Shine: A call to revitalize evangelism in our convention
Recently, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) publicly announced that 29 percent of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches reported no baptisms, and 47 percent reported two or less. In the SBC 2017 book of reports, NAMB reported that baptisms had fallen to 295,000 in 2016, which is the first time the convention reported less than 300,000 baptisms in decades. These statistics and trends over the last two decades have raised...
Shine: Missions Offering theme ‘Eternity’ hits home
Several months ago, Kelly King, Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) women’s ministry specialist, and Brian Hobbs, BGCO communications director and Baptist Messenger editor, pulled a group of Oklahoma pastors and leaders together to explore the possibility of a new theme for our State Missions Offering. This offering is important to the work of the Gospel throughout our state, as it assists every Association and, ultimately,...
Shine: No little people, no little places
Francis Schaffer has a collection of sermons titled, No Little People; No Little Places. I was introduced to the book as a 14-year-old who had surrendered to the gospel ministry. At that time in my life, everyone felt I was a very unlikely candidate for ministry. I had problems pronouncing certain sounds that had caused me to be in speech therapy during all of my elementary school years. I was a below-average student in school, and...
Shine: Specific prayer required
Several years ago, I was preaching a revival in rural Arkansas. The young pastor, music evangelist and I had been enjoying a wonderful meal at the home of one of the members when all of a sudden we realized we were going to be late for church. Quickly, we loaded into the preacher’s car, and began speeding toward the church building. It was a small church on a gravel road, and I already was nervous with the speed in which we were...
Shine: The unexplained encounter
It was a Thursday afternoon and I was busy working at my desk on the third floor of the Baptist Building, when a couple walking down the sidewalk caught my attention. Clearly they were arguing and my mind began to wonder what they were fighting about. I watched them walk past the building until they were out of sight. Then, I went back to work and forgot about them for about 45 minutes when they reappeared walking up the sidewalk...
