The Northeast has become the least reached area in America. But there are some very exciting things happening there in the area of church planting. This is true in the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey. This state convention is partnering with local churches and allowing them to train future church planters for their area!
One of the churches leading out is Riverside Community Church in Philadelphia, which is led by Pastor Aaron Harvie. Riverside is right now in the process of supporting and mentoring 4 churches in Pennsylvania. They are …

Baptist21 is committed to seeking gospel-centrality among the nations through the church to the glory of King Jesus. Part of seeking gospel-centrality is learning to read the Bible rightly and understand how the gospel of King Jesus is the central theme of the entire bible (Lk. 24). So, B21 author Jon Akin (who is completing a PhD in O.T. Studies) has written several blogs showing how to read the Bible Christocentrically throughout the Old Testament.
-       The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Story of Noah
-       The Gospel of Jesus Christ …

The GCR vote is over, but now the real work of actually seeing a Great Commission Resurgence come about begins! One of the highlights of the entire GCR report was the focus on church planting as the best strategy for sustaining a long term assault on the lostness of North America. Our hope is that as we are enabled over the next few decades to unleash waves of gospel-centered church planters on the lostness of North America we will become a convention of 70,000 churches.
We are very optimistic because interest …

David Williams recently wrote a GCR viewpoint piece in Baptist Press and I’d like to interact briefly with his argument.
I disagree with Mr. Williams that NAMB’s primary strategy should be “supporting and undergirding the work of the state conventions.” I think most Southern Baptists think that NAMB is supposed to be a church planting network in North America, and most Southern Baptists want NAMB to be a major church planting network in North America, not primarily a subsidizer for State Convention ministries.
That means that the GCR is for new strategic …

For over 300 years local associations have been helping local churches cooperate together to carry out the Great Commission. Associations were doing this before there were state or national conventions.
The GCRTF was commissioned to study what we do as a convention and bring back recommendations (and challenges) to the SBC about how we can more faithfully and effectively cooperate together in the Great Commission. In the challenges section every Southern Baptist entity is challenged to take steps to see a GCR take place in our world, and that includes associations! …

Baptist 21 is excited to announce that Johnny Hunt and Ronnie Floyd will be joining us at the B21 Panel Luncheon. They will join a very important conversation with Akin, Platt, Scroggins, Stetzer, Chandler, and Mohler about the future of the SBC and the Great Commission Resurgence.
This year’s SBC is being compared already to the 1979 Convention when the Conservative Resurgence started. That means it will be one of the most important in recent memory. This panel will discuss the most significant issues facing the SBC and our future.
We are …

What are we voting on in Orlando? In the comments section of a recent article by Alvin Reid the GCR debate took on much greater clarity for me. I think I now understand in clear terms the two paths that the SBC is being asked to choose between in Orlando in June.
One path is the “Great Commission Resurgence” (GCR) vision set forth by the GCRTF and their recommendations. The other path has been coined as the “Cooperative Program Resurgence” (CPR). These two competing paths are not about who is …

There was incredible excitement in Louisville when 95% of SBC messengers at the 2009 Annual Meeting supported a motion for President Johnny Hunt to appoint a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force to study our convention structures and come back with recommendations on how we can better cooperate to fulfill the Great Commission. For the first time in a long time there was hopefulness for many in our convention. It was a hopefulness that we would become a more Great Commission-minded convention. So, the Task Force set to its work, and …

When R. G. Lee pastored the First Baptist Church of Edgefield, South Carolina, he gave a devotional during a prayer meeting called “Payday Someday.” A deacon told him afterwards that he had some pretty good material and needed to work on it some. Lee did! He ended up preaching Payday
more than 1,200 times! As a part of honoring the past, we want to make young Southern Baptists aware of what is arguably the greatest American sermon in the twentieth century. Lee is perhaps the greatest Southern Baptist preacher of all …

Part One, SBC Heroes: R.G. Lee (Bio)
At Highview Baptist Church our teaching pastors have been preaching through Acts over the last several months. The sermon series is entitled “Uprising,” because we are looking at how Christ began to build his church through the Spirit-empowered witness of his disciples. This theme of uprising and growth constantly emerges in Acts as people in almost every chapter repent of sin, believe in Jesus, and are added to the church. What is incredibly striking is what Jesus’ followers are doing that is leading to …