JEFFERSON CITY – Rick Hedger, partnership mission specialist for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) answered the question, “what is a core value?”
“Words like worth, importance and significance are used to describe the value of something,” he said. “It is possible that everyone has something in their life that is of value. That thing is of worth. It is important. It is significant to that person. In fact, they probably have multiple things that are of value to them.
“When a group of people gather together for any reason, they will also have some things that are of value to the group. The group will want to make sure those things which are important do not get shoved aside in the business of group activity. This is true of a group that gathers as a manifestation of the Body of Christ, a church.
“A church may have many values to which they hold dear. Some of those values are at the core of who they are. Those values in a sense define who they are as a group. In the course of time life happens. Business happens. Values can all too easily get shoved aside.
“The MBC CORE Conference is an attempt to sweep away the dust and clutter surrounding three of these CORE Values that often define who we are as Baptists. These CORE Values revolve around and find themselves intertwined throughout the Great Commission. These three CORE Values are: Becoming Disciples, Developing Leaders and Missional Living.
“To stay with our analogy of sweeping away the dust and clutter to get to the CORE Values, the CORE Conference has been strategically formatted as a brisk breeze refreshing our look at these tried and true CORE Values. Five speakers have been invited to focus a spot light on these values in an attempt to stir hearts anew.”