ORLANDO, Fla. — ORLANDO, Fla. - Saying that 6 billion of the world’s 6.8 billion people are lost and headed for hell, the Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday called for a “tidal wave ofevangelistic and missionary passion” and for spending a higher percentage of the denomination’s resources on missions.
At the denomination’s annual meeting, Baptists also elected a new president - Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga.
Baptists vo te d ove rwhelmingly Tuesday to approve the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, chaired by Ronnie Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale and the Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers.
Among other things, the task force:
Called on the denomination’s North American Mission Board to make church planting a priority and to focus on communities outside the South.
Recommended sweeping cuts in spending at the denomination’s Nashville, Tenn., headquarters, calling for the money to be shifted to international missions.
Supported allowing International Mission Board personnel to serve in the United States as well as overseas, reaching “unreached and underserved people groups without regard to any geographic limitation.”
Set ambitious fundraising goals for missions over the next five years.
Afterward, Floyd said he was “grateful” for the lopsided vote.
“There was a spirit of unity and love, a real desire for people to come around what we have envisioned and worked for the past year,” Floyd said. “We just thank all of Southern Baptists for believing in the Great Commission.”
Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, calledthe vote “a decisive moment in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination with 16.1 million members in all 50 states.
But after decades of g rowth, the number of Southern Baptists has begun dropping. The convention is now “a denomination in decline,” according to Southern Baptist author and researcher Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research.
Giving to the Cooperative Program, which funds Southern Baptist missionary efforts around the world, declined by roughly $4.6 million in the year ending Sept. 30, from $204.4 million to $199.8 million.
Concerned about drops in membership and baptisms in recent years, the task force was formed in June 2009 and featured a number of leadingSouthern Baptist officials, including Floyd, Mohler and former Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page.
After nearly a year of work, the task force’s 23 members drafted and unanimously supported the report, titled “Penetrating the Lostness: Embracing a Vision for a Great Commission Resurgence Among Southern Baptists.”
The Great Commission is what Christians call Jesus’ parting command to his followers in Matthew 28: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
The report generated controversy among someSouthern Baptists who said its proposed changes could undermine the Cooperative Program, the key funding mechanism for the denomination’s missions programs since 1925.
Others said the report focused too much on programs and not enough on prayer.
“My heart is heavy because these recommendations do not challenge us spiritually and shall never bring us to our knees, much less take us to the ends of the earth,” said Morris Chapman, the outgoing president of the denomination’s executive committee. “We can accomplish all of these recommendations without the power of God and the moving of God’s Holy Spirit.
“The recommendations are about moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic while the ship goes down into an icy, watery grave.”
But Floyd and others saidthe report would inspire Southern Baptists to give more and had already put a renewed focus on the importance of missions.
The debate over the report overshadowed the day’s other business - the election of a new president.
Baptist delegates, known as messengers, elected Wright on the second ballot Tuesday. He replaces Johnny Hunt, pastor of Woodstock, Ga., First Baptist Church, who stepped down after two terms.
Wright captured 55. 1 percent of the vote, while Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., claimed 44 percent.
On the first ballot, Wright led Traylor 36.8 percent to 29.2 percent. Jimmy Jackson, president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, placed third with 26.6 percent. Leo Endel, executive director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention and the only northerner on the ballot, finished fourth with 6.3 percent of the vote.
After his election, Wright said he supports the recommendations of the Great Commission task force, and said he would like to see more Southern Baptist funds shifted from state Baptist headquarters to missions.
Calling Jesus “the only way to God,” Wright said a renewed commitment to Christ will mean a greater burden for missions.
“When we love Christ more, we’re going to love lost people more,” he said. “It’s just impossible for that not to happen.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/16/2010