I love New Mexico and I love New Mexico Baptists!\u00a0 The BCNM, made up of approximately 350 cooperating Southern Baptist churches (although levels of cooperation vary)\u00a0in the Land of Enchantment, has been\u00a0assisting churches in\u00a0cooperative missions and ministry for almost 100 years.\u00a0 Whether at the beginning of last century or in the second decade of this century, New Mexico Baptists have a fertile mission field.<\/p>\n
With a population of around 2 million, New Mexico — the fifth largest state geographically — boasts a diverse population.\u00a0\u00a0In addition to the Anglo and Hispanic (Mexican and Spanish)\u00a0community, NM is also home to a large Native American population (Navajo and Apache) on two Reservations and 19 Pueblos.\u00a0\u00a0As part of our total mission field, the BCNM estimates that upwards of 90% of New Mexicans — regardless of their ethnicity — are lost without Christ!\u00a0 Let me repeat that — 90% of all New Mexicans do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, who, the\u00a0Bible tells us, is the ONLY way to heaven and\u00a0eternal life.<\/p>\n
New\u00a0Mexico Baptists\u00a0have a passion for fulfilling the Great Commission and\u00a0winning New Mexico and the world to Jesus Christ!\u00a0 But, we know that this passion must begin with our friends and neighbors in our own communities.\u00a0\u00a0And, when\u00a0a true Great Commission resurgence happens — which is spiritual, not organizational — then our churches will be on fire to reach our Jerusalems.\u00a0 As revival spreads, we will\u00a0witness an overflowing passion for the lost wherever they might be — whether\u00a0in our own state, in a\u00a0major metropolitan area of the United States, or the very ends of the earth.\u00a0 After all, lostness\u00a0is lostness and our friends, family and neighbors in New Mexico are just as much in need of the Gospel than folks in New York City, Los Angeles, or Phoenix.<\/p>\n
In New Mexico,\u00a0the Great Commission is not an either\/or proposition, but rather a both\/and.\u00a0 In all four Gospels plus the Book of Acts, Jesus gives His “marching orders” to his\u00a0disciples.\u00a0 That same commission is\u00a0in effect for Christ’s churches today.\u00a0 While some Southern Baptists like to focus on\u00a0the Great Commission found in Matthew 28, we would do well to\u00a0remember Christ’s\u00a0last words before He ascended into heaven:<\/p>\n
“But, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you\u00a0will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”\u00a0 (Acts 1:8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
With 90% lostness\u00a0in NM, the Southern Baptist churches that comprise the Baptist Convention of New Mexico must\u00a0continually re-prioritize\u00a0in order to more effectively cooperate together\u00a0as we fulfill the Great Commission at home and abroad.\u00a0 But, that re-prioritization will come from within, not from without.\u00a0 It will be determined as New Mexico Baptists prayerfully consider how God would want us to partner together to keep marching forward.<\/p>\n
While others — including leaders at the new NAMB and other leaders within the SBC — would like to “help” churches to radically re-prioritize<\/a>, the reality is that local churches and State Conventions remain autonomous.\u00a0 Even as the new NAMB\u00a0rolls out\u00a0the new strategic partnership agreements way ahead of schedule<\/a>, these new “partnership” agreements are still\u00a0supposed to be mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n
If the new NAMB\u00a0decides that certain jointly funded missionary positions are\u00a0no longer\u00a0worthy of NAMB\u00a0funding because these positions are not\u00a0related to church planting, that is their right within their own sphere of autonomy.\u00a0 The new NAMB\u00a0has already informed the BCNM\u00a0— one of those “western, underserved states” that was supposed to get more, not less, help from NAMB\u00a0— that we will see funding cut by $221,443 (or 20%)\u00a0beginning with the 2012 budget.\u00a0 If the new NAMB\u00a0cuts all or most of the approxiamtely\u00a0$1.1 million funding that the BCNM\u00a0received under the old cooperative agreement (which, at this point, seems highly likely), then our new “strategic partnership” with the new NAMB\u00a0will look quite different than it does today.<\/p>\n