20 Years of Growth & Healing Molly Marshall, president of Central Seminary, was keynote speaker at the CBF 20th anniversary celebration T

he Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), formed by moderate Baptists at the culmination of more than 10 years of

public controversy between conservative and moderate members of the Southern Baptist Convention, celebrates its 20th

anniversary

in 2011. The CBF was incorporated in 1991 and held its inaugural General Assembly that year in Atlanta, Georgia. The 20th

anniversary was marked by a number of events during

the CBF General Assembly in Tampa, Florida, from June 22-24, including a banquet attended by more than 1,000 persons. Molly Marshall, keynote speaker and president of Central Seminary in Shawnee in the state of Kansas, said the CBF has provided a “place of healing, a new Baptist narrative and a movement of the Spirit.” What we were given, said Marshall, “was the opportunity to craft a new narrative—a deepened but broadened narrative. We were given the opportunity to fi nd a larger, deeper stream of Baptist identity that plunges us into the larger ecumenical stream of Christianity.” As part of its celebration, the CBF commissioned 14 individuals

to mission work. “These fi eld personnel…are being called out of networks focused on particular ministry in particular parts of the world as much as they are being called by CBF,” declared CBF Global Missions Coordinator Rob Nash. “It truly is something to

celebrate . . . this passion . . . this energy that drives them and the rest of us together and then sends us into the world. I’m convinced that we are seeing here a picture of the global mission future.” CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel Vestal, said, “One of the convictions that has sustained me during my time at CBF has been the conviction that this is about something a lot bigger than we are. We are a part of something a lot bigger in the Baptist family, the Christian community and the human community.” Vestal was presented with the Whitsitt Baptist Heritage

Society’s Courage Award, given annually to an individual who has made a lasting contribution to Baptist life, particularly in the face of strong opposition. Approximately 1,800 churches, 15 theological

schools, and 18 state and regional bodies are affi liated with CBF.

BW

Right: CBF Executive Coordinator Daniel

Vestal who announced in September that he will be retiring as head of the organization effective June 30, 2012

Global Missional Churches Sharing the Love of Christ T Graduating students at the Lott Carey Mission School in Liberia

he Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention (Lott Carey) held its 114th

Annual Convention from August 15-19

at the Memphis-Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. The Lott Carey movement was founded in 1897 by African

American Baptists who were committed to a substantial foreign mission thrust, especially on the African continent, and is named after Lott Carey, one of the fi rst American and Baptist missionaries to West Africa. Its core ministries include the alleviation of poverty, the empowerment of women and the building of civil societies through education; the offering of preventive, restorative and reproductive healthcare; and ministry programs such as evangelism and discipleship, and the development of indigenous church leadership. Lott Carey runs a Pastoral Excellence Program designed for the

building of networks, broadening of visions, and the enhancement of African American pastoral ministry, and includes “multiple ministry immersions in African and African Diaspora contexts.”

(Continued on next page) OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2011 25

Lott Carey

CBF