Shortly before the final session of the 2012 Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference began, a pastor sitting near me turned to a friend and said he hoped the session would be like those that people talk about that used to happen. “Maybe when we are older, we will talk about how great this conference was and the impact it had on Alabama Baptists,” he said.
The growing excitement about the session was easy to see. Scores of people skipped their evening meal to be sure they had good seats in the 1,350-seat auditorium of Eastmont Baptist Church, Montgomery. A half-hour before the scheduled time to begin, the auditorium was full and more than 300 people had to be escorted to overflow facilities.
The featured speaker was nationally known Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas and radio preacher heard on more than 500 stations across the nation. His presence had been advertised locally, and hundreds of African-Americans from non-Southern Baptist churches joined the congregation for the final service of the annual evangelism conference.
The estimated crowd of nearly 1,700 may have been the most racially diverse gathering the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions has ever assembled.
And Evans did not disappoint. With a mixture of perceptive illustrations, scholarly insights and astute applications, he made plain the Great Commission’s imperative to make disciples. Along the way, he chided Baptists who concentrate only on evangelism. “Getting people saved is the first step,” he declared. “The goal is to make disciples.”
Evans took note of the fact that he was speaking in Montgomery, site of the famous bus boycott that was catalytic for the civil rights movement. “We give thanks for the progress made in civil rights over the past 50 years,” he said. “But if the Church had been disciples and calling culture to play by the Book, the whole thing should have been over in about three minutes.”
Deftly moving between humorous personal examples and indicting applications of discipleship, Evans carried the congregation along. It was the Anglos in the congregation more than the African-Americans who encouraged him with shouts of “amen” and groans of “oh my.” In the end, a standing ovation was the crowd’s response.
The young pastor who hoped for a night to remember got his wish. He heard what I personally believe to be one of the most prophetic and poignant sermons I have ever heard. What its long-term impact will be only God knows. Certainly if Alabama Baptists take seriously the Bible’s clear call to make disciples whose lives are changed to reflect God’s values, then church life in this state will change and so will the impact of God’s people.
There is something dreadfully wrong when studies find no discernible differences between the values and lifestyles of Christians and non-Christians. There is something dreadfully wrong when Alabama Baptists make up more than 20 percent of the state’s population and yet, in the public square, are practically silent about God’s concern for hurting people. That is not biblical discipleship.
But the 2012 State Evangelism Conference was more than the final session. It was four excellent sessions, beginning on Monday evening with the key address by Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. In previous years, the evangelism conference started Monday afternoon. But with only a handful of people there for the opening session, the beginning often was more like a whimper than a bang.
Not this year. Attendance was higher for the opening session than for most of the recent Monday night meetings. Perhaps it was because pastors know that First, Jacksonville, has a remarkable history of helping pastors. A pastor knows he is not going to be verbally “spanked” by someone from First, Jacksonville, for all the things he is not doing right. Pastors get enough of that in the ebb and flow of their regular work. The evangelism conference is supposed to be a time to be encouraged and refreshed. This year, it was.
Throughout the four sessions, the congregational singing was uplifting. Music evangelist Daniel Crews blessed participants as did the choir and orchestra of the host church in both evening sessions.
Perhaps the moment of greatest introspection came during the sermon by Larry Wynn, vice president of evangelism at the North American Mission Board. Wynn related vignettes about the growth of Hebron Baptist Church, Dacula, Ga. During his pastorate, the church went from being a 200-member country church to one of the nation’s megachurches.
Over and over again, Wynn emphasized that people do not want to know how much one knows or one’s theological convictions. What people want to know is “how much you care” for them, he emphasized.
Wynn challenged those attending the evangelism conference to demonstrate in their personal ministries and their church’s ministries that they care for people as God cares for them.
Wynn described that kind of ministry as “obedience” and challenged those present to recommit themselves to obedience, seeing people as Jesus sees them and loving people as Jesus loves them.
Hundreds of pastors and others flocked to the altar. It was a special moment, a memorable moment for all. In a way, it set the stage for what Evans did in the closing service.
The 2012 State Evangelism Conference was promoted as a celebration of the 65th anniversary of the event. Sammy Gilbreath, director of evangelism for Alabama Baptists, recognized his predecessor, Harper Shannon, as the only other living director of that office and recalled contributions of evangelism conferences past.
But the greatest tribute to the anniversary was the conference itself. It was a time of inspiration, challenge, direction and more. This was a conference like “one of those that people talk about that used to happen” as the young pastor said.
Let us pray that its lasting impact will be as great as its initial impression.
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