Ever so often our Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting is especially significant. Our 2000 meeting, also in Orlando. was one of those, it was the occasion of the passage of our revised faith statement. Since then we’ve done important things?elected presidents, approved budgets, etc.?but this most recent meeting garnered more attention than normal and will prove more significant than any since 2000. Here are some highlights.

The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force report?You’d have to be completely disengaged from denominational discussions to have heard nothing of this. The 22 men and women appointed last summer to bring recommendations related to the effectiveness of Southern Baptist ministries brought a report that was as far-reaching as had any chance of approval. It was thoroughly discussed over the course of 12 months and the result of the task force’s deliberations was greatly impacted by the SBC-wide discussion. The debate in Orlando lasted nearly two hours and was pretty lively. In the course of this Tuesday afternoon deliberation we saw the report amended yet again and at one point we saw our moderator and parliamentarians scratching their heads over how to best do the will of the messengers. In the end, the report was overwhelmingly approved and most participants in the discussion went home happy with that part of our business. The task force, and especially chairman Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas, should be commended for their hard work and flexibility throughout the process. I can’t think of how they could have tried harder to produce a constructive report.

Now, the implementation of these recommendations will be in the hands of our SBC entities?especially the North American Mission Board and the Executive Committee. More about the EC later but I do think it is important for us, and them, to note that the approval of the messengers in Orlando was not grudging. It was a mandate. The convention does not direct the work of our agencies except in the election of the boards that do direct them. The boards and committee will decide what to do with recommendations. That said, for an agency head or an agency board to disregard the clear will of the convention in favor of the status quo at his own agency would be a discouraging and possibly destructive form of insubordination. I encourage the three most prominently named agencies, the International Mission Board, the North American Mission Board, and the Executive Committee to implement the will of the convention messengers to the best of their abilities.

The Executive Committee?Our most influential SBC entity was very prominent during the discussion of a renewed focus for our convention’s work. Although I have no doubt that the EC staff favors renewal and refocus, they were clear in their rejection of the task force recommendations. Executive Committee President Morris Chapman made his opposition clear in his annual report only an hour or so before the task force presentation. This was Dr. Chapman’s final report in that role. He is scheduled to retire in September and his successor was elected by the Executive Committee Monday afternoon, the day before the first day of the convention meeting. Now, what will they do with the recommendations that will be forwarded to them for consideration? The debate is over and everyone who wanted to have his say did have his say. The convention voted in favor of the report and the messengers did so with the full expectation that all convention employees will consider their answer the end of that debate. Whether the messengers are right in that expectation will be first revealed in the deliberations of the EC.

Which brings us to the election of Frank Page as Morris Chapman’s successor. This election by itself is a significant event in the life of the convention, as will be the eventual election of presidents for the IMB and NAMB. These presidents are three of the most influential Southern Baptists. The EC was divided on Dr. Page’s election. They went into executive session (improperly, I think) and debated for almost two hours on the report of the presidential search committee. At the end of it they voted to approve the nomination of their search committee. Although chairman Randall James (improperly, I believe) declined to share the results of that vote, only its outcome, at least two committee members did report that the nomination was approved by only 60 percent of the members present, a seven-vote margin. As newly elected president of the EC, Frank Page has a big job ahead of him in working with a committee that very nearly rejected his candidacy. In his press conference, Dr. Page said that the vote indicated that the convention was divided. I’m not sure he’s right. Without a doubt the EC was divided regarding his election.

The election of Frank Page is more interesting because he was a member of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. In one of its most prominent recommendations, the task force urged the reduction of the EC budget (and its staff, indirectly) by a third. That money, 1 percent of the CP budget, would go to the IMB. Since the report came from the committee unanimously, Frank Page must have voted for it. Perhaps the most unifying thing he could do now would be to work toward implementing the convention’s recommendations that relate to the SBC agency he now directs.

A new SBC president?We do this every two years but in our current context, the president is potentially a game changer. In a field of four candidates, Georgian Bryant Wright was elected on a second ballot over Ted Traylor of Florida. In Texas, Pastor Wright is largely unknown. He is obviously better known on the East Coast. For me, I wa

After months of planning and volunteer gathering, put on your cowboy boots and head to the ranch or swab the deck for a high-seas adventure?it’s time for Vacation Bible School.

While the themes of VBS may vary, this weeklong ministry to children remains after many years a valuable summertime endeavor where children can learn about the gospel.

“More people come to know Christ through VBS than any other outreach event of the year. That’s why it’s so important that we reach out to our communities through VBS,” Jeff Slaughter of Lifeway Christian Resources said. “It could be the most evangelistic outreach of the year for your church.”

“Kids are out of school and look forward to it. Summer provides a great opportunity [to reach kids],” said Zack Hudson, children’s minister at First Baptist Church of Watauga.

For a few hours a day?morning, afternoon, or evening?children go to the church and learn about Christ and grow in their relationship with him. Whether it’s worship time, Bible story time, crafts or even snack time, the theme is woven into every aspect of the day.

VBS can serve as an “in-reach” time for children in the church or as an outreach. It is also an opportunity for church members of all ages to be involved in the ministry of VBS.

“Volunteers tell me ‘we love VBS ? it’s my favorite time of year,'” said Stephanie King, elementary children’s minister at RockPointe Church in Flower Mound. “It brings church members together and builds community in the church.”

Church teenagers serve as assistants and learn the value of teaching and discipleship in the church, King said.

Volunteers and church leaders agree that the months of preparation and hard work are worthwhile when children make decisions for Christ.

“It’s exciting to teach kids about Jesus Christ and the Bible,” Stephen McEndree of First Baptist Church of Watauga said. McEndree taught a third-grade VBS class this summer. He shared the gospel every day in class and one evening after the gospel message was shared, one boy asked him how to talk to God.

“I talked and explained ? he bowed his head and prayed,” McEndree said.

Another boy told McEndree that he had prayed in his bed and told God that he wanted to be with God.

“It’s tiring but it’s fun. It’s worth it when one child comes to know Jesus Christ,” McEndree said.

“It is important to think about kids outside of the church,” said Hudson of FBC Watauga. At VBS this year, the Watauga church estimated that 30 percent of the children who attended VBS were non-churched children in the community.

“VBS hinges on what else we are doing in the community,” Hudson said. “Kids coming out of the community without church homes, you’re changing them and you’re changing their home.”

“I still think God uses VBS. It’s an effective way to share the gospel and opens a lot of doors in the community,” said Ron Holton, pastor of RockPointe Church in Flower Mound.

At RockPointe, out of about 350 children, 124 registration cards indicated a “no” answer when asked if they have a home church. Holton noted that VBS provides a way to connect with families and children in the community who are not attending a church.

Both RockPointe and FBC Watauga end the week with a special celebration and fellowship time serving as an opportunity for parents to learn what the children learned all week.

“Statistically, most people who make a decision for the Lord make them sixth grade and under. That statistic alone should show the importance of things like VBS,” Hudson said.

ORLANDO, Fla.?Newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright wants to see Southern Baptists return to their first love, radically reprioritize their lives, funding and ministries to fulfill the Great Commission, and directly participate in overseas mission work.

Speaking to reporters June 15 less than an hour after his election, Wright shared his dream of seeing every Southern Baptist pastor and church take at least one mission trip.

“The pastor needs to experience what it’s like to be out there in another culture sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Wright commended the Georgia congregation he pastors, Johnson Ferry Baptist in Marietta, for having sent over 1,500 people on 70 mission trips to 27 nations last year. “What that does in the life of a church is incredible.”

In the midst of developing partnerships with Southern Baptist missionaries and other kingdom-focused work, Bryant said church leaders began to question why so much of their Cooperative Program contributions remained in the United States. That led to a decision to reduce CP giving in order to designate more to the International Mission Board.

“We realized it does cause the church to appear not to be as supportive of the main approach to missions in the Cooperative Program, and yet, at the same time, we continue to give very heavily to the Cooperative Program,” Bryant said, noting that Johnson Ferry Baptist contributed the second highest amount in the Georgia Baptist Convention last year.

“We would very much prefer that all those funds go straight through CP, but there needs to be a radical reprioritization of that money,” he said.

State conventions are the place where change must occur, Wright stated, adding that generally he believes allocations at the national level are healthy.

Asked about a column he wrote urging state conventions to retain only 25-30 percent of undesignated CP gifts from churches, Wright responded: “I’d love to see states move in that direction, knowing it will be a long, long process.” Even a goal of splitting receipts 50/50 between state and SBC causes would allow funding for many more missionaries, he explained.

Wright said state convention leaders “can be the real heroes in carrying out the Great Commission” since they control budgets and decide how much goes out of state for distribution to SBC causes. If more CP dollars were sent to the international mission field, Wright said Southern Baptists would see an increased passion for CP giving, especially among younger pastors, the group from whom he has received the greatest support for his stand.

He commended “the radical commitment of the Millennials and Generation X,” with seminary students expressing a desire to go to “the toughest areas to take the gospel.”

Asked to reflect on the passage of recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, Wright said, “We have been a people that have been united on missions and evangelism and reaching our world with the good news of Jesus Christ and yet we are not moving ahead in that area as we have done a lot of our years.”

He praised SBC President Johnny Hunt’s courage in raising the issue and messengers for engaging in a healthy discussion.

“The task force leadership has led the convention in taking a very courageous step, but it is really just a beginning. If we’re going to be radically serious about reaching this world for Christ, we as individuals and we as churches are going to have to really be prayerfully committed to fulfilling what God has called us to do with the Great Commission.”

In America, local church members need to repent of materialism, hedonism and other idols that distract them from their first love and inhibit their love of lost people, Wright added.

“The beginning point for all of us is to renew our hearts. Jesus Christ could not be clearer, as politically incorrect as it is in our contemporary culture, that he is the only way to God.”

Asked where he stood in his convictions regarding Calvinism, Wright described himself as “a follower of Jesus Christ that believes the Bible.” He added, “I really don’t believe that human beings are ever going to completely reconcile the sovereignty of God and the free will of man.

“To have a neat theological system is great for human beings, but it sure makes for a small God. We can have a greater awe about the majesty and wonder of God when we believe in both.”

ORLANDO, Fla.?After nearly a year of formulation and discussion among Southern Baptists and the pleas of proponents to “penetrate lostness,” messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 15 adopted, after lengthy discussion, a list of strategic and organizational recommendations aimed at fueling a resurgence of global gospel advancement.

The seven recommendations offered by the 22-member Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, appointed in June 2009 by SBC President Johnny Hunt at the direction of last year’s messengers, included a 30-word convention vision statement, a list of core values, and five “requests” referred to the SBC Executive Committee and other specified entities that might affect changes in the convention missions enterprise.

Prior to the floor debate, GCR Task Force chairman Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas referenced the words of 19th-century abolitionist William Wilberforce in urging messengers to action.

“There are literally billions of people in the world today who are enslaved in their sin and who will perish without the savior named Jesus Christ ? but after today you can’t say that you did not know,” Floyd said.

Floyd closed his part of the task force report by pointing to previous watershed convention meetings in 1925, the year the Cooperative Program was adopted, and 1979, the year the conservative theological resurgence began.

“And today in 2010, what are we going to do? This is our moment. This is our time. The future is now,” Floyd said.

The raised-ballot vote was called at the podium following more than 90 minutes of debate. Floyd told reporters at a press conference after the vote that parliamentarians estimated the report was carried by 75-80 percent of voting messengers. Messenger registration at the Orange County Convention Center at the time of the vote was announced at 10,994.

The debate was at times spirited, but polite. Objections to adopting the recommendations ranged from a desire for another year of study to concern that language recognizing non-CP missions giving would hurt missionaries on the field, while supporters spoke of a dual need for “structural reform and spiritual renewal” as well as the urgency of the gospel.

David Tolliver, Missouri Baptist Convention’s executive director, and a messenger from Concord Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Mo., made a motion asking the task force to refer the entire report to the SBC Executive Committee for “study and evaluation.”

“I never want to be an obstructionist. I never want to vote, ‘No,'” Tolliver said in explaining his motion. “We haven’t counted the cost. Let’s take a year and then let us vote on the work with full knowledge,” he said, citing Luke 14:28 where the Scripture talks about counting the cost before undertaking a task.

Tolliver’s motion was defeated after task force member R. Albert Mohler Jr. defended the report as worded, noting that it was drafted carefully?with advice from the SBC’s legal counsel?as a list of requests giving “due deference” to the respective trustee boards in keeping with SBC polity.

Former SBC president and Atlanta-area pastor James Merritt pleaded with messengers to adopt the report.

“This task force is not coming to you to ask you to shift the chairs on the Titanic,” Merritt said. “In fact, we [the SBC] haven’t even been doing that.”

Mike Smith, a North American Mission Board church planter in Washington state, spoke in favor of adopting the task force report as it was worded, arguing that the recommendations would lead to NAMB having “ownership of its employees” and allow it to “continue to fund what works and stop funding what doesn’t work.”

Several motions to amend the recommendations were offered and defeated, leading to a brokered amendment between John Waters, a messenger from First Baptist Church in Statesboro, Ga., and the task force. It was adopted after concern by Jan Bryant, a messenger from Morrow Baptist Church in Morrow, Ohio, that messengers were “being bullied” during the debate.

After Bryant’s comment, dialogue halted briefly as Hunt, the SBC president and presiding chair of the business sessions, conferred with parliamentarian Barry McCarty.

McCarty, noting that a substitute amendment agreeable to both Waters and the task force was coming, told messengers: “Please be patient with one another and patient with the committee. Everyone is trying to ascertain what’s best here, listening to the messengers, listening to the committee, listening to God and each heart. So, thank you so much for your patience. We’ll always try as hard as we can to try to ascertain what it is that you’re trying to do.”

What resulted was an amendment that altered recommendation number three’s language lauding “Great Commission Giving” to “enhance and celebrate” the 85-year-old Cooperative Program missions funding plan and the “generous