What You Said about
the 2009 Alliance Convocation

Welcome to the first time attenders of the 2009 Alliance Convocation.

"This was my first Alliance Convocation.  It was great to catch up with old friends from ABC as well as meet new Alliance folk from all over the country.  The conference was creative and thought provoking and I thank all who made that weekend possible!" -- Susan Sparks, Madison Avenue Baptist Church, New York, New York

 "I came back home from Charlotte with a good sense of hope for the future of the Alliance of Baptists. I felt the energy and commitment of those who gathered and was refreshed by the worship and time together." -- Bob Albritton, Vienna Baptist Church, Vienna, Virginia

 "Diane Lipsett was WONDERFUL!!! The annual meeting was really really long, but discussions were good. The chaplains' lunch gathering room was too small for our group, but it was good to have everyone together. The listening session was my favorite part of the weekend (I went to the one about gatherings)." -- Convocation Evaluation  on surveymonkey.com

"Hi Christopher:  I just wanted to tell you that I thought that this convocation has topped all the rest. Great job on your part as well." -- David Julian, member of the Endorsing Committee and endorsed chaplain at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center, Dublin, Georgia

"And thanks to you [Chris] and committee from bringing Diana Butler Bass to the convocation. I have read her and the others like McLaren but it was powerful experiencing her spirit behind her comments. We need these historians who scan our times. They provide the post-modern context that is both hopeful and challenging. You and others on the team seem sensitive to this context and are in a position to lead us forward." -- Mahan Siler, an Alliance of Baptists founder and member of Circle of Mercy, Asheville, North Carolina

We would like to hear from you about the Alliance of Baptists Convocation! Please share your thoughts with us by completing the Convocation Evaluation  on surveymonkey.com. 

What You Said at the Listening Sessions

Following each of the Convocation listening sessions participants were asked to write down on a piece of ribbon, "What could they commit to as someone invested in one or more of the Alliance strategic initiatives?" We are grateful for the hundreds of ribbons we received noting your intentions and commitments.

Here is at glimpse at what you said in the listening sessions:

Growth and Nurture
"What if existing churches started sharing their worship space?"

"To start a covenant community that identifies with Alliance values!"

"Pray for our Alliance growth. Commit $5.00 a month towards a 'fund'."

"We can change the world by changing the church."

Community & Support for Clergy
"I will be an Alliance of Baptists ambassador to individuals and congregations in my area."

"Stay in touch with any sister and brother clergy."

New Opportunities to Gather
"There is a desire for a space you can return to, where you can eat together, and spend time together."

"I will join the Alliance of Baptists."

In the weeks ahead your commitments will be compiled  by the Strategic Initiatives Task Group and the Leadership team.  We will then build your commitments  into plans for the first three projects that kick off the initiatives - Marketplace, Midwifing New Communities of Faith, and Student Missions. We look forward to continuing to hear from you as we live out this vision for the Alliance of Baptists together. Thank you for your ongoing commitment to being Baptists in a rapidly changing world! 

What Membership Renewal?
by Mary Andreolli, Minister for Outreach & Communications

Some of you may have noticed a new step in the registration check-in process.  This step helped us focus, in person, on membership renewal. As folks walked through the registration line gathering their Stan Hastey banquet tickets, Diana Butler Bass luncheon tickets and packets each person was asked, "Have you renewed your membership for this year?"

"I really don't know."

"I just gave a significant gift to the Alliance" (For which we remain very grateful).

"My church is an affiliate so I am a member."

Candidly, I will tell you after joining the Alliance last year, it wasn't until I was sitting at the registration table with Susan and Carole, happily handing out Convocation packets, that I said to myself, "Oh oh, I need to renew my membership each year."

In the months ahead you will see additional articles on the value of being in relationship with the Alliance as well as the different relationships individuals and congregations have through membership and affiliation. For now we ask, "Have you renewed your 2009 membership?" If not, you're not alone, and we invite you to renew today.

A Letter of Thanksgiving to Stan Hastey
by Mahan Siler, An Alliance of Baptists founder

Mahan Siler composed and read this letter to Stan as a word of gratitude on behalf of all of us during Stan's retirement banquet.

I feel deeply the privilege of speaking to you on behalf of the Alliance. I represent not only all of us here but also the many who wanted to be present, and those departed Alliance friends whose spirits surround us as a great cloud of witnesses. I have been asked to put some words to our appreciation. This I will do, drawing from the contribution of others.

Stan, thank you for the gift of you, Stan, your humanity. You have allowed us to experience your intelligence, your creativity, your disappointment, your joys, your pain, your playfulness, your sense of grace, your passion for God’s justice love, and your devotion to the Alliance and our vision. As a colleague of yours put it, “When Stan participates in a conversation his thoughtful listening is marked by a profound graciousness matched only by the humility he embodies in his reflections.” Read more.
 

Caught Napping in the Narthex
by Brooks Wicker, Alliance of Baptists President

In what was surely the longest annual meeting in recorded history, or so it seemed to me, longtime Alliance members and at least one Alliance Founder were caught catching some zzzz’s in the comfy chairs of the Park Road Baptist Church narthex. I point this out only because I was extremely jealous that I did not get an opportunity to join their napping regimen.

“But we could hear you over the loudspeakers!” did not help this particular Alliance founder’s case. Indeed, his only saving grace was the fact that he happens to be my former pastor and I love him too dearly to scold him.

 What can I say about a four and a half hour business session that drove many to nap? Do not fear! I will not ask you to wade through a summary of the meeting! But I do want to say that despite the impossibly long agenda, you really did stay with me most of the time and, at the risk of being delusional; I did not get a sense of frustration on your part. We had a lot of important information to convey and you seemed eager to receive it.  With so much change confronting our organization, I was grateful for your attentiveness.

Building Relationships through connections

"Alliance Baptist Church is the outgrowth of a weekly Bible Study.  We gathered together from different backgrounds for a number of reasons.  Among them was the need to be spiritually fed and nurtured.  After a year, we began to feel that we were called to do more.  It became clear to all of us that our congregation MUST be Open and Affirming, and MUST be Biblically Sound.  We were able to do this on our own. However, when it came to denominations, we could not agree on anything.  This changed when we found the Alliance of Baptists.  We have found Unity and care for each other.  We are looking forward to joining our Sisters and Brothers of the Alliance in Convocation and other events such as training and education as well as mutual support and care."

Thank you Alliance Baptist Church for becoming a part of the Alliance of Baptists movement.

Mission Highlights
El Salvador Elections Reflection
by Nora Pullen, Alliance member and American University student

In 10th grade World History my teacher explained how during the Cold War all of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence revolved around Moscow. How cool is it to think about so much significance swirling around one city? At that moment I decided: I wanted to be where things are happening. On March 15, 2009, things were happening in El Salvador.

So how did I end up in the most important place in the world on that day? Read more.

Reflections from Morocco
by Karen Thomas Smith, Alliance mission partner

I have been thinking about the Alliance this weekend, wishing I could be at the convocation, and I thought it might be time to give you all an update on some of what I am doing.

Thanks to the Alliance of Baptists, I was able to attend the Global Baptist Peace Conference in Rome where I was an official "storyteller." This was a deeply moving experience for me, as I reconnected with Baptist friends from Italy whom I had not seen in 24 years.  It was a great joy to discover that they are leaders in the UCEBI (Italian Baptist Union) for issues of peace and justice.  I also made new friends (including the Hoskins who are fellow Kentuckians and Alliance folks) and felt that wonderful feeling again of not being crazy; to get nods instead of blank stares when I talk about redefining Christian mission as pursuit of the Kin(g)dom of God that can be done hand-in-hand with Muslims and other persons of faith and good will, where Muslims are not seen as targets for evangelism or enemies to be vanquished, but rather neighbors to be loved and partners for peace. Read more.

Arcus Foundation Grant to Fund Collaboration on Rightly Dividing the Word

Initiated by the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America (BPFNA), the Arcus Foundation has approved a $30,000 planning grant for the BPFNA to work collaboratively with the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists (AWAB) and the Alliance of Baptists to develop a production and marketing plan for a second edition of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, a Resource for Congregations in Dialogue on Sexual Orientation and to explore ways in which these three progressive Baptist organizations may more fully cooperate in the future.
 
Representatives from BPFNA, AWAB and the Alliance will have their first meeting May 15-16 to begin this collaborative effort.  Eileen Campbell-Reed, Millard Eiland and Rick Mixon will represent the Alliance.

"I AM the Alliance" After the Convocation
by Mary Andreolli, Minister for Outreach & Communications

So many of you graciously gave your time to "I AM the Alliance" video interviews for the Strategic Initiatives film shown Saturday morning in Charlotte.  I cannot thank you enough for the stories you told - the stories that shape our history and our continuing story. Thanks to Mahan Siler, Nancy Hastings Sehested, Anne Thomas Neil, Stan Hastey, Richard Groves and so many others we now have on video oral histories of the birth, growth and future vision of the Alliance of Baptists. My goal is to capture these oral histories on DVDs so that they become part of the Alliance of Baptists archive. I will also be placing all of the "I AM the Alliance" videos captured in February and March on iamthealliance.org. The "I AM the Alliance" video project is ongoing so you have videos you'd like to share please feel free to post them.

Last but not least, I'd like to specially thank Brian Dixon, pastor of Dolores Street Baptist Church in San Francisco, California. Brian and his church submitted a beautiful video that could not be shown at convocation but simply can't be missed. Check it out.

Just When You Thought Convocation Couldn't
Get Any Better 

Join us for the 2010 Alliance of Baptists annual gathering at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Monterey, California July 29 - August 1, 2010.

Celebrations and Concerns 

In connections each month we will beginning sharing celebrations and  concerns. As you move through each day please take the opportunity to hold these individuals and circumstances in the light.

All those traveling to Cuba during the month of May: Kirkwood Baptist Church, St. Louis, Mo.; Mars Hill Baptist Church, Mars Hill, North Carolina; Northminster Church, Monroe, Louisiana; Stan Hastey and Paula Dempsey. 

AMOS, one of our mission partners in Nicaragua, rejoices in the delivery of their new four-wheel drive truck.  This truck is vital to their ability to transport building materials into remote areas of the country.   

Jeanette Holt as she prepares for breast cancer treatment. 

Cherie Smith, former president of the Alliance and endorsed chaplain at the Franklin Square Hospital Center in Baltimore, Maryland, at the loss of her husband, David. 

Raúl Suárez, pastor emeritus of Ebenezer Baptist Church and member of parliament, Havana, Cuba (mission partner) at the loss of his grandson, Javier.

The Alliance of Baptists is a movement of progressive Christians — individuals and congregations — seeking to respond to the continuing call of God in a rapidly changing world.

1328 16th NW St. Washington, DC 20036

866.745.7609, allianceofbaptists.org