Frogs again hopped their way into the president’s address during the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) annual meeting.
The fully alive, fat Fred No. 2 was a stark contrast to the dead, dried frogs brought by SBC President and Fort Payne-native Bobby Welch for his 2005 address. The dead frogs were a visual example of Southern Baptists who get confused and leave the deep waters of God’s Word and evangelism for the shoreline, where they get killed.
That kicked off Welch’s challenge to Baptists to baptize 1 million people from Oct. 1, 2005, to Sept. 30, 2006, during the “Everyone Can! I’m it!” campaign.
He continued the challenge in his outgoing presidential address June 14, urging Baptists to use their “deep water” resources and collectively jump to reach the goal of winning 1 million to Christ.
As Welch held Fred No. 2, the frog displayed strong jumping legs and a voice grown deep from years of living in the pond behind Welch’s house.
“C’mon on Fred, don’t let me down,” Welch encouraged. As Fred’s croak echoed throughout the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Welch proudly said, “That’s one frog tearing it up, ain’t it?”
He then encouraged Fred No. 2 to show the audience what he could do with a whole crowd of frogs backing him up.
A chorus of chirps and croaks, from the smallest tree frog to the loudest bullfrog, resonated throughout the coliseum.
“You see the difference in one and a unity of purpose?” Welch asked the crowd.
It will take that unity of purpose for Southern Baptists to not only meet the “Everyone Can!” challenge but to also continue the call of the Great Commission, Welch said.
“The Baptist’s best bounce for their Baptist bucks is through the Cooperative Program (CP),” Welch explained.
Citing the debates about how much the churches of SBC officers should give through the CP, Welch asked the crowd to see the spiritual high road.
“Every person who has spoken on the subject has said, ‘Do more.’ And we should do more; we can do more; we will do more for the sake of winning souls.”
That is why he challenged Southern Baptists to win 1 million to Christ at the start of his presidency. “If you put up a God-sized emphasis, it will take God to jump it and you won’t get there without God,” Welch said.
“The crowd can always do more than one,” he added.
As Welch ended his address with his wife, Maudellen, by his side, he thanked the messengers for the opportunity to serve as president.
“This convention is worth the best of the rest of all our lives,” Welch said. “And so is winning souls.”
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