to exude the humility He exemplified. Consider the situation at Calvary, where He was 100% right and His executioners were completely in the wrong, yet He did not pray for the record to be made clear. Instead, He humbly interceded for them, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (James 1:19)

I constantly remember my mother’s astute anatomical observation in my adolescence: “God gave you two ears but only one mouth.” We must be quick to listen, seeking to understand not only what they are saying, but what is underneath what they are saying. Ray Ortlund offers a helpful question to ask during any conflict: “Can you help me see what you see from your eyes?” When we listen to understand rather than to respond/argue, not only does our defensiveness subside, but we grow in empathy and love.

Confess your sin (James 5:16, 1 John 1:9)

Even if a critique is not full of truth or delivered in the best manner, we must approach every instance of it with eyes to find our own fault in the matter rather than brushing off the entire assessment. Because we are imperfect undershepherds, rarely are we faultless in any matter of conflict. Own your shortcoming, confess your sin or lapse of judgment, repent to the Lord and your member, and ask for forgiveness.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18)

While restoration of church membership may be a ship that has sailed, interpersonal reconciliation should still be sought. Peaceful reconciliation requires both people to extend humility and forgiveness, and we have no control over how the other person responds. However, we must be mindful of what we can control. As alluded to earlier, argumentatively stating your case so that your “rightness” might be seen rarely leads to a unifying, peaceful outcome.

Bless them (Romans 12:14)

As you seek to send them well, express gratitude for the ways they have loved and served you, affirm the work of the Spirit in them, and pray God would lead them to their next chapter. Christ is their chief shepherd, and He will always care for them and give them all that they need.

Brothers, as you seek to pastor with great care, love, humility, and faithfulness, hold fast to Christ’s promise: “When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).

Panel discusses role of Cooperative Program during Southwestern Founder’s Day chapel

FORT WORTH—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program and the seminary’s role in its beginning during a Founder’s Day chapel service March 13 on the Fort Worth campus.

Southwestern Seminary President David S. Dockery noted the event usually involves an address about one of the early leaders of the seminary. However, he said, “we’re tying today’s Founder’s Day together with an important event in the life of Southern Baptists as a whole, in that 100 years ago … the Cooperative Program was birthed, and God has used that to advance the gospel, to strengthen the work of Southern Baptists through the years.”

This year’s event featured a panel discussion with Nathan Lorick, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU); Madison Grace, provost and vice president for academic administration at Southwestern Seminary; James Spivey, church historian and pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth; and Andy Pettigrew, director of NextGen Mobilization for the International Mission Board (IMB).

Dockery asked Grace to define the Cooperative Program, noting that he is a co-editor of a forthcoming book, “A Unity of Purpose: 100 Years of the SBC Cooperative Program.” Grace explained that Baptists previously had multiple organizations that would go to churches and ask for donations for missions. They realized they were “spending a lot of money trying to raise money,” he said, and began looking for a better way.

In 1919, Southwestern Seminary’s second president, L. R. Scarborough, led a five-year campaign to raise $75 million to fund Baptist mission and ministry efforts. That effort fell short of its goal, and in 1925, “there was a reassessment of it, and the Cooperative Program was birthed,” he said.

Grace said the Cooperative Program is more than a funding mechanism.

“This is a way to unify us as Southern Baptists in that one sacred effort that we are engaging in for Kingdom advance,” he said.

Grace said that in teaching classes on Baptist heritage, they also talk about what the Cooperative Program is doing today. He said Cooperative Program funding goes to such programs as the IMB, the North American Mission Board, and to Southwestern Seminary, among other entities.

“I think it’s important for us to understand that the No. 1 scholarship at Southwestern Seminary comes from the Cooperative Program,” he said.

Lorick said churches can be thankful for the 100-year history of the Cooperative Program, “but we can’t [give] answers to questions that are no longer being asked.” A previous generation never questioned the need to give, but a different generation today is asking why they should give. He said he speaks to churches on the value of giving, noting that they may be in Fort Worth, but through the Cooperative Program, they’re ministering in Africa, Europe, Israel—anywhere missionaries are sent.

Pettigrew said he personally benefited from the Cooperative Program.

“So many things that I have done throughout my journey … more than 25 years, just being as a result of the Cooperative Program, being able to go to school and so many different things that I’ve done, and obviously being a missionary … for 13 years,” he said, adding he feels indebted to the Cooperative Program.

“I’m grateful to you for giving, and I hope you recognize the role that you play in giving,” he added.