[1]SALT LAKE CITY (BP)–Inspiring confidence in cooperation “is not only our assignment, it is our sacred duty,” Morris H. Chapman, president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee told SBC messengers Tuesday, June 9.
“The Executive Committee must constantly ask itself the question, ‘In our generation, how can we inspire confidence in the kind of cooperation that characterized our forefathers and bound them together in fulfilling the Great Commission?'”
First, he cited the importance of sound administration of finances.
“Southern Baptists can be assured the Executive Committee works diligently with all our entities to ensure thoughtful and efficient spending plans, thorough accounting and audits and complete reporting,” Chapman said in a report to the SBC annual meeting in Salt Lake City. “Every dollar is spent well and accounted for.”
Providing comprehensive news and information is a key element of the Executive Committee’s strategy to inspire confidence in cooperation among all Southern Baptist churches, Chapman said. He cited the Baptist Press news service, the flagship publication SBCLife and extolled the virtues of www.sbc.net, the SBC’s Internet website inaugurated June 1.
The website’s home page includes the plan of salvation and gives the unsaved the opportunity to e-mail questions about accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, Chapman said. A key will direct viewers to meet Southern Baptists, where they will learn something about convention purposes and history. The website is linked to SBC entities. Future plans include communication to and from local churches.
“Baptist people need to know about their convention, and when they know about it, they’re more likely to pray about it and support it,” Chapman said. “It is a goal of our convention news service to keep our Baptist people informed because we want to inspire confidence and cooperation. We hope to inspire confidence in cooperation by telling the Southern Baptist story in a compelling way.”
Promoting the effectiveness of the Cooperative Program is a third way the Executive Committee inspires confidence in cooperation, Chapman said. Strategy discussions are under way to implement a 75th anniversary look at the Cooperative Program, starting in the year 2000.
“An emphasis on this anniversary will lead Southern Baptists to new heights of cooperation and giving,” Chapman said.
Chapman described the struggle for life experienced by his infant grandson, Ethan Evans, during the last two months. He underwent corrective surgery at the age of six weeks and is now recovering.
“We, too, are in a fight for life, for eternal life, for the souls of men,” Chapman said. “Our love for Jesus, our abandonment to God’s will and our obedience to God’s command will inspire confidence in cooperation with each other.
“Our love for Christ, our convictions for biblical truth and our cooperation with each other communicate to the world a compelling witness that Jesus saves,” Chapman said. “It is my prayer that all together Southern Baptists will be that witness to the world and the world shall see Christ in us.”