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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The 20^th annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly continued Thursday with the first business session, an unveiling of a eight mission communities and a time of worship exploring Baptist identity and celebrating Communion.

 

As registration topped out at nearly 2,000, attendees were introduced to the $14.5 million 2010-2011 budget; learned about how they could engage their passion through eight mission communities; shared a picnic meal with CBF field personnel; and reflected on 1 John 3:1 during worship.

 

Pastors started the day with a time of prayer – for the Assembly and for CBF leadership, chaplains and field personnel. The breakfast included a testimony from David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C.

 

During Thursday’s lunch, more than 400 gathered at the Missions Picnic to meet field personnel and honor retired field personnel whose histories have been collected and are now available at Baylor University.

 

In the evening worship session, Bill Leonard, professor of church history and outgoing dean at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Winston-Salem, N.C., used his trademark humor and obscure church history references to bring home the identity of free and faithful Baptists. By comparing the scandalous activities of Baptists in 1646 called “Dippers” by Anglicans critics, Leonard helped the Fellowship see the importance of its witness to culture.

 

“Tonight [the early Baptists] force us to ask: Can we give a witness? What compels our individual or collective consciences here and now? Christian witness lies at the heart of who we are, how we act and what we do when the times get out of hand,” Leonard said. “A church without a witness is a church without an identity whatever name it may use.

 

“Tonight let’s stop worrying about our name and start reclaiming our witness; let’s quit fretting over the loss of culture dominance and turn loose our consciences. Let’s go out as children of God, born again, and again and again in one of the church’s dysfunctional, grace-filled families; children of God in the water and at the table, in the word and in the world; children of God knit together by grace.”

 

 

During the morning session, Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga., appealed to Fellowship Baptists to support the CBF Offering for Global Missions by doubling what they had intended to give.

 

The audience responded by giving $7,376 to bring the two-day combined total received for the CBF Offering for Global Missions to more than $19,000. The CBF Offering pays for the salaries, benefits and operating and ministry expenses of CBF field personnel and is currently running at 71 percent of the budget.

 

 

On Thursday afternoon, the Discover and Engage Your Passion workshops focused on eight ministry areas: church planting and faith sharing; disaster response; economic development; education and training; internationals; justice and peacemaking; medical; poverty and transformation.

 

“Our ‘passion’ rests at the very heart of our calling,” said Rob Nash, CBF Global Missions coordinator. “It is not a geographical location or a particular job or career. Our passion is that thing that gives meaning and purpose to our lives ‒ that drives us to make a difference in the world. It is a heart concern that God puts in the deepest part of us and which we couldn’t explain if we had to. It just is.”

 

In the first session, Fellowship Baptists learned about the existing ministries of CBF, churches and partner organizations in the eight mission communities, and were asked to contribute ideas for additional engagement and collaboration. In the second session, attendees were given 24 options of how to engage specific ministries related to the eight mission communities.

 

 

In the morning business session, CBF moderator Hal Bass, professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., reflected on the Fellowship’s past year, including the response to the January earthquake in Haiti.

 

“During my term as your moderator, I have been privileged to participate in our Fellowship’s ongoing work in the world,” Bass said. “No where has this been more powerfully demonstrated than in Haiti. So far, Fellowship Baptists have responded to the January earthquake and the accompanying devastation with more than $1.8 million for the effort. One hundred and twelve people have already served short-term assignments in Haiti, and more than 100 are now scheduled to go.”

 

At the conclusion of the General Assembly, Bass will begin a year of service as immediate past moderator, and Christy McMillin-Goodwin, associate minister at Oakland Baptist Church, Rock Hill, S.C., assumes the role of CBF moderator.

 

Friday’s schedule includes workshops, the executive coordinator’s address, the new Essentials Conference and worship featuring author Lauren Winner. For more coverage, visit www.thefellowship.info/charlotte.

 

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.