MURRAY, Ky. (KT) — More than 300 Kentucky Baptists celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program (CP) Monday night (May 5) at its birthplace — First Baptist Church of Murray. The event not only honored the CP legacy but looked forward to the future and what can be accomplished through cooperation.

Michael Cabell, assistant to the executive director for convention relations at the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC), said the unified giving plan was birthed in 1915 by Boyce Taylor, pastor of Murray First Baptist, and adopted by the KBC. It was the “unified giving plan” that carried the name of the “box plan.” That plan would fund all the ministry needs of entities in Kentucky. A decade later, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) met in Memphis and adopted that same strategy for the Convention as a whole. Since 1925, more than $22 billion has been given through CP, resulting in “millions of people coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior,” Cabell said.

Todd Gray, KBC executive director, presented Murray First Baptist Pastor Jeremy Hudgin with an offering box to commemorate the anniversary. “It a simple yet powerful symbol of 100 years of missional generosity,” Gray said. “The small box represents something incredibly large — Southern Baptists have given more than $22 billion, all for the sake of the gospel. This box reminds us, whether you give much or little, God multiplies it. It’s a reminder we’re part of a movement larger than ourselves.

“First Baptist Church stands at a unique place in history. It has helped shape a century of ministry across the globe. What began here in Murray, Kentucky, has helped carry the message of Christ to the ends of the earth.”

Hudgin said “every Sunday is a very humbling experience to know the legacy of those who have stood in that same place before me. It’s only just begun. God will continue to use the faithful of our churches to take the gospel to not only our cities, but to the states and nations of the world.”

Brice and Rachel Swann, International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries now serving in Rome, Italy, were also in attendance. Noting he did not grow up in a Southern Baptist church, Brice said he has “a great appreciation for how Southern Baptists have chosen to come together for the gospel.”

The Swanns went to East Asia in 2018, then were forced to leave in January 2020. “We suffered a lot of grief and loss during that time,” Rachel said.

The couple returned to the mission field in 2021, and CP “helped our family and met our needs when we had medical emergencies,” said Rachel. “Both our children in 2024 had to go to the emergency room at different times. The Cooperative Program was a huge blessing to our family. It allowed us to stay on the field. We are so thankful for the Cooperative Program.”

The Swanns shared stories of their ministry efforts in East Asia, including English Sunday school, Bible distribution, “Jesus” film showings and outreach to mothers.

Mike Richey, retired vice president of philanthropy and alumni engagement at the University of Kentucky and chairman of KBC’s CP 100 Committee, said his childhood in Mt. Pisgah Baptist in Muhlenberg County — a church committed to missions, allows him to “see and understand the impact we have with the Cooperative Program.

“Tonight is a time of renewal — it is time to cast a new vision for what God wants us to do the next 100 years,” Richey said.

“I believe the Cooperative Program is the key funding mechanism for sharing the gospel work through Southern Baptists. Our churches must have a commitment to fund collaborative missions.

“We must never doubt God’s ability to bless His work if it is done His way. The millions of lives that have been saved in the past is just a foretaste of what is ahead. The fields are still ripe unto harvest. We’ve got to do a great job of educating and empowering our church families in this great work.”

Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, cited Joshua 4 to talk about looking both backward and forward in celebration.

“We are here to celebrate what God has done, but to the future to what God can do … through generous giving,” Iorg said.

Iorg chronicled the percentage decline in CP giving since 1990, when churches gave about 9.5% to CP. By 2024 that had dipped to 4.5%.

“Imagine what it would be if churches had maintained that 1990 rate,” he said, noting that annual SBC giving would amount to about $400 million rather than $191 million. 

“Southern Baptists must recommit to cooperation. The current generation of Baptists must decide cooperation is the best biblical methodology available to us.”

He pointed out the similarities of the national economy 100 years ago and today with “the national economy booming but uncertainty in the air.” Also in 1925, denominational confidence was low, the Convention was mired in theological disputes, prominent pastors sniped at each other. It was a rough time to be a Southern Baptist.

“Solutions were needed — courageous leaders reaffirmed cooperation and proposed the unthinkable, the Cooperative Program. It was a never-before-attempted method of funding. It depended on cooperation, not coercion. It was based on serving others instead of individual recognition.”

Iorg outlined why cooperation is vital today:

1) “The Bible says we can do more collectively than we can do ourselves,” he said, pointing out various New Testament examples of cooperation. “Paul almost always was working with a missionary partner or team. The only time he was alone was in Athens, and that was his least productive site.”

2) “We cooperate because it expresses the unity we strive for in Jesus Christ.” Citing Ephesians 4, he said cooperation fulfills the biblical mandate.

3) “Because our churches are autonomous but not independent. Autonomy doesn’t mean selfish or self-centered. We have agreed to subjugate our personal preferences to work together for the overarching goal of the propagation of the gospel.”

4) “We cooperate because it works … producing supernatural results reflecting God’s grace and power and favor.”

He concluded by mentioning various ways that Southern Baptists are a “force for good,” including summer camps for kids, foster care, seminary training, caring for hurting people, campus ministry, financial guidance from GuideStone Financial Resources, massive missions efforts, disaster relief, women’s ministry and ethnic diversity.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in Kentucky Today.)