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[Silence] Without the association, it is an absolute impossibility to facilitate the bold missions thrust. The thing that excites me most about bold mission thrust is the matter of involving our lay people in missions. I think that we have hit on something that is going to revolutionize both the Association,

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our convention, and the work of our churches. I believe if we could sell all these churches on the significance of the Association, we would be more effective in proclaiming Christ. We'd be more effective in bold mission threat.

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This is Mission Scope, home mission features for April, May, and June 1979. This quarter we feature the role of associational missions in implementing the goals of bold mission thrust. These goals are bold growing, bold going, and bold giving. You will hear from Dr. W.H. Colson,

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Metropolitan Mission Superintendent of the Corpus Christi Baptist Association, Larry Rose, Director of Missions of the Waco-Texas Baptist Association, Miss Carolyn Weatherford, Executive Director of the Woman's Missionary Union, and a special message from Dr. Harold Bennett, Executive Secretary/Treasurer-Elect of the Executive Committee of the Southern

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Baptist Convention. First feature, Dr. W.H. Coultham, Metropolitan Mission Superintendent of the Corpus Christi Association. Since the Association is made up altogether of church congregations, we play the most

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significant role of any entity of Southern Baptist life in helping to encourage the growth of churches, the development of new work, and everything that goes on in Baptist life because we are the denominational entity that has direct relationship with the pastor, with the leadership of the churches.

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And also we as an association more and more are becoming the communication between the Church and the denomination. For example, just this past week I was over in Atlanta, Georgia, conveying to the Executive Secretary, Dr. Bill Tanner, some of the thinking of the churches and the associations.

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And then I come back and I convey to my pastor the thinking of the denominational leadership. And so we find more and more the association playing this role of the go-between between all denominational institutions, agencies, and areas of our work and the local church. But we also have the opportunity of developing leadership with expertise to do training,

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to develop stewardship, to develop the ideals of church growth. We have the opportunity to encourage the leadership of the church, primarily the pastor who finds his life so frustrating in these difficult times in which we live. But going back to the beginning, Ben, before there was ever a State Convention or a Southern

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Baptist Convention, and perhaps there never would have been either, had it not been that back yonder in our history as Southern Baptists in Pennsylvania, in North Carolina, in South Carolina, in Georgia, that churches chose not to work alone, but to find a fellowship, a common doctrinal position and a determined responsibility of evangelism to the whole

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world that caused them to accumulate a togetherness through what we call an association or a fellowship that has made the association across the years the greatest and most important entity of Baptist life in the encouragement of the ministry and the work of a local church. I cannot stress or overstress the value of a well-structured associational program and

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its effect on a local church. The program envisioned by our convention cannot reach our churches except through the channels provided naturally from the associational structure. And unless we reach the individual through the churches

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in our state and in our Southern Baptist Convention, Bowl Missions could never succeed. And the association's role is absolutely indispensable to the proper carrying out of the dreams

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of Southern Baptists in the Bowl Missions thrust. Second feature, Larry Rose, director of missions of the Waco Association. I see the opportunity of the association

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both in sharing the information of bold mission thrust, but being the very practical facilitator to heavily involve the churches in the mission enterprise, rather that be projects that are done inside the local

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association, or if they are projects that are done in other parts of our country, or even our world. I think as Southern Baptists, we have needed this kind of emphasis for a long time, and

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that is the personal involvement of our people in mission action and in mission work. I think we have done an exceptional job as Southern Baptists in the promotion of and the showing the need of praying and giving for mission causes, both at home and throughout the world.

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But I'm excited about the fact that we now have the opportunity to involve our people directly in the mission enterprise itself, not only from their standpoint of their praying for missions, their giving to missions, but from the aspect of their ability to go and serve in missions, the ability to do it firsthand.

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So I think this offers both to the association, to the local churches, the unusual ability to be involved directly in the mission enterprise. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm excited that our Home Mission Board has broken into so many new areas of work in the last several years.

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I think it has offered the new challenge for the association, again, to be involved as an initiator, as a real facilitator of how the local churches can become involved in work of the mission enterprise. Let me give you an example. I think in our convention that we have over the last several years done such an

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effective job when you look back at the 50s of how we went into new areas and evangelized, congregationalized. And then somehow we lost that emphasis through the 60s and 70s and now we have the opportunity and the challenge again to be back at the task of reaching people with the gospel. And I think that is most

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effectively done as I believe everybody in our convention agrees by involving our churches, our people in that action. And I see what's happening now with bold mission thrust with the effort of the board in working with language and cultural groups as again the opportunity for the association to inspire, to

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initiate with the churches, the working again at reaching people with the Gospel of Christ. I think we're going to see a great number of new works begun even in areas like Waco among language groups, among cultural groups that will bring new vitality to the work of the association and the churches in our area.

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I am optimistic about the future. I am optimistic about the work of the association. I think that we live in a day that offers greater opportunity for the association than any day that I have ever been a part of.

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I see our role as directors of missions in the association to once again excite our people to the opportunities that we have right in our own area. Third feature, Ms. Carolyn Weatherford, Executive Director of the WMU. I believe of course in the primacy of the church and I believe that the association

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being the nearest Baptist entity to the church has a very significant role to play in anything that we do in the Lord's work. Women's Missionary Union has always felt that strong associational WMU work would lead to strong church WMU work, and I think this applies to every area of work that we're doing.

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So I believe in the importance of the association because of its proximity to the churches, because the association is in tune with what the churches are doing, therefore can give leadership to bold mission thrust or any other emphasis in our churches. Of course the specific goals for bold mission thrust relate to bold growing, bold giving,

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and bold going. We've assumed, although we don't have a goal in bold praying, we've assumed that bold mission thrust will take place only if it's undergirded by a strong emphasis on praying. I have known several associations who've organized a prayer plan through which the churches could

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pray with each other. In my own association, churches are given lists of the churches in the association, and each week my church prays for specific churches in Birmingham Association. I think this way of praying for each other is very significant at Bowl Mission Thrust.

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in bold growing, of course, this goal is without apology and emphasis on starting new work in new locations. I believe that churches can get a better idea of where new work is begun if in the association there's some guidance, sharing of information. The association can provide a real service to churches if it can identify areas where the people are unreached.

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We find through WMU that if we want to start a mission action group or minister through and witness through mission action to a group that's not being ministered to, that the association can help us to find a mobile home village where there's no Bible study or identify a a language group to whom nobody's ministering and witnessing.

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So bold growing, I see, is almost impossible without the coordination and the sharing of information and the training that the association can provide. Then in bold giving, of course, we

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give our money through our churches and not through our association. So this becomes, I suppose, more a matter of information sharing.

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The association can provide good information to the churches about how their money is being used. I'm glad also that in the Bole Mission Trust goal under giving that there is a goal about increasing

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the church's gifts to the associational mission's budget. I think it's very important for churches to recognize that the association exists to help them. And the association can't exist without financial support.

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And the association ought to be supported by those whom it serves. So I like the fact that in my church, for example, we're increasing our associational gifts

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or our gifts to the associational budget each year. I think that's very important. Then, of course, the other goals related to the cooperative program and to the Lottie Moon Christmas

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offering and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering are church goals. And the association has a significant role to play in promoting the cooperative program

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and the special offerings. Then bold going, of course, is the goal that really excites me. I think that as we try to get people involved

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in going somewhere else to do some mission work, we'll find that as a result of this, they'll be more interested in ministering where they are in their own church community.

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I do think that-- I don't know this and you might check me out on this, but I think that some associations are requesting mission service corps volunteers and so the bold mission thrust emphasis in that way is helping the association.

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As the association identifies its need for additional help for which it cannot pay, then they can plug into the mission service corps concept or the volunteer involvement in missions concept. On the other hand, the association can provide a tremendous resource for all of these short-term

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mission programs as they interpret the programs to their people and as they put people and the mission service corps or the volunteer involvement in missions program in touch with each other. So that's important.

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I think also that the association is involved with the church and with the convention in helping people to understand that there's a continuing need for career missionaries and that while there are a lot of needs that can be met with short-term volunteers, it's still important to communicate to our people that God still calls people to give their

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lives in vocational missions service or career mission service. I believe beyond the local church the association has the best platform for doing this kind of interpretation in its meetings. I believe that there are two critical points in associational work right now. One is I think there's a credibility gap between the association and the church, the associations

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and the church leadership. I find that not all Baptist pastors and WMU directors agree with me about the importance of the association. And so I think the association and church leaders who do believe in the association

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have a good selling job to do. I don't believe the day of the association has passed. So I think first of all, the critical issue is really selling the importance of associational work.

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The second critical issue is probably related to that, and that's the funding of associational work. We don't have a regular channel through which we support associational missions. So the associations need to keep doing a good job of helping the churches to understand

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what they're doing, what their work is, and how the churches can have a part in financing the work that they're doing together. I think there's a third area of concern for me, and that is that the association should never take

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the place of the church. And we do this, we have to always emphasize this with associational WMU work. Mission study is the work of a church WMU

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and not an associational WMU. So we have to really, you know, we don't have these massive mission study classes at the associational level, that happens in the churches.

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But the association, associational WMU leadership can train those who are going to teach the classes in the churches. So I think there's a fine balance

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between what the association is and what the church is. And the church is where the work happens. The association coordinates the work of the churches when that work needs to be coordinated,

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and provides strength and encouragement and training and skills that the leaders in the churches need. The fourth feature, Dr. Harold Bennett, Executive Secretary, Treasurer-Elect

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of the Executive Committee. - I think that one of the most exciting and challenging programs Southern Baptists have ever adopted is wrapped up in the idea

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of bold mission thrust. When we look at the year 2000 and think about what that means to us in terms of reaching everybody

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with the gospel of Jesus Christ by that time, we have set for ourselves a tremendous responsibility and a tremendous goal. So I feel excited about Bull Mission Thrust

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and our personal involvement in the various areas of this overreaching goal. Now, the association in Southern Baptist life is a unit of work that I believe to be

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about as important as any of our units of work. Of course, along with most other Southern Baptists, I feel that the individual local church is at the very apex of all of our lives. The denomination, whatever entity it might be, the association, a state convention, or

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the Southern Baptist Convention, or any one of our agencies, all of the agencies have been brought into being in order to assist the local church in carrying out its world mission task of reaching people for Jesus Christ. And so the association being that denominational entity nearest to the local church has an ultimate

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responsibility of sharing with the church leadership the goals, the ideas, and in some way trying to impress upon the church leaders a procedure whereby they can become involved in bold mission thrust. Now one of the ways of course would be to help the church in its planning process. A lot of churches

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unfortunately do not see beyond just a single calendar year and they will plan a year's activity for the church and then the next year comes along and they will review about the same thing and plan another year's activity. So in bold Mission Thrust, and as the associational leaders have a part in this, the

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associational leaders can help churches and pastors and the church leaders as they begin to map a strategic role of being involved in the various areas of Bowl Mission Thrust. Bowl Mission Thrust, for example, has as one of its urgent and appealing goals of calling out God's called mission volunteers.

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These men and women whose hearts have been moved in a very special way by God need to be given the opportunity of service and ministry, and the Association can help the churches catch a vision of calling out the called. I believe with all my heart that God calls men and women to a special service, and these are

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the persons who may be involved in becoming pastors or missionaries or ministers of education or ministers of music or in some other position either in the denomination or on a church staff but in addition to these there are others who could be called to a very special ministry on a limited basis for

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example for one year or for two years the mission service Corps is is a case in point we're hopeful and praying that God will open the way for us to reach some 5,000 persons who would volunteer as Mission Service Corps volunteers. These men and women, young people included, old people included, they would

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give themselves to a special ministry somewhere here in the United States or on some foreign mission field and work for the cause of Christ. The role of the association as I see it is a channel of information and inspiration in this case. There are three emphases. One, bold going. Number two, bold growing. And number three, bold giving.

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So the bold going has already been emphasized a bit when I mentioned career missionaries. We're hopeful to be able to call out on the Southern Baptist Convention level 1,000 persons by the year 1982. The Association will have a vital part in this by simply giving church leaders the opportunity of making this decision.

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The Mission Service Corps, we, as I've already indicated, are hoping for 5,000 Mission Service Corps volunteers. Now in the area of bowl growing, and this I think is a particular place where the association can become involved, and that is working with the churches in order to help the church do a better job, for

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example, in Bible school enrollment, our Sunday schools. Our Sunday schools need to reach more people for Jesus Christ. They reach them first for Bible study, they're enrolled, they become a part of a fellowship, and then in God's time and with the teaching of the Word of God, oftentimes these persons become

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Christians and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Our Southern Baptist Convention goal for increase in Sunday school enrollment is 12 percent, and this is a challenging goal, and perhaps an association could hold up a goal in that nature to the churches, and they would follow through also. In bold

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growing, the number of persons we reach for baptism should be increased. Last year our baptisms were not as high as they have been in years gone by, and we think that by lifting up the urgent priority of reaching people for Christ will be primary in the minds and hearts of our pastors, but as the associational

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leaders give the churches training opportunities and involvement opportunities, we think that our baptisms can increase. Then another area in bold growing is to help to establish a preaching, teaching ministry in every spot in the association where there's a place needed to proclaim the Word of God.

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Coupled with that, but a little bit more formal than this, is the urgency of our establishing church-type missions. These missions must be established and as an Association, I believe that the associational leaders have the primary responsibility of helping to seek out the locations for new church sites,

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helping with the state convention and/or the whole mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention or whatever other group to buy a church site and then to help that church get established, beginning as a mission and then moving on out into Constitution and forming itself into a New Testament church.

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Churches are the ones responsible for helping to start other churches. The Association gives guidance. The third area, bold giving. I believe we'll find an urgent appeal in the hearts of most of our associational workers because in this we have a goal of increasing gifts to associations by 10% during these next

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three years by the year 1982 and so this is a challenging goal. A lot of churches give to associational missions, many of them do not, and perhaps we can increase the number and also the amount. In giving to world missions through the Cooperative Program, the Southern Baptist Convention has set a goal of doubling the

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cooperative program receipts between the years 1977 and 1982 and then twice more by the end of the year 2000 and so we have a challenging mission opportunity in this area. A number of years ago I was a pastor and I thought I always would be a pastor but then in God's time he called me to serve as a worker at the

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Sunday School Board with an assignment of utilizing the Sunday School and helping to start new churches and missions. I was very much involved in the 30,000 movement and that was an effort to double the number of churches and missions Southern Baptist had at that time and so I became personally involved

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in that. Then later coming to the Home Mission Board as the director of the Department of Metropolitan Missions or City Missions as it was called to begin with. I worked in the large cities across the nation with an emphasis primarily in starting new work and trying to cross all of the barriers that we find

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in our great metropolitan complexes to share the gospel of Christ with people whoever they are and wherever they might be. Now the whole mission board is at the cutting edge of what we're doing in missions in the Southern Baptist Convention. Of course, it's not the only agency related to missions and outreach,

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but it is at the cutting edge. And I see that in the leadership of the Home Mission Board, Dr. Tanner and other staff members, as they guide our thinking and as they dream dreams, we will be reaching out in unique ways to touch the lives of multiplied millions of people to reach them for Christ. There are a variety of

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barriers and mountains which stand in the way, but with God's help and in faith I believe that we'll be able to reach over these barriers and reach them for Christ. And so this agency, the Home Mission Board, our almost 1,200 district Baptist associations, our 34 state conventions, our total Southern Baptist

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Convention life, gearing up in a way that we have never really done in years gone by to make missions the very central thrust of our total program. I would encourage every director of associational missions to become completely and entirely familiar with the program of bold mission thrust. Its

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implications not only for the world and our nation, but then to relate those implications to the association where he serves. These men function in ways that can inspire our pastors and our churches to to go beyond themselves in their total ministry. I believe that our directors of associational missions can give

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leadership and guidance and vision to a planning process that will incorporate the appropriate priorities in the plans. Everything cannot be given the same emphasis. We must lift up those things which are our priority in nature and give them not only the budgetary funds but also give them the appropriate

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calendar time in order that we might reach the people. Now this will have an influence on the pastors and on the churches and they then therefore would follow suit. And so it's a matter of knowing, inspiring, and then giving concrete leadership in bold mission thrust. I doubt seriously that there's ever been a denominational group

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having established a goal of sharing the gospel with every person in the world by the year 2000. This is a phenomenal undertaking and assignment. But I am not fearful if we do not achieve all that we have set out to do. I am committed to reaching as far as we can,

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and I believe that our goals should be challenging, and these are challenging goals, and I believe that they're out beyond us far enough that it will require all of our ingenuity and our insight and our commitment. And as we reach towards those goals, I believe God is going to bless us as he's never blessed us in days gone by. And that as a result, whether we actually achieve the numerical goal,

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we will have gone farther than we would have had we not set these goals. And so I'm for goal setting. I believe that establishing objectives and making a plan to achieve a particular goal is the way God wants us to do. He told us to take thought of what we would be doing and to establish ourselves in that direction. And once we have set our hands to the plow to continue, and this is our assignment and our goal,

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and we'll do all we can and leave the results to him. But our prayers and our energies and our commitment ought to be to achieving the most we can for Jesus Christ. [ Silence ]