Welcome Help from Our "Big Brother" to the South

One of Colorado Baptist’ core values is “Cooperation: God’s kingdom plan is that His people work together.” That core value lies at the root of what it means to be Southern Baptist.

 

As I meet with various groups and churches I often say that I’m passionately Southern Baptist for two reasons. The first is that we are a people of the Book. I believe in the inerrancy of the Scripture and we are guided by every word that is contained in the canon- we believe it is the very word of God.

 

The second reason is because of the way we do cooperative missions. The synergy of thousands of Southern Baptist churches working together allows us to best respond to the Acts 1:8 command of our Lord to be witnesses in our Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the very ends of the earth. Partnering together, Southern Baptist deploy a missionary force of more than 10,000 missionaries in North America and all around the world and support six seminaries training ministers and missionaries for the future.

 

In this article, I’d like to speak to another level of partnership that I’m very excited about. Colorado Baptists have what we refer to as a “shoulder to shoulder” partnership with Wyoming and Alberta, Canada. “Shoulder to shoulder” means that the three conventions share the same level of kingdom challenges and we fully understand each other’s cultures. In fact, it’s been pointed out that all three conventions have mountains in the west and plains in the east and that the three largest rodeos in the world are located in Cheyenne, Calgary and Denver. As we partner in various projects we operate on the same level- shoulder to shoulder.

Beginning this year we are adding another very key partnership that addresses our core values of cooperation. I was approached about a year ago by Dr. Anthony Jordan, the state executive director for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He told me that his convention was interested in exploring a “big brother” partnership with Colorado.

 

Oklahoma has just finished a five-year partnership with the Utah/ Idaho Convention. There are a number of churches and associations in Oklahoma that are now interested in coming alongside Colorado churches and associations to partner and help resource the vision of Colorado Baptists to saturate our state with the gospel. Next to Colorado, the Oklahoma State Convention is huge. It is twice as old as Colorado; has 1,770 congregations compared with Colorado’s 385; and its staff is six or seven times bigger than our state staff. In other words, the Oklahoma convention is very much our big brother in Southern Baptist life.

What does this new big brother partnership mean for Colorado? It’s really just what it says. We now have a big brother- with all his resources- who has committed to helping us spread the gospel in our state. This step is very significant for Colorado Baptists and a substantial blessing.

 

Colorado Baptists are already seeing the initial impact of this partnership. Several of our associations have connected with Oklahoma associations and are receiving help with prayer walking teams, VBS teams, evangelism teams and so forth. Colorado churches have connected with Oklahoma churches to create building teams, training teams, outreach teams, and many other ministries that will be coming to Colorado next year.

What a blessing it is to have Oklahoma heed the call of the Lord to help their little brother and use their resources as together we address the great lostness in Colorado. As the scriptures say, I “pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now!” Thank you Oklahoma Baptists for your willingness to partner with Colorado Baptists in Spreading the gospel in Colorado.