WHEREAS, Man, as a special creation of God, the only creature uniquely created in His image, chose to sin against his Creator through willful disobedience and is therefore guilty before God and deserving of eternal wrath; and
WHEREAS, God so loved man, even in his fallen state, that He sent Jesus, His sinless Son, to suffer the consequences of man’s disobedience by dying a cruel death on a criminal’s cross; and
WHEREAS, Christ’s death paid the penalty for man’s sin, and Christ’s resurrection three days later secured salvation for those who repent and place their faith in Christ; and
WHEREAS, Since salvation is a free gift of God and lost people matter to God, He has commissioned believers to share the gospel; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 21-22, 2005, express our deepest appreciation to our current president, Bobby Welch, for leading our denomination to refocus itself to reach, win, and baptize one million people through the “Everyone Can! Kingdom Challenge”; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we urge individual Southern Baptists to recognize their responsibility to reach lost people with the gospel of Christ and recommit themselves to be witnesses of the love of Christ by participating in the “Everyone Can! Kingdom Challenge”; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage our churches to make reaching the lost a preeminent ministry priority; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage each of the entities of the Southern Baptist Convention to maintain as its ministry priority the encouragement of individual Southern Baptists and Southern Baptist churches to be active participants in fulfilling the Great Commission; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we commit ourselves to obey the commission of God and depend on the Spirit of God through the power of prayer and the gospel.