INDIANAPOLIS—Kentucky pastor Bill Henard won the Southern Baptist Convention’s first vice presidency in a landslide June 10, and the messengers to the SBC annual meeting referred to the Executive Committee a motion to cut ties with Broadway Baptist Church of Fort Worth.

Henard defeated two challengers, receiving 1,748 votes—or 73.23 percent of 2,387 ballots cast—during the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.

Henard is pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and chairman of the board of the SBC’s LifeWay Christian Resources.

He defeated John Connell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., who received 377 votes (15.79 percent) and Crist Camden, pastor of Oconee Heights Baptist Church in Athens, Ga., who got 224 votes (9.38 percent).

In other business, messengers approved the SBC order-of-business committee’s recommendations on eight additional motions presented earlier in the day. They included proposals calling for:

• Declaring Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, to be not “in friendly cooperation” with the SBC. The church has engaged in a public dispute this year regarding whether or not homosexual couples could be pictured together as families in the church’s directory. The church ultimately determined to publish a historical booklet with directory information, but it would not include photographs of families.

Messengers referred the matter to the Executive Committee. Since the church did not send messengers to the Indianapolis meeting, the order-of-business committee determined the convention did not face a credentials issue. But it suggested compliance with the SBC’s policy against affiliating with churches that “affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior” merits study by the Executive Committee.

• Amending SBC bylaws to add requirements for all individuals nominated to serve on SBC committees, commissions and boards. The proposal would require nominees to “give evidence of having received Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior,” hold membership in a church that supports the SBC Cooperative Program unified budget, be in good standing with a local church, abstain from using alcoholic beverages and recreational drugs, and “support all the principles” in the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement.

The issue was referred to the Executive Committee.

• Creating a “standardized form” on which the SBC’s six seminaries would report their enrolment and other data.

It was referred to the Executive Committee.

•  Changing the length of terms and number of terms that may be served by trustees of the SBC’s agencies and institutions.

It also was referred to the Executive Committee.

• Publishing the SBC’s Baptist Faith & Message in the five most dominant languages represented within the convention.

The matter was referred to LifeWay Christian Resources, which prints the Baptist Faith & Message.

• Considering bylaw changes that would direct convention agencies and institutions to “accommodate other events that support the work and mission of Southern Baptists” during the week in which the annual meeting is held each summer.

The motion was referred to the Executive Committee.

• Instructing the six SBC seminaries to charge students who take classes over the Internet the same tuition rates they charge on-campus students.

The chair ruled the motion out of order, since messengers cannot tell boards of SBC agencies what to do, but can only request that they consider proposals.

• Forbidding program personalities at SBC annual meetings from reading from or citing LifeWay Christian Resources’ Holman Christian Standard Bible “or any translation that questions the validity of any Scripture or verse” during any official convention meeting or in any SBC literature.

Messenger Eric Williams of Belle Rive, Ill., claimed editors of the Holman Christian Standard Bible “believe that there are verses in the (biblical) text that do not belong in the Bible.”

The motion was ruled out of order, since messengers cannot tell boards of SBC agencies what to do, but can only request that they consider proposals.

INDIANAPOLIS—Recognizing Southern Baptists’ “belief in the autonomy of each local church,” Morris Chapman announced that the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee would not support the creation of a database of sexual offenders in SBC churches.

“Southern Baptists believe that the local church in New Testament times was autonomous, and thus our local churches are autonomous,” the president of the SBC Executive Committee said in his address to messengers at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.

The matter of a sex offender database was referred to the committee at last year’s SBC annual meeting in San Antonio. Oklahoma pastor and former International Mission Board trustee Wade Burleson requested a feasibility study for such a registry “in order to assist in preventing any further sexual abuse or harassment” in Southern Baptist churches, as stated in the motion.

However, in its report to messengers, the Executive Committee noted, “it would be impossible to assure that all convicted sexual predators who ever had a connection with a Baptist church would be discoverable for inclusion on such a list.” The report also stated that a Baptist-only database would likely omit sexual offenders coming to SBC churches from other denominations.

The committee recommended SBC churches access the U.S. Department of Justice’s national sex offender database, calling it the best resource for protecting congregations against employing known sex offenders.

By and large, the Executive Committee stood on the position that the autonomy of the local church superseded any jurisdictional authority the convention may have to create a sex offender database, explaining that there are numerous SBC entities and resources already in place to assist churches in thwarting sexual predators.

“The convention’s role is to encourage, empower and educate local churches as to how to best do their local work to protect our precious children,” Chapman said.

The committee’s action comes nearly a month after  Joe Barron, a minister to married adults at Prestonwood Baptist Church near Dallas, was arrested and forced to resign over his alleged involvement in an online underage sex sting. Chapman referred to the Prestonwood incident and applauded Pastor Jack Graham’s swift action on the matter.

Likewise responding to critics who suggest that the Executive Committee’s action on the sex offender database is insufficient, Chapman cited SBC resolutions passed in 2002 and 2007 supporting thorough punishment of sexual predators.

“Never let it be said … that we are anemic in the fight against sexual abuse,” Chapman noted. “To say so is a false accusation.”

INDIANAPOLIS—David Dykes, longtime pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, received the Southern Baptist Convention’s highest award for cooperation during the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis.

Dykes accepted the M.E. Dodd Award from the SBC Executive Committee June 10. Dodd was an SBC statesman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., and chairman of the committee that created the Cooperative Program, the convention’s unified budget, in 1925.

Green Acres Church has been the top contributor to the Cooperative Program for several years, including 2007, when the Tyler congregation allocated $1,445,909, eclipsing the second-place amount by almost one-half million dollars.

Green Acres is “one of the leading churches in America,” noted Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, who presented the award to Dykes. Green Acres is church home to more than 14,000 members and sends more than 1,000 volunteer missionaries on assignments around the world every year, Chapman added.

The church has developed partnerships in numerous countries, and Dykes has led mission trips to at least 10 countries, Chapman added.

Since 2000, Green Acres church has contributed more than $18.4 million to missions causes, including more than $10 million to the Cooperative Program, he said, noting the church also has baptized more than 2,000 new Christians during the past 17 years.

Paraphrasing New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, Dykes told the SBC crowd: “I consider myself to be the most blessed person alive. I’m pastor of the most missions-minded church I’ve ever heard about. They’ve taught me more about missions than I could ever teach them. …

“If I told them we were going to attack hell tomorrow morning with water pistols, they’d ask, ‘Pastor, where do we fill up?’”

Dykes called the Cooperative Program “the lifeline for our work, … the pipeline of our resources, and the love-line in which we show our love for our missionaries.”

Green Acres Church increased its Cooperative Program allocation from 12 percent of unallocated offering receipts by one-half percent per year until it reach 15 percent, Dykes recalled, noting this took place even during aggressive building programs.

“God always challenges churches who give away for the Lord’s sake,” he said.

Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Ga., won the Southern Baptist Convention presidential election on the first ballot June 9 in Indianapolis.

Hunt received 3,100 votes (52.94 percent) out of 5,856 ballots cast.

He defeated a field of five other candidates. They and their vote totals were:

• Frank Cox, pastor of North Metro First Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, Ga., 1,286 votes; 21.96 percent.

• Avery Willis, retired vice president of the SBC International Mission Board, 962 votes; 16.43 percent.

• Bill Wagner, a former missionary and president of Olivet International University in San Francisco, 255 votes; 4.35 percent.

• Les Puryear, pastor of Lewisville (N.C.) Baptist Church, 188 votes; 3.21 percent.

• Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and a former SBC second vice president, 45 votes; 0.77 percent.

INDIANAPOLIS—Tony Dungy, coach of the Indianapolis Colts, made a surprise appearance at the Monday afternoon session of the 2008 Southern Baptist Pastors Conference.

Dungy, author of the book, Quiet Strength, welcomed his fellow Southern Baptists to Indianapolis. He told the pastors God has opened doors for him to speak to numerous groups since his team won the Super Bowl two years ago.

“I realize many of our young people are really, really searching for something. For the most part they are finding those things that are not fulfilling,” Dungy said. “They are still searching for what we know is fulfilling and that is that relationship with Jesus Christ.”

He challenged his fellow Baptists to continue to deliver the message of Jesus Christ in many different ways.

“We are all on the same team,” he said. “We’re going to work for the Lord, and Christ will honor what you do.”

Turning to the conference theme of revival, Jimmy Draper, president emeritus of LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, Tenn., admitted the topic is hard for him.

“We have not seen revival, so I know very little about it,” he said.

Draper observed a lack of passion for Christ in churches today. “Complacency surrounds our services. Deadness prevails. There is no fire in the altar. Our churches flounder in apathy while the world plunges deeper into sin.”

Draper, a former SBC president, noted that despite better training and resources, Southern Baptists baptized fewer people last year (346,000) than they did in 1950 (376,000) when the convention had only 6 million members.

Southern Baptists are reaching fewer people for Christ because “we don’t see the world through the eyes of Jesus who died for them. We don’t win the lost because we don’t like them,” he asserted.

Draper noted there is no explanation for genuine revival. “Revival comes from God and leads to God,” he said.

Revival, he continued, is a great movement of God “that cannot be explained by anything that we do. It is an extraordinary movement of the Holy Spirit.”

Conditions are right for revival, Draper observed, citing the evil, spiritual decline, and apathy in the churches that are found today. “It is in times like these that God sends revival,” Draper said.

He noted that history has shown that most revivals have not begun in a pastors’ conference, Rather, he said, revivals began when laypersons, young people began to pray.

“Christianity is never more powerful than when a passionate unity prevails among believers.”
Simply put, Draper said, revival begins with a passion for the presence of God.

“That is missing today,” he observed.

Southern Baptist evangelist Bill Stafford of Chattanooga, Tenn., observed:  “We need a revival of getting back to the word of God. Let it speak for itself. God doesn’t need our help.”

Stafford reminded pastors they have nothing to fear if they will just “preach the word.”

Christians are called to march against the world, he observed. “We are to be lighthouses marching against the darkness, but it must be upon the basis of the inerrant word of God.”

Repentance is the key to revival, said James McDonald, senior pastor of Harvest Bible Church in Rolling Meadows, Ill.

“Repentance is the funnel through which revival flows,” McDonald said.

He defined repentance as “a recognition of sin … followed by heart-felt sorrow, culminating in a change of behavior.”

McDonald cited several characteristics of genuine revival.

• Grief over sin. “We want people to feel grief over sin,” he said, challenging pastors to “preach the biblical message of repentance and to call them to holiness.”

• Repulsion toward sin. “Repentance allows you to get to the place to what once aroused you now repulses you.”

• Restitution toward others. “it is an energetic pursuit of fixing the fallout from sin — to make it right with the people you injured.”

Repentance can only come from God, McDonald stressed. “God grants repentance. It is a gift.”

During the business session of the Pastor’s Conference, Ed Litton, senior pastor of First Baptist North Mobile in Mobile, Ala., was elected president, succeeding Michael Catt, senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, Ga.

Other officers include Bruce Schmidt, pastor of Lamar Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, vice president, and James Peoples, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Keystone Heights, Fla., secretary-treasurer.

INDIANAPOLIS—“Recognize the signs,” outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page challenged messengers during his address to the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis June 10.

Recounting how the natives of the island of Simuelue escaped one of the deadliest and most devastating disasters in history, Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., attributed their vigilant responsiveness to recognizing the telltale signs.
Despite having only minutes to prepare for the tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004, which swept away hundreds of thousands of people in the Asian Pacific area, only seven of 78,000 inhabitants of the island died, he noted.

Sensing “something of unusual magnitude” was happening, village elders hurriedly conferred, wondering if what had occurred a century earlier, when the entire island was nearly destroyed, could be happening again, Page recounted.  “Erring on the side of caution, they called for residents along the coast to head for high ground.”

As a result, the death toll was not nearly as severe as elsewhere. The villagers recognized the danger signs and spread the alarm, saving countless lives that day, while thousands in places much further away from the central point of the quake perished, he said.

Seeing the signs

“Will we, as Southern Baptists, recognize the signs of what is happening among us?” Page asked. “Will we assiduously impart to those after us the signs that God has set forth for blessing, and the signs the God has set forth for judgment?”

Basing his message on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, Page observed, “Something occurred in transforming her that needs to occur in transforming us.”

Like her, God wants Southern Baptists to “see ourselves as we really are” he asserted.  

When confronted by Christ, Page said this woman realized: “He was cognizant of her strengths and weakness. He could see the good and the bad. He knew it all.”

When confronted by Christ, he continued, “We are compelled to deal with who we are, and to let go of all the false facades that sometimes we place before him—all the pretences, all the excuses, all of the outward appearances.”

Decrying a tendency to evade real issues and rely on a “substitute righteousness,” Page said: “That’s the call of cultural Christianity: Keep things on the surface; keep things shallow. Do not deal with reality. Do not deal with what is really going on in your family, in your church, in your life.”

Avoidance mechanisms

Southern Baptists have a tendency to rely on similar avoidance mechanisms, blaming others for what is wrong in the convention or to fault the conservative resurgence with failing to bring forth a change in the baptismal rate. But “the truth is, individuals and churches are the ones who are in decline,” he said.

“We have been ignoring God’s call to repentance and failing to be relevant to a culture that sees us as representatives of death, not as representatives of life, Page charged.

“Blame the denomination if you wish, but the problem is me. I have not been winning people to Christ as much as I ought.
“If anything comes out of this convention, would you join with me in saying, ‘The problem is not somebody else; the problem is me.’”

Christ not only has the ability to see into the depths of human heart, but also has the ability to transform lives, Page declared. “He is able to see past the hurt, the sin, and the failure and to see the person that we can become,” he said.

God’s desire is for Southern Baptists to prosper in the Lord’s work, Page affirmed.

“I believe that he can see past the hurt and the pain, and he can see a body of believers unified, despite our differences, to see the cause of world evangelization and missions occur in this generation,” he said.

“I believe God looks past the hurt and the pain, and he sees a body of believers who can support the Cooperative Program and win lost for Christ at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive.”

Noting that her first instinct was to share the good news, Page said: “This woman, who had been the talk of the town, now encourage the town to talk about Jesus.  This woman, who had been a source of spiritual failure, now became a source of spiritual good news.”

Calling Southern Baptists to join him in being part of a “Great Commission resurgence,” Page urged them to “fall in love with Christ all over again.”

INDIANAPOLIS—Some people might call it “the Crossover that almost wasn’t.” But Indiana Baptists and hundreds of out-of-state volunteers persevered following torrential rains June 7 to share the gospel and host block parties around Indianapolis as part of the evangelistic emphasis held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Ed Goodman, a student at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Pineville, Ky., shares the plan of salvation with Lillyan Whitlow, 6, using an EvangeCube at a block party at Cloverleaf Baptist Church in Indianapolis. The evangelistic outreach was part of Crossover ’08, an event cosponsored by North American Mission Board and the State Convention of Baptist in Indiana, which preceded the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. (BP photo by Jonathan Blair)

Flash flooding closed roads and forced the cancellation of some Crossover events. Another challenge was a significant drop in out-of-state volunteers compared to the previous Crossover Indianapolis effort in 2004. John Rogers, missions and evangelism team leader for the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, reported about 500 Baptists outside the Hoosier state came to help, compared to 900 volunteers who mobilized in Indianapolis four years ago.

While he is unsure why the numbers dropped so significantly, Rogers noted local volunteers “stepped up to the plate” to follow through on goals set nearly a year ago.

The Indianapolis-area Crossroads Baptist Association launched “Houses, Hearts, Hope” last year, Rogers said. About 200 volunteers renovated homes, prayerwalked neighborhoods and assisted local churches.

“That was really the beginning of Crossover,” he said, adding that for local Southern Baptists, “Crossover is a process, not an event.”

Asking a boy what is the true meaning of sin, Marcus Redding, pastor of Hull's Grove Baptist Church in Vail, N.C., stamps his name into a horseshoe at a block party at Eastside Baptist Church in Indianapolis. The evangelistic outreach was part of Crossover '08, co-sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. (BP photo by Bob Carey)

Part of that process for five Indianapolis churches was a door-to-door gospel-sharing initiative that began days before the weekend block parties. Terry Lewis, pastor of Eastside Community Baptist Church, said Intentional Community Evangelism teams brought trained lay-evangelists to neighborhoods in great spiritual need. The Eastside congregation hosted a group from White Oak Baptist Church in Houston.

Even before the block parties, weather was an issue. A tornado hit northeast Indianapolis May 31, followed by severe storms throughout the week.

“Sirens went off twice since the tornado,” Lewis said. “We had to come off the streets.”

The weather did not dampen the evangelistic team’s enthusiasm.

“We’ve had two drug dealers make professions of faith,” Lewis said prior to Eastside’s Crossover block party. “A prostitute on 10tth (Street) gave her heart to the Lord.”

In all, 130 people living in the immediate area of Eastside Community Baptist made professions of faith in Christ, he said.

Mark Hobafcovich, a Georgia-based urban church planter with the North American Mission Board, shares the gospel with a homeless man in downtown Indianapolis. (BP photo by Jon Blair)

The experience “re-emphasizes for me and for our … (members) the willingness of people to hear the gospel,” Lewis said.

Tom Polak, pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship and director of church and community ministries for Crossroads Baptist Association, said the work of the five “anchor churches” hosting evangelism teams was key to the 746 salvation decisions made during the week.

“These area churches are known for ministry evangelism,” Polak said. “When … (the evangelism teams) came in, the field was ready.”

Charles Gilpin prays before a free lunch, offered as part of a block party Gabriel Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis hosted. (BP staff photo)

Another successful pre-Crossover effort was a Vacation Bible School hosted by Elim Baptist Church, a Korean congregation in Fishers, Ind., north of Indianapolis. Pastor Yong Pil Yun said it was the church’s first VBS since forming three years ago and would not have been possible without volunteers from Cedar Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky.

“We never had anyone qualified to teach small kids and youth,” Yong explained. Cedar Creek brought materials and served as mentors for church members, the pastor said. Teenagers assisted, translating for the Korean adults.

Lindsey Bird Cedar Creek said they began the Wednesday-through-Saturday VBS with nine students and concluded with 17. Children “learned five (Bible) verses in four days,” said Bird, who teaches sixth grade girls in Sunday school.

Yong said he saw “so many good things” during VBS about “how to approach kids” with the gospel.

Members of Elim Baptist concluded VBS with a community block party. In addition to the Moon Bounce, slide, face painting and Korean-style beef barbecue, guests listened to a concert by the youth choir of First Baptist Church of Biloxi, Miss.

INDIANAPOLIS—Missionaries serving locations ranging from Yellowstone National Park to the Philippines and Mozambique challenged participants at the 2008 Woman’s Missionary Union missions celebration to join them in sharing Christ’s love with their communities and around the world.

Brad Lartigue, an 18-year veteran resort missionary with the North American Mission Board, described his work in the resort community of Big Sky, Montana, and in Yellowstone National Park.

“God has given us freedom to color outside the lines,” Lartigue said, referring to his call to reach people outside the walls of the church. “In this day of extreme recreation and adventure sports, the possibilities are endless.”

God has given him a passion to minister through skiing, snowboarding, swimming, hiking, backpacking, kayaking and mountain biking, Lartique said.

“I am overwhelmed when I get to be an instrument used of God to help usher someone into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” he said. “Is God’s love contagious in your life? When people see you, are they drawn to our Father God? Do you need to work on being a reflection of Christ?”

Student ministry in the Philippines

Jeff and Kim Cruse, International Mission Board missionaries to the Philippines, described their work teaching English at a university, training Filipinos as English teachers, providing a coffee shop ministry for young adults, leading a campus Bible study for professors and hosting a house church in their garage.

“We try to meet a need … (Filipinos) know they have so we can meet a need they don’t know they have,” Mrs. Cruse said. Twelve professors who participated in their campus Bible study have trusted Christ as Savior and now take turns leading the study, she reported.

Her husband told of their visit with Alan, a Filipino student, while sitting under a covered picnic table on a university campus. “God sent a torrential rain, which stranded him with us for three hours,” he recalled.

The missionaries shared the gospel, and the student received Jesus as Savior. Less than a week later, he shared his newfound faith with his friend, Mark, who also became a follower of Christ. Now, Alan is on an international cruise ship, witnessing and discipling others on the ship. Mark is in Cypress, sharing the gospel with his co-workers.

Inner-city missions

Jon and Mindy Jamison, NAMB missionaries in inner-city Des Moines, Iowa, spoke about the ways they reach out to their community by providing clothing, food and English classes.

“As we meet these needs, we endeavor to share Christ,” Jamison said.

The couple asked for prayer as they reach out to the growing gang population, many of whom have begun to play basketball at the center where they work.

“Keep praying for Des Moines, that God will transform lives and change the hearts of those who live there,” Mrs. Jamison said.

Bondage of superstition

IMB missionaries Charlie and Angie Lechner, who serve in Mozambique, said the people there live in bondage to ancestor worship.

“Loving our neighbors in Mozambique means building relationships with those around us so we can shine light in the darkness that holds them in bondage,” Mrs. Lechner said.

Her husband asked for prayer for the Mozambiquean Baptist Convention, local pastors and for God to call workers to the region.

Lorri SeGraves, an IMB missionary to Valencia, Venezuela, described outreach ministries to university students, and Rebekah Naylor told how the power of prayer sustained her throughout her long missionary career as an IMB medical missionary in Bangalore, India.

Need a new perspective

Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Christian Resources director of research, speaking from 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, said Christ’s love should compel Christians to have a new perspective.

“There’s something wrong with the Christian faith if it produces unhappy, miserable people who are then sent out to share their faith,” said Stetzer. “All of us have to see people … who are far from Christ and treat them with the love of Christ because something new has come into our own lives.”

Christians, sent on a mission of reconciliation, should represent Jesus and his kingdom because of the Christ’s sacrifice at Calvary, Stetzer said.

“The reason I have to live a life that is shaped by Christ’s love … is because of what he’s done on the cross,” said Stetzer.

Missional leadership

Charisma, divine presence, preparation and encouragement set the Old Testament figure Nehemiah apart as a missional leader, Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page told WMU leaders at a banquet during the group’s annual meeting. Page’s new book, The Nehemiah Factor: 16 Characteristics of a Missional Leader, will be released this month by New Hope Publishers, a WMU subsidiary.

“The charismatic leader is perceived as possessed by a purpose greater than himself or herself, an enthusiasm for life, composure under stress and dedication to the goal of striking blows for the kingdom,” Page said.

Believers possess a power beyond themselves, given by God, which gives them an edge beyond worldly leaders, he noted.

“Grasp the concept that you are a part of something greater than yourself,” Page urged. “When you become a missional leader, your people will follow.”

Officers and resolutions

During a business session, WMU elected 2008-2009 officers, approved resolutions of appreciation to the North American Mission Board and a former WMU leader, awarded the annual Martha Myers Girls in Action Alumna of Distinction Award and heard testimonies from the 2008 national Acteens panelists and former Girls in Action members.

Kaye Miller, a member of Immanuel Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark., was unanimously re-elected as president. Kathy Hillman of Texas was elected recording secretary.

The NAMB resolution marked the 100th anniversary of Royal Ambassadors. WMU established the missions organization in 1908. It later became a program of the Brotherhood Commission and then became a part of NAMB in 1997. The resolution noted the role RAs has played in calling men and boys to missions and ministry and congratulated RAs on its centennial.

A resolution of appreciation for the life and legacy of Martha Leathers Wennerberg, who died earlier this year, highlighted the ministry and mission service of the former national recording secretary and WMU vice president in Florida.

Deborah Kidd, a member of Southside Baptist Church of Huntsville, Ala., received the Martha Myers award. Kidd, who suffered a debilitating stroke a few years ago, has been a GA leader 24 years and served on the Alabama Children’s Resource Team.

Missionary Kids

At a desert fellowship following the missions celebration, the WMU Foundation presented the Dellanna West O’Brien Award for Women’s Leadership Development to Angela Kim for her work in missions, particularly with Korean WMU of Texas.

WMU Executive Director Wanda Lee spoke about how WMU and WMU members care for MKs—missionary kids—through scholarships, an annual MK re-entry retreat and  various other ministries. She told how WMU volunteers ministered to MKs at Union University after a tornado wiped out several dorms on the Jackson, Tenn., campus.

She introduced a group of MKs, including WMU President Kaye Miller; her daughter, Allison Dearing; and Angie Lechner, an MK who now serves as a missionary. Each gave a testimony of her MK experience.

INDIANAPOLIS—God calls and uses broken people for his service, participants at the Monday morning session of the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference learned.

Brokenness is “the recognition of our shattered pride without a need to glue it back together again,” said Ed Litton, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of North Mobile, in Saraland, Ala.

Litton, who closed the morning session of the Pastors Conference June 9 with an altar call for “broken” pastors, told the tragic story of losing his wife 10 months ago in a car accident.

“In that instant, my life changed and I began a journey to a place I did not care to go,” he said.

When God leads his servants to such a place, he forces them to face their deepest fear, Litton said. But God restores them in ways they cannot imagine to prepare them for significant ministry, he said, preaching from Psalm 23.

“Some of you are facing the worst fear of your life. And some of you are on the verge of the greatest movement of God in the history of your life, your ministry and your church,” he said. “God doesn’t call complete, fully contained, self-actualized people who have it together. He calls the broken.”

Brokenness as a learning process

George Harris, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Kerrville, Texas, said brokenness isn’t sought or caught. Instead, it’s “a process that God takes us through in order to get us to hear him,” he said.

Preaching from 1 Kings 19:1–4 in the Old Testament, he noted that after a series of miraculous spiritual experiences, Elijah found himself in a deep depression, wanting to die.

“All through Scripture, we find there are great men who have come to moments of brokenness injected with pain or some type of physical circumstance,” Harris said, telling his own story of how God “broke” him after major injuries from a motorcycle accident robbed him of speech for several months.

It’s at that low point God spoke to Elijah—and speaks to Christians today—to give a refreshed life, a renewed commission and a new task, Harris said. “God encouraged and revived Elijah.”

Brokenness as struggle

Hayes Wicker, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Naples, Fla., added that brokenness does not come without a struggle.
“God wrestles with us to bring blessedness from brokenness,” he said.

Preaching from Genesis 32:24–31 and describing Jacob’s struggle with God, Wicker explained that brokenness leads to blessings, awareness, change, a supreme Christ and a strong faith that comes from desperation.

Describing his moment of brokenness as a pastor when he made inappropriate leadership decision, Wicker said, “I became so desperate for a touch from God. … And now I can say, ‘Bless you crisis; bless you controversy.’

“We are beginning to sink today,” he said. “We are sinking as a denomination, in our homes and in our churches.

“We tend to want to be mended but not ended … (But God) wants to pin our wills to the mat of submission so that we cry, ‘Lord’” Wicker said. “The ultimate goal of revival is that Jesus be Lord.”

Brokenness is more than being wounded

Alan Day, senior pastor of Edmond’s First Baptist Church, Edmond, Okla., said it is important that being wounded not be mistaken for brokenness.

“Most of us have been through breaking, but I don’t know if most of us have been through (being) broken,” said Day, who dealt with some health issues that caused him to lean totally on God in order to pull himself out of depression and discouragement.

“God’s pattern is breaking the man of God, the preacher, before that man of God can ever be fruitful,” Day said, noting that brokenness is essential for real intimacy with God, for hearing God and for leading God’s people.

“Pastors are once again being called to brokenness, revival and spiritual awakening,” Day said. “God wants to do something in your church. He is only going to do it when pastors become broken men and allow God to fill us with himself.”

INDIANAPOLIS—Six Texas Baptists garnered spots among 30 heroes of the faith honored as the inaugural class of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists Hall of Faith.

The inductees, 12 of who are deceased, were elected by their peers after the conference’s executive committee voted to launch the Evangelists Hall of Faith this year in conjunction with the group’s 50th anniversary.

Among those being honored during a banquet with more than 175 people at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Indianapolis were Billy Graham, George Beverly Shea, Cliff Barrows and the late T.W. Wilson, all of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Texas Baptists inducted were Walter K. Ayers, Manley Beasley, Ron Rudy Hernandez, all deceased, along with Freddie Gage of Euless and Homer Martinez of Dallas.

During the conference business meeting, the group voted to name two inductees to the Hall of Faith every other year. In other business, Ron Herrod of Tennessee was elected president of the conference.

Full list of Hall of Faith inductees:

Hyman Appelman, Kansas City, Mo.
The late Walter K. Ayers, Texas
Cliff Barrows, BGEA
The late Manley Beasley, Texas
Wayne Bristow, Oklahoma
Sam Cathey, Oklahoma
Clyde Chiles, Missouri
The late E.J. Daniels, Florida
The late Ron Dunn, Texas
Freddie Gage, Texas
The late Mike Gilchrist, Louisiana
Billy Graham, BGEA
The late Vance Havner, North Carolina
The late Jesse Hendley, Georgia
The late Rudy Hernandez, Texas
Junior Hill, Alabama
The late Eddie Martin, Pennsylvania
The late Angel Martinez, Arkansas
Homer Martinez, Texas
George “Bev” Shea, BGEA
Bailey Smith, Georgia
The late J. Harold Smith, Tennessee
Jerry Spencer, Tennessee
Bill Stafford, Tennessee
Bette Stalnecker-Gibson, Tennessee
Jay Strack, Florida
Leon Westerhouse, Alabama
Gene Williams, Georgia
The late T.W. Wilson, BGEA
Don Womack, Tennessee

INDIANAPOLIS—Speakers during the opening session of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference at the Indianapolis Convention Center urged pastors to renew their commitment to prayer and get their own spiritual lives in order.

Tom Elliff used a familiar analogy from his native Oklahoma to describe what can happen even to pastors who fail to address sin in their own lives.

Tom Eliff, senior vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, speaks during the first night of the two-day 2008 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference at the Indiana Convention Center June 8.

Describing the “fallow ground” that original settlers found on the Oklahoma plains as almost impenetrable, Tom Elliff told pastors, “If you are willing to embrace what God would do to break up the fallow ground of your heart for revival, I am going to ask you to come and join me for a time of prayer right her at what we are going to call an altar.”

In Oklahoma, Sooners and Boomers looked across the land and thought “instant farm” as they anticipated the rush to stake their claims to the land, Elliff said. But they discovered the ground, matted down with prairie grass, often was so hard it had to be broken up with an ax.

Like Oklahoma sod, the hearts of pastors can be marked by hardness, become impervious to God’s word, show stubborn resistance, be unfruitful and remain asleep through every season, Elliff warned.

“A heart like fallow ground will take a lot of effort,” he said. “What’s God going to have to do to get our attention?”

Nothing short of deliberate, diligent attention can affect that kind of change, he said. He listed temptations to which pastors may surrender—prayerlessness, lack of devotion to Scripture, disobedience, faithlessness, lack of love, poor stewardship, lying, slander, gossip, secretly wishing ill to others, habitual sin, moral failure and selfishness.

At the end of his message, Elliff called for pastors to come to the altar and make a commitment to address the sins in their own lives, to take steps to break the fallow ground of their hearts.

Dealing with decline

Earlier, Johnny Hunt, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., noted 90 percent of Southern Baptist Convention churches are in decline.

He cited research that suggested that 50 percent of SBC churches existing today will have padlocks on their doors by 2030.

His own church had declined two years before Hunt took six weeks off for reading and renewal last year, he said.

During his time off, Hunt said that God repeated three things to him over and over again:

• “No. 1, you need to go back and pray more aggressively.
• “No. 2, he challenged me to witness more intentionally. I wrote down three names in the front of my Bible” who needed to be won to Christ. “I flat went after them!” he said.
• “No. 3, God challenged me to lead not only by exhortation…but we are to lead by emulation,” Hunt said. “I’ve got not only to tell them, I’ve got to show them.

“You know what happened? We increased by 15 percent in Bible study, increased by 15 percent in worship,” he said.

“There’s only one thing worse than our convention being on a slide, and that is that we don’t give a holy rip. … We don’t need a better strategy; we need a touch from God.”

Pastors key to revival 

Daniel Simmons, senior pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., reminded pastors that God and prayer are the keys to revival.

“Only God can bring revival,” Simmons said. When revival doesn’t come, “the shortage must not be in God; it must be in us.”

Pastors sometimes trust in themselves and other resources, he charged, placing themselves in the forefront and leaving God on the back burner.

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels,” Simmons reminded pastors. “God took what was of no value and placed in it what was priceless.

“We start believing our own stuff. We have gotten to the place as preachers that without us, God and the church may not make it.”

On the contrary, he insisted, “without God, I can do nothing.”

He urged pastors to have a strong private prayer life so they can model a strong public prayer life to others. “We’ve also got to have what I call persistent prayer,” he said. “Don’t stop praying; pray without ceasing.”

Finally, “you have to get to the point of pleading prayer,” Simmons said. “Sometimes we have to beg.”

By Mickey Noah & Mike Ebert

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (BP)–Heavy rain, dangerous lightning, tornado warnings and, in some places, flooding buffeted metro Indianapolis during most of Crossover'08, but by afternoon the sun emerged and local and visiting Southern Baptists were out telling others about the Son.

As much as eight inches of rain fell in parts of the Indianapolis area June 7, and it looked like months of preparation for neighborhood block parties, car washes, car shows and concerts might go for naught.

While some Crossover'08 events had to be cancelled, the rain didn't dampen the spirits of Baptists gathered for events in Brownsburg, Ind., and at a multi-ethnic church in east-central Indianapolis.

Now in its 20th year, Crossover is an annual outreach to share the Gospel in the host city the weekend before the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting — June 10-11 this year at the Indiana Convention Center.

Some 500 volunteers -– local Baptists and others from across the country — were scheduled for Crossover, which was jointly sponsored by the North American Mission Board, the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana and the Crossroads Baptist Association in Indianapolis.

Hope Community Church in Brownsburg, 18 miles west of Indianapolis, hosted a block party attended by 250 people from surrounding neighborhoods. When the torrential rains hit Saturday morning, organizers moved the event indoors and made the best of the situation.

"I was up praying at 6 o'clock this morning, hoping the Lord would change His mind about this, but He didn't and we said rain or shine we are committed to this event," said Hope Community pastor Jim Bohrer. "We advertised it, we told people we were going to do it and we were going to keep our word whether or not it was convenient."

Among the 250 on hand, 90 were not regular attendees at Hope. At least five indicated they prayed to receive Christ. Volunteers from Michigan helped train church members for the event and a team of college students from Tennessee was on hand to help. When cancelled other Crossover events, volunteers from North Carolina diverted to Hope Community to help.

"We had some people who had done it for awhile show us the ropes so we didn't get stuck or confused or miss a beat," Bohrer said. "We were able to see this run smoothly, even with the rain, because of the assistance we were given from other Southern Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ."

Worship leader Gary Geissler, leads the closing prayer at a June 7 block party at Hawthorne Baptist Church in Indianapolis where several residents of the community received Christ. More than 27 block parties were scheduled as part of the evangelistic outreach of Crossover'08 although torrential rains threatened many of the events. Crossover'08 was co-sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana and preceded the June 10-11 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Indianapolis. (Bob Carey/ BP Photo)

Frank Page, who is closing out his second term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, dropped in on Hope Community's block party after spending two hours sharing Christ door-to-door in the rain.

"Crossover events are important," Page said, "because they combine the energies of local people with visitors such as myself in a beautiful partnership, and then the Gospel is shared far more than it normally would be. So it's very important and just a great practical way to express the Great Commission."

Starting each year's convention with Crossover, Page said, "shows what our priority is. It shows what we really care about is winning people to Christ."

Stephen Davis, executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, took encouragement that Crossover's impact will last far beyond a weekend event.

"We're doing some other things connected with these events, so it's not just an event but a process," Davis said. "It's the beginning of helping us plant nine new churches in the Indianapolis area. And every event is connected to a local church. So we're going to have much better follow-up and we should see a much better result coming from this in terms of baptisms and strengthening church membership."

The weekend emphasis also is a healthy reminder for the state's Baptists, Davis said.

"Eighty percent of the people in Indiana do not attend any Christian church on any given Sunday," he said. "So we have a huge mission field here and … one of the things we're trying to do is to remind Christians that Indiana is a mission field."

At Eastside Community Baptist Church in east-central Indianapolis, the worst of the storms was over by the time their block party started at 4 p.m., with volunteers on hand from Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Kansas. Blue skies and sunshine attracted a few hundred people who enjoyed live music, popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones and a myriad of attractions and games on the lush green lawn of the four-year-old church.

Terry Lewis, Eastside's pastor, said the congregation wanted to host the block party because "we are always happy to reach out to anyone. Our model here at Eastside is that it's all about ministry. If we're not doing ministry, how do we know we have anything?"

Lewis said Eastside is about 40 percent African American, 40 percent Anglo and the rest Hispanic, Filipino and Asian. The small church — some 50 people attend each Sunday — is housed in a former Latvian Lutheran church building that dates from 1921, replete with stained-glass windows.

"We've had 130 professions within a mile of the church," Lewis said of several days of Crossover-related activities, "so it's been a super week for Eastside. Our members are excited and people in the neighborhood we're trying to reach have been excited."

Cowboy preacher Harvey Gates, blacksmith Bobby Truitt and pastor Marcus Redding of Hull's Grove Baptist Church in Vale, N.C., hammered out horseshoes stamped with Bible verses like John 3:16 or personalized with the names of visitors to Eastside's block party.

"Do you know Jesus?" Gates asked a freckle-faced, red-headed boy as he finished a horseshoe for the boy. "I try to get at the person's spiritual condition before I give them their horseshoe," said Gates, who also pastors Cross Creek Cowboy Church near Vale.

Truitt, who originated the horseshoe ministry a few years ago, said the trio went through 160 horseshoes at an earlier church block party that was moved inside because of the rain. Since he launched his ministry, Truitt said he's given away 12,000 horseshoes over the past two and a half years.

Hull's Grove also brought their balloon, skateboard and motorcycle ministries for the three-hour block party. Eastside, meanwhile, brought in a full-time evangelist-artist, Ray Jenkins of Fayetteville, Ga., to minister to adults and kids via his artwork.

Earlier in the week, 105 student volunteers in the North American Mission Board's World Changers program divided into teams to work in a northwest Indianapolis neighborhood renovating eight houses, including siding, roofing, painting and gutter cleanout.

The volunteers included six church groups from four states, said Brittany Smith, World Changers mission communications specialist. "Despite the heavy rain, they got a lot of work done," she said.

Lewis and Eastside Community Baptist Church hosted ICE (Intentional Community Evangelism) teams who blanketed the streets and malls of Indianapolis for seven days sharing the Gospel. Despite the rain, ICE teams attempted to hit the streets each day after breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Victor Benavides, ICE coordinator for NAMB in Alpharetta, Ga., said more than 600 city residents made decisions for Christ. "We hoped to get 1,000 but not all the numbers are in yet. Because of the tornado warnings, we had to pull our ICE folks off the streets for two days."

How did the residents of Indianapolis neighborhoods react to dozens of Southern Baptists braving the torrential rains and showing up on their front porches?

"At first, some were suspicious, because in some communities there's a lot of drug activity and prostitution. We saw people arrested in some areas all week," Benavides said.

ICE volunteers like Rick Mull of Morgantown, N.C., and Wally Babb of Fayetteville, Ga., agreed that evangelizing on the streets of Indianapolis had been a joy.

"It was my first time for ICE, but God opened up doors and we shared Christ," Mull said.

"Although we had some bad weather, we just prayed through it," Babb said. "If it rained in one neighborhood, we'd either go to a mall and witness or just prayerwalk the neighborhood we were in. We'd find someone to share with."

Also as part of ICE, Benavides said 36 high school students from White Oak Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, raised $9,000 for their 21-hour bus ride to Indianapolis and led at least 50 people to Christ. They also used Eastside Community Church as their base of operations, sleeping on their bus parked just off Michigan Avenue.

"We at the North American Mission Board believe in ICE," said NAMB President Geoff Hammond, who joined ICE volunteers in knocking on doors on Saturday. "I'm just grateful God let the storms finally pass over. Relationship evangelism is important. You go out and share and if the people aren't interested, you just have to move on to someone else. You can't take it personally."

Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board and Mike Ebert is NAMB's publications coordinator.