Loving God, time of fellowship and oneness anticipated at upcoming Annual Meeting

On Nov. 15-17, messengers and guests from across the Texas Baptists family will gather at the Waco Convention Center for the 141st Texas Baptists Annual Meeting. Under the theme “Live Out GC2: Love God,” attendees will join together for worship and business sessions, hear from seven keynote speakers, choose from 27 unique ministry workshops and enjoy fellowship throughout exhibit halls, meals and receptions, rallies and more.

Main sessions are scheduled for Sunday at 7 p.m., Monday at 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Evening sessions on Sunday and Monday will feature worship, and Monday and Tuesday morning sessions will combine worship and business. You can find more information on the schedule and pre-register as a guest or messenger at txb.org/am.

GC2-focused speakers, worship leaders and workshops

The Annual Meeting’s keynote speakers will include Julio Guarneri, executive director of Texas Baptists; Joseph Adams, first vice president of Texas Baptists; Karen Bullock, retired distinguished professor of Christian Heritage; Joseph Fields, senior pastor of New Beginnings Church in Lewisville, Texas; Debbie Potter, president of Texas Baptists; and Jeff Warren, senior pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. 

Guarneri will deliver the Executive Director’s Report Monday evening, and Potter will deliver the President’s Address during the Tuesday morning session.

Worship will be led by Gary Anthony from First Baptist Church Temple; Brad Martin from North Side Baptist Church in Weatherford, Texas; Geraldine Latty-Luce and Cary Luce from London, England; and CreekWorship from Canyon Creek Baptist Church in Temple, Texas. 

Workshops will include topics such as church health, vision and strategy, evangelism, discipleship, kingdom giving and more. Attendees are encouraged to stop by exhibit halls throughout the three-day gathering to learn more about ministry resources from Texas Baptists staff, ministry partners and other vendors, and for networking and fellowship. 

Several meals and receptions will also be hosted by Texas Baptists ministries and partners.

Constitution and Bylaw amendments and special relationship agreement among business considered by messengers 

During business sessions, messengers will elect officers and vote on recommendations, including the 2027 proposed cooperative missions and ministries budget, the proposed 2027 allocation of worldwide missions initiatives and partnerships, and nominations for Executive Board directors, boards of affiliated ministries and committees.

A recommendation to amend the BGCT Constitution and Bylaws will also be considered by messengers.

This year at Annual Meeting, messenger voting will be conducted electronically via SMS/text messaging services for real-time votes and to streamline the business process. Each messenger registered by a church will need to provide a unique mobile phone number in order to vote on these motions. Your church will need to obtain verbal consent from each messenger to receive text messages from Texas Baptists. 

Messengers will also hear and vote upon a recommendation to adopt an updated relationship agreement between the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) and Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas (BHSET). 

These and other business items are available online via the “Business” page of the Annual Meeting website. Further instructions on how to opt-in to electronic voting can also be found on the “Business” page.

Attendees are encouraged to access all of the information above, including the schedule, worship and business sessions, workshop titles and descriptions, rallies, meals and receptions and more, via the Texas Baptists app, which is free to download online at txb.org/app. 

To register as a messenger or guest for the Texas Baptists Annual Meeting, visit txb.org/am. Online pre-registration closes Sunday, Nov. 15.