‘We need to rally together from time to time’

We’re the army of God, and we need to rally together from time to time,” said Alabama Baptist State Convention President Jimmy Jackson during the Tuesday evening session of the annual meeting at Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, where he serves as senior pastor. “This has been a good rallying time.”

Maybe it was the music that preceded Jackson’s turn in the pulpit, but he added, “And we’re coming to a crescendo tonight.”

It really began to build when the lights were dimmed, the accompanists took their places and the young faces of Whitesburg Baptist’s high school choir filled the choir loft.

Next came contemporary hymnwriters/artists Keith and Kristyn Getty (see story, page 11). For both worship experiences, Alabama Baptists filling the sanctuary stood to their feet as harmonic poetry of hope and Christ’s glory occupied the atmosphere.

“We’re in an oasis tonight,” Jackson said, standing to deliver the president’s address to convention messengers. “We are gathered to be restored, and He is the One who restores us. … Christ in us is our hope of glory.”

Opening to Nehemiah 1, Jackson said although life experiences bring distress, disgrace and defenselessness, nothing is too big for God.

“Let me tell you something. God is not bothered by desperate conditions. … He’s looking for somebody in the midst of desperation who will become desperate for the Lord and calls that person out and starts an eternal transformation,” Jackson told the crowd.

Man is surrounded by evil on the outside and inside because of his fallen nature but Christ came to eradicate that sin, Jackson said.

“What is the hope of our church, of our Alabama Baptist Convention, of the Southern Baptist Convention, of our work? … We cannot eradicate sin from our life; only Jesus can do that. We cannot elevate ourselves; only Jesus can do that,” he said. “Turn to God’s Word and understand what He meant when He said Christ is our only hope of success. He’s the only way we’re going to make it.”

And it shouldn’t matter the cost, Jackson added.

“If we have to be crushed to our knees, embarrassed in front of peers, kicked out of the ministry, … it’s better to do that and get Christ and get right than to keep playing games with our Lord.”

Citing Nehemiah’s faithfulness to respond to God’s call to return to Jerusalem, Jackson asked messengers, “If God speaks to you, are you willing to say, ‘Lord, I’ll be that servant. I’ll start leading people to Jesus’?

“Jesus came as a dependable servant of God to call us to be dependable servants of God, and if we get serious enough, He’ll transform us from the inside out, and even people that know us best will know we know Him best.”