600 at Black Leadership Week set sights on Acts 1:8 Challenge

GLORIETA, NM (BP) - The future of the church is outside its walls, speakers at the 13th annual Black Leadership Week said.

Roosevelt Broach, director of church planting and development for the Dallas Baptist Association, spoke about Kingdom growth, with an emphasis on reaching people where they are rather than getting them into churches to hear a sermon.

Broach suggested calling the people of the church "missionaries" rather than "members," so they would better understand their purpose.

These and similar statements by other speakers focused participants' attention on Jesus' last words to His disciples - to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the world, which Southern Baptist leaders have begun to call the "Acts 1:8 Challenge."

Nearly 600 pastors and church leaders from 31 states and the Virgin Islands gathered for the July 18-22 sessions at LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center near Santa Fe, N.M. The conference was sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources.