MCALLEN—Pastor and community leader Michael Evans challenged Texas Baptists to “leverage” their diversity to meet the challenge of making disciples of every people group in the state.
“Our God has called each and every one of us,” said Evans, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield and the city’s mayor.
Preaching from Romans 12:1-2, Evans urged participants at a “Family Dinner” sponsored by Texas Baptists’ Center for Cultural Engagement during Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering in McAllen to be transformed by God and, in turn, help transform their communities and the larger culture.
Evans, a past president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, noted the church in Rome to whom the Apostle Paul wrote faced challenges. The Jewish Christians who had been expelled from the city for several years were allowed to return, but they came back to a home they barely recognized.
‘These are strange times’
“The landscape was now different. Does this remind you of Texas?” Evans asked, pointing to dramatic demographic shifts, rapid population growth and cultural changes in the state.
“Have you noticed the times we’re living in? Is anybody naïve regarding our times? … There’s treachery on Main Street, chaos on your street and—God forbid—even gender confusion on Sesame Street. We’re living in strange times,” he continued.
“Amorality is the social norm. Immorality is winked at. Alternative lifestyles are affirmed. These are strange times.”
Even so, Christians cannot “throw in the towel,” Evans said.
God has equipped Texas Baptists to meet the great challenges of taking the gospel to their state, he observed. Strong institutions, missions partnerships, innovative ministries and other resources all can be used to spread the gospel and make disciples, he noted.
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‘Room enough for everyone’
Evans urged Texas Baptists to preserve their unity in diversity.
“Refuse to be divided by anything or anybody,” he said. “Rebuke and reject the spirit of division that has infected our nation.”
The racial, ethnic and cultural diversity of the “Texas Baptist family” is a gift from God that his people can “leverage” to advance God’s kingdom, he asserted.
“There is room enough for everyone at the table,”
At the dinner, Texas Baptists’ Chaplaincy Relations recognized Joe Jaime, who retired after 50 years of service as a chaplain at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen.
Affinity group leaders also presented Legacy Awards to six church leaders for the impact they have made in their communities:
- Fidencio Vasquez, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista in La Joya.
- Church planter and teaching pastor Victor Castillo from Rio Grande Bible Church.
- Edward Wagner, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Killeen.
- Elmo Johnson, pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Houston.
- John Nguyen, pastor of Redeemer Baptist Church in Plano.
- Peter Leong, pastor of Grace Chinese Baptist Church in Sugar Land.
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