Homecoming 2011, wonderful worship

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Vol. XXIV, No 10, Nov/Dec 2011

     Editor, The Baptist Banner

The Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia annual Homecoming met at Grove Avenue Baptist Church, Richmond, Sunday afternoon, 13 November, through Tuesday afternoon, 15 November,

If you have not attended a Homecoming, plan to go next year. This is not just a business meeting. In fact, business takes only a minor amount of the schedule: Of the two and a half day meeting, only an hour and nineteen minues were scheduled for business. Those business items included: approval of the 2010 minutes, the Treasurer and Interim Executive Director’s Report, the coming year’s proposed budget, affiliation requests, the Executive Board report, Nominating Committee report, SBCV Partner reports (of which The Baptist Banner is one), and election of officers. Don’t be dismayed by this list. All was completed easily within the time scheduled.

This left the major part of our time for worship, heartfelt music, prayer, various awards to churches and individuals, and soul stirring preaching by Spirit-led preachers. ..........

A unique event this year was the installation ceremony for Dr. Tom Elliff, the new president of the SBC’s International Mission Board. Attending the installation were four SBC seminary presidents, approximately 140 foreign missionaries (many of whom were poised to head out to their overseas missions), and quite a number of Liberty Seminary students.

Most people are interested in the Church Affiliation Report. This year eight churches were added, seven uniquely, one dually (that is, aligned with both the BGAV and the SBCV). Three other churches moved from dual to unique affiliation. Two churches merged into one. Four withdrew, and five dissolved. In sum, there are 455 churches uniquely aligned with the SBCV, 44 dually aligned, and 65 church plants underway, adding up to a total of 564 churches.

In conclusion, the SBCV is doing well, though there has been some decreased giving apparently due to the poor national economy. Total Cooperative Program church contributions from September 2010 through August 2011 were $8,599,798.86 compared to $8,815,595.95 during the preceding twelve months. In other words, the SBCV CP received 97.55% as much this year as last year.

A significant change results from the Southern Baptist Convention eliminating all CP promotion staff at the national level and assigning that responsibility to state conventions. That means that the SBCV will retain an estimated $560,698 in 2012 that previously would have gone to the SBC. Separately, in 2012 50.75% of any CP donations above $9,000,000 will be forwarded to the SBC.

The 2012 CP Ministry Plan is the same as 2011: $9,000,000.