Colorado Baptists-Thanks for the Privilege

"I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer,  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1: 3 – 6

Paul begins his letter to the saints in Philippi with these very familiar words of thanksgiving for every thought he has of them. This is my sentiment as I write this short article. Thanks for giving me the privilege of serving Colorado Baptists as your Executive Director. We have just finished the 55th annual meeting of the Colorado Baptist Convention. By many reports, this was the best annual meeting we’ve had in recent history – a meeting of great inspiration, unity and fellowship. One pastor who came to our state about six years ago told me it’s the best meeting he’s attended in the last 20 years. Another pastor who has attended every meeting in Colorado for the last 15 years also said that it was the best he has ever attended. There were many more who expressed similar responses to our meeting in Breckenridge.

I want to state in writing a special thanks to our president Sean Cole and 2nd VP Rand Clark for planning and executing this meeting. Between their efforts (and the efforts of many others), along with a permeating sense of prayerfulness, the Holy Spirit truly was unmistakably present. Colorado Baptists indeed are enjoying a time of unity and focus on the task at hand.

Another word of thanks is due our Executive Ministry Assistant, Ginger LeBlanc. Ginger tirelessly works months before our meeting collecting reports from the various committees and leaders and producing our annual book of reports and other documents. And this segues into the real purpose of this article. There are many who for various reasons are unable to attend our meeting. They are not able to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow Colorado Baptists nor hear and receive the reports of how God is blessing our cooperative efforts. I’d like to repeat some of the highlights of those reports here for those who were not with us in Breckenridge.

Starting with our Colorado entities, we heard a great report from our Rocky Mountain Campus director, Dr. Steve Veteto. In giving his report he stated that 14 years ago Colorado Baptists agreed to invite Golden Gate Theological Seminary to establish a regional campus in Denver. The prayer was that the presence of this campus would allow us to raise up indigenous leaders and train them right here in our state. Steve pointed out that the two officers leading our state at this time are RMC graduates. He went on to ask those involved at different levels in our campus to stand. That included grads, present students, adjunct faculty, etc. I would estimate that at least 25% of those attending stood. The Lord has indeed blessed our campus and our campus is indeed a blessing to Colorado Baptists.

Marcus Rawls brought his report from the Ponderosa. We celebrate the fact that the camp has been financially in the black for the second year in a row. But more than that are the lives the camp is impacting. Because of increased participation, a second week for Summit Youth Camp was added this year. Over 400 students, youth leaders and sponsors attended. Results included 37 first time commitments to Christ and 80 other commitments including many rededications. Attendance at Kids Camp has also increased in the last few years and adding a second week is under consideration. Results this year show a total of 286 campers representing 23 churches and 10 decisions for Christ were reported.

Doug Lohrey brought a report from our Baptist Foundation. Providing loans to our churches with managed funds totaling nearly two million dollars remains the Foundations primary purpose. However the Foundation has expanded its services and is offering seminars including “To Build or Not to Build” and “Wills and Trusts.” These seminars have seen very positive responses from our churches. The Foundation has experienced significant increases in church investments as deposits made in the Foundation can earn 4 to 5 times that earned in local banks. Additionally investments are made in Kingdom endeavors not for the profit of a local bank.

Other reports included the area of church planting. The Church Planting Team in Colorado consists of 16 full time missionaries (this number includes 10 Area Missionaries). Between 2007 and 2009, 65 churches were started. Eleven new churches were launched in the past year. Six of these church plants were in urban areas. Currently 46 church plants (at various stages of development) are receiving some level of funding from Colorado Baptists. This totals $320,000 of support. In this number are 12 non-Anglo church starts that include Hispanic, Kanjobal (Guatemalan), Portuguese, Filipino, Romanian, and Japanese. In addition, to date, Colorado Baptists have engaged 22 multi-housing communities. Video reports from our teams can be seen on our web page here. For those that were not at the meeting I’d strongly encourage your visiting the web site and taking a look at these videos.

Again, let me close by saying thanks for the privilege of serving Colorado Baptists.

Thanks for a great annual meeting. I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you.

Mark Edlund, Executive Director