Posted on Jun 29, 2009 | by Staff

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The chairman of a task force charged with helping improve Southern Baptists' service to Christ through their Great Commission mandate has asked for 5,000 volunteers who will pray regularly on behalf of the committee.

Ronnie W. Floyd, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., and The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Rogers, Ark., will chair the 19-member committee, which was appointed June 24 by Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt. Messengers to the SBC annual meeting in Louisville, Ky., overwhelmingly adopted a motion to authorize the move June 23.

"I am very humbled by the request made of me by SBC President Johnny Hunt to serve as chairman of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force," Floyd told Baptist Press in a written statement June 28. "The task before us is huge and without the Lord's leadership and power will be impossible.

"This is why my No. 1 concern and request right now is that God raises up at least 5,000 Southern Baptists who will pray daily for our task force members and the work before us," Floyd added. "Through prayer and due diligence, God will direct our path toward the future. Prayer is my No. 1 concern today; please pray for us. This critical assignment placed upon us can be accomplished when we pray."

A website will be created in the near future where volunteers can register their commitment to pray, Floyd said. Prayer points will be sent to those who register.

The vote authorizing the task force charges them with studying how Southern Baptists can work "more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission."

Besides Floyd and Hunt, other committee members are: Jim Richards, executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C.; David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.; Simon Tsoi, trustee of the International Mission Board and retired pastor; Donna Gaines, pastor's wife at Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis, Tenn.; Al Gilbert, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C.; J.D. Greear, lead pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Tom Biles, executive director of the Tampa Bay Baptist Association.; Daniel L. Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; John Drummond, a layman at St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, Fla.; Harry Lewis, senior strategist for partnership missions and mobilization at the North American Mission Board; Michael Orr, pastor of First Baptist Church in Chipley, Fla.; Roger Spradlin, pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif.; J. Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention.; Ken Whitten, pastor of the Tampa-area Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Fla.; Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.