2017 State Annual Meeting Reports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Messengers to the Kentucky Baptist Convention in Louisville launched a major evangelistic initiative, spoke out on gambling and violent crime and tasked their credentialing committee with monitoring potential actions by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Meeting at Highview Baptist Church's east campus Nov. 14, they also elected a western Kentucky pastor as their president and set a Cooperative Program budget goal of $21.5 million for 2018-2019. Gospel Conversation Challenge

HONOLULU (BP) -- Messengers to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention restructured their budget and adopted a resolution urging churches to give through the Cooperative Program. Gathering around the theme "People of the Word -- Celebrating 75 Years of the HPBC," 264 messengers from 70 of the convention's 151 churches met Nov. 9-10 at Hawaii Baptist Academy in Honolulu. Messengers came from churches across Hawaii and also represented Guam, American Samoa, Okinawa, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

YORK, Pa. (BP) -- The Baptist Resource Network (BRN) of Pennsylvania/South Jersey increased the percentage of Cooperative Program gifts it will forward to Southern Baptist Convention causes and saw hundreds view the first-ever livestream of its annual meeting. Some 207 messengers and 93 guests from 110 churches gathered at the Wyndham Garden Hotel in York, Pa., for the BRN's Nov. 2-3 annual meeting, with an emphasis on church health. Engaging the lost, discipling believers and developing "next-generation leaders" were among the characteristics of healthy churches discussed.

FAIRLEA, W.Va. (BP) -- During their annual meeting, West Virginia Baptists were urged to be "all in" through seeking to grow as a convention united in generosity in response to the Gospel. Messengers also pledged to battle the state's drug epidemic during the convention's 47th annual meeting. During the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists (WVCSB) annual meeting -- held Nov. 2-3 at First Baptist Church of Fairlea, W.Va. -- 173 messengers and 41 guests marked a continued increase in total attendance over previous WVCSB annual meetings.

EUGENE, Ore. (BP) -- When Northwest Baptists from 15 churches organized formally as a convention in 1948, they embraced as part of their mission "blessing of the world." As messengers to the Northwest Baptist Convention's 70th annual meeting convened Nov. 7-8 in Eugene, Ore., the theme of "blessing" once again was prominent. "Northwest Baptists were placed by God in our communities as a blessing to the peoples where we live," said Randy Adams, NWBC executive director. "As we live the Gospel in righteousness and truth, as we walk in the way of the Lord, the Gospel message that we speak becomes clear and powerful to the watching world."

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (BP) -- Messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention annual meeting voted overwhelmingly not to seat messengers from First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, which has a woman as pastor, during the TBC's opening session Nov. 14. First Baptist attempted to register seven messengers, including new pastor Ellen Di Giosia, who has been in the position since Aug. 1. In mid-October, the TBC's Committee on Credentials met and agreed that a church with a woman pastor does not fit the definition of a "cooperating church" as defined by convention bylaws. The committee based its decision on Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 declaring that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

JACKSON, Miss. (BP) -- Messengers unanimously approved a 2018 Mississippi Cooperative Program budget of $31,404,110 at the 182nd annual meeting of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at First Baptist Church in Jackson. The 2018 budget is .08 percent higher than the 2017 budget of $31,378,417. Southern Baptist Convention causes will continue to receive 37.5 percent of the total CP budget. SBC causes and the amounts to be disbursed in 2018 with a .08 increase are:

AVON, Mass. (BP) -- How can New England Baptists reach the next generation? Fady Ghobrial, a millennial member of Arabic Baptist Church in Newton, Mass., believes the key is spiritually mentoring young leaders. Millennials are the most fatherless generation that has ever existed, Ghobrial said in the convention sermon during the annual meeting of the Baptist Convention of New England, with its theme of "Embracing the Future by Reaching the Next Generation." "We need fathers and coaches to do life with us, mentor us, give us feedback, ...

AMES, Iowa (BP) -- The 2017 Baptist Convention of Iowa annual meeting was held in conjunction with a two-day "For the Church" micro conference in partnership with Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Four hundred participants attended the Nov. 3-4 conference, which included featured speakers Jason K. Allen, MBTS president; Jared Wilson, MBTS director of content strategy; Jeff Dodge, lead pastor at Cornerstone Church in Ames; and Rechab Gray, teaching pastor at Cottage Grove Church in Des Moines.

INKSTER, Mich. (BP) -- Michigan Baptists increased their budget 31 percent from the current year and pledged prayer for the Texas church where a gunman massacred 26 people Nov. 5. Messengers to the Baptist State Convention of Michigan also eliminated shared ministry expenses from their budget and anticipated increasing the total Cooperative Program amount forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention causes by some 16 percent above the amount received by the SBC during its 2016-17 fiscal year.