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• SBBMA 2006 CONVENTION
• Bivocational ministers to ask NAMB to fund office
• By Connie Davis Bushey and William Perkins

  PICAYUNE, Miss. —
  Bivocational Pastors from Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas along with some of their church members and spouses, converged on the small community of McNeill, Mississippi after being displaced from the Seminary in New Orleans due to the hurricane, then also from Covington, La. because of a lack of rooms to stay in.
  

  The Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association is asking the North American Mission Board to fund an office of bivocational ministry, and will submit the proposal to messengers attending the 2006 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June in Greensboro, N.C. The resolution, which was approved unanimously by bivocational ministers attending the organization’s May 5-6 meeting near Picayune, has been delivered to the NAMB board of trustees and SBC Executive Committee members.

  The meeting was held at the campground of Pearl River Baptist Association and drew about 100 ministers. The resolution noted “bivocationally-led existing churches baptize more new believers per 100 members than churches led by full-compensated pastors.” It was presented by Dale Holloway, bivocational consultant of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board staff. NAMB, the resolution read, “no longer supports a national bivocational missionary who provides assistance and encourages bivocational ministers and their churches, except in cases of new church plants.”

  Holloway said the timing is right because the convention needs to “get the strength restored back in our national agencies.” Holloway told the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector that NAMB has a staff person who does some work for bivocational ministers, but the staff person also has several other jobs. Holloway, who formerly worked in bivocational ministry at the Home Mission Board (now NAMB) reported that NAMB had a bivocational ministry consultant for 21 years until 2003.

  The bivocational (bivo) ministers also heard a report on their numbers. Lloyd Elder of the Moench Center for Leadership Training, Belmont University, Nashville, reported that about 70 percent of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention have 400 or less members and average 92 or less in Sunday School.

• SBBMA 2006 MISSIONS PROJECT
• By Connie Davis Bushey and William Perkins

This gathering started because it was time for the annual Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association Convention. It grew from a three day convention to a two week work project, because the National Group adopted Louisiana's theme, "Bivo's Helping Bivo's" and decided to come to the hurricane ravaged area to encourage the bivocational pastors in the that area. They brought their tools and church members to help the bivo's who were victims of last fall’s Gulf Coast hurricanes. They worked May 1-4 and 8-12 at sites in both Louisiana and Mississippi, plus met May 5-6 for the business and fellowship of the convention. The association added the hands-on projects to the national meeting for the first time, said leaders of the meeting.

• Bivo pastors who were hurricane victims joined in the annual meeting, several sharing their experiences following the hurricanes which struck eight months ago.
• They were given gifts collected by association members.
  

The meeting was already planned to be held in the New Orleans area. So the hurricane relief work was a natural thing to do to respond to the many needs of hurricane victims, especially bivo ministers who are hurricane victims, leaders explained.

About 400 Baptist churches in Louisiana were damaged, said Ray Gilder of the Tennessee Baptist Convention staff. The TBC provided funds for lodging and a Tennessee association sent 14 total volunteers to provide meals. Gilder noted involvement in the projects was a challenge for bivo ministers because they must arrange for time off from their other jobs. But if they could do that, it enabled them to lead church members to be involved too, he explained. “Many of the volunteers are participating in their first mission project.”

The volunteers mainly did renovation work on damaged homes, including one home which was planned as a meeting place for a congregation but was determined to be a loss. Because the mission work was so rewarding for participants the week prior to the association meeting, the association began plans to develop the group, "Bivo Builders". Plans also were made for a mission project to be held in conjunction with the April 26-28, 2007, association meeting in Denver, Colo.

Bivo pastor and hurricane victim Ed Murphy, pastor, Shoreline Park Baptist Church, Bay St. Louis, Miss., was one of the pastors the Bivo Ministers Association worked with in the project. The church, which is located five miles from the ocean, was flooded to the ceiling of the second-story sanctuary by about 28 feet of water. The first worship service held back in the church building after the storm was held on Easter. The congregation met under a tree and then in a tent. The church only canceled one Sunday morning service. Murphy’s home was not damaged. But he lost his maintenance job at Gulfshore Baptist Assembly, Pass Christian, Miss. Murphy and his wife hosted about five church members for two months in their 1,000-square-foot home.

One project of the church is building 6- by 8-foot storage sheds called pods and giving them to hurricane victims. Many who are still living in FEMA trailers or other housing need a place to store items, explained Murphy. The church and volunteers have delivered 500 pods to area residents and plan to build and deliver 200 more if they receive enough funds. “It’s quite a monumental task that we’re going through,” said Murphy.

Another pastor at the meeting was Vernon Robinson, pastor, First Cornerstone Baptist Church, Picayune, Miss. The future of the church is bright, he said. The city of Picayune has doubled since the hurricanes and in five years, planners predict 400 new houses will be built near the church. The only thing the church needs is a bus to conduct a bus ministry especially for children, said Robinson.

Dr. Lawrence Armour, Epiphany Baptist Church in New Orleans also spoke and told his story of trying to provide housing for his members to come back home to. Termites were a major henderance in his project, which had to be abandoned, but, plans continue for a new building in it's place. The team of builders were able to completely finish Mrs. Armour's kitchen for her. Mrs. Armour had been washing dishes in the bath tub prior to the miracle of the Bivo Builders. Dr. Armour teaches at New Orleans University and is a bivocational pastor.

Bro. Thomas Glover also a New Orleans bivocational pastor spoke and told of having to dodge bullets at times as he ministers in one of the housing projects in New Orleans

The president of the the Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association, Adolphus Cleveland of Lubbock, Texas, addressed participants. He spoke against “Schiavoization” in the Southern Baptist Convention. He explained that some believe churches which “don’t give much to the Cooperative Program” and “don’t come to our meeting” can just die. He appealed to SBC leaders and church members to help small churches “be the best they can be where they are.” Cleveland challenged “every association in the Southern Baptist Convention to help at least one pastor a year become mortgage-free.” He asked associational leaders to “minister to bivos” rather than be “hostile” to them. Some churches need to be “re-purposed,” he said, especially if survivial is their goal. Some anglo churches need to become black and some black churches need to become Hispanic churches, he suggested. An African-American, Cleveland referred to the racial and economic divisions in America and said divisions exist in the SBC. Bivo ministers can help other ministers and churches see those gaps and build bridges to cross those gaps. “We need to break out of our ghetto,” Cleveland said, referring to bivo ministers and their churches. Some bivo ministers can’t afford to attend this meeting or to obtain needed training, he concluded.