Click here for a roundup of all state annual meeting reports.
PUEBLO, Colo. (BP)–Colorado Baptists hosted “Crossover Pueblo,” the first such evangelism event in their convention’s history, prior to their 51st annual meeting at the Pueblo Convention Center Oct. 16-18.
The convention registered 212 messengers from 93 churches at the meeting, which was hosted by Fellowship of the Rockies in Pueblo under the theme, “More than Ordinary — They’ve been with Jesus.”
Royal Gorge Baptist Association sponsored Crossover Pueblo along with the Colorado Baptist General Convention. The outreach included prayerwalking, a harvest festival and a Hispanic heritage celebration, as more than half of the population of greater Pueblo is Hispanic.
Attractions at the harvest festival included games, inflatable bouncing houses, a climbing wall, music and plenty of food. A Christian motorcycle group also was on hand to help spread the Gospel and make balloon animals for the children. Music was provided by local praise bands, as well as Veronica Leal and Nacho Galindo, vocalists from Texas who presented the Gospel in Spanish.
Although the overall impact of the event may never be fully known, at least nine individuals accepted Christ as their Savior that day.
Other events held in conjunction with the annual meeting included a pastors’ Bible conference; a church planting breakfast; a Next Generation church planting luncheon; a chaplains’ breakfast; a “RefresHer” luncheon for women; a ministers’ wives’ breakfast; a Mission Service Corps luncheon; a pastors’ dinner with John Bisagno of Houston; and a Rocky Mountain Campus of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary alumni luncheon.
Convention speakers included Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas; Bisagno, pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church in Houston; and Scott Bailey, pastor of Majestic Baptist Church in Pueblo West, Colo.
Messengers approved a 2007 budget of $3.9 million, which is a 5 percent increase over the current year. Colorado Baptists expect to give more than $2 million to missions, and 29.25 percent of that will be sent through the Cooperative Program for national and international missions and ministries.
The Cooperative Program was highlighted at this year’s annual meeting with a “10/10 Cooperative Program Strategy” encouraging all Colorado Baptist churches to increase their percentage of giving to 10 percent by the end of 2010. The theme of the emphasis is “Not equal gifts, but equal sacrifice.”
Re-elected as convention officers were Charlie Jones, pastor of Fellowship of the Rockies, president; Darrin Crow, director of campus ministries at Mesa State College and pastor of Heart of Junction Church in Grand Junction, first vice president; Sean Cole, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Sterling, second vice president; Ginger LeBlanc, executive secretary at the CBC, and Katee Goode, ministry assistant at the CBC, as recording secretary and assistant recording secretary, respectively.
Four churches were approved for affiliation with the Colorado convention: Roca De Salvacion in Gypsum with Omar Gonzales as pastor; Christ’s Church in Highlands Ranch with Blake LaMunyon as pastor; Lord’s Hand Korean Baptist Church in Aurora with Chong Lee as pastor; and Living Branch Community Fellowship in Englewood with Steve Scott as pastor. As of June 30, there were 257 constituted churches and 169 seed congregations for a total of 426 congregations in Colorado. Their outreach is not limited to gathering in traditional churches but is evident in the variety of ways people are sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, such as cowboy churches, coffee house ministries, house churches, campground ministries, disaster relief, ski ministries, chaplaincy and prayerwalks.
Messengers approved resolutions in regard to Amendment 43 of the Colorado constitution, affirming that “the Word of God clearly teaches and affirms that marriage was instituted by Holy God as being a sacred and special relationship only between a man and a woman.” A resolution in opposition to Referendum 1 which proposes changes in many of the statutes pertaining to domestic relationships in the Codes of the State of Colorado was approved.
Also approved was a resolution on “engaging the public school system, encouraging Colorado Baptists to heed our Lord’s admonition to be salt and light in our society; that we affirm the ministry of many Christian men and women who teach in the public school system and we encourage those young people who are seriously considering the teaching profession as their ministry calling of God to pursue that calling; and that we encourage all Colorado Southern Baptist churches to engage the culture of the public school system to exert their Godly influence upon these school systems and to intentionally and purposefully seek to saturate the school systems and all of Colorado with the saving and life-transforming Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Next year’s annual meeting will be Oct. 15-16 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.
–30–
Based on a report by Ginger LeBlanc & Kathy Rosales.
