Penetrating The Lostness
EMBRACING A VISION FOR A GREAT COMMISSION RESURGENCE AMONG SOUTHERNBAPTISTS
FINAL REPORT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION TASK FORCE OF THE SOUTHERNBAPTIST CONVENTION(as amended and adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, June 16, 2010)
Needed: A Great Commission ResurgenceIn every generation, Southern Baptists have been called to reclaim our identity as a Great
Commission movement of churches. Now is the time for this generation to answer the same call– to make an unconditional commitment to reach the nations for Christ, to plant and serve
Gospel churches in North America and around the world, and to mobilize Southern Baptists as aGreat Commission people. Now is the time for a Great Commission Resurgence among Southern
Baptists. A world of lostness is waiting – what are we waiting for?
Assignment: A Great Commission Motion
In the 2009 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, messengers overwhelmingly adopted
this motion:
That the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 23-24, 2009 in Louisville,
Kentucky, authorize the President of the Southern Baptist Convention to appoint a
Great Commission Task Force charged to bring a report and any recommendations to
the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 15-16, 2010,
concerning how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together
in serving Christ through the Great Commission.
President Johnny Hunt appointed a Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of twenty-two
members, led by Ronnie Floyd of Northwest Arkansas as chairman. Over the last months, thisTask Force has met both extensively and intensively, listening to Southern Baptists, evaluating
the most urgent needs before us, and looking to the future with the call of Christ to the nations as
our inspiration and passion.
We have been joined by thousands of prayer partners drawn from all over the world. We asked
you, as Southern Baptists, to tell us what you see and to share your concerns. Southern Baptists
from every sector of this convention have talked to us, written to us, and prayed with us. We
spent important hours listening to denominational leaders at every level, but we also spent muchtime listening to grassroots Southern Baptist church members, pastors, missionaries, church
planters, and students.
Southern Baptists have spoken, and we have been listening.

Urgency: A World of Lostness
There are almost 7 billion human inhabitants of planet Earth. At the most generous estimate,somewhere around 1 billion are believing Christians. That means that over 6 billion people are
lost, without Christ, and thus without hope. Of these 6 billion, over 3.5 billion have never heard
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Over 6,000 people groups are without any Christian witness. There is
no way that Southern Baptists can make real progress toward reaching these unreached people
groups unless we experience a genuine Great Commission Resurgence. We must see a tidal wave
of evangelistic and missionary passion, or the numbers of unreached people groups will only
grow, and lostness will spread.
In North America, evangelical Christians are falling behind the level of population growth. Put
simply, we are failing to reach new immigrant populations, the teeming millions in urban areas,
and a generation of youth and young adults who are living in a time of vast change and confusedworldviews. Lostness is not only our concern when it is found across oceans – it must be ourconcern when it is across the street. North America represents a vast continent of lostness, where
millions still have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and where many communities andethnic groups are woefully underserved by Gospel churches.
In our own congregations, we see falling rates of baptism and other signs of concern. In 2008,
Southern Baptist churches baptized more than 33,000 fewer people than in 1950 – and that waswith more than 17,000 additional churches. Baptism rates among teenagers have fallen
dramatically, and many young people become disengaged with the church soon after graduationfrom high school. In 2008 we baptized only 75,000 teenagers. In 1972, we baptized 140,000.
Why?
Research conducted by LifeWay Research on the Millennial generation and research by Thom
Rainer on previous generations indicate that every American generation from early in thetwentieth century forward has been less evangelized than generations before. Tracing
generational patterns from the World War II generation to the Millennials, the estimated numberof Christians has fallen from 65 percent to 15 percent. Churches in America are losing groundwith each successive generation.
We desperately need to reach our communities for Christ – and this starts with our own young
people. Furthermore, we must see this generation of young Baptists take their places on the front
lines of the Great Commission Resurgence. Humanly speaking, that is our only hope for a bold
advance of the Gospel in the coming generation.
Reality: What is Holding us Back?
The Southern Baptist Convention came into being in 1845 in order to mobilize the energies ofSouthern Baptist churches for missions and evangelism. It is just that simple. Over the last 165
years, Southern Baptists have grown into a massive denomination, with over 40,000 churches
and an international reach for the Gospel.

And yet, there are signs that Great Commission commitment is diminishing among us. While apassion for seeing the world reached for Christ cannot be reduced to a question of money, there
is no way that we can reach the world without the resources that are necessary. Missionaries
must be sent, churches must be planted, pastors must be trained, and a host of services must be
made available.
But, the average Southern Baptist gives only 2.5% of annual income to the local church andbeyond. Does this reflect a Great Commission passion? Clearly not. We will never be able topush back against lostness at this level of giving.
Local Southern Baptist churches are now giving an average of 6% of annual receipts to the
Cooperative Program. In other words, when Cooperative Program giving is reported, local
congregations are retaining an average of 94 cents of every offering plate dollar. These
contributions are vital and much appreciated, but there is no way the world will be reached for
Christ at that level of congregational investment in missions.
Our state Baptist conventions are doing important work in reaching their own states for Christ,
planting churches, educating young Christians, and partnering with other Baptists across thenation and around the world. But approximately 63% of all monies given through the
Cooperative Program remains in the states – and the greatest percentage of these monies remains
in the states with the largest Southern Baptist populations.
So much good work is being done. Many of our churches are growing, baptizing, and sending.
Over the past two decades, Southern Baptist churches have learned to participate in missions in awhole new way – with tens of thousands of our church members going on mission trips andseeing a world of lostness with their own eyes. College and university students have been going,
infusing a generation with new passion. State conventions are developing new ways of reaching
North America, and local associations are devising new ways of linking churches together forministry. On our seminary campuses, we see a generation of young Christians dissatisfied withbusiness as usual – ready to risk themselves for the sake of the Gospel. Our mission boards
report that Southern Baptists continue to answer the call, with candidates for service with theInternational Mission Board waiting for an opportunity to be deployed and church planters with
the North American Mission Board ready and energized to plant Gospel churches. Throughout
the Southern Baptist Convention, there are bright signs of promise and ample signs of hope.
So, what will it take to see a Great Commission Resurgence launched?
Back to Basics: A Theology for Great Commission Faithfulness
A Great Commission Resurgence grows directly out of a Great Commission theology. Do wereally believe that Jesus saves? Are we not united in the confidence that anyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord will be saved? Are we not certain that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only
message of salvation and that salvation is found in Christ alone? Are we not confirmed in our
knowledge that every single believer is called to be a part of taking the Gospel to the nations? Do
we not yearn to see the nations rejoice in the name of Jesus Christ? Do we not know that today

is the acceptable day of salvation? If so, we will be ready to do whatever it takes to see a Great
Commission Resurgence change our priorities, reshape our plans, and fuel our lives for God’s
glory.
The foundation for a Great Commission Resurgence is the truth of the Gospel.
We believe in order for us to work together more faithfully and effectively towards thefulfillment of the Great Commission, Southern Baptists need a renewed commitment to theGospel of Jesus Christ, the message of missions and evangelism, the message that is found only
in Jesus Christ and His atoning death for sinners. These are first and foremost.
This will mean that we recommit ourselves to sharing, proclaiming, and teaching this good news,
as well as ministering and living in the power of the Gospel.
We call upon Southern Baptists to acknowledge the centrality of the gospel message toeverything we do and everything we are. We celebrate the great variety in Southern Baptist life,
but we believe that our true unity can be found only in the good news of Jesus Christ. We callfor a new focus on the primacy of the biblical Gospel.
We believe that every single person is a sinner, alienated from God and without hope apart fromChrist. We are confident that God saves sinners by His grace and for His glory, and that oursalvation is secured through the atoning life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We
believe that salvation is given to all who come to a saving knowledge of Christ, trusting in Him
and in Him alone for our salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of everlasting life. We
declare to the whole world our belief that Jesus saves – this same Jesus who is the divine Godman, our substitutionary Savior, and reigning Lord, the Head of His church.
In Jesus Christ we place our trust and hope. In His Gospel we place our hope and ground ourefforts for a Great Commission Resurgence in Southern Baptist life. While holding firmly to thepromise that Christ will be with us to the end of the age, we seek faithfully to proclaim theGospel to the nations.
We must also affirm the primacy and centrality of the local church in the life of the Southern
Baptist Convention. The New Testament identifies the church as the central instrument of theKingdom of God. We must return the local church to the primacy and centrality in the life andwork of our denomination at every level.
At the same time, our churches need a new missional vision. The missional vision of the church
is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all
the nations – nothing less.
Each individual congregation must accept the responsibility to reach their village, community,
town, or city with the good news of Jesus Christ. Churches across the Southern Baptist
Convention must envision afresh their calling to reach their region, their country, and the world
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every local church must operate as a missional strategy center,releasing and sending Christ followers to advance the Gospel regionally, nationally, and globallyto penetrate the lostness in our world.

All of our Baptist work beyond the local church must exist solely to serve the local church in thismission. This is true for every Baptist association, state convention, and the Southern Baptist
Convention. None of these exists for itself – all exist for the churches. Every pastor must be a
missionary strategist, and every church must be a missionary sending center. Every congregation
exists to replicate itself and to plant other Gospel churches. Every entity of Baptist work must
exist to serve our churches in this missional vision. Otherwise, a Great Commission Resurgence
will never happen.
So, how can we make a Great Commission Resurgence happen? In truth, only God can bring thisabout. At the same time, our Lord has given this assignment to His church, and we arecommanded to get to this work. The Great Commission is a command, not a suggestion.
COMPONENT ONE: Getting the Mission Right
In order for us to work together more faithfully and effectively toward the fulfillment of theGreat Commission, we ask Southern Baptists to adopt a new mission statement in order to focus
our attention and direct our work toward a clear and compelling missional vision.
We believe that Southern Baptists will rally to a mission statement that offers a clear, concise,and deeply biblical vision of who we are and what we are to be about:
As a convention of churches, our missional vision is to present the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations.
Is this not who we are? Can we even think of settling for anything less? Our mission statement
should be drawn directly from the words of Jesus. This missional vision must drive everythingthat Southern Baptists do, and reset every priority of the local church and the denomination.
If this is who we are, and what we know we must do, then let the whole world know that this is
our mission.
Thus, we will ask Southern Baptists to adopt this missional vision as a statement of whatdraws us together, establishes our purpose, and defines our passion before our churches andthe watching world.
COMPONENT TWO: Making Our Values Transparent
We must also work toward the creation of a new and healthy culture within the Southern Baptist
Convention. If we are to grow together and work together in faithfulness to the command of
Christ, we must establish a culture of trust, transparency, and truth among all Southern Baptists.
Thus, we ask Southern Baptists to embrace and adopt these Core Values:

CHRIST-LIKENESS
We depend on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and prayer to makeus more like Jesus Christ.
TRUTH
We stand together in the truth of God’s inerrant Word, celebrating
the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
UNITY
We work together in love for the sake of the Gospel.
RELATIONSHIPS
We consider others more important than ourselves.
TRUST
We tell one another the truth in love and do what we say we will do.
FUTUREWe value Southern Baptists of all generations and embrace our responsibility to pass this charge
to a rising generation in every age, faithful until Jesus comes.
LOCAL CHURCH
We believe the local church is given the authority, power, and responsibility to present theGospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world.
KINGDOM
We join other Christ-followers for the Gospel, the Kingdom of Christ,
and the glory of God.
Thus, we will call Southern Baptists to embrace and adopt these Core Values as a means of
ensuring that we work together in a way that will please our Lord and reflect our identity as
fellow believers in service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
COMPONENT THREE: Encouraging Cooperative Program Giving and Other Great
Commission Giving
A Great Commission Resurgence will require a new level of sacrificial giving from Southern
Baptist church members and congregations. At the center of our funding stands the Cooperative
Program, which since 1925 has served to mobilize the stewardship of Southern Baptists forworldwide missions and ministry.
We call upon Southern Baptists to reclaim our core identity as churches on mission, working
together to take the Gospel to the nations and to fulfill our mandate as a Great Commission
fellowship of churches. Our work together must be undergirded by cooperative investment inthese tasks. We call upon Southern Baptists to honor and affirm the Cooperative Program as themost effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our reach. We also call upon
Southern Baptists to celebrate all giving to our common work. We will recognize the total of all
monies channeled through the causes of the Southern Baptist Convention, the state conventions,and associations as Great Commission Giving. The greatest stewardship of Great Commission
investment and deployment is giving through the Cooperative Program. We call upon Southern
Baptists to recommit to the Cooperative Program as the central and preferred conduit of Great
Commission funding, without which we would be left with no unified and cooperative strategy
and commitment to the Great Commission task. We are a Great Commission people who arecalled to sacrificial and increasing giving, that the peoples of the earth may know the salvationthat comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Furthermore, we recognize that our national mission offerings are indispensible conduits forGreat Commission funding. Therefore, we call upon Southern Baptists to adopt goals of giving
no less than $200 million annually through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International
Missions and $100 million annually through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North
American Missions by 2015.
We reaffirm the definition of the Cooperative Program adopted by action of the 2007 Southern
Baptist Convention. We honor and affirm the Cooperative Program as the most effective andefficient means of channeling the sacrificial support of our churches through undesignated giving
which funds both the state conventions and the work of the Southern Baptist Convention.
We call upon the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to increase the percentage of their
Cooperative Program giving.
We call upon the state conventions to increase the percentage of Cooperative Program funds
directed to the Southern Baptist Convention.
We call upon every entity of the Southern Baptist Convention to maximize all Cooperative
Program funds for the task of taking the Gospel to the nations and serving Great Commission
churches in their fulfillment of this mandate.
We call upon all Southern Baptists to celebrate every dollar given by faithful Southern Baptists
as part of Great Commission Giving, including designated gifts given to any Baptist association,state convention, and to the causes of the Southern Baptist Convention.
We call upon Southern Baptists to evaluate every budget, from the budget of the individual
Southern Baptist church member to the budgets of the Southern Baptist Convention and its
entities in terms of a Great Commission focus and commitment.
We call upon Southern Baptists to exercise the stewardship of wealth for the Great Commission
through estate planning and planned gifts that will undergird the work of the Great Commission
long after we have departed this life.
Thus, we will call upon Southern Baptists to give as never before, to support the Cooperative
Program as never before, and to celebrate every church’s eager and sacrificial support ofGreat Commission Giving at every level.

COMPONENT FOUR: Reaching North America
As we listened to Southern Baptists, the mission of reaching North America with the Gospel wasa clear concern and priority. This was a concern shared by leaders of the North American
Mission Board as they met with us in the course of our work. The central concern of all was thepriority of liberating NAMB to conduct and direct a strategy of reaching the United States andCanada with the Gospel and planting Gospel churches.
Thus, we believe that the North American Mission Board must be refocused and unleashed for
greater effectiveness. Therefore, we call upon Southern Baptists to affirm NAMB with a priority
to plant churches in North America, reach our cities and underserved regions and people groups,
and clarify its role to lead and accomplish efforts to reach North America with the Gospel.
The North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention exists to penetratelostness throughout North America by assisting Southern Baptist churches in their task ofreaching North America with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through ministries of evangelism,
church planting, and to mobilize Southern Baptist churches as a missional movement. How will
this be done?
This reinvention of the North American Mission Board that we envision will implement a
missional strategy for planting churches in North America with a priority to reach metropolitan
areas and underserved people groups. We desire for the North American Mission Board toencourage Southern Baptist churches to become church planting congregations. Regardless ofthe size or location of our churches, we call for each to have a vision for planting churches
somewhere in North America. It is our desire that at least 50% of the ministry efforts of our
North American Mission Board be given to assist churches in planting healthy, multiplying, andfaithful Baptist congregations in the United States and Canada.
We also call for NAMB to reclaim its mission of assisting churches to make disciples, working
with LifeWay Christian Resources and other partners. Our churches are in great need ofleadership, strategies, and materials for making disciples. We believe that NAMB is best suited
to fulfill this leadership mission for the Southern Baptist Convention.
Similarly, we call for NAMB to be prioritized with the task of leadership development throughthe development of current pastoral leadership, with particular attention to contextual evangelism
and church planting. NAMB must become a central engine for building missional momentum
among Southern Baptist pastors.
If we are going to reach the 258 million lost people in the United States and Canada, we must
address the fact that the vast majority of our Cooperative Program mission funds devoted to
North America are expended in the most evangelized regions of our work. Approximately twothirds of our Cooperative Program dollars are spent on regions where only one-third of the
population resides. In other words, the greatest percentage of mission funds remains where ourown churches are concentrated.

We call upon NAMB to penetrate lostness in partnership with state conventions located in themost unreached and underserved populations of North America.
Our hope and vision is to see NAMB reprioritized, decentralized, and fully authorized to lead
Southern Baptists in this great work. This will mean the phasing out of Cooperative Agreements,
a structure in place since the 1950s, that return a tremendous percentage of CP monies back to
the regions where Southern Baptists are most greatly concentrated and often leaves NAMB withinsufficient mobility to appoint personnel directly and ensure missional focus.
We recognize that in order to accomplish its mission for Southern Baptists, NAMB must work in
partnership with the state conventions, and we affirm the need for this partnership to be based incooperation and basic agreement concerning strategies. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the
Cooperative Agreements must be replaced with a more appropriate structure and pattern ofcooperation. Thus, we call for the leadership of the North American Mission Board to budget fora national strategy that will mobilize Southern Baptists in a great effort to reach North America
with the Gospel and plant thriving, reproducing churches. We encourage NAMB to set a goal ofphasing out all Cooperative Agreements within seven years, and to establish a new pattern ofstrategic partnership with the state conventions that will penetrate lostness and ensure greater
responsiveness to the Southern Baptist Convention and greater effectiveness for NAMB in theappointment of missionary personnel and church planters.
Thus, we will ask Southern Baptists to unleash the North American Mission Board for a newera of leadership and service to Southern Baptists, pushing back against the lostness of theUnited States and Canada.
COMPONENT FIVE: Reaching Unreached and Underserved People Groups Within
North America
When the Southern Baptist Convention was founded, the world was rather easily divided into“home” and “foreign” missions. That world is gone. Now, with revolutions in transportation andthe movement of peoples, the world has come to North America. Indeed, some of the largest
concentrations of populations of unreached and underserved people groups are found within theworld’s so-called “international cities.” Beyond this, significant populations of these people
groups are now found even in smaller communities, especially those with colleges anduniversities.
At present, the mission statement of the International Mission Board prevents active involvementin mission efforts within North America. We believe that restriction fits the past far better thanthe present, much less the future. The International Mission Board has the charge to develop
strategies for reaching these unreached and underserved people groups around the world, and thismost often means a deep involvement in language and cultural studies. We need to allow the
IMB to utilize those skills and that knowledge within North America as well. Put simply, it
makes no sense to duplicate this effort and work with an artificial separation of the mission.
Mission strategists estimate that there may be as many as 586 unreached and underserved people
groups with representation within the United States. Many of these people groups are alreadywithin the reach of the International Mission Board, with personnel developing strategies basedin their language and culture. We must take advantage of the expertise of both of our mission
boards where it is most needed – working in coordination in order to make the greatest impact
for the Great Commission.
Thus, such efforts must be done in communication with the North American Mission Board. This
proposal has been thoroughly considered with NAMB leadership, and we are fully confident thatthese two mission boards can and will serve Southern Baptists and maximize their combinedreach by working together in reaching these unreached and underserved people groups where
they are found in North America. The North American Mission Board retains the leadership
mission of reaching North America with the Gospel. We are encouraged to know that a spirit ofcooperation already exists between the boards on this very issue.
Thus, we will ask Southern Baptists to entrust to the International Mission Board the ministryof reaching unreached and underserved people groups without regard to any geographic
limitation.
COMPONENT SIX: Promoting the Cooperative Program and Elevating Stewardship
There can be no question that Southern Baptists must prioritize the promotion of the Cooperative
Program and the elevation of stewardship among our churches. The 1995 “Covenant for a New
Century” reorganization of the Convention assigned Cooperative Program promotion to the
Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. Later, stewardship education wasadded as a ministry assignment.
We believe that the state conventions must take the lead in both ministries. In essence, this is
how the Cooperative Program began. As Albert McClellan, author of the official history of the
Executive Committee noted, “It was understood from the beginning that state conventions should
be responsible for promoting the Cooperative Program in the field and gathering the funds fromthe churches.”
The reason for this is straightforward and easy to see. The state conventions have themechanisms in place to collect funds and promote the Cooperative Program. This has been their
historic role and continuing passion.
Clearly, there must also be a role for the Southern Baptist Convention. The Cooperative Programis a partnership, and both the SBC and the state conventions have important work to do. Thismeans an important and continuing leadership role for the SBC Executive Committee as well.
We strongly encourage the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to workwith the state conventions, charged with the responsibility of Cooperative Program andstewardship education, in developing a strategy for encouraging our churches to greater
participation and investment in the Cooperative Program. This is an immediate need, mademore urgent by the rise of a new generation of Southern Baptists, ready for leadership anddeployment in service to the Great Commission. Our hope is that a unified strategy withclearly established goals will be in place by the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in
2013.
COMPONENT SEVEN: The Call of the Nations and the SBC Allocation Budget
For many years, Southern Baptists have been proud of the fact that 50 percent of all Cooperative
Program funds received by the Southern Baptist Convention are distributed to the International
Mission Board. Thus, we are able to say that half of all Cooperative Program receipts at thenational level go to International Missions.
While this is a matter of genuine and understandable denominational pride, it has become too
comfortable. It is time to increase that percentage above 50 percent.
We recognize that Southern Baptists are rightly committed to a full range of denominational
programs, ministries, and mission efforts. The strength of the Cooperative Program is its reachand comprehensiveness, and for this we are thankful.
At the same time, we will never reach the world while staying in a position of denominationalcomfort. Therefore, it is our hope to see Southern Baptists break the “50 percent barrier” andmake a bold statement of our present and future commitment to reach the nations with theGospel.
We ask Southern Baptists to support this goal by affirming an intention to raise theCooperative Program SBC Allocation Budget percentage received by the International
Mission Board to 51 percent. Further, we ask that Southern Baptists affirm the intention tofund this increase through a reduction in the budget granted to Facilitating Ministries, thus
making a statement about our commitment to reduce denominational infrastructure in order
to set the pace for growth in commitment to reaching the nations.
CONCLUSION
The components of our report do not represent a revolution in Southern Baptist life and work.
Our Task Force was given several months in which to look at the most urgent issues among us,
and to find ways that will allow Southern Baptists to work more faithfully and effectively
together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.
We have come to the conclusion that these specific components will make a real difference, evenas we recognize that these are only a start. This report must represent the beginning of a new
spirit of Great Commission commitment and prioritization, not the end.
Therefore, at the conclusion of this report we bring a series of challenges that will reach every
Southern Baptist church and church member, along with every level of Southern Baptist workand every entity of the Convention. We recognize that the challenge of working toward a Great

Commission Resurgence will require the commitment of a generation, not merely of themessengers to an annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Nevertheless, we are confident that these components are of vital importance to the future of ourdenomination and its work – and are key to making immediate progress toward a Great
Commission Resurgence.
We must keep ever in mind the command that frames the very reason for our existence:
Then Jesus came and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in thename of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the endof the age.” [Matthew 28:18-20, Holman Christian Standard Bible]
May God bring glory to His name and the redeeming power of the Gospel of Christ throughgranting to Southern Baptists in this generation what can only be described as a Great
Commission Resurgence.
A world of lostness awaits. What are we waiting for?
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
1.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June
15-16, 2010, adopt the following as the mission statement of the Southern Baptist
Convention:
As a convention of churches, our missional vision is to present the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to every person in the world and to make disciples of all the nations.

2.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June
15-16, 2010, adopt the following as Core Values for our work together:
CHRIST-LIKENESS – We depend on the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, theWord of God and prayer to make us more like Jesus Christ.
TRUTH – We stand together in the truth of God’s inerrant Word, celebrating
the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
UNITY – We work together in love for the sake of the Gospel.
RELATIONSHIPS – We consider others more important than ourselves.
TRUST – We tell one another the truth in love and do what we say we will do.

FUTURE – We value Southern Baptists of all generations and embrace our
responsibility to pass this charge to a rising generation in every age, faithful until
Jesus comes.
LOCAL CHURCH – We believe the local church is given the authority, power,
and responsibility to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in theworld.
KINGDOM – We join other Christ-followers for the Gospel, the Kingdom of Christ,
and the glory of God.
3.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June
15-16, 2010, request the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention toconsider recommending to the Southern Baptist Convention the adoption of the language
and structure of Great Commission Giving as described in this report in order to enhanceand celebrate the Cooperative Program and the generous support of Southern Baptists
channeled through their churches, and to continue to honor and affirm the Cooperative
Program as the most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending ouroutreach. We affirm that designated gifts to special causes are to be given as a supplement
to the Cooperative Program and not as a substitute for Cooperative Program giving. We
further request that the boards of trustees of the International Mission Board and North
American Mission Board, in consultation with the Woman’s Missionary Union, consider the
adoption of the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offering goals as outlined in this report.

4.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 15-16, 2010, request
the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to consider any revision to theministry assignment of the North American Mission Board that may be necessary in order toaccomplish the redirection of NAMB as outlined in this report; and that the Board ofTrustees of the North American Mission Board be asked to consider the encouragements
found within this report in all matters under their purview.

5.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 15-16, 2010, requestthat the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention and the International
Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention consider a revised ministry assignment
for the International Mission Board that would remove any geographical limitation on its
mission to reach unreached and underserved people groups wherever they are found.

6.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 15-16, 2010, request
the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention to consider working with theleadership of the state conventions in developing a comprehensive program of Cooperative
Program promotion and stewardship education in alignment with this report.

7.

That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting June 15-16, 2010 in
Orlando, Florida, request the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention toconsider recommending an SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget that will increasethe percentage allocated to the International Mission Board to 51 percent by decreasing the
Executive Committee’s percentage of the SBC Allocation Budget by 1 percent.
CHALLENGES ADDRESSED TO ALL SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
We hold to an ecclesiology that honors and affirms both autonomy and cooperation. The Great
Commission Resurgence Task Force is well aware of this, and we realize that we cannot direct
individual Christians, local churches, associations or state conventions to take any particular or
specific action. This is as it should be. However, our doctrine of the church does not prevent us
from challenging, encouraging, admonishing, and advising one another at all levels of SBC life
for greater passion and effectiveness in pursuing the Great Commission. We are a convention ofchurches with a missional vision to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in theworld and to make disciples of all the nations. With all of this in mind, we wish to put forth thefollowing as challenges for the future of the SBC that we might bring greater glory to the Lord
Jesus as we seek to disciple all nations in the fulfillment of Matthew 28:18-20.
Challenges for Individual Christians•

Return to God in deep repentance of and brokenness over sin, denying self, and coming
to God with complete humility.

•

Commit to the total and absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ in every area of your life,
understanding that Christ’s lordship is inseparable from all aspects of the believer’s life,
including family obligations, business and profession, and recreational or leisurepursuits. We especially call on men to respond to this challenge.

•

Devote yourself to a radical pursuit of the Great Commission in the context of obeying
the Great Commandments of loving God and loving others.

•

Participate in a local church sponsored evangelism training class sometime during 2011and make this a regular component of the discipleship process in your life.

•

Develop strategies as an individual for praying for, serving, sharing the Gospel anddiscipling neighbors, coworkers, and others with whom you come into regular contact.

•

Bear witness to the Gospel through personal evangelism, seeing every individual as asinner in need of the salvation that comes through Jesus Christ alone.

•

Participate in a North American or international mission trip sponsored by your church or
association at least once every four years.

•

Grow in giving as a faithful financial stewards with at least 10% of your income going to
your local church. However, see 10% as a place to begin in grace giving but not the place
to stop.

•

Determine to exercise a greater level of stewardship through estate planning and planned
giving, leaving a percentage of your estate to your local church, the Cooperative
Program, and to a faithful Baptist entity such as NAMB, IMB, a Baptist college, or our
seminaries.

•

Give serious consideration to adoption and orphan care as a component of Great
Commission living.

•

Determine to develop a well-rounded Christian worldview that allows you to clearly
articulate both what you believe and why you believe.

•

Repent of any and all sin that has prevented you from being fully used by our Lord in
fulfilling the Great Commission. This includes sins of idolatry, pride, selfish ambition,
hatred, racism, bigotry and other sins of the flesh that dishonor the name of Jesus.

Challenges for Individual Families•

Emphasize biblical gender roles with believing fathers taking the lead in modeling Great
Commission Christianity and taking the primary responsibility for the spiritual welfare of
their families.

•

Recognize that parents have the primary responsibility of educating their children andhelping them to cultivate a Christian worldview way of thinking and living.

•

Build gospel saturated homes that see children as a gift from God and our initial mission
field. Consider, in this context, the vital ministries of adoption and orphan care.

•

Make prayer for and the evangelism and discipleship of children a family priority thatbegins with parents and is assisted by local churches.

•

Develop strategies as a family for praying for, serving, and sharing the Gospel withneighbors, coworkers, and others with whom family members come into regular contact.

•

Adopt a different unreached people group each month and pray as a family 1) for IMB
missionaries working with the people group, 2) for the conversion, baptism and disciplingof countless individuals within the people group, and 3) for the establishment of biblicalchurches among the people group.

•

Adopt a different North American church plant each month and pray as a family 1) forthe church’s leadership team, 2) for the conversion, baptism and discipling of countless
individuals in the church’s region, and 3) for the birthing of future church plants from thechurch.

•Spend a family vacation participating in a local church or association sponsored mission
trip.

•

Consider setting up a mission’s savings account for each of your children that would
enable them to spend six months to a year in a North American or International Missions
context soon after graduating from high school.

Challenges for Local Churches and Pastors•

Lead your church by calling a Solemn Assembly in January 2011 for the purpose ofcalling Christ’s people to return to God, to repentance, and to humility in service to arenewed commitment to Christ and the Great Commission. We request that the newly
elected President of the Southern Baptist Convention lead Southern Baptists in this effort.

•

Become knowledgeable of the mission field of your specific region, identifying thevarious people groups and developing a strategy to penetrate the lostness in your region.
Be intentional in working with your local association, state convention and NAMB in
pursuing this task.

•

Work to cultivate a Great Commission atmosphere that is contagious in your church andbecomes the DNA of the pastor, staff, adults, students, youth and children of your local
body of Christ.

•

Working with the IMB and NAMB, set goals for Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong thatwill enable us to send $200 million to the IMB and $100 million to NAMB in annual
gifts by 2015.

•

Strengthen mission education for believers of all ages, working with the Woman’s
Missionary Union and other missions education programs. Every believer must be madeaware of the global missions challenge.

•

Lead your church to grow and increase in sacrificial Cooperative Program giving.

•Make sure every sermon, devotion, or other type of teaching is gospel centered anddriven by the inerrant and infallible text of Scripture with emphasis on how to apply the
text to the lives of different kinds of people.

•

Make sure every sermon, devotion, or other type of teaching clearly articulates andapplies the gospel message and is centered in the grand narrative of Scripture.

•

Call your people continually to a radical devotion and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus
Christ.

•Preach passionately for the conversion of the lost and extend consistently the gospel callfor persons to be saved.

•

Honor the role of the evangelist, affirming the calling and witness of those who give theirlives to the call of the Gospel.

•

Challenge people to identify with Christ and testify to Him through believer’s baptism byimmersion.

•Call people passionately and consistently to surrender their lives to full-time ministry.
Include in this call the challenge to a career as a missionary through the IMB or NAMB.

•

Preach regularly and passionately on Christian stewardship, helping your people see thisas a vital component of discipleship and life lived under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Undergird this with lessons on biblical stewardship in your church’s Bible Study
ministries.

•

Cultivate an atmosphere of evangelism, missions, discipleship and biblical theology thatpermeates every aspect of the church’s ministry.

•

Give particular attention to the evangelizing and discipling of children and youth.

•

Get involved in a regular church-planting program at some level of your congregation’s
capability. This can include specific partnerships with another church, your association,state convention or NAMB.

•

Adopt an unreached people group and an underserved megacity in North America andregularly inform the membership about them, pray for them, and when applicable, work
toward short-term mission trips to serve them. Encourage families to consider moving tothose cities to be part of the core group for that plant.

•

Plan at least one evangelism training course annually for your church members; consider
inviting members of other churches in your association to participate, especially smallerchurches.

•

Plan at least one North American or international mission trip a year and/or encourage
members to participate in mission trips sponsored by a local association.

•

Develop a comprehensive strategy for sharing the Gospel with every person in yourcommunity with no regard to racial, social or economic status. This may include elements
such as home-to-home evangelism, neighborhood block parties, servant evangelism
projects, one-on-one mentoring, after-school programs, university campus outreach,innovative outreach events, neighborhood Bible studies, evangelistic mercy ministries,
etc.

•Enter, if possible, the world of private Christian schooling and Christian homeschoolingto provide a Christian alternative for the education of children, especially in areas hostile
to the Christian worldview. See this as a complement to the many faithful Christians
serving in the public school systems who see their calling to be salt and light in a
missional assignment.

•

Encourage Christian schools to send each student in their high school years on a crosscultural missions experience or to an international mission field for at least one week
before they graduate, developing a strategy to pay for these trips as a school in order tobuild a genuine passion and commitment to reach the nations.

•

Develop a comprehensive strategy for Great Commission discipling of all church
members. This may include elements such as Sunday School and/or small group
ministries, mission education programs, one-on-one mentoring, affinity ministries (e.g.
women, singles, etc.), pastoral leadership training, diaconal leadership training, etc.

•

Develop a comprehensive church-based strategy for reaching and discipling college
students, including international students.

•

Develop a comprehensive church-based strategy for reaching and discipling individuals
with physical and developmental disabilities.

•

Send teenagers and young adults on mission trips with the hope of exposing every young
believer to global missions.

•

Partner with like-minded ethnic churches or missions in evangelizing immigrants andother underserved ethnic minorities, including migrants and other short-term workers.

•

Reclaim the Baptist vision of regenerate church membership, recognizing that this vision
is central to our Baptist identity and understanding of the church.

•

Reclaim corrective church discipline as the biblical means of restoring believers tohealthy discipleship and faithfulness.

•

Emphasize meaningful church membership through such practices as decision
counseling, believer’s baptism, new convert mentoring, membership covenants,
prospective member classes, and redemptive church discipline.

Challenges for Local Associations•

Enthusiastically embrace the missional vision and core values of the SBC, allowing themto guide your work and set your priorities.

•

Adopt The Baptist Faith & Message (2000) as your confessional basis of association andadopt some shared core values and priorities that characterize the cooperating churches ofyour association.

•

Organize quarterly associational prayer meetings for the conversion of the lost and theplanting of sound churches in the underserved and unreached areas of North America andaround the globe.

•Work with state conventions and the SBC to set aside January of every year as a monthof prayer for the conversion of unreached people groups around the globe.

•

Plan at least one annual foreign mission trip and one annual North American mission trip
and encourage all the churches in the association to participate, especially smallerchurches.

•

Develop associational collections of evangelism and discipleship resources and regularly
inform the churches about the availability of such resources.

•

Work with cooperating churches to plant at least one new church a year in anunderserved area within or near the association.

•Work with cooperating churches to plan at least one mercy ministry focused outreach
event every year.

Challenges for State Conventions•

Embrace with enthusiasm the missional vision and core values of the SBC, allowing themto guide your work and set your priorities.

•

Adopt The Baptist Faith & Message (2000) as a confessional basis for cooperation andadopt shared core values and priorities that characterize cooperating churches.

•

Make church planting a priority and develop church planting partnerships with North
American urban centers and underserved regions outside of the Southeast and Southwest.

•

Determine to return to the historic ideal of a 50/50 Cooperative Program distribution
between the state conventions and the SBC, recognizing the historic commitment of the
SBC and the state conventions to share expenses for the promotion and administration of
the Cooperative Program.

•Hold state convention colleges and universities accountable to Baptist convictions and anauthentic Christian worldview education. Baptist colleges and universities must inculcate
a Great Commission mindset in their students and deploy them worldwide in short-term
missionary service.

•

Eliminate programs that do not directly assist local churches in fulfilling their biblicalmandate to make disciples of all people.

•

Work with the SBC and local associations to set aside January of every year as a monthof prayer for the conversion of unreached people groups around the globe.

•

Work with local associations and local churches to plan regional evangelism anddiscipleship training events on at least a semiannual basis.

•

Encourage state convention children’s homes to consider deep investment in Great
Commission adoption/foster ministries that connect children with Baptist families within
the state.

•

Recognize the powerful witness of Disaster Relief programs as Southern Baptists havetouched millions of lives in the aftermath of disaster and in a moment of acute need.

•

Develop and celebrate mercy ministries which can be used as avenues for churches toserve others and open doors for evangelism.

LifeWay•

Create materials that our churches can use to teach biblical stewardship through ourSunday Schools and other Bible Study Ministries.

•

Create materials our churches can use to teach personal evangelism and the call to each
Christian to be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission. Create a simple but biblicallyrooted disciple-making plan that helps pastors and leaders to multiply themselves.

•

Develop materials that assist individuals in their understanding and involvement in the
Great Commission, both in North America and the world.

•

Strengthen ministries directed to the support of Christian schools and homeschoolingfamilies.

Challenges for the Seminaries•

Remember never to lose sight that your calling is to serve the churches of the SBC.

•

Maintain fidelity to our Confession of Faith (The Baptist Faith & Message 2000).

•

Train and send to our churches Great Commission ministers who will lead us inbecoming Great Commission churches.

•

Develop a strategy for cultivating more local church-based partnerships for M.Div.-level
theological education, particularly in underserved regions in North America.

•

Develop more opportunities for students to gain tangible experience and earn seminary
credit by serving in local church internships or short-term mission assignments andprovide financial assistance to students who avail themselves of these opportunities.

•

Give primary attention to masters and doctoral level programs for the education andtraining of pastors, missionaries, and other church leaders.

•Train students in the skills of disciple-making, affirming this calling as central to the taskof the minister.

•

Develop programs of study (and host regular conferences and workshops) that are
specifically geared toward equipping local church leadership (both students and nonstudents) in areas such as preaching, evangelism, discipleship, pastoral ministries, church
planting, international missions, and biblical counseling, etc.

•

Cooperate with local associations, state conventions, NAMB and the IMB in planningand hosting church planting training that puts international missions and church planting
in the life-blood of all the students our churches entrust to your care.

Challenge for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission•

Renew efforts to call upon God’s people to live and demonstrate Christ-likeness andmoral witness as an example and testimony for Jesus Christ and continue efforts topreserve religious freedom in our nation so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can beproclaimed and the Great Commission fulfilled.

Challenge for GuideStone Financial Resources•

Mobilize those who are retired and receiving benefits to use their energy in praying forand becoming personally involved in the evangelization of North America and the World.

Challenges to All Southern Baptist Leaders•

Take advantage of every opportunity to support the Cooperative Program among
Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches.

•

Enhance confidence in all Southern Baptist work by honoring the Business and Financial
Plan of the Southern Baptist Convention.

•

Commit to a continuous process of denominational review in order to ensure maximum
implementation of the Great Commission.

THE GREAT COMMISSION TASK FORCE OF
THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
Johnny Hunt - SBC President, Ex-officio member of the GCR Task Force, Senior Pastor ofFirst Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA
Ronnie Floyd – GCR Task Force Chairman, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Springdale& The Church at Pinnacle Hills, AR
Daniel Akin – President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC
Tom Biles – Executive Director, Tampa Bay Baptist Association, FL

John Cope – Senior Pastor of Keystone Community Fellowship, Chalfont, PA
David Dockery – President, Union University, Jackson, TN
John Drummond – Owner, DMG Development, Panama City, FL
Donna Gaines – Women’s Communicator, Pastor’s Wife, Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova,TN
Al Gilbert – Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, NC
Larry Grays – Senior Pastor, Midtown Bridge Church, Atlanta, GA
J.D. Greear – Lead Pastor, The Summit Church, Durham, NC
Ruben Hernandez – Vocational Evangelist, Plano, TX
Harry Lewis – Vice-President of Partnership, Missions, and Mobilization Group at NAMB, GA
Kathy Ferguson Litton – Women’s Communicator, Pastor’s Wife, First Baptist North Mobile,
AL
Albert Mohler, Jr. - President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY
Mike J. Orr – Pastor, First Baptist Church, Chipley, FL
Frank Page – Vice-President of Evangelism at NAMB, GA
Jim Richards – Executive Director of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, TX
Roger Spradlin – Senior Pastor, Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, CA
Ted H. Traylor – Pastor, Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, FL
Simon Tsoi - Executive Director of Chinese Baptist Fellowship of the U. S. and Canada, AZ
Robert White – Executive Director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, GA
Ken Whitten – Senior Pastor, Idlewild Baptist Church, Lutz, FL