I had the honor of spending the last two days in Hernando, Mississippi serving as one of the speakers for the first annual meeting of the One8 Network. Since several of the participants requested copies of my Power Point presentations, I told them that I would post them here on the blog (linked below).
While I originally thought I would simply set up the links to the presentations, I soon came to believe that I needed to share some information about this new network. And since the group is comprised of Southern Baptists, I am specifically directing today’s post to those within my tribe.
If you are a Southern Baptist leader involved in church planting, then you need to keep an eye on what is happening among this group of brothers and sisters in Mississippi. I was very surprised, blessed, convicted, and encouraged by what I saw and experienced. After spending time with the leaders and participants, I am convinced that exciting things for the Kingdom are happening in Mississippi, things below most of our radars.
(Some people, however, have super-sensitive radars. For even at this inaugural event, I encountered other Southern Baptist leaders–from outside of Mississippi–who were present to observe and learn what was taking place in this new network.)
The One8 Network is primarily located in the northern part of the state, but another like-minded network is presently developing in the central region as well. I expect others will follow across Mississippi, and that similar networks will quickly begin to pop up across the Southern Baptist Convention and the Canadian National Baptist Convention.
Here is some information about One8:
ONE8 is a cooperating network of likeminded SBC churches across Mississippi and the Mid-South working together to advance the gospel by planting new churches and equipping existing churches for multiplication. Along with the Mississippi Baptist Convention, our vision is to partner with churches, associations, and state conventions to plant at least 30 churches over the next three years. Through an intensive application and assessment process, we seek to provide church planters with internships, coaching, networking, and resources.
The convictions of this network are closely aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention:
ONE8 Church Planting Network is a committed partner with the SBC. All ONE8 Network Churches and Church Plants affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The ONE8 Church Planting Network also affirms the following distinctives:
- We believe in the Sufficiency of Scripture
- We Practice Systematic Exposition
- We Seek Regenerate Church Membership
- We are Committed to Biblical Community
- We are Committed to Practicing a Biblical Worldview
- We are Committed to Evangelism, Missional Living, and Church Planting.
140 participants were present this week, with the majority representing younger Southern Baptists. The meeting had to be moved to a larger location due to an unexpected increase in the number of participants. The organizers invited several plenary speakers, representing church planters, missiologists, and pastors, as well as numerous speakers leading breakout sessions.
I spoke on the following topics, with each linked to my Power Point slides (.pptx files):
The Good News: Bridging the Gap through Evangelism
Equipping the Church Planting Family
Who Can Bridge the Gap? The Barnabas Factors: Essential Practices of Church Planting Team Members
I do not claim to know the future of this nascent network. But, if Monday and Tuesday are representative of the cooperation, enthusiasm, and missional engagement to come, then I am very excited about its future potential.
Mississippi Baptists are offering something to younger, Southern Baptist church planters, involving at least partnership/cooperation, respect, wisdom, assessment, coaching, training, encouragement, and accountability. They have invited them to pull up a chair and have a major seat at the table.