2013: State Annual Meeting Roundup

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Baptists once again underscored their commitment to traditional marriage in state convention meetings across the nation in 2013.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Trending among Baptist state convention meetings this year was the decision to send more money to the mission field -- a challenge set forth by the Great Commission Task Force adopted by the SBC at its 2010 annual meeting in Orlando.

NEWARK, Del. -- Maryland/Delaware Baptists approved new content to their constitution and bylaws regarding the convention's stance on biblical marriage and the use of convention property for marriage ceremonies during their 178th annual meeting.

JACKSON, Miss. (BP) -- A former convention staff member, Douglas Matthew "Matt" Buckles Sr., was elected as the Mississippi Baptist Convention's president during the Oct. 29-30 annual meeting at First Baptist Church in Jackson.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (BP) – Alabama Baptists approved a 2014 Cooperative Program budget that represents a $1 million decrease from this year's budget during their annual meeting. But messengers took a continued step forward in a multiyear strategy toward an even split of CP receipts with Southern Baptist Convention causes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (BP) -- With nearly half the counties in Kansas and Nebraska lacking Southern Baptist churches, congregations there must purposefully connect to overcome the isolation they face, the president of the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists noted during their annual meeting.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (BP) -- Nearly 90 messengers and more than 50 guests gathered for the annual meeting of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention at Westside Baptist Church in Great Falls.

HONOLULU (BP) -- The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention has chosen Christopher Martin, pastor of Lahaina Baptist Church in Maui, as its next executive director.

HONOLULU (BP) -- Messengers to the 71st annual meeting of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention approved a resolution upholding traditional marriage just days before same-sex marriage was legalized, making Hawaii the 15th state to embrace the practice.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (BP) -- "God loves diversity," Jeff Johnson, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said in addressing the three-day "Texas Baptists Family Gathering" this summer.