It's Time to Step Up

Former TCBF Coordinators Ircel Harrison and Terry Maples
with present Coordinator Rick Bennett (right)

If you are like me, most days you receive one or more appeals to fund some organization. Usually we know little or nothing about those organizations. Let me share a request today for one that is important to me personally, one you probably know something about and whose mission may impact you and your church.

Recent actions of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board related to hiring have been disappointing to many of us. The Hiring Policy itself is a very positive step, but the implementation plan adopted is discriminatory. This has harmed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship movement in many ways.

Some conservative churches and organizations who reject the openness of the Hiring Policy will no longer support the Fellowship, while progressive Baptists and churches who love and embrace all people feel that their stance has been rejected, so they are taking similar actions. Churches on all sides of this situation certainly have the freedom to choose what causes they will support. This is part of our Baptist polity.

Because of the way the CBF movement is structured, state and regional CBF organizations will be impacted by this in different ways. Tennessee CBF does not and has never had a hiring policy which discriminates against people. The goal of the TCBF Coordinating Council has always been to try to employ the best people available for paid staff positons including Coordinator.

Tennessee Coordinator Rick Bennett is not employed by the national organization but by Tennessee CBF. He is responsible to the state Coordinating Council. Rick works directly with churches in Tennessee as they seek to do Great Commission work. His salary and the funding for the state organization comes from churches in the state. Unfortunately, churches in Tennessee who have chosen to terminate their relationship with National CBF do not realize that Tennessee CBF is a separate entity.

I have never used this blog to seek funding for any organization, but I encourage you to consider how you and your church can support the Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

First, check with your church leadership and make certain that a portion of your mission dollar goes to TCBF.

Second, support the work of TCBF through a personal monthly contribution. Go to tncbf.org and click on the "GIVE" tab or go directly to the gift page.

One of the great blessings of my ministry was the opportunity to serve Tennessee churches as the first full-time coordinator of TCBF. I encourage you to continue to support this organization and its Coordinator in furthering the work of the Kingdom of God in Tennessee and around the world. It’s time to step up and make a choice.

Comments

Check these out

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist. I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age. I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving. This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students. We supported missionaries at home and abroad. We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course). I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition. Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect. There were significant...

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself. The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church. Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs. What once worked no longer seems to be effective. Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educa...

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor. He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.” In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.” Jesus turned this around. In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner. His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced. He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality. These are metapho...

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church. On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter. Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year. He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability ...

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business. For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates. He has already left the church and resigned from the board of t...

Barnabas File

Search This Blog