HONOLULU, Hawaii (BP)--Hawaii Pacific Baptists celebrated their 65th annual meeting with the theme "Taking Ground," based on Philippians 3:13-14.

In recognizing achievements among the churches, Veryl Henderson, executive director of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention, gave certificates to seven congregations for starting new work in the past year and to eight congregations for participating in all four facets of the Acts 1:8 Challenge: community, region, continent and world.

Six of the seven associations of the Hawaii Pacific convention were congratulated on achieving 100 percent reporting for the Annual Church Profile. Only one church in the seventh association has yet to file its ACP.

OlaNui!, a new congregation in Honolulu, was seated for the first time, and the church's pastor, Rick Lazor, and members of the church were recognized.

A total of 244 messengers from 58 churches attended the Nov. 8-9 meeting at First Southern Baptist Church of Pearl Harbor in Honolulu.

Messengers approved an overall budget of $3.2 million for 2008, a 3 percent increase over the current year. The budget includes anticipated Cooperative Program giving of $1,196,272, a 2 percent increase, from Hawaii Pacific churches plus funding from the North American Mission Board and LifeWay Christian Resources. The convention will continue to allocate 31.5 percent of Cooperative Program receipts to national and international missions and ministries.

Robert Miller, pastor of Waialae Baptist Church in Honolulu, was elected as the convention's president; Richard Smith, pastor of Valley Isle Baptist Church on Maui, first vice president; and Walter Agena, a member of OlaNui!, second vice president; and Libby Jones, a member of Kona Baptist Church on Hawaii, recording secretary.

Messengers passed resolutions affirming the Hawaii Pacific convention's partnerships with the California Southern Baptist Convention, the Japan Baptist Mission and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Each session involved worship led by teams from Hawaii Kai Church, Makakilo Baptist and OlaNui!. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was the guest speaker on the final night of the annual meeting.

The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention has 91 churches and 24 missions.

Next year's annual meeting will be Nov. 13-14 at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel in Hilo.

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