Kentucky Baptists ‘Together for the Mission’
By Mark Maynard/Kentucky Today
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Kentucky Baptist Convention held its 188th Annual Meeting, Nov. 11, at First Baptist Church of Cold Spring with the theme of “Together for the Mission.”
A total of 693 messengers were registered, along with 246 guests. Eighteen newly affiliated churches seated messengers for the first time.
KBC President Brad Walker, pastor of Briensburg Baptist Church in Benton, presided over the meeting, and Ron Edmondson, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, delivered the convention message.
During his report, KBC Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Gray highlighted some of the fruit borne by KBC churches last year, including baptizing more than 12,600 people — the highest number since 2016.
Gray said KBC churches gave $22,389,000 to fund ministry and missions through the Cooperative Program, one of the strongest giving years in recent memory.
He also outlined the priorities for the future.
- Expanding the Baptist Campus Ministry
“We want to champion the Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM). If the world’s greatest problem is lostness, then in Kentucky, the college campus is the epicenter of lostness,” Gray said.
- Pastoral wellness
“We want to care well for Kentucky Baptist pastors and church leaders through pastoral wellness. We want to see every church a thriving church and every leader a cared-for leader.” He said Harold Best, along with a work group of Kentucky Baptist pastors, is giving leadership to a Pastoral Wellness Initiative aimed at ministering to those who minister to us.
- Church planting and replanting
Gray noted that, right now, there is no Kentucky Baptist Convention church in the city of Newport. “We want to see more churches started in this region through Church Multiplied-Northern Kentucky. Right now, we are in one of the neediest Gospel regions in our state. The counties of Boone, Kenton and Campbell have a church attendance by population of less than 7 percent.”
Messengers approved a budget of $22,400,000 million for fiscal year 2026-27, which is an increase of $200,000 compared to the 2025-26 budget. CP receipts in FY 23-24 totaled $22,389,000.
Half of Kentucky’s Cooperative Program dollars go to the Southern Baptist Convention and half directly fund ministry within the state, including Kentucky Disaster Relief, Sunrise Children’s Services, Oneida Baptist Institute, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, Crossings Camps, the Woman’s Missionary Union, and various other evangelism, missions and church support programs.
Messengers also approved 6 resolutions, including:
- On the Goodness of Children and the Call to Promote Family Formation
- On the Conscience Rights of Healthcare Workers
- On Repealing the Sales and Use Tax Impacting Kentucky Churches
- On the Value of Cooperation
Several Kentucky Baptist churches were recognized for Cooperative Program giving, missions participation, church revitalization and baptisms.
The KBC also honored several individuals for their contributions to God’s kingdom.
- Guardian of Life: Monica Henderson, who recently retired after 16 years as executive director of BsideU for Life Pregnancy and Life Skills Center in Louisville.
- Women in Christian Leadership: Liz Encinia, executive director-treasurer of Kentucky WMU, has served in a variety of positions in her 17 years in ministry.
- Distinguished Cooperative Program Leadership: Mike Richey, who dedicated more than 50 years to serving as vice president of Philanthropy and chief philanthropy officer at the University of Kentucky.
- Integrity of Journalism: Brandon Porter, vice president of communications for the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and editor of Baptist Press.
- Lifetime Leadership in Evangelism: Steve Ayers, pastor of Hillvue Church which has baptized more than 14,000 during his ministry since 1991.
The new officers elected for 2025-26 are:
- President Shawn Dobbins, pastor of First Baptist Church Pikeville in Pikeville, Ky.
- First Vice President Todd Rader, pastor of Ephesus Baptist Church in Winchester, Ky.
- Second Vice President Jeff McCarty, transitional pastor of Ormsby Heights Baptist Church in Louisville.
The Annual Meeting was preceded by several Crossover events, including the Hope for Northern Kentucky Crusade, as well as the annual Pastor’s Conference.
Next year’s Annual Meeting will be held at First Baptist Church in Richmond on Nov. 10.
Find more information about the Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting at KentuckyToday.com.
South Carolina Baptists approve sale of retirement communities
By Todd Deaton/The Baptist Courier
TAYLORS, S.C. – Messengers to the 205th Annual Meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention voted to sell the state convention’s two retirement communities, elected a Taylors pastor to serve as president-elect, and approved a $26 million Cooperative Ministry Plan for 2026.
Attendance at the Nov. 10-11 annual meeting, held at Taylors First Baptist Church, tallied 834 messengers and 84 guests, surpassing last year’s count of 774 in Columbia.
The proposal regarding the future of South Carolina Baptist Ministries of Aging has been the result of 24 months of research advisement, prospective solutions, financial forecasting, legal consultations, relationship management and strategic planning, South Carolina Baptist Executive Director-Treasurer Tony Wolfe told the messengers.
“This proposal would not have been brought before you if executive leadership, SCBMA leadership, … and the (SCBC) Executive Board did not feel that this is the Lord’s will,” Wolfe said. “We sincerely believe that this is the best course of action for all of our commitments to current residents and to future ministry,” he added.
Officer Elections
The 2026 president-elect, Cory Horton, pastor of Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors, was elected by acclamation. Horton was nominated by Daniel Dickard, senior pastor of Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia and a former SBC Pastors’ Conference president.
Other officers elected by unanimous consent to serve with incoming president Ryan Pack include Marty Middleton, pastor of Fort Johnson Baptist Church in Charleston, registration secretary; and Carey Caldwell, pastor of Bellview Baptist Church in Woodruff, vice president.
CP budget
The 2026 budget goal of $26 million — reduced by $500,000 from the previous year — allocates 25.16 percent, or $6, 541,699, for international missions; and 20.34 percent, or $5,288,400, for North American missions and other Southern Baptist Convention causes. The SCBC will retain 32.17 percent, or $8,364,200, for state missions efforts, and 22.33 percent, or $5,805,800, to be distributed among its three Baptist universities and five other ministry partners.
Along with the 2026 budget, they also approved the recommendations of the convention’s Nominations Committee and Committee on Committees for service on SCBC entity boards and committees.
Bylaws and resolutions
A second reading of a bylaw revision, presented by committee chair Chris Dewease, updated the term “affiliated” to “in friendly cooperation” in places that were overlooked in earlier cases and revised the membership of the convention’s Executive Board.
Dewease also reported that a bylaws study group had declined a recommendation to redefine the qualifications of churches to seat messengers at S.C. Baptist annual meetings to include other means than Cooperative Program receipts to support state and national missions and ministry. The CP is explicitly defined at the national level and should not be redefined at the state level, the group determined.
“CP remains one of the most comprehensive and efficient channels to fund Southern Baptist mission work — a system envied by other denominations and foundational to a century of missional effectiveness,” the report stated.
Messengers also adopted five resolutions, including statements on encouraging a faithful biblical witness in the face of violent attacks against free speech; affirming life and opposing drug-induced abortions; the urgency of personal evangelism; and denouncing predatory gambling. They also expressed appreciation to the host church, Taylors First Baptist.
Timothy Challenge
In his report, Wolfe announced the launch of “Generation Timothy” – a two- to three-year strategy to assist South Carolina churches in raising up, calling out, training, and sending pastors into pastor-less churches.
“For the last 19 months, our leadership team has prayed and strategized to rise to the occasion of what we sincerely believe is one of the greatest threats to the continued advancement of the gospel in our generation: the shortage of called, qualified, and capable pastors and elders,” Wolfe said.
“If every cooperating church (in S.C.) raised up and released just one additional pastor in the next two years, the pastor shortage in the entire Southeast could be solved,” Wolfe said. He asked messengers to pray expectantly, give sacrificially and send joyfully to support the effort.
Read the full story here. Fine more information about the SCBC’s annual meeting at baptistcourier.com.
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