Alabama Baptist volunteers left Venezuela ecstatic over the 5,179 people who reported they prayed to receive Jesus during the Aug. 13–20 evangelistic crusade in Maracaibo. Alabama Baptists and Venezuela Baptists had prayed for a harvest of souls and had worked toward that end.
In addition to Alabama efforts, Venezuela Baptists brought about 75 home missionaries from across the nation to Maracaibo, the country’s second-largest city with about 2.4 million people. The missionaries trained local Baptists in personal witnessing, street evangelism and conducting block parties.
Some of the home missionaries served as interpreters. Their ranks were swelled by college students from various parts of Venezuela who also came to Maracaibo to work as interpreters in the evangelistic crusade. They formed evangelistic teams conducting block parties, street evangelism and revivals. In fact, it was the report of the Venezuela teams that put the crusade totals over the 5,000 mark.
Still, the total of 5,179 people who signed cards saying they prayed to receive Jesus and giving their names and addresses for follow-up was more than anyone hoped. It surpassed the number of Baptists in the region prior to the crusade.
Even before the results were known, Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) missionary Calvin Morris cautioned Alabamians against interpreting every experience as if it occurred in their home state. Morris coordinates the various strategy teams serving in Venezuela for the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB).
Morris pointed out that the Venezuela culture encourages people to repeat prayers. It is the style of worship taught for generations. People see repeating prayers as a natural thing and have no hesitancy to do so when asked. He added that some repeat prayers because they hope for a “blessing.”
Morris also urged that the impact of being asked to pray by a North American not be overlooked. Being friends with a North American can be important to Venezuelans, especially among the poor.
The real test of the evangelistic crusade will be the difference made in the churches a year from now, he said. Will the people who prayed and signed the cards become involved in area churches? That will be the telling point.
While all of us pray that every one of the 5,179 people responding to evangelistic invitations in Maracaibo will become involved in local churches, that is an unrealistic expectation. It does not happen in Billy Graham crusades anywhere in the world. The Graham organization says about 30 percent of those making public decisions during crusades end up serving God through local churches.
Hopefully, the percentage is higher in local Baptist churches in Alabama, but the trend is the same. Not everyone who makes a public decision in your church or mine becomes a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
But that is no reason to whine or complain that evangelistic efforts are unworthy. Thankfully, many people who make professions of faith do follow through in Christian discipleship and become involved in a local church. Everyone needs to hear the gospel so they have opportunity to respond to the message of salvation.
The same is true in Venezuela.
While the evangelistic crusade was going on in Maracaibo, another important Baptist event was occurring in Acarigua, about a five-hour drive away. The 50th anniversary of Baptist work in Venezuela was being celebrated. More than 2,000 people from across the nation gathered for the event. Several retired missionaries returned. Regional IMB leadership was present.
Baptist work in Venezuela was not started by Southern Baptists. It began when a group of Baptists from adjoining Colombia crossed into Venezuela to preach the gospel. SBC missionaries came soon after.
Baptist work did not begin along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean as it did in many of the Latin countries. It did not begin in the large cities.
The Colombian Baptist missionaries found an openness to the gospel in a relatively small agricultural area near the center of the country — Acarigua.
Fifty years later, Venezuela Baptists gathered there again. This time they gathered as the National Convention of Baptists in Venezuela representing 276 churches and 25,000 members. One wonders if the first missionaries dared imagine such a day.
Those early Baptists must have wondered if the first converts understood what they were doing when they prayed to receive Jesus. Doubtless, disappointment abounded when some evidenced little follow-through with their decisions. But, for others, the decision was life changing. From these Baptists, work grew — grew to the point of the 50-year anniversary of a strong, evangelistic, missions-minded convention.
How many of the 5,179 who made decisions for Christ in Maracaibo will follow through no one knows. Having been a part of the effort, I pray that all of them will. The truth is, all anyone can do is faithfully share the gospel and trust God for the results.
Thankfully, God has a way of doing far more than we can ask or think when we trust Him. God did that in establishing the National Convention of Baptists in Venezuela.
He can do that with the new believers in Maracaibo. He can do that in your church and mine.
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