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 in church planting is increasing. With increased interest comes the need for increased training and support. It will take a refocused NAMB and refocused state conventions that partner with local churches to plant more churches. It will take local churches and networks of churches that provide vision, training, accountability, support, and many other things. There are many good options within the SBC with whom churches and church planters can partner. You may or may not be aware of them. Baptist21 wants to take a few posts and highlight some of them.
First Baptist Woodstock’s Church Planting School
The first resource we want to point you to is the FBC Woodstock Church Planting School. FBC Woodstock is one of the leading church planting churches in the convention. They are now beginning to ramp up their focus on church planting even more by beginning this church planting school. The help they are offering to aspiring planters and current planters is invaluable!
The leadership and experience of Pastor Johnny Hunt is well-known. Equally well-known is his love for and ability to mentor younger pastors. That element alone is enough to make anything FBC Woodstock offers to young pastors a must attend!
But, add to this the experience and expertise of Bill Agee who is providing leadership and oversight of this school. Bill Agee has spent his life planting churches. Right after getting married, Bill and his wife moved site unseen to South Dakota to plant a church. In 10 years they planted a church in every community around them for 60 miles. As a Director of Missions in the Central Baptist Association in Phoenix he aided churches in planting 73 churches in a 10 year period in this key western city. When he arrived at the association they were spending $200 a month on church planting, but when he left they were spending $20,000 a month on church planting.
Bill Agee is a church planter. As the new Church Planting Strategist at FBC Woodstock he is someone from whom aspiring Southern Baptist church planters need to learn.
Baptist21 would highly encourage you to attend the church planting school at FBCW September 20-22. It will provide valuable and extremely helpful training.
Here is some of the key information from the website:
Don’t miss your chance to get in on the ground floor of the Woodstock Church Planting School. We want to leverage our international reach & years of experience to help aspiring planters, current planters, planting strategists, and partnering organizations to launch strong, reproducing churches in places with little Kingdom influence.
A practical, hands-on workshop covering the following topics:
Check-in begins at 11a.m. and the first session begins at 1 p.m. on the 20th. and school ends at Noon on the 22nd.
Cost
$99.00
$149 after Aug. 15th
Cost includes meals & materials. Transportation, lodging and off-site meals are the responsibility of the attendees.
Register online NOW at woodstockcps.com.
For more information visit the church’s website, email Bill Agee, or call him at 602.549.7256.
Baptist21 held its 2nd annual B21 Panel at the SBC. The panel took place in Orlando during Tuesday’s Lunch at the SBC. The members of the panel were Danny Akin, Matt Chandler, Ronnie Floyd, Johnny Hunt, Albert Mohler, David Platt, Jimmy Scroggins, and Ed Stetzer. The panel discussed issues pertaining to the gospel, the SBC and its future, the Great Commission Resurgence, and more.
Video of the Panel is available here
In addition, Baptist21 would like our readers to be aware of the discussion that took place on the Tuesday night of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 9marks@9 event. During that event Danny Akin, Mark Dever, Albert Mohler, and David Platt discussed some very important topics. They addressed Platt’s sermon from the previous night, the importance of the GCR, next steps for the SBC and individual pastors, the health of the SBC, the importance of attending the national meeting (check the Mohler quote at about 11:30-12:30), the future of theological education, and more.
Video of this event is available here
Baptist21 is so grateful for the Media Services department at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They graciously served us through recording the panel. We are indebted to them.
Baptist21 held its 2nd annual B21 Panel at the SBC. The panel took place in Orlando during Tuesday’s Lunch at the SBC. The members of the panel were Danny Akin, Matt Chandler, Ronnie Floyd, Johnny Hunt, Albert Mohler, David Platt, Jimmy Scroggins, and Ed Stetzer. The panel discussed issues pertaining to the gospel, the SBC and its future, the Great Commission Resurgence, and more.
b21 Panel at 2010 SBC Annual Meeting from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.
B21 Panel SBC2009: Also, check out the video from last year’s panel at SBC 2009
In addition, Baptist21 would like our readers to be aware of the discussion that took place on the Tuesday night of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 9marks@9 event. During that event Danny Akin, Mark Dever, Albert Mohler, and David Platt discussed some very important topics. They addressed Platt’s sermon from the previous night, the importance of the GCR, next steps for the SBC and individual pastors, the health of the SBC, the importance of attending the national meeting (check the Mohler quote at about 11:30-12:30), the future of theological education, and more.
IX Marks at 9 Panel from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.
Baptist21 is so grateful for the Media Services department at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They graciously served us through videoing our event and through recording the 9marks@9 event. We are indebted to them.
Baptist21 is grateful to have Pastor Johnny Hunt and Pastor Ronnie Floyd discussing the GCR at this year’s B21 Panel at the SBC. The panel will be held on the Tuesday of the SBC in the W414 room (4th floor of the convention center) immediately following the morning session. There is a $7 charge (lunch and books are included).
Register soon because spots are filling up.
For more information about the event and video of David Platt discussing the event click here
Dr. Johnny Hunt
Johnny Hunt has served as the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia since 1986. In addition to his role at Woodstock, he also served as President of the SBC Pastor’s conference in 1996 and is currently completing the second year of his term as President of the Southern Baptist Convention. Dr. Hunt holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Gardner-Webb College, a Master of Divinity degree from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as two honorary doctorates, one from lmmanuel Baptist Theological Seminary of Sharpsburg, Georgia, and another from Covington Theological Seminary. He is the author of Building Your Spiritual Resume: Developing A Testimony That Will Outlast You (3H Publishers, 2005), Building Your Leadership Resume: Developing The Legacy That Will Outlast You (B&H, 2009), and several others.
Even during the process of his education, Johnny’s passion has always been for the pulpit. During his time at Gardner-Webb, he was not content merely to be a student, but was also called to serve as the shepherd of Lavonia Baptist Church in Mooresboro, North Carolina. When the Lord called Johnny to seminary, again, he was not content to just sit and learn, but had to go and do. So the Lord provided him with a second pastorate at Falls Baptist Church in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Under his leadership, Falls Baptist Church led the state of North Carolina in Sunday School growth in 1980. Similarly, after Seminary when Johnny was called as pastor of Longleaf Baptist Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, Longleaf led the state of North Carolina in Baptisms in 1983, 1984, and 1985.
His intense devotion and fervor for the ministry led to Johnny being named “Ministerial Student of the Year” at Gardner-Webb in 1979 as well as the Chair of Church Growth at SEBTS being named in his honor on March 11, 1997. After serving and excelling at various churches throughout North and South Carolina during his college and seminary training, Johnny was called as pastor of FBC Woodstock, Georgia in December of 1986. The following year, Dr. Hunt baptized 318 people and admitted 268 people by letter to membership at FBC. During his tenure, the church has grown from an average of 275 in Sunday School to over 5800 today. They currently average over 7000 in weekly worship attendance.
Johnny Hunt is truly a pastor’s pastor. He has been married to Janet for 38 years; they have two daughters Deanna and Hollie and four grandchildren. Throughout his decades in ministry, he has served as a model of ministry zeal and evangelistic fervor. For this reason, there are few people more qualified to lead in the initiation of a Great Commission Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2009, during the annual convention in Louisville, KY, Dr. Hunt was empowered by the convention floor to appoint a Task Force for the investigation of and recommendation toward a streamlining of the entities and organizations of the convention toward greater Kingdom effectiveness in the 21st century and beyond. We at Baptist21 are extremely grateful for Dr. Hunt’s leadership and greatly look forward to seeing his vision for a GCR materialized in Orlando on June 15-16. We could not be more excited to have Dr. Hunt joining us to bring his leadership wisdom and pastoral zeal to the B21 panel event this year. The impact Pastor Johnny has had on Baptist 21 cannot be calculated. We are eternally grateful for him.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd
Ronnie Floyd has served as a pastor for over 33 years and currently serves as the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas, a position he has held since 1986. In addition to his service at Springdale, Ronnie has served as President of the SBC Pastor’s Conference in 1997, as chairman of the trustees of the Executive Committee from June 1995-June 1997 (serving on this board from 1988-1998), as well as this past year as Chairman of the SBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, appointed to this post in June 2009 by Dr. Johnny Hunt.
Dr. Floyd holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Howard Payne University as well as Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Additionally, Dr. Floyd was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Sacred Theology from Southwest Baptist University in 1990 and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2004. He is the author of 19 books, including his most recent The Power of Prayer and Fasting: Revised & Expanded (B&H, 2010).
From his post in Northwest Arkansas, Ronnie has been able to develop a platform for impacting tens of thousands through his weekly preaching and teaching ministry at FBC, through his service in various denominational capacities on both state and national levels, through his widely sought after public speaking ministry, and through his hosting of a weekly luncheon called “The Summit” which impacts and equips anywhere from 400-700 business-persons per week. He also publishes a weblog at www.betweensundays.com that serves as a challenge and encouragement to both pastors and laypeople alike.
During his 23 years at FBC Springdale, the church has experienced unprecedented growth. In that time the church has expanded from 3,700 to over 19,000 members, baptized over 15,000 people, and even started an additional campus in August of 2001 called the Church at Pinnacle Hills which is currently one of the fastest growing congregations in the state of Arkansas. Currently, the ministry of FBC Springdale consists of one church in many locations, with 12 sites, two campuses, and 15 church plants being invested in and launched globally. In the fall First Baptist will begin a campus near the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
As stated on his website, however, Ronnie’s most prized accomplishments stem from his personal life. He has been married to Jeana since 1976, they have two sons, Josh (wife: Kate) and Nick (wife: Meredith) both of whom are involved in full-time Christian service, as well as four grandchildren. Our convention has been extraordinarily blessed to have the leadership of Dr. Floyd over this past year as Chairman of the GCR Task Force, and we (Baptist21) have been personally blessed to have him help support and participate in a number of our B21 events already. We are greatly looking forward to having him as part of our B21 panel event in Orlando on June 15, and even moreso to seeing the fruit of his Task Force labors advanced by our convention on June 15-16.
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 delighted to have these two key figures in SBC life joining us. Johnny Hunt is the Pastor of FBC Woodstock and the President of the SBC. His leadership during his two years as President has been outstanding. He has boldly set the course for a Great Commission-focused future in the SBC. Ronnie Floyd is the chairman of the GCR Task Force. He has shown bold, wise, and consensus-building leadership in that role. Much of the GCR is the dream and vision of these two men and so we thought it necessary to hear from them.
Please make every effort to attend this event! This event will take place immediately prior to the selection of the next SBC President and the GCR Task Force Presentation.
When is the b21 panel: June 15th 11:30 am – 1:30 pm (during the lunch break of this year’s Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando immediately following President Hunt’s address). Lunch will be provided.
Where is the b21 panel: The panel will be on site at the Convention in the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), West Building in Rooms 311B-H
Who is on the b21 panel:
Why hold the b21 panel: This is a pivotal year for the SBC with the report coming from the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. This could be a “tipping point” for our future. We want to have significant leaders help guide us in thinking through these issues.
How much is the b21 panel: There will be a $7 charge that will accompany registration for the event. This $7 will include lunch and books.
Possible Topics at b21 panel: These are some possible topics that will be covered. In addition, there will be a future blog asking for your questions as well.
This is going to be a key year for the future of the SBC. We urge you to make plans to be in Orlando for it. We hope this panel will provide an exciting venue at the SBC for you to connect with others, receive resources, and gain insight from key leaders. Please make every effort to attend and help us spread the word about this lunch.
