NICOMA PARK—Pastors and messengers gathered Oct. 13 at Nicoma Park, First for the Annual Meeting of the Capital Association (CBA).

One of the main draws of the event was the keynote address of Ronnie Floyd, pastor of Cross Churches in Northwest Arkansas and president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Floyd addressed a large crowd and discussed the current immorality that is festering in our nation. He preached from Col. 4:2-6, focusing on how churches should “Seek the Lord, Reach the Lost and Impact the Culture.” Flord stressed that “Scripture tells us that you cannot do one of the three, but you should seek the Lord so that you can reach the lost and that will impact the culture.”

Floyd said that Christians need to stop focusing on the White House, the statehouse and the courthouse, but, instead, they should focus on the church house. “If we impact the church house, then it will impact the rest of our culture,” he said.

He also went on to discuss the issues the church has when they do not have a vision. Floyd laid out three areas with which he believes the church has problems.

The first is a theological problem. Floyd said that church members no longer believe people are lost and noted that one-fourth of Americans do not know Jesus.

The second is an eschatological problem in that many do not believe Jesus is coming. He challenged pastors in the audience to take a Sunday and preach about the end times and the signs leading up to the return of the Messiah.

The final problem, Floyd said, is spiritual. The repentance of sin is not being talked about in church. Lack of prayer, unforgiveness and apathy are a leading cause of the lack of spiritual growth in churches and in communities.

Prior to his address, Floyd spent an hour in a questions-and-answers session with pastors and church leaders. “Deeply concerned” was Floyd’s response when asked about his reaction to the recent financial news of the International Mission Board (IMB).

Floyd encouraged those interested to visit the IMB website to look at their questions-and-answers section for more information.

There also were questions about the results from the Lottie Moon Missions Offering and Floyd’s thoughts on the decline in membership to the SBC. He mentioned that the SBC should be looking for churches to affiliate that share “our views doctrinally, missiology and cooperatively.”

The SBC President closed out the session by issuing this charge, “Get real intent on what does it take to reach your town for Christ.”