Alabama Baptist Evangelism Director Sammy Gilbreath must be breathing a sigh of relief. The changes he made in the annual Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference worked. This year’s meeting went a long way toward restoring the State Evangelism Conference to one of the "must meetings" for pastors and church leaders.
All of us are praying the meeting also helps increase the number of baptisms reported by cooperating Alabama Baptist churches during this year.
According to local church statistics reported in this issue of The Alabama Baptist, cooperating churches reported an increase of 1,043 baptisms over 2005 numbers. The total number of baptisms reported by Alabama Baptist churches in 2006 was 22,406 or an increase of 4.9 percent. Unfortunately the 2005 figure was the lowest number of baptisms in more than a decade and the 2006 number is the third lowest in that time frame. This decline came despite the two-year emphasis of Southern Baptists nationally on the importance of baptisms.
Former Alabama Baptist State Convention president Charles Carter focused participants’ attention on baptisms during the only public commitment service of last week’s evangelism conference. Tuesday morning, Carter asked those in the audience to write the name or names of those they would commit to present the plan of salvation to during the next three months.
In what was probably the spiritual highlight of the conference (at least for this writer), those cards were placed on the altar and a special time of prayer was held that God would prepare the way for the evangelistic witnesses the men and women promised to make.
During his sermon prior to the time of commitment, Carter emphasized the primary missing element in evangelism was an intentional decision on the part of Christians to share the gospel with specific people at specific times in specific places.
If the hundreds of persons making commitments to share the gospel follow through, this year’s evangelism conference could be the beginning of an upturn in evangelism for Alabama Baptists.
Participants also responded well to the extensive use of Alabama Baptist speakers. In addition to Carter, the program featured the always-loved Evangelist Junior Hill and the ever-popular Rick Ousley, former pastor of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham. Both did the sterling job of communicating that has made them noted instruments of God among Baptists.
Gilbreath also introduced Alabama Baptists to new pastors in the state. Kevin Hamm of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church and Tom Whitsett of First Baptist Church, Jasper, were both attending their first Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference and both were on the program.
Hamm noted the evangelism conference had "something for everybody" and it did. There was the detailed Bible lesson from former SBC president Jerry Vines. There was the strong admonishment toward ministerial integrity by Focus on the Family’s H.B. London. There was the spellbinding recount of God’s faithfulness in the midst of tragedy by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley. Participants sat on the edge of their seats and hardly moved as Kelley recounted how God worked in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Together each element contributed to make the 2007 State Evangelism Conference a spiritually moving experience.
One thing did not change from last year — the discipleship track, known as Great Commission Ministries Track. This series of varied workshops allowed participants to take inspiration and encouragement back and translate it into specific areas of need in their local situations.
A major question going into this year’s event was the impact of the date change for the conference. Traditionally the evangelism conference has been held in January. Gilbreath hoped that moving the event to late February would result in better weather and fewer conflicts with local church schedules. Both worked this year.
The largest crowds attended the evening services — just under 1,500, according to local sources. But every session comfortably filled the 1,500-seat auditorium of Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham. Given the come-and-go nature of the event, probably well over 2,000 different individuals participated in the two-day event. While the numbers are not breathtaking, they are gains over recent years, which indicate that Alabama Baptists responded positively to the date change.
In other states, declines in the prominence of the annual evangelism conference have been met with hand-wringing but little action. Gilbreath is to be commended not only for recognizing that changes needed to be made in this annual event but for making changes that will help the cause of evangelism among Alabama Baptists. Whether additional changes in the evangelism conference will be made remains to be seen.
For now, the positive experience of the 2007 event will cause more Alabama Baptists to put it on their calendar as a "must meeting" for 2008. That is a good step.
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