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Brewton-Parker College well represented at Southern Baptist Convention

Taylor Hereford
BPC Director of Marketing

Executive staff members of Brewton-Parker College took part in activities at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Whenever Baptists get together and lift up praises to the Lord, it is a good place to be,” said Dr. David Smith, President of Brewton-Parker. “It is also a good place for BPC to be associated. I am impressed with the support and encouragement that we receive from those who support Christian higher education at such events."

Those attending the convention at Greensboro, N.C., with Dr. Smith were Dr. Charles Strickland, executive assistant to the President for Church Relations, and Brad Kissell, executive dean for Enrollment Services.

Both Dr. Smith and Dr. Strickland are pleased with the strong and spiritually committed leadership within the SBC and are pleased with the overall health of the convention.

Dr. Strickland believes the 2006 meeting will be remembered as one in which significant measures were adopted that will further strengthen the convention’s overall mission.

“With the reaffirmation of its commitment to the Cooperative Program (the Southern Baptist vehicle for supporting missions) as well as the election of a new President with strong ties to Georgia, the 2006 meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention proved to be a historic occasion,” said Dr. Strickland.

The election of Frank Page as SBC president was considered by some to be a surprise of the convention. The pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, South Carolina and former pastor of Warren Baptist Church in Augusta was elected president on the first ballot. Page defeated two other nominees – Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd and Jerry Sutton, pastor of Two Rivers Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee.

In other convention matters, SBC messengers voted to adopt a report from an Ad Hoc Cooperative Program Committee that further strengthens the Convention’s commitment to worldwide missions. In the report, the committee encouraged churches “to give an increasing percentage of undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.”

With regards to the immigration debate, SBC messengers passed a resolution supporting the enforcement of the United States’ immigration laws while at the same time showing “compassionate outreach to all immigrants…through sharing of the Gospel; implementing need-meeting ministries; starting English classes on a ‘massive scale’; and encouraging the achievement of citizenship or legal status.”

BPC hosted a dessert reception June 13 at the Sheraton Greensboro Hotel at Four Seasons for approximately sixty-five SBC messengers. Those from Georgia who attended the reception were Dr. Wayne Hamrick, president of the Georgia Baptist Convention, along with former GBC presidents Dr. Frank Cox and Dr. Wayne Robertson. Mr. Gerald Harris, editor of the Christian Index, also attended BPC’s reception.

Next year’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas.

The Baptist Press and the Christian Index contributed to this article.

-BPC-