Those attending the 2000 Alabama Baptist State Convention Nov. 14–15 in Montgomery were treated to three dynamic interpretations of this year’s theme, “Through Every Door.”
Gilman McKee, pastor of First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, challenged the state’s Baptist churches to get out of their comfort zones by going through doors to find lost souls for Christ.“Most of us have become more interested in people coming through our doors instead of us going through theirs,” he said.
“We may need to rethink the way we have church. Lost people are like the sick who need a physician but many churches are not prepared to take the lost into their doors,” he said. “I’m convinced that today’s Baptists are more concerned about their college football team losing than they are about the destiny of young children’s souls,” he said.
Using statistics to emphasize his point he stated that of the 3,170 Baptist churches in Alabama, 842 did not record a baptism in the past year. “How does this happen?” he asked.
“As Southern Baptists we understand God’s intention for us to share the gospel. We must not sound the horn of retreat but blow the bugle of prayer that we stay the course and go through every door with the gospel of Christ.”
Perry Neal, a full-time evangelist, delivered a fiery interpretation of the theme stating that John the Baptist was the first to witness for Jesus. “He may not have made the history books but he made the “holy Book,” he said.
Neal emphasized the importance of witnessing for Christ. “As we go through every door God will show us His way of speaking to people who are crying out for help. People are hungry for what they do not know.”
And giving his own definition of witnessing he said, “witnessing is having one beggar tell another beggar about the Bread of Life.”
“We must go through every door and tell those who do not know about Jesus that He is the hope of the church, America and the world,” he strongly reiterated.
The convention’s theme interpretation was concluded on the last day when Bob Thornton, director of missions for
Etowah Association, encouraged his fellow Baptists to not forget the importance of nurturing the newborn believer in Christ.
“It’s twice as important to teach new believers as it is to baptize them,” he said. “After they become believers and are baptized then we must not fail in our duty to nurture them once more to spiritual maturation.”
Thornton asked Alabama Baptists if they were diligent in following up with new converts in their church. “Are we doing as much in discipling our converts as we did in evangelizing them?” he asked.
“The highways of life are littered with the carnage of people who have been left behind.”
Thornton challenged the attendees to walk through every door to look for new believers and disciple them as they continue their Christian walk.
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