At River Road Church, Baptist, we partner with a number of church and parachurch organizations to advance the work of God in the world. While we are ecumenical in our fellowship, we are Baptist in our congregational structure, and we are Baptist in that we send missionaries through the support of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF).

Last week, four River Road Church members/staff attended the annual gathering of CBF in Atlanta, GA. Daniel Glaze, Libby Grammer, Bill Tuck, and Emily Tuck were our representatives at the meeting.

CBF General Assembly offers the opportunity to connect with like-minded Baptists, learning about the work of CBF – from mission work, to curriculum, to tackling larger issues together through Illumination Project, which seeks to unify CBF and explore a change to CBF’s current hiring policy.

This General Assembly was the end of a celebration of CBF’s 25^th year. The music was superb, the speakers inspiring, and the friendship inviting. Cooperative Baptists are growing together, learning together, and sending missionaries around our nation and around the globe to share the Good News together. CBF is hopeful for its future as the fellowship celebrated their past and present.

CBF’s partner organizations also held annual gatherings alongside CBF. Daniel and Libby attended the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty Religious Liberty Commission luncheon (Daniel serves as the Chair of the BJC Board, and Libby is a BJC Fellow this year).

Daniel and Libby also attended the Baptist Women in Ministry annual gathering at Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, GA (Daniel serves on the BWIM Leadership team and was involved in worship).

Bill Tuck was a featured author with Smyth & Helwys Publishers and signed his recent books on Thursday evening. His books were also available at Nurturing Faith publishers in the Exhibit Hall – including one featuring the preaching ministry at RRCB!

Libby signed her new book Privilege, Risk, and Solidarity at the McAfee School of Theology exhibit since she is a current doctoral student there.

CBF considers itself a “Denomi-network,” partnering with many different organizations already doing good, Kingdom work – from Passport youth camps to the New Baptist Covenant to state CBF representatives – CBF is poised to do not only its own work, but to give support to those groups already serving these functions in their own ways. CBF is a wide and varied network of churches and partner organizations, and though it may not be a perfect group, it is a thoughtful and meaningful group through which RRCB can connect with the larger work of Baptists in the world.

CBF Global Missions

CBF also serves as a wonderful giving tool to advance mission work. At the end of the last worship service, we commissioned our newest missionaries. We also got the chance to know some of the work our missionaries are doing around the world. CBF’s mission giving is down 25% this year. CBF Global Missions Coordinator Bill Porter told the group that evening: “We suffer not from a lack of God-given opportunity, but a shortage of sacrifice. We have prayed; we have partnered; but we haven’t paid the bills. But I know we can.”

What might we as a church do to ensure these missionaries can continue their work? Let’s ponder this together and find ways to continue and increase our support!

Want to know more about the missionaries we support through our giving to CBF Global Missions Offering? Click here.

Below are links to just a few of the videos shown at CBF about our missionary field personnel and new CBF Initiatives – please watch, and share their stories!

Refuge and Hope International, Uganda – Jade and Shelah Acker 

Amani Sasa, Refuge and Hope International, Uganda – Missy Ward-Angalla (whom we met last fall in our Wednesday night program series)

Grace and Main – Josh and Jessica Hearne, Danville, Virginia 

CBF’s New Latino Network – Ruben Ortiz

For more videos, visit: https://vimeo.com/cbfvideo