Executive director urges Texas Baptists to spread hope
McALLEN—Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Director Randel Everett put a face on the convention’s new Hope 1:8 initiative in his address during the annual meeting in McAllen, encouraging churches to change their thinking in order to reach a changing state.
Everett introduced Keron Jackson, who described how he had been without family and homeless, eventually ending up in East Texas, living in his car. A friend told him about Panola Junior College, but he had little interest in school. Once he learned the school had a cafeteria, his interest grew.
Then he found a couple of friends—one who let him move into his home until the dorms opened and the other who gave him a job mowing lawns and invited him to attend Central Baptist Church in Carthage.
“I had blamed God for everything in my life, for losing my parents, for being abused. I did not want to have anything to do with God,” he said.
“I was adopted by Sunday school class 23 as a ‘project,’ and I went from having no family to having these 20 sets of people caring about me. These people began to make up the face of Jesus for me.”
Once Jackson began attending the church and reading the Bible, he said, he realized salvation in Christ was key, and his life was changed.
“The problems we face are not bigger than the God we serve. Even when I hated God, he still had a plan for my life,” he said.
Jackson’s situation was not as rare as it may seem, Everett said.
“Not all of us have been like Keron and have been homeless, not all of us have lost their family; not all of us have had a friend murdered,” he said. “But all of us had to be rescued by the power of the Holy Spirit. All of us live hopeless, destructive lives unless God rescues us through the hope of Christ. It’s through God’s church that this word of hope is going to be announced.”
Through the most recent BGCT emphasis, Texas Hope 2010, Texas Baptists succeeded in spreading the gospel to many in the state, but much work remains, he said. Everett introduced the Hope 1:8 emphasis, based on the passage in Acts 1:8: “And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
Every believer and congregation has to determine what his or her “Judea” and “Samaria” is, whether a geographic area or affinity groups, Everett said. Texas Baptist churches should consider the makeup of Texas now compared to what it is projected to look like in 2018.
Looking at the Acts 1:8 imperative and the prospects of a more secular Texas in 2018 will shape what the state’s Baptist churches and institutions look like to a large degree as they attempt to respond, Everett said.
Massive population growth and demographic shifts lead to the logical conclusion that more churches are needed, but Everett said the cost involved in building facilities and other resources is simply out of reach. Instead, he suggested, looking at new mission models.
“Our state is increasingly becoming more secular and isolated and ignorant of the hope that is within all of us,” Everett said, noting that the church plants would have to multiply four-fold just to keep up with population growth from 10 years ago.
“Are there other models where one building might house multiple congregations, worshipping in multiple languages and multiple styles? Could our institutions be housing churches? Who are we training that can be leaders and pastors? If we’re going to reach Texans for Christ, we’re going to need a new paradigm.”
Part of that paradigm shift needs to include a close examination of where churches are spending their dollars, Everett said, given the struggle currently felt to support the Baptist missionaries around the world. Partnering with Baptists around the world, mission-sending agencies and international seminaries that are training local believers is another area Everett encouraged churches to consider. But individuals also must accept responsibility.
“It will take us all to realize that we’re all called to missions,” he said. “What if you trained your workforce to be missionaries for Christ so that as they are scattered around the world doing your work, they also go to share the hope of Christ? What if when you shipped our materials, you included a place for medical supplies to the world in need?
“It wasn’t preachers that were scattered around the world in Acts 1:8. It was everyday people who went out wherever they were sharing about Christ. Churches are talking about how hard it is in an evil world and tragic economic times and how difficult it is to live for Jesus in a pagan world. But we need to stand strong. … It will take all of us.”