2017 State Annual Meeting Reports

DECATUR, Ill. (BP) -- The urgent need to get the Gospel to more people was a driving theme of the 111th annual meeting of the Illinois Baptist State Association, with churches challenged to make four "Pioneering Spirit" commitments in the areas of church planting, evangelism, giving and leadership development. The Pioneering Spirit theme also coincides with Illinois' 200th anniversary to be celebrated in 2018. In keeping with the state's bicentennial, IBSA is asking 200 or more churches to make each of the four commitments.

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention's annual meeting overwhelmingly spoke against racism during the Nov. 12-16 sessions of The Summit at First Baptist Church in Henderson. David Leavell, pastor of First Baptist Church in Millington in West Tennessee, was elected president during the meeting, which drew 993 messengers from 422 churches. The total did not include eight messengers from First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, as the convention voted overwhelmingly not to seat those from the church, which called a woman as senior pastor earlier this year. See Baptist Press story on Tuesday, Nov. 14

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (BP) -- The Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware's 182nd annual meeting for a second year focused on unity and prayer with the theme, "United in Prayer, Seeking Christ's Spirit." Messengers approved a $7,729,121 budget, taking a historic step in voting to increase the Cooperative Program funding allocation from 43.5 percent to 48 percent to the Southern Baptist Convention to fund international and national missions, Southern Baptist seminaries and the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

GREENFIELD, Wis. (BP) -- Minnesota Wisconsin Baptists took a leap forward in their goal of forwarding 50 percent of Cooperative Program receipts to the Southern Baptist Convention, jumping from 22 percent this year to 32 percent next year. With a theme of "Come to Life," 98 messengers from 40 of the 188 churches in the Minnesota Wisconsin Baptist Convention gathered for the MWBC's 34th annual meeting Oct. 27 28 at the new facilities of Layton Avenue Baptist Church in Greenfield, Wis. It was in May 2010 that the MWBC Executive Board made the decision to increase the percentage of CP sent to SBC national and international missions and ministry by a half-percent a year until the 50 percent goal is reached.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (BP) -- Gathering under the banner of "Unite," messengers to the 197th annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention sang, prayed, conducted business and fanned out across the city of Columbia for a "One Day" missions and evangelism effort. Keith Shorter, SCBC president and pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Easley, opened the Tuesday morning session of the Nov. 7-8 meeting by encouraging Christ's followers to unite as one "so that … a lost and divided world may believe that God sent [Jesus]."

DALLAS (BP) -- Gathering Nov. 13-14 in Dallas around the Ephesians 4-inspired theme of "Belong," the messenger count for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention's annual meeting was its largest since 2008. Officers set out to design an environment of encouragement for pastors. And it couldn't have come at a better time than in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and the most deadly church shooting in American history a week prior in Sutherland Springs.

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (BP) -- Nearly 1,500 people traveled to the 2017 SBC of Virginia Annual Homecoming with the theme "We Are Not Alone," Nov. 12-14 at The Heights Baptist Church in Colonial Heights. The three-day SBCV event, which drew 701 messengers and 738 guests, took aim at "every form of racism, including and specifically alt-right white supremacy, as antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus Christ" in a resolution that voiced "love and compassion to those in Charlottesville" devastated by the loss of life at a white supremacist rally Aug. 12.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Southern Baptists in at least six state conventions have approved resolutions decrying racism or white supremacy. Messengers to the annual meetings of the Alabama, Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and SBC of Virginia (SBCV) conventions have passed statements in November addressing the rise of white nationalism and supremacy in the United States. Their resolutions expressed many of the same convictions offered in a resolution approved at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in June.

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP) -- Anthony Jordan delivered his final address as executive director-treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma during the Nov. 13-14 annual meeting at Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. Jordan, who will retire next April after 22 years of leading the convention, also announced a new ministry opportunity for Oklahoma Baptists, reporting that the BGCO will be given the 199-acre Tulakogee Camp and Conference Center in eastern Oklahoma.

WACO, Texas (BP) -- More than 1,700 messengers and visitors attended the 132nd Texas Baptists Annual Meeting in Waco with a theme of "Compelled" in being equipped and encouraged to live for Christ. Messengers adopted a 2018 total budget of more than $37 million for Baptist General Convention of Texas missions and ministries; passed resolutions on such topics as sexual harassment and assault; and, through speaking, worship, workshops and fellowship, were urged to live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in every aspect of their lives.