When a tornado hit his town earlier this year and killed several people, including eight students in the high school next door to his church, Pastor Billy Joy understood immediately what it meant to connect with people.
Speaking to messengers at the state convention annual meeting Nov. 14, Joy, senior pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, Enterprise, developed the Connecting with People segment of the LEADERconnect theme.
He noted that as believers, we have a desperate need to connect with people who are outside the body of Christ.
Reading from Acts 9, Joy noted the apostle Paul had only been a Christian for a short time but had already gone from being a persecutor to being a persecutee.
“I thought about that scene of Paul being lowered down (a wall in a basket to save his life). As he looked up, I wonder what he might have said — maybe ‘God bless you my brothers — don’t let go of the rope!’”
He likened believers to those holding the rope, saying “We may be the only connection [nonbelievers] have to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Joy explained three reasons not to let go of the rope. The first reason is that you don’t know who is in your basket.
“You might know their name,” he said. “But you don’t know the significance they may be to the kingdom of God. Paul was the Osama bin Laden of his day. They did not know who he was but God knew who he was. They saw a terrorist but when God looked into the basket, He saw a man who would take the gospel to the Gentiles.”
Joy described one mother’s refusal to let go of the rope. Susanna Wesley, mother of famed preachers John and Charles Wesley, prayed for and nurtured her sons. She never let go of the rope, he said, noting she changed two continents for Christ.
A second reason to hold tightly to the rope is that “you don’t know how far they are from the bottom,” Joy said. “What if they had just got tired of holding the rope and let go? Boom — there goes the New Testament.”
Joy described a family that visited his church. The son came forward and wanted to be baptized. He asked for prayer for his family. The parents soon accepted Christ, but the daughter, Molly, still did not come.
“On March 1, Molly was on the third hall of Enterprise High School (when the tornado struck). The next Sunday we had services, her mother brought her to me,” Joy said.
Molly had been just a few feet from those who were killed, he said. “I knew if I had died, I would have gone to hell,” she told Joy.
He explained she could take care of that right then. She gave her heart to Jesus a few minutes later and was baptized the next Sunday.
The third reason for holding on to the rope is because you might be the only one holding it.
“You might be the only connection that person has to Christ,” Joy said.
Another rope-holder is Shannon Bridges, teacher at Enterprise High, Joy said. She was also on the third hall when the tornado hit.
“When the lights went out, two girls started to scream. Shannon walked over and put her arms around them, and that’s the last thing she remembers,” he said.
Bridges was five months pregnant, but both she and the baby are fine.
Like with Bridges, somebody’s life may be depending on you to hold the rope for them, Joy said.
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