The United States faces the twin dangers of radical Islam and radical atheism, Chuck Colson, the former Watergate conspirator who founded Prison Fellowship Ministries, told the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Pastors Conference.
“No time in history have we looked around and seen greater danger,” he told the assembly, gathered immediately prior to the SBC annual meeting in San Antonio.
“We have a danger from the East and a danger from within. We are fighting a form of Islam married to fascism,” Colson said.
“But there is a second threat — a culture war” emerging in Western society, he continued. “Two-thirds of Americans say there is no such thing as moral truth.
“Today with neo-atheism, it is all-out war,” Colson said, noting Richard Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion. We are under a vicious attack by neo-atheists. Christians have got to be able to speak up and give a reason for the hope that is within us,” Colson stressed.
He insisted Christians should:
- Know what Christianity is.
“Christianity is a way of seeing all of life and all life from a specific viewpoint,” Colson said.
- Understand a biblical worldview.
- Revitalize the gospel.
- Engage the culture.
“The job of the church is … to take the gospel into every single walk of life to bring the righteousness of Christ to bear on every single aspect of this world which He created,” Colson said. “As we Christians do that, the gates of hell can’t stand against us because we are on the attack.”
Baptisms are decreasing in Southern Baptist churches because they are “not doing evangelism God’s way,” author and prayer leader T.W. Hunt declared during a prayer gathering at the Pastors Conference.
“God cannot use our arrogance,” he said, asking the assembly to individually “pray that God will reveal what in us is arrogant enough that it impedes His work.”
Hunt directed the prayers thematically — otherness of God in churches, institutions and the convention; love as sacrificial and divine; humility as a non-negotiating affirmation of others; and Christ’s supremacy and high-mindedness as preparation for eternal nobility in heaven.
“Never do anything in your ministry that Jesus would not do,” he urged the pastors. “Pray to be high-minded, not petty.”
The Pastors Conference also offered traditional preaching and worship as well as breakout sessions. Following the conference theme of Jesus Christ … From Him, Through Him, to Him, preachers highlighted personal evangelism, the role of the Holy Spirit in one’s life and living out one’s ministry calling.
Former SBC President Jerry Vines said divine encounters are “scripted in heaven, produced on earth and choreographed by the Holy Spirit” to give believers the opportunity to share Christ with the lost.
Preaching from the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, Vines, president of Jerry Vines Ministries, said Philip — a “prompt, observant soul winner” — listened to God’s command and met the eunuch on the road as he passed in his chariot.
“He could have said, ‘not me,’ ‘not now,’ not there,’ when God told him to arise and go,” said Vines, retired pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla. “But he went with no hesitation and no complaint.”
Dwayne Mercer, pastor of First Baptist Church, Oviedo, Fla., challenged pastors to be filled with the Holy Spirit. “We are filled with the Holy Spirit the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior,” he said, noting the sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the fruit and the power of the Spirit. “But the problem is we leak” by grieving and quenching the Spirit.
“Why do we need the Holy Spirit?” Mercer asked. “The Holy Spirit provides the power to live the Christian life, (and) the Holy Spirit provides the power to minister in His name.”
Roger Spradlin, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, Calif., encouraged pastors in their calling as he preached from 2 Timothy.
“Beginners are a dime a dozen,” Spradlin said. “It is terminators that are rare.”
James MacDonald, pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Ill., used Acts 18–19 as he preached about claiming victory.
“Our confidence must be in Jesus Christ and Him alone,” MacDonald said. “Some are saying we have to compromise the message to reach the culture, (but) the gospel is not a gospel of persuasion; it is a gospel of power. We’ve got to come back to this. Jesus conquers the culture.”
Michael Catt, pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, Ga., was elected Pastors Conference president. Sherwood produced the popular family friendly movie “Facing the Giants.” (Jim White contributed)
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