MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention president encouraged Memphis area seminarians to do their part to reinvigorate support for international evangelism efforts.
"I'm convinced that Southern Baptists stand at a day where we may miss opportunities God has put before us," the Rev. Frank Page told the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Cordova at a chapel service Thursday.
"One of the most appalling wastes of our Christian lives is when we do nothing for the Lord."
The Rev. Tom Elliff, a former SBC president and vice president for the Baptist's International Mission Board, said at the service that seminarians need to consider career options other than serving at megachurches.
"The Cooperative Program is meeting the needs of people all over the world," Elliff said. "More than 23,000 churches have been planted by Baptist missionaries."
Southern Baptists leaders note that SBC's Cooperative Program, which helps sustain foreign missions, has been stagnant in recent years.
Page said many Southern Baptists are no longer sold on the value of the Cooperative Program. But he believes many still support the effort so he's leading the push to increase donations.
He encourages local congregations to designate 10 percent of their annual budgets to the Cooperative Program, which helps support some 5,100 international missionaries. Each Baptist congregation is autonomous, so there is no mandate requiring specific donations.
Page is pastor of the 4,000-member First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. He was chosen leader of the Southern Baptists at last year's annual convention and is so far unopposed in his bid for a second one-year term.
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