Our First Priority

Jim Hill, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, has joined the blogosphere. He has been posting over the last few weeks in order to share about the ministry of the BGCM and dialogue with pastors. His blog is entitled Our First Priority. In the recent issue of the BGCM E-Message, he wrote about how blogs can help us follow the command in Ephesians 5:15-16 to make the most of every opportunity. Here are a couple of highlights from his piece:

A few years ago the Baptist General Convention of Missouri approved a strategic plan for our ministry. We called it First Priority. Our mission is to serve churches and church leaders as they fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Our vision is to be an organization that gives First Priority to Serving Churches.

First Priority is all about churches. It is about acknowledging that our convention exists to serve churches and church leaders. It is about focusing on the needs of local congregations and seeking to minimize the convention's bureaucracies and overhead. It is an effort to remember that conventions are merely the way churches cooperate to strengthen their ministries and do together what they would not be able to do alone.

The theme for our Annual Meeting on April 4-5 is "Faith in Action: Making the Most of Every Opportunity." Blogs may be one of the most efficient ways for our staff to communicate with pastors and church leaders. We anticipate adding some additional blogs during the coming months. Blog links are also available on our Web site at www.baptistgcm.org. Join us in dialogue as we make the most of every communication opportunity.

Blogs can be a way of communicating with more people and hearing back from them, which can make them a very useful ministry tool. If you are interested in learning more about how blogging can be used to enhance the work of a church or other ministry, check out the book The Blogging Church.