Southern Baptist Convention 2009

This week is the annual convention of the Southern Baptist Convention. There always seems to be a lot of negative press about us Baptists (sometimes deservedly so). I would like to highlight a couple of positives.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest elective gathering in the world.
In the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike Southern Baptists provided 3.7 million meals in the first 30 days.

In the days, months, and years after the tsunami in the Pacific Rim Southern Baptists have help construct dozens of orphanages.

Before the convention starts every year the Southern Baptist’s organize a coordinated effort to do ministry and evangelism in the city that is hosting the convention. This year 107 churches, 3000 people joined together in Louisville, Kentucky. 1012 people placed their faith in Christ as a result.

The Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ministry is the third largest in the USA, only behind Red Cross and United Way.

The great thing for First Baptist Southlake is that we were a part of all that. The money that is used to fund all of those fantastic ministries, and even more that weren’t mentioned yet, comes from churches like ours all across the world. A portion of the money that people give to our church is sent to the Southern Baptist Convention. This is called the “Cooperative Program”. This is a great, God directed strategy for mutual participation in the Great Commission.