EDITOR’S NOTE — The Baptist Paper staff members continue their review of the audio files from the 2009–2010 meetings of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. (See the first five articles here.) Staff members are currently working through audio files from the remaining meetings and will release highlights from those meetings in the coming days and weeks.
If you’ve been looking for more written materials related to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force files unsealed in June, over 1,000 pages of additional content are now available.
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The Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives in downtown Nashville has confirmed it received four volumes of 1,070 pages late Monday afternoon (Sept. 15). This latest collection contains background materials, reports detailing progress and recommendations, the final amended report, meeting materials, contributing documents, correspondence, supporting presentations, communications from GCR Task Force chair Ronnie Floyd and task force members to the SBC, prayer partner emails, endorsements, press releases and a directory.
‘More complete’ record
Taffey Hall, SBHLA director and archivist, expressed gratitude to Floyd and his team for compiling and organizing the materials, noting the latest additions “make the historical record from the work of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force more complete.”
On June 16, audio files of GCR Task Force’s 10 months of work in 2009 and 2010 were unsealed after 15 years, which was the agreed-upon time by the group. The audio collection consists of 57 compact discs and about 90 hours worth of discussion, debate and presentations. It is unclear why the various supplement materials recently added were not included initially. As more people expressed interest in reviewing the files, the question surfaced repeatedly about the missing pieces.
Chuck Kelley, president emeritus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, shared his excitement when he learned about the arrival of the additional materials. Kelley visited the Southern Baptist Historical Library & Archives earlier this summer to begin listening to the GCR Task Force audio files.
“By adding these supplementary materials to the audio of (the GCR Task Force) meetings, you dramatically enhanced the ability of researchers and interested others to gain a much fuller understanding of GCR,” noted Kelley, who also serves at NOBTS as distinguished research professor of evangelism. “It is now a true archive. Anyone who wants to understand the what, why and how that was behind the proposals made to the SBC is in a much better position to do so.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Shawn Hendricks, with reporting from Jennifer Rash.
