Our North Carolina Baptist camps and conference centers are places where God has intersected the life of numerous people across this state. This is where many people heard God call them into full-time vocational ministry or where they rededicated their life to God. Some North Carolina Baptists will tell you how they received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior during a summer camp. Others will say they were first discipled and taught God’s Word during a special retreat. Still, others may say that they simply heard the Lord speak; they encountered God while visiting one of these special places.

Caraway Conference Center and Camp, settled in the beautiful Uwharrie Mountains near Asheboro, is a place where lives are truly changed. Each summer more than 1,000 campers attend the boy’s camp and enjoy activities such as swimming, hiking, canoeing, ropes course challenges and, most importantly, teaching from God’s Word. The conference center hosts guests year-round for conferences, training, retreats and times of fellowship.

Caraway is where the Convention’s Board of Directors convene in addition to many significant committees and lots of Convention training programs.

You may remember hearing from Caraway director Jimmy Huffman during our 2010 annual meeting in Greensboro about a $7.5-million capital campaign. In order to continue providing excellent service and ministry opportunities Caraway must expand its current facilities. Funds from this capital campaign, scheduled to conclude in 2013 with Caraway’s 50th anniversary, will go toward projects such as expanding the conference center, building an indoor multi-purpose recreational center, and building a 250-seat auditorium and 30-bed lodge.

Feb. 27 is being designated as a special Sunday for churches to receive an offering for the Caraway capital campaign. I hope you will consider receiving this offering on this Sunday and will encourage your church members to give generously.

You may be thinking to yourself, “Why a capital campaign now? Times are tough. Look at our economy. Is this the right time to be doing something like this?” I really do understand those concerns. Yet, I also know that when God gives a clear vision, our responsibility is to be obedient and trust Him to provide. He has already entrusted us with the financial resources.  They are in our personal possession. Will you give what God asks you to give?

This campaign is being called “New Beginnings.” When you think about all the lives that have been changed as a result of Caraway’s ministry up to this point you cannot begin to imagine the powerful impact Caraway will have in the future for His kingdom.

As you give to support this expansion you are investing in something far greater than mere buildings and physical structures made by human hands. You are investing in a plan to create larger opportunities for ministry, which will in turn create more opportunities for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be shared and for His Word to be taught.

If you would like to learn more about Caraway and the capital campaign you can visit blog.caraway.org. 

(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or issues with items we run, please contact dianna@biblicalrecorder.org or call 919-847-2127.)

If you have ever heard me speak in your church, or associational meeting, or during an annual meeting of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC), you have probably heard me share a vision statement God laid on my heart several years ago. I speak of this vision so often I sometimes say to our staff at the Baptist Building that I want them to know this statement so well they can quote it at a moment’s notice!

The vision God laid on my heart for this state Convention is this: “By God’s grace, we will become the strongest force in the history of this Convention for reaching people with the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

I truly believe this will not just be a vision statement, but a reality for this Convention, if we commit ourselves to making an eternal impact for His glory. This vision God gave me is best explained in the Seven Pillars for Ministry.

I am sure many of you are familiar with the seven pillars, but if you are not, they are seven biblical concepts I believe to be the Christ-centered vision for our Convention.

The seven pillars focus on: fervent prayer, evangelism and church growth, strengthening existing churches, planting new multiplication churches, increasing our work with the international community, escalating our use of technology, and reclaiming the younger generation of church leaders.

My prayer is that this state Convention will be faithful to fulfilling the vision God has given us as we seek to make sure these seven pillars, these seven core values, guide our ministry.   

A Vision Fulfillment Committee (VFC) was established during the September 2010 Board of Directors meeting to help us better understand how we are doing in accomplishing these seven biblical concepts for ministry. The Board gave the committee this task: “Conduct a study across North Carolina in 2011 of partner churches’ perceptions of the BSC’s effectiveness in funding and implementing the BSC’s vision, as set forth in the Seven Pillars for Ministry.”

In order to do this, the VFC is holding 14 forums from February through July. The first is just a few days from now on Feb. 10 at Scotts Hill Baptist Church in Wilmington. Please come to a forum and bring others from your church with you. Please come and share with us what you think about the effectiveness and value of our current ministries, as well as how you think we should prioritize our ministries for the future. We want to hear from as many North Carolina Baptists as possible.

As I told North Carolina Baptist pastors and church leaders in a letter not long ago, scripture makes it clear that the church is the entity instituted by Christ to reach the world and make disciples. We want to help you do that. This is why we are hosting these forums, and why I ask you to please join us.

You can learn more about the forums by visiting: www.ncbaptist.org/vf. 

(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or issues with items we run, please contact dianna@biblicalrecorder.org or call 919-847-2127.)