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Utah-Idaho Baptists increase CP 3.5%

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MERIDIAN, Idaho (BP)–Messengers to the 45th annual meeting of the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention voted to increase the percentage of Cooperative Program receipts they forward for national and international causes by 3.5 percent, up from 21.5 percent to 25 percent.

They approved an overall budget of $2.25 million for 2010, down half a percent from 2009, which includes $915,371 in anticipated CP giving from churches in the two states.

A total of 153 messengers from 52 churches celebrated the theme “Life Abounds Where the River Flows,” based on Ezekiel 47:9, at Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, Oct. 27-28. The convention has 150 churches and missions with nearly 20,000 members.

Elected as convention officers: president, James Gregory, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Mountain Home, Idaho; first vice president, Dan Ozuna, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Agua Viva in Caldwell, Idaho; second vice president, Manuel Vela, pastor of Iglesia Bautista La Puerta Hermosa in Twin Falls, Idaho; and recording secretary, Arie Sparkman, a member of Desert Streams Fellowship in Kuna, Idaho.

The two-state convention also voted to renew a missions partnership with Oklahoma for another two years. A 17-person mission team from the Utah-Idaho convention to the Winter Olympics in Canada next year was introduced.

Rob Lee, the convention’s executive director, spoke about the urgency of sharing the Gospel, particularly through God’s Plan for Sharing, a national evangelism strategy developed by the North American Mission Board and evangelism leaders from state Baptist conventions.

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Next year’s annual meeting will be Oct. 19-20 at Layton Hills Baptist Church in Layton, Utah.
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Based on reporting by Bill Pepper of the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention.