POINT OF VIEW: THE COOPERATIVE PROGRAM AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Florida Baptist Witness, FL
March 30 2006

If you are a Southern Baptist, what do you need to know about the
Cooperative Program? Is it merely a way to support the denomination,
or is it a relevant, viable process that makes a difference in people’s
lives beginning where you live and extending around the world?

The Cooperative Program has the potential, when rightly employed,
for moving Southern Baptist missions and ministries from the ordinary,
the average, the good – to superlative, outstanding, great fruitfulness
for the Kingdom of God.

YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GREAT RESULTS

Only our Lord knows all the eternal good that has been done because
of Cooperative Program missions and ministries. Too many Baptists are
not hearing about the great results flowing directly from Cooperative
Program-supported endeavors. We need to tell our stories better. You
need to know about the great results.

You need to know about a Yezidi Kurd we will call Milo (not his real
name). Soviet schools taught him, growing up in Armenia, that God
was not real. But as an adult, Milo grew desperate. Milo knew that
Yezidi priests teach Yezidis to kill other Yezidis who embrace a
different faith. For two months Milo went to church, listening to
preaching about Jesus Christ. Milo also thought about killing the
Yezidi Christians. After a personal encounter with Jesus, Milo became a
believer. Despite persecutions, he is a light among Yezidis. He heads
a church of Armenian and Yezidi believers. He wrote and compiled a
Kurmanji Christian songbook. And because Yezidis love stories, he
has written and published parables that flow from biblical principles.

Your love for the Lord and commitment to reaching people through
Cooperative Program missions supports churches such as the one where
Milo met Christ.

You need to know about Carlos and Cristina De La Barra who, 14 years
ago, sold their computer business and left a financially secure life in
their native Santiago, Chile, to help start Spanish-speaking churches
in Hispanic areas in South Carolina, Indiana, and now Kentucky. “I
am a product of Southern Baptist missions,” says Carlos.

“I am a Christian and a missionary because a missionary couple answered
God’s call to Chile many years ago.”

You need to know about our disaster relief work. Recent hurricanes
have shown the country and the world the heart of Southern Baptists.

We were among the first to respond and we are still on the job. Yet,
in spite of responding to the greatest natural disaster in our
nation’s history, not one missionary had to be recalled due to lack
of resources.

You need to know about the university students and campuses that are
being reached by the nearly 700 collegiate ministers supported by
Baptist state conventions. Student ministry researcher Steve Shadrach
identified Southern Baptist collegiate ministry as one of the top ten
in the nation and the one that reached the most students. The next
largest ministry, the very fine Campus Crusade for Christ organization,
has many more campus ministers (2,500+) but reaches only about 43,000
students.

You need to know about the revival taking place in the Louisiana
Penitentiary at Angola because of the New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary extension courses being taught there and the scores of
Baptist volunteers coordinated by the evangelism division of the
state convention who conduct Bible studies and evangelistic events.

In May of 2005, 94 inmates and 30 prison employees’ family members
prayed to receive Christ, and nearly 50 Christian inmates received
Bible degrees from New Orleans Seminary. These graduates are leading
the “church” inside the prison walls. The Cooperative Program is
changing lives.

The Cooperative Program supports thousands of missionaries, thousands
of seminary students, and hundreds of workers in children’s homes
and other helping ministries. All of them have inspirational stories
of how God is changing lives. By God’s grace, Southern Baptists are
caring people and together we are touching the world.

This column is the third of four adapted from “One Sacred Effort”
by Chad Brand and David Hankins. Copyright 2005. Used with permission.
All rights reserved.