GCR task force calls for input, prayer

Sep 8, 2009
MARK KELLEY & JONI B. HANNIGAN

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ROGERS, Ark. (BP/FBW)–Interest is “huge” in the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and the group wants grass-roots Southern Baptists to share their thoughts and mobilize their congregations to pray for the task force’s work, its chairman said Aug. 27.

In statements to reporters following the task force’s Aug. 26-27 meeting, Ronnie Floyd said he was very pleased with the Aug. 26 listening session that drew more than 400 pastors and lay leaders from the region around Rogers, Ark.

“That was a good, engaging discussion,” Floyd said, standing outside the task force meeting room in the Embassy Suites Hotel in Rogers. “The interest level was huge, and we already know that, out of the 400-plus people who were there yesterday, that over 270 of them committed to pray for the Great Commission resurgence, which brings us great pleasure.

“We’re gathering information. We’re listening. And we are trying to know enough in order to make the decisions that need to be made,” Floyd added. “As of right now, we don’t know enough, but we’re getting there.”

The most important things Southern Baptists can do for the task force, are to communicate with them and pray for them, Floyd said.

“The No. 1 thing the Southern Baptist Convention people can do for us is to send any idea they want to send—share anything they want to share—and more than anything in the world, they need to pray for us,” Floyd said. “We plead with them for their prayers, [to] get their churches involved in prayer.

Floyd suggested churches use registration cards akin to those placed on tables at the luncheon as a way of getting members involved in the task force’s work.

“The model you saw yesterday of registering people with a card and then us taking that and registering that in the website, if churches duplicated that, it would be huge,” Floyd said. He pointed out that the card asked for specific commitments to pray for members of the task force, for him as chairman, for other Southern Baptist churches and for leaders of SBC entities.

“When was the last time 3,400—almost 3,500 people now, as of this morning late—prayed every day for the leaders of our convention?” Floyd asked.

Floyd said he is encouraging task force members to hold their own listening sessions like the one held in Rogers as they travel. “The whole deal is, we’re going to listen more than we talk,” he said.

Three members of the 23-member task force—Daniel Akin, David Dockery and John Copeland—were unable to attend this week’s session, Floyd said. The group’s next meeting will be Oct. 27 in Dallas, at a venue near an airport that has not yet been secured, Floyd said.

Task force member Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, said the listening session the previous day did not surprise anyone on the task force despite the sometimes vigorous debate.

“We came with two ears and one mouth. We wanted to hear twice as much as we talked,” Whitten said. “When you get two Southern Baptists together, you have three opinions. We know that, but they are good opinions and they are worthy of hearing and listening.”

In sifting through the ideas and information Southern Baptists have shared, Whitten told Florida Baptist Witness the task force is “trying to formulate those ideas into some categories that we can speak to” so people know they have been heard from.

“We are long way out from what I call road shows, of taking it on the road and telling everybody what we discovered,” Whitten said. “We’re trying to formulate where we are so we know where we’re going. Obviously if I was coming to your house and If I didn’t know the way to get there and I called you, you would say to me, ‘where are you?’”

Whitten said for Southern Baptists who are asking where the task force is headed, that’s a great first question, and likewise, the task force is asking Southern Baptists where they are headed.

“And I think together, we are going to formulate where we are,” Whitten said.
Anticipating the task force will be able to put a strategy together and make recommendations to messengers at the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Whitten expressed caution about reading too much into it.

“Keep in mind, this task force is only bringing a report, the SBC will vote to receive that report or not to receive that report,” Whitten said. “We are not a legislative body, we recognize that and understand that. But what you’re hearing around this table, to every man and to women who are on this committee, is that we are open for change, we want God’s glory and God’s best in God’s time. We don’t know what that means, but we’re pretty excited about the possibility of even talking about it.”

Ted Traylor, one of five task force members from Florida, told the Witness he was encouraged by the interest expressed in the task force and believes the listening session was helpful.

“The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force luncheon was a beneficial meeting for the task force,” said Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola. “We received valuable input from concerned Baptists. It also was encouraging to see the high level of interest in this work.”

Floyd, in a separate statement, told reporters the task force created its website to communicate its message. In addition, it appreciates the work of “anybody who wants to help us get out the message of having a Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention.”

“[W]e really value what all of the Baptist papers can do to help us gather the information and to communicate the information to people and—as anyone would want, as we would articulate it—with total commitment to what we’ve said,” Floyd added.

Mark Kelly is an assistant editor of Baptist Press. Joni B. Hannigan is the Witness’ managing editor.

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