Matthew 6:33

As a South Carolina Baptist, you may hear or read about Empowering Kingdom Growth - or EKG - from your pastor, church or association leadership. You may read about it in publications that you receive through church or at your home.

EKG is the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s partnership with God for spiritual awakening in our state.

Spiritual awakening is about waking up to God’s exciting potential for you on this earth. How can God use you toward helping people begin a life with Christ? How can God use you toward missions involvement? How can God use you toward starting new churches? How can God use you in ministry within your family, your community, your workplace, your relationships, your state, nation and world?

All across our state, South Carolina Baptists are waking up today and saying, “God, how can you use me today to build your kingdom on earth?” And, as Baptists turn to God, the South Carolina Baptist Convention is available with training, resources and guidance to help them.

It’s an exciting journey for all South Carolina Baptists, and this information is designed to help you get started.

The VISION for the next chapter of EKG for the South Carolina Baptist Convention: empowering South Carolina Baptists to experience kingdom growth

The VALUES which will support this vision include:

• People (all people are created in the image of God, Gen. 1:26)
• Church (the church is given the keys to the kingdom, Matt. 16:19)
• Kingdom growth (the Great Commission is the foundation for missions, evangelism and discipleship, Matt. 28:19-20)
• Partnership (joy comes from working together with God, Phil. 1:4-5)
• Innovation ("See, I am doing a new thing," Isa 43:19)
• Prayer (Jesus taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come," Matt. 6:10)
• Integrity ("Speaking the truth in love..." Eph. 4:15)

The STRENGTHS we will build on are:

• The rich heritage of South Carolina Baptists for fulfilling the Great Commission
• The success of EKG 1992 - 2002 as a unifying vision
• The commitment of the Convention to serve churches
• The resources of South Carolina Baptists
• The commitment of South Carolina Baptists to evangelism and missions

The South Carolina Baptist Convention will take the following INITIATIVES:

• focus efforts and provide staff for a prayer movement, including community-wide prayer for spiritual awakening
• help churches implement strategies for intentional spiritual development
• create a distributive learning network for leadership development
• improve service to churches by
  • realigning staff assignments to deliver assistance through a proactive,
  customized, personal approach
  • enhancing Website to make services/resources available 24-7
  • developing a relational database enabling churches to share ministry strategies/successes
  • bringing every church online
  • establishing a research department
• promote innovation by
  • enabling churches and church leaders to identify and build on their strengths
  • producing premier learning experiences
  • highlighting innovative ministries that produce kingdom growth
  • increase revenues for funding kingdom growth initiatives by encouraging each congregation to increase Cooperative Program/missions giving each year
  • developing additional revenue streams (ex: endowments, grants, etc.) to equal at least 1% of budget receipts each year 2002-2007