The Open Door

If the annual association meetings are an indicator of the health of the Georgia Baptist Convention, we are in excellent condition. It has been my joy to preach in a good number of our association fall meetings this year and the spirit of the meetings has been outstanding.

Senior adults often make up the majority of the congregation at the annual meetings probably because they are retired which makes it easier for them to attend without schedule conflict. This year, however, I have seen an increased number of young folks who have been participating in the meetings.

There is always important business to carry forward through the association’s annual meeting. There is also beautiful special music and congregational singing. Of course, you know I won’t forget to mention the covered dish dinners that take place at some time during the meeting. There is never a risk of my going hungry during October. I am always well fed by our associations.

I was mentioning to the crowd at the Pulaski-Bleckley annual meeting at First Baptist Hawkinsville that while I always emphasize the importance of sending mission support through the Cooperative Program, it is also vitally important to support the local association through the church budget. Georgia Baptists have historically recommended giving 10% through the Cooperative Program and 3% to the local association.

Having pastored the largest church in the association both here in Georgia and in Kentucky, I can speak freely about the larger churches and their participation with the association. I have heard some large church pastors say, “We don’t really need the association. If we want to provide a training conference for our people we can do that without having to look to the association to provide for the conference. In fact, we can pretty well provide whatever we need so since we don’t use the association for these things, we just won’t invest in it.”

This reasoning in erroneous and I’ll tell you why. We are not in this work to see what we can get out of it, but to see what we can invest in God’s Kingdom. A larger church may not need the association, but the association needs the larger churches.

This is your opportunity to demonstrate cooperation, a great quality of being a Baptist. Through cooperation with the other churches of your association, you are able to help them to accomplish the ministry they believe God has called them to accomplish. In addition, we are better when we are a part of the fellowship of the churches. Sure, it’s possible to stand alone, but why would anybody want to?

While I was in Kentucky I developed a friendship with Don Young, pastor at Bible Baptist Church. It was an Independent Baptist Church. One day Don and I arrived at the parking lot at the hospital at the same time as we were going to visit our respective members. Walking in together, Don asked me to tell him the procedure for becoming a Southern Baptist church. I said, “Don, are you thinking about becoming Southern Baptist? That thrills me.” He said, “As a matter of fact, I have given it a lot of thought.” I asked, “Why?”

Don replied, “It gets very lonely being an independent. I need the fellowship that you pastors have through your association of churches. I want to be a part of that.” Don did indeed become a Southern Baptist and Bible Baptist, now Heartland, became a Southern Baptist church and a vital part of our fellowship as Baptists.

Soon we will be gathering for the annual meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention. Once again, we will feel the joy of being a part of a larger family of Baptists through our state convention. More than 3,600 churches should be represented at this year’s convention, but if this is like other years, many of those churches will not have anyone at the annual meeting.

Why not decide right now to change that? Decide right now that your church will be represented as a part of our wonderful convention meeting. When your family gathers for a family reunion, it just doesn’t seem right if some from your family are absent. Well, this is our annual family reunion as Georgia Baptists and it just doesn’t feel right if you aren’t there.