ATLANTA – The 19 annual Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly meets July 2-3 in Houston, Texas, where Fellowship Baptists from across the country are expected to gather for inspiring worship, annual business, fellowship, local mission projects and discussion on various social and religious issues.
Under the theme “Embrace the World: Welcome to your Neighborhood,” the Assembly will explore a familiar concept while in the nation’s fourth-largest city.
“The idea of neighbor is very relevant to the mission of the Church, and Houston is a great laboratory in which to learn,” said Daniel Vestal, CBF’s executive coordinator. “Houston is in many ways a microcosm of our country – diverse, synergistic, multi-cultural, complex and dynamic.”
To be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Hilton of the Americas Hotel, the Assembly begins with auxiliary events on Wednesday, July 1. At the annual Leadership Institute that afternoon featured speaker Al Winseman, Gallup’s global practice leader for faith communities, will focus on his book “Growing an Engaged Church: How to Stop ‘Doing Church’ and Being the Church Again.”
On Wednesday evening six people will be appointed for mission service in the United States and around the world at the annual CBF Global Missions field personnel commissioning service. The service, set for 7:30 p.m. at nearby South Main Baptist Church, will also feature the inaugural commissioning of a CBF ministry network. Made up of three churches and current CBF field personnel Bill and Michelle Cayard, the Sichuan China Ministry Network represents an important step in the Fellowship's growing emphasis on local church-based missions.
"Local churches are at the heart of the global missions enterprise," said CBF global missions coordinator Rob Nash. "When we commission this network and others in the future, we are affirming these congregations and others as they engage in their God-given mission in the world."
Throughout the week of the Assembly, Fellowship Baptists will engage in service projects with local agencies such as SEARCH Homeless Services, Star of Hope homeless mission and Volunteer Houston. College students, who have their own event called “The Houston Sessions,” will travel to Galveston to explore the impacts of poverty and Hurricane Ike on community members.
The Assembly officially begins Thursday, July 2, with auxiliary events hosted by many of the Fellowship’s partner organizations, an evening concert with Dove Award-winning singer and songwriter Kyle Matthews, and approximately 50 practical ministry workshops. Topics include human rights, religious liberty, global mission opportunities, 400 years of Baptist history and becoming a missional church.
During worship and business sessions, the Assembly will hear from young Baptist ministers, as well as from Vestal and current CBF moderator Jack Glasgow, who is pastor of Zebulon Baptist Church in Zebulon, N.C.
On Friday, July 3, the Assembly will vote on the Fellowship’s nominating committee report, which includes Christy McMillin-Goodwin, associate minister at Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, S.C., for the position of national CBF moderator-elect. Joanne Carr, a member of First Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., is being nominated to fill the position of recorder for a second year.
Hal Bass, a professor at Ouchaita Baptist University in Arkansas and the Fellowship’s current moderator-elect, was affirmed by the Assembly last year and will become moderator at the conclusion of the Houston event.
This year’s assembly incorporates new ministry directions adopted following the Fellowship’s year-long strategic reprioritization process that concluded at last year’s Assembly. Those three new priorities are honoring race, gender and generation; interacting with the world community; and missional engagement.
“Worship and programming will reflect a commitment to these strategic priorities. We will hear God’s Word from one another in languages, mediums and perspectives that are fresh and different,” Vestal said. “This event will help equip Baptists for ministry in the 21st century.”
Further information about these Assembly events and more are available at www.thefellowship.info/assembly. Pre-register online or by calling (800) 352-8741. A hotel discount at the Hilton Americas hotel is available following pre-registration.
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.