Alabama Baptists prayed, Alabama Baptists came and Alabama Baptists saw God show up at this year’s State Evangelism Conference, according to Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
And watch out, world — because now they’re coming after you.
During the Tuesday morning session of the State Evangelism Conference — held Feb. 26–27 at Lakeside Baptist Church, Birmingham — hundreds of Alabama Baptists brought green cards bearing the handwritten names of lost people to the altar during a special call to prayer.
“Within the next 30 days if you are willing to share Jesus Christ with this person (on your card), then come and lay this card on the altar,” said Charles Carter, pastor emeritus of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, who called for those in attendance to commit anew to Intentional Evangelism.
Several state Baptist leaders then knelt around the cards to pray as the attendees lifted up their lost friends by name.
The moment was one of many “life-changing experiences” in the conference, according to Gilbreath.
“We’ve been in the presence of God, and they can take that motivation back to their people at home,” he said. “There was very diverse, powerful preaching, and the people felt a sweet spirit in the place.”
The conference drew one of the largest crowds in recent years — nearly 1,500 during the most packed night sessions. Those in attendance got to hear from nationally known speakers, well-known Alabama Baptist pastors and two pastors new to the state, among others.
Preaching from Colossians 1:15–20, Jerry Vines, one of the conference headliners Tuesday night, compared the culture in Colosse to today’s world.
“We have an atmosphere that says Jesus is fine but there are many Christs, many ways to God,” said Vines, retired pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla.
But the apostle Paul declares in Colossians that Jesus Christ is the absolute deity, Vines said. “Jesus is not just one among many; Jesus is the one and only.”
First, He is the one and only above creation. “He is prior in time and superior in person. He is the image of the invisible God.
“Our eternal Christ is the one who created this universe of ours,” Vines said. “Jesus Christ is the Elmer’s glue of this universe.
“If He can sustain this universe, He can sustain and bear up your life up as well.”
Second, Jesus is the one and only over the church.
“He is the risen, ruling head of the church,” Vines explained. “The church is not a monarchy run by the pastor. It is not an oligarchy run by deacons nor is it a democracy run by the people.
“The church is a Christocracy,” he said. “Jesus Christ is the one who guides the church.”
Third, Jesus is the one and only on the cross. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption of sin,” Vines said. “Ours were the sin; His was the blood.
“That’s why evangelism is so very important,” he said. “Every person on this earth has a right to hear the old, old story of Jesus.”
Those in attendance at the Monday evening rally got to hear from H.B. London, vice president of church and clergy for Focus on the Family.
“Is anybody getting saved here?” That’s the simple question to determine if the church is doing its job, he said.
“We’ve got to be united, engaged and expectant. We’ve got to love each other and work together,” he said, pointing to Acts 2:42.
“We have to pray for our pastors and provide for the people. The church has got to be willing to engage society in such a way that they stop and listen,” London said, noting 1 Thessalonians 5:12 and Ephesians 5:22.
“Today we live in a world where … there is so much contention and … a consumer mind-set,” he explained. “It is not so much what I can do for the church but what the church can do for me.
“The church is not about me being comfortable. It is about being militant and moving forward,” London said, noting the church is further from revival than it has ever been in many years.
The reasons:
First, “we’ve lost respect and honor for our spiritual leaders,” he said. “So often when we think in terms of our pastors, we think in terms of someone who is being paid to be religious or a hired hand for the local church, not so much as spiritual leaders but someone who has come along to serve us for a while.”
Satan will do anything he can to get the church distracted and the pastor disabled, London noted. “Pray that God will keep [pastors] clean and humble and that they will put a hedge of protection around their ministry.”
Second, “we seem to be more content on making people happy rather than making people holy,” London said. “The church is not a social club. Church is not about everybody being happy. It’s about coming into the house of God with a sense of expectancy and wanting to see the power of God unleashed.
“So often we try to pamper people into the Kingdom,” he said. “But the only way to get into the Kingdom is for people to confess their sins and believe that the only way to salvation is Jesus Christ.”
Third, “it seems like we are more interested about recruitment than we are about the substance of the church,” London said.
“The bottom line is so simple: Has anybody been saved here?”
In addition to hearing Vines, London and various other preachers, hundreds also gained strategies for outreach and discipleship from the Great Commission Ministries Track that ran breakout sessions simultaneously with the morning and afternoon conference sessions.
Those in attendance also got to enjoy “diverse” music provided by choirs from Lakeside Baptist and Gardendale’s First Baptist Church, soloist Luke Garrett and This Hope, a vocal quintet based in Woodstock, Ga.
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