[SLIDESHOW=44003,44004,44005,44006]KONA, Hawaii (BP) — Messengers to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention annual meeting welcomed a Russian-speaking church into their fellowship and held steady the convention’s percentage of Cooperative Program receipts forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention causes.
Gathering around the theme “charting the course together,” drawn from Acts 20:24, 214 messengers and 60 guests convened the HPBC’s 74th annual meeting Nov. 17-18 at the Courtyard King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
One new congregation, the Honolulu Slavic Church, was received into the convention’s fellowship by messengers. It is the first Russian-speaking church to cooperate with the HPBC, bringing the total number of ethnic-language congregations to 12.
Messengers approved an overall budget of $2,915,000, a 6 percent decrease from 2016.
The convention will continue to allocate 31.5 percent of CP receipts to SBC missions and ministries, with 68.5 percent funding HPBC ministries. The budget does not include any shared ministry expenses.
Messengers also approved the calendar of activities for 2017 and the reports of the executive director-treasurer and Executive Board.
Keynote speakers included HPBC President John Endriss, HPBC executive director-treasurer Chris Martin and International Mission Board Japan cluster leader Donn Broeker.
Endriss, pastor of Engage Church in Hilo, Hawaii, was reelected president. Robert Uyeda, associate pastor of the English department of Hawaii Chinese Baptist Church in Honolulu, was re-lected first vice president. Wes Higuchi, a member of Kahului Baptist Church on the island of Maui, was reelected second vice president. Hazel Capinpin, member of Word of Truth in Ewa Beach, Oahu, was elected for a third term as recording secretary.
A resolution was approved thanking those ending their terms of service on the Executive Board and convention committees. Another resolution recognized SBC entities.
The annual meeting was hosted by the Big Island Baptist Association, which provided sound and lighting equipment as well as worship music for each session.
Next year’s annual meeting will be held Nov. 9-10 at the Hawaii Baptist Academy in Honolulu.
Proceedings and videos from the annual meeting can be viewed at http://ustream.tv/hpbc-hawaii.
