June 16, 2025
POWDER SPRINGS, Ga. — Members of the Executive Committee of the Georgia Baptist Conventions were encouraged to remain faithful at their meeting March 11 at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church in Powder Springs.
Benjamin Moore, second vice president of the convention, offered a devotional from 2 Timothy. Moore’s message centered on the importance of remaining faithful despite challenges, particularly for pastors and believers.
Moore told committee members that 2 Timothy provides seven encouragements:
Moore concluded with 2 Timothy 4:7, urging listeners to remain faithful so they can one day say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have remained faithful.”
Following Moore’s message, committee members heard from Mike Griffin, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s public affairs representative. Griffin reported on the state of current legislation, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which passed the Senate and is now before a House committee. He told EC members that evangelism, education, and engagement are the three most helpful approaches in his public affairs ministry.
Brewton-Parker College President Steve Echols reported that the school has a five-year plan to increase enrollment to more than 1500 students by 2027. Later in the meeting, the name change from Brewton-Parker College to Brewton-Parker Christian University was affirmed. Echols said the name change “represents our aspirations. And we believe we serve a great God.”
Committee members also heard more about the evangelism initiative being undertaken by Georgia Baptist churches. Steve Browning, president of the convention, reminded members of the 7 million lost people in the state but exhorted them not to be discouraged. “That's an overwhelming number, and you think, what is the point? How could we ever reach that kind of massive lostness all across our state?” he asked. “The army God is seeking is already in place right here in our state, and now is the time for us to activate that army, to make sure the gospel gets out to every last person across the state of Georgia. For that reason, this year, our theme for the annual meeting is going to be ‘Everyone, Everywhere.’”
Browning told members that the evangelism effort needs to be total. “If we're going to reach everyone everywhere across the state of Georgia, it's going to take every Georgia Baptist everywhere in order to do it.” He also announced that the speakers for the evangelism conference at the 2025 Annual Meeting would be Jarod Stevens, Patrick Latham, Rhys Stenner, and Matt Petty.
Mark Marshall, Senior Lead Strategist for Church Strengthening, provided an update on the evangelism initiative thus far. More than 300 people so far have attended listening sessions across various parts of the state, representing over 143 different churches. The sessions are designed to help the GBMB understand how churches are approaching evangelism and explore ways to support their work to reach their communities, the state, and the world for Christ. Marshall encouraged the members to attend one of the remaining sessions. “We want to hear from you,” Marshall said. “We want to hear all the thoughts and ideas, but we also are going to pray together and ask God to continue to send laborers into the harvest.”
He also gave an update on the Corpus program, which focuses on church revitalization processes. “We have 32 churches that are somewhere in that process,” Marshall reported. He said the response shows “that we have hit the heart of something among Georgia Baptists. I look forward to a day where what we have right now becomes a movement across the state, revitalizing churches.”
Marshall also encouraged committee members to make plans to attend one of the six SPARK church-strengthening conferences that will be held this year. “SPARK, if you don't know, is a total church equipping opportunity and conference. It's one of those places where, as a pastor, you want to take as many as you.” He shared that in 2024, more than 3600 people attended SPARK conferences, and the mission board hopes to surpass that in 2025.
The 2025 SPARK conferences will be held at:
