First Baptist Church, Pelham, was a rocking place Monday evening, Feb. 27. Baptists from across Alabama had gathered there for the annual Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference. The First, Pelham, church choir, clad in black, sang praise songs backed up by the pulsating beat of drums, guitars, keyboards and a piano.
The music was visceral and people responded. Across the auditorium hundreds stood with hands extended upward. Some swayed to the penetrating rhythms. It was obvious that most in the audience were captivated as they enjoyed the worship experience.
But the opening sentences of the first speaker changed the tone of the whole event. New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary President Chuck Kelley declared that Baptists are down in membership, down in worship attendance, down in small group participation such as Sunday School and down in baptisms.
These are not blips on an otherwise upward graph, he assured, but well documented downward trends reflecting several years of Southern Baptist life.
“If I were speaking as a professional religious sociologist,” Kelley said, “I would say we are in decline and we are never coming out of it.”
‘Evangelism Resurgence’
One could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as Baptist leaders from across the state were suddenly confronted with the need for an “Evangelism Resurgence” — the theme of this year’s conference.
Kelley quickly added, “But God is not nervous” about this situation.
For the rest of the two days speaker after speaker focused on ways to turn around the downward trends. By the time the meeting ended participants were celebrating how God continues to call people to Himself through salvation and how He brings victory into the lives of believers.
Speakers did not wring their hands in despair or scold others for not caring about sharing the gospel. Instead speakers emphasized the building blocks of Christian discipleship.
Christian apologist Alex McFarland emphasized the need for Christians to be able to “give an account for the faith that is within you.” McFarland was substituting for Josh McDowell who had to cancel because of unplanned surgery.
In addition to being intellectually prepared to respond to questions by skeptics, various speakers emphasized believers being Christlike. There ought to be a difference between a life in Christ and a life without Christ, said one speaker. Unfortunately, studies by Pew Research and Barna indicate little or no difference between believers and nonbelievers related to family, social conscious and moral practices.
Another speaker urged listeners to start with family and friends when sharing the gospel. That emphasis reminded one of the growth of the gospel in China. When missionaries were forced out of China in 1949 the estimated number of evangelical Christians was less than 500,000. Thirty years later when Christian churches began reopening the world was shocked to learn the number of Christians was more than 4 million.
Later analysts concluded the removal of western missionaries allowed the gospel to grow along natural Chinese patterns of family and friends. Today the number of Chinese Christians tops 100 million by some estimates.
During the Feb. 13–16 meeting of the Association of State Baptist Papers, editors learned more than 10,000 people a day are coming to faith in China.
Oh that God would grant such a revival in the United States.
Using the Book of Nehemiah another speaker urged participants to step forward to personally accept responsibility for an evangelism resurgence. It does no good to be intellectually prepared to share the gospel and to have a target audience of family and friends if one is not willing to personally share Jesus.
The Tuesday evening service will live long in the memory of all who were there. Gaither Vocal Band member Wes Hampton, of Birmingham, left many speechless as the haunting words of his songs affirmed God’s presence in the most difficult circumstances.
His music and that of praise and worship leader Rick Stone was outstanding.
When Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) Executive Director Rick Lance introduced closing speaker Kenny Grant, he described him as “someone you may not have heard about but someone whom you will hear about in the future.” He was right. Grant, an African-American pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia, was simply amazing. His insights and application of Scripture left many wondering why they had not seen such obvious truths as Grant pointed out.
Grant, a former Marine Corp drill instructor at Paris Island, even turned the audience into a choir as he climaxed his sermon by leading the congregation in singing the Gaither classic “He Touched Me.”
But what usually is the climax of the service was not. As the choir of Enon Baptist Baptist Church, Morris, sang “Say Amen” various people walked across the stage holding signs of problems they faced in life. The signs ranged from being molested by a stepfather to alcohol abuse to cancer and other life challenges.
After showing their problems, each turned the sign over showing the outcome: molested girl is the daughter of the Most High King; an addict redeemed and set free; cancer healed; and some live for the glory of God despite having medical conditions that could claim their lives at any time.
Power of God
The audience stood and applauded as the people shared their testimonies on the front and back of the signs they held. It was such a clear reminder of the power of God who is not “nervous” about circumstances that threaten us; such a clear example of telling others what God has done in one’s life; such a clear illustration of sharing with the ones nearest you.
Every session of the conference was outstanding but few conferences have such memorable services as the Monday and Tuesday evening sessions of this year’s meeting. Director of SBOM’s office of evangelism Sammy Gilbreath and all who planned the conference deserve great thanks for providing Alabama Baptists such an inspirational experience.
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