The Open Door

What do the following ministries have in common: Church Planting, Language, Evangelism, Mission Volunteers, Associational Missions, Area Missionaries, Regional State Missionaries, Disaster Relief, New Ministers’ Orientation, Ministerial Relief, Sunday School and Open Group, Discipleship, Children, Youth, Men’s, Women’s, Music and Worship, Leadership, Public Affairs, Collegiate, Church Minister Relations, Conference Centers, and much more?

All of these are ministries of your state convention that are supported through the State Missions Offering.

The suggested time for this emphasis throughout Georgia is September 16-20, but many of our churches utilize the State Missions Offering Week of Prayer materials to highlight this offering throughout the entire month of September. I encourage you to do everything you can to make 2009 the greatest year ever in the receipt of our special offering for State Missions. The times have never been more challenging, nor have the needs been greater than they are right now.

Did you know that Georgia’s population currently stands at 9,685,744? Are you aware that approximately 8%, or 774,850 of those living in Georgia are Hispanic/Latino? Three percent, or 290,575, are Asian. Perhaps the most shocking statistic that I can share with you to reflect the spiritual need in Georgia is that our percentage of lost/unchurched stands at approximately 70%, or 6,906,000. There are areas in our state, particularly in major urban areas, where the percentage of lost and unchurched reaches 90%.

This presents a huge challenge to every Georgia Baptist and every Georgia Baptist church. We are committed to reaching our state for Jesus Christ, but it takes significant resources to have the impact we need to have on our population.

God has blessed our convention through the years and we are so grateful for all He has done. We have a total of 3,604 churches, with a membership of 1,382,637. We declare the Gospel daily in more than 30 different languages. Last year you started 85 new Georgia Baptist churches and sent out 140,723 Georgia Baptists to do short-term volunteer mission projects.

One of the greatest needs is to penetrate the collegiate culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The percentage of lost students on campus today is about 85% to 90%. One of your Georgia Baptist campus ministers estimated that 80% of our Baptist students are disconnecting from their local churches when they go off to college. Baptist Collegiate Ministries helps to reconnect these students to their local churches.

Our students are the hope of the future and we are devoted to ministering among them and seeking to impact their lives for Christ. That is why our theme for the offering is “Relentless Pursuit: Reaching College Students for Christ.” The theme Scripture text is Psalm 78:1-8.

The goal for the offering is $1,750,000. Reaching our goal will not be a problem as long as we all catch the vision for the need to bring college students to faith in Christ and empower them through discipleship and ministry opportunities to change the world with the Good News of the Gospel.

You may not be aware that your state convention is supporting collegiate ministry in a big way. You have Georgia Baptist ministry on over 50 college and university campuses in Georgia. Some people are not aware that we even have 50 college and university campuses in Georgia, but we do, and you are there with the impact of the Gospel of Christ.

Having Georgia Baptist ministry on a campus means that you have employees who are serving at these locations. They have staff personnel who assist them and student interns who are also involved. You own eighteen buildings that house some of these ministries on larger campuses.

Providing these ministries is costly, but is worthy of every dime that is spent. Please pray for our campus ministers as they come in contact with the students and seek to bring them to faith in Christ. Pray for our Baptist students as they reach their fellow students with the Gospel.

Your gift to the Georgia Baptist State Missions Offering will make a difference as we engage in “Relentless Pursuit: Reaching College Students for Christ.”