Copyright © 2014 Samuel Archie Waltman, Jr. All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist ...

152 Pages·2014·1.53 MB·English

Copyright © 2014 Samuel Archie Waltman, Jr.
All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to
reproduce and disseminate this product in any form by any means for purposes chosen by
the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction.
AN EVALUATION OF A MODEL FOR MISSIONS MOBILIZATION
OF CHURCHES IN SAN FELIPE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

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A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Ministry

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by
Samuel Archie Waltman, Jr.
May 2014
APPROVAL SHEET

AN EVALUATION OF A MODEL FOR MISSIONS MOBILIZATION

OF CHURCHES IN SAN FELIPE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

Samuel Archie Waltman, Jr.

Read and Approved by:

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M. David Sills (Faculty Supervisor)

___________________________________________
Jeff K. Walters

Date ______________________________
To Beth,
my love and true partner
for thirty-five years in
life, family, and ministry
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

LIST OF GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

LIST OF CHURCH ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

LIST OF COUNTRY ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Preamble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Research Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATIONS FOR THE MISSION
OF THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Old Testament Foundations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 17:1-8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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Chapter Page

The Inclusion of Many Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

The Royal Line of a Savior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Promise of Eternity with God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

An Obedient People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
God’s Omnipotence in the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Worldwide Extension of God’s Glory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Gathering of All Nations (Isa 66:18-23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

God’s Universal Invitation (Joel 2:28-32) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

The Global Call to Worship God (Ps 67:1-7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The Great Commission of Jesus Revealed in the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Background of the Four Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Chronology of the Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Contrast in Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

The Johannine Commission (John 20:21) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

The Matthean Commission (Matt 28:18-20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Authority for the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

The Focus of the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

The Scope for the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The Power for the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The Markan Commission (Mark 16:15-16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

The Lukan Commission (Luke 24:46-48) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Summary of the Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

  v
Chapter Page

The Mission of the Early Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

The Admission by the Jerusalem Church (Acts 11:17-18) . . . . . . . . . 43

The Mission Modeled by the Antioch Church (Acts 13:1-4) . . . . . . . . 45

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3. SBC ASSOCIATIONS MOBILIZING CHURCHES FOR MISSIONS . . . . . 51

A History of Baptist Associations and Church Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

A Connection with Missions Created . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Missions and Baptists in America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

The Impact of William Carey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Supporters of Global Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Promoters of SBC Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

The Return of Missions to Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

The Advantages of SBC Associations for Church Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Calling Churches to the Mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Strategically Positioned to Help Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Coordinating Collaborative Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Renewing the Mission of SBC Churches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

SBC Associations and Missions Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

The Quest for Relevance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

A New Generation of Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Networks as a New Model for Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

The STARS Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

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Chapter Page

The Priorities of the STARS Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

The Strengths of the STARS Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

4. A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Steps Taken for the First Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Steps Taken for the Second Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Steps Taken for the Third Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Steps Taken for the Fourth Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Steps Taken for the Fifth Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5. EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Evaluation of the Project’s Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Evaluation of the Project’s Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Evaluation of the First Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Evaluation of the Second Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Evaluation of the Third Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Evaluation of the Fourth Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Evaluation of the Fifth Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Strengths of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Weaknesses of the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

What I Would Do Differently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Theological Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Personal Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

  vii
Appendix Page

1. SFBA CHURCHES INCLUDED IN THE PROJECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

2. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CHURCH LEADERS

WITH SHORT-TERM MISSIONS EXPERIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

3. RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FOR CHURCH LEADERS WITH

STM EXPERIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

4. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ADMINISTERING QUESTIONNAIRES

FOR RESEARCH ON SHORT-TERM MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

5. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ADULT MEMBERS
OF SHORT-TERM MISSIONS TEAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

6. RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FOR ADULT MEMBERS

OF STM TEAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

7. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ADULT MEMBERS OF CHURCHES

INVOLVED IN SHORT-TERM MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
8. RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRES FOR ADULT MEMBERS

OF CHURCHES INVOLVED IN STM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
9. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CHURCH LEADERS IN REPEAT-TRIP
MISSIONS PROJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
10. QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NETWORK PARTNERS IN REPEAT-TRIP
MISSIONS PROJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

  viii
LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. STM experience of actively participating church leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

2. Responses of sub-group to statements of personal impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

3. Missions experience of adult team members with their churches . . . . . . . . . 92
4. Summary of personal growth of adult team members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5. Comparison of one-time and repeat international participants’ responses . . 94
6. Involvement background of adult church member respondents . . . . . . . . . . 96
7. Comparison of responses of adult church members by involvement . . . . . . 97

8. Responses of adults in areas of missional growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9. General data relating to RTM projects of SFBA churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

10. Responses to strategy-related questions for church RTM projects . . . . . . . 101

11. Responses of international partners to RTM questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

12. Responses to statements of STARS Network assistance for RTM . . . . . . . 103

A1. List of SFBA churches actively participating in missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

A2. Results of questionnaires for church leaders with STM experience . . . . . . 113

A3. Results of questionnaires for adult members of STM teams . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

A4. Results of questionnaires for adult members of churches involved in STM 122

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