Today I was involved in two meetings at the Missions and Ministry Center that took the entire day. The first was the Administration Committee; the second was the Committee on Nominations.

The Administration Committee that is actually the executive committee of the executive committee meets with me on a monthly basis. This is the audit committee for the Convention and has the blessed opportunity to make decisions about the expenditure of mission funds for the Convention.

Some think of the Admin-istration Committee as the most powerful committee of the Convention, but those who sit on the committee will quickly tell you that it is not about power; it is about ministry and missions. It is both thrilling and humbling to have a significant part in expanding the Kingdom of God in Georgia and literally around the world. On a regular basis the Administration Committee makes decisions that impact the spreading of the Gospel. Of course, there are difficult issues that they have to tackle, some controversial.

I depend greatly upon the Administration Committee for wisdom and guidance in the work. The men who sit on the committee are all seasoned pastors. They understand the church and the intricacies of its work. This committee has assisted me in navigating through sometimes-stormy waters in the life of the Convention. I have never found them to be anything but totally dedicated to the Georgia Baptist Convention, to our churches, church leadership and to the Convention staff.

These men drive from all across Georgia to be at the Missions and Ministry Center each month. It’s a long way from Valdosta where our chairman, Wayne Robertson, serves as pastor of Morningside Baptist Church. I have never heard from Wayne or any other member of the committee a negative word about the long drive to take care of the Lord’s business. Whenever I make the drive to Valdosta, Columbus, Savannah, Brunswick, Fort Oglethorpe, Augusta, Bainbridge, and every place in between, I am impressed all over again with the dedication of those who serve on our committees and boards.

In the afternoon today I met with the Committee on Nominations. This committee, chaired by Jon Sullivan from Rome, has the daunting task of nominating to the annual meeting of the Convention those who will serve on the committees, commissions, and boards of our Convention for the next several years. This is a huge task that will not be complete until the vote is taken at the annual meeting. This committee will be engaged in its work right up to its final meeting at the convention site in Augusta in November. They, too, make the drive from all across Georgia to give unselfishly of their time to the ministry of the Convention. Any of you who have served on your church’s Nominating Committee can imagine what a huge task it is to serve on such a committee for an entire convention of churches.

I left my meetings today thanking the Lord for Georgia Baptists who are devoted to serving the Lord through the life of the Convention. I am thankful that these wonderful people so willingly give of their time, their ability, and are willing to make the long drive to Atlanta to invest their hearts in this work. I praise God for them and for the many others who will invest themselves in the life of the Convention throughout this year.

Whatever your part in the life of the Georgia Baptist Conven-tion may be, I want to say “Thank you” for the investment of your life and your resources in this uniquely outstanding ministry for Christ. None of what we accomplish would be possible without your involvement and without your faithful gifts to missions through the Cooper-ative Program. Attempting to explain the Cooper-ative Program to a pastor who had not grown up Southern Baptist, I told him that the Cooperative Program is the way you connect your church to its Acts 1:8 responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Up to that moment he confessed that he thought the Cooperative Program was simply the “dues” a church paid to be a part of the Convention.

The Cooperative Program is not “dues.” It isn’t even a “program.” It is a channel of blessing through which we support 10,000 missionary families across the world today.