The nations were calling. A theology of cooperation was formalizing. Best business practices of the day were refining. A denominational conscience was solidifying. Baptists acknowledged God’s call to a great work that would require a great sacrifice and proposed a new funding model for the new day.

Over the next one-hundred years, Southern Baptists would give over $20 billion through their Cooperative Program to fund local, national, and international missions; educate their pastors and church leaders; present a unified voice in the public square; and more. The Cooperative Program became the largest voluntary Great Commission funding mechanism the world has ever known. 

But is the Cooperative Program merely Southern Baptist history? Does that heroic spirit of strategic, sacrificial cooperation still burn within the Baptist body? Will the challenges and opportunities of the coming decades be best met by the same financial program, or is something else on the horizon?
On the centennial anniversary of the Cooperative Program, A Unity of Purpose collects the voices of leading Southern Baptists to offer a theological, historical, and missional celebration of the program’s past successes.

 

Tony Wolfe, Executive Director-Treasurer, South Carolina Baptist Convention. For 25 years, Tony has served Southern Baptist churches in South Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana as a denominational leader, interim pastor, pastor, worship leader, Christian educator, and pastoral counselor. He holds a D.Ed.Min. (Leadership) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, an M.A.R. (Pastoral Counseling) from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, a B.M. (Music Education) from Lamar University, and is currently a Ph.D. (Evangelism) candidate at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Tony and his wife Vanessa were married on April 14, 2001, and have two sons and one daughter-in law.

W. Madison Grace II serves as Associate Professor of Baptist Heritage at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Madison was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi and grew up in south Florida. While in college he felt called into full-time, vocational ministry and now holds a B.A. (Christian Studies) from Mississippi College, along with an M.Div. (Biblical Languages), and a PhD (Systematic Theology) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Madison has served in a variety of ministry positions at churches in Mississippi and Texas in children, youth, educational, and pastoral training ministries. Madison is the proud husband of Shareen, and the father of three wonderful boys.