CBF General Assembly 2022 by Connie McNeill

One of the first major tasks I was assigned in 2005 when I began work for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Atlanta was overseeing the global General Assembly. It is the annual gathering of CBF folks. It is partly a professional meeting for ministers, partly networking for seminary students and recent graduates, and partly a high-level room for the conversation of laity. It is the membership vote of annual business matters for global CBF, outstanding worship, professional workshops, chicken luncheons that include informative panels and speakers, and lots of fellowship in-between it all.

I know how the sausage is made, how much work it is, and how much the staff enjoys being part of a gathering of folks with whom they usually only have email or phone contact. It takes an army of local volunteers, CBF staff, and professional vendors who make the hospitality, the assistance, the lights, and the sound happen. They did a good job, and I appreciate their efforts.

This was my first GA since 2013, when I left my employment with them. Then COVID kept the meeting from taking place in person. I joined the virtual Assembly, but it wasn’t the same.

I realized this year that being with each other makes the General Assembly so special. It helps anyone understand why you as an individual or we as a congregation would care to participate. It is a picture of the work of God bigger than any one of us as an individual or church. I hope that every denominational group experience this when they gather. God is not uniquely CBF’s.

Walking through the hallways of the Assembly, I found myself wishing that each of you were with me to experience the gathering of other Fellowship Baptists. You could experience for yourself the value of our participation with the work of our Global Missions, our partners, our seminaries, and the growing number of Christians who are finding a spiritual home in CBF. Hearing from the Baptist Joint Committee, Baptist Women in Ministry, The Emmanuel McCall Initiative for Racial Repair Work, our Chaplains, meeting our Field Personnel—each and every emphasis reminded me of how important Second Baptist Church, Liberty, MO, has been in shaping this Fellowship. Yes, we are CBF, but CBF reflects us because we helped create it. You seldom meet someone at the Assembly who hasn’t at least heard of Second Liberty.

This year is too late, but please consider a trip next year. The General Assembly will be in Atlanta, GA., from June 25–July 1, 2023. If that doesn’t work, consider June 15-22, 2024, when it goes to Greensboro, NC. Those are two of my favorite sites for GA. I’ll tell you what, if you go, I’ll go and introduce you to a thousand of my closest Fellowship Baptist friends. I believe you will come away more informed about the importance of our participation in CBF, and you will be blessed!