Courtesy Photo

The recommendation of Ezell, senior pastor of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville and immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference, will be considered Sept. 14 at a special called meeting.

Ezell, 48, is the unanimous choice of the eight-person search committee.

Trustee chairman Tim Dowdy, an ex officio member of the search committee, informed NAMB trustees of Ezell’s nomination in a letter sent via e-mail tonight. Yesterday, Dowdy announced the special called meeting in an e-mail to trustees.

In the Aug. 31 letter Traylor provided to the Witness, Dowdy told trustees Ezell is a “gifted preacher and teacher and a faithful ambassador of the Lord with a passion for reaching the lost and touching the world for Jesus Christ. His own family embodies this commitment as Kevin and his wife of almost 25 years, Lynette, have three natural children and three adopted children from three different countries: Ethiopia, China, and the Philippines.”

Dowdy, pastor of Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., noted Ezell has led his current church to grow to 6,000 members since becoming pastor in 1996 “when he stepped into a difficult situation to rebuild consensus and lead the church to flourish.”

In the last three years Highview’s membership has increased by more than 1,000, Dowdy said, “while the church’s investment in missions reached $1.2 million in 2009.”

Under Ezell’s leadership, the congregation has grown to seven campuses spread across metropolitan Louisville, including southern Indiana.

According to Dowdy, Ezell’s previous pastorates in Illinois, Tennessee and Texas all experienced significant growth.

Traylor, senior pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, said in the letter, “Kevin Ezell is a warm, personable leader who can make difficult choices in leading an organization to be laser-focused on the mission at hand.”

Ezell’s “communication and organizational skills” are cause for excitement for NAMB’s future, Traylor added.

“His family commitment to international adoption will be an inspiration to all Southern Baptists,” Traylor said of Ezell. “He has led Highview Baptist Church, a multi-campus ministry, with 12 percent of their budget being given to Southern Baptist causes. He is a loyal missions supporter.”

Traylor expressed “great joy” that Ezell was unanimously chosen by the search committee.

Ezell’s nomination drew praise from the current president of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as one of his predecessors.

“It is with great joy and excitement to hear the good news that Kevin Ezell is the unanimous choice of the search committee for the president of NAMB,” said SBC President Bryant Wright in the letter to NAMB trustees.

“[Ezell] is a gifted leader, and so much of the convention was able to see what a great job he did of leading the pastor’s conference in Orlando in June,” Wright said.

Wright urged prayer for Ezell “as God prepares him for this new calling of key leadership for Southern Baptists as we seek to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.”

Former SBC President James Merritt “joyfully and enthusiastically endorsed” Ezell.

“I have known Kevin for many years and have long admired his outstanding leadership skills, his pastor’s heart, his ability to work with people, and the tremendous love he has for the Southern Baptist Convention,” Merritt said.

Calling him an “outstanding selection,” Merritt said Ezell’s “unique set of personality traits, leadership abilities, and an understanding of twenty-first century evangelism in a changing culture, I think, give him tremendous qualifications to take the North American Mission Board to newer and higher levels of reaching this country for Christ.”

The letter notes that both Wright and Merritt were references for Ezell.

Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., also were quoted in the letter as references who supported Ezell’s nomination.

“This is a great day for NAMB. It is a great day for the SBC,” said Akin, who was a member of Highview for almost eight years of Ezell’s tenure as pastor.

Dockery said of Ezell, a member of his school’s Board of Reference, “is an exemplary pastor, a serious and faithful student of Scripture, and dedicated Christ-follower.”

Dowdy told fellow trustees more information about Ezell will be provided before the Sept. 14 meeting.

A native of Paducah, Ky., Ezell was born in Germany during his father’s service in the U.S. Air Force.

Ezell has served on the board of trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., including as its chairman, and currently serves on the Advisory Board of Boyce College, the undergraduate school of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as Union’s Board of Reference.

He earned a bachelor of science degree from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, and a doctor of ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

The NAMB presidency was vacated in August 2009 when former president Geoff Hammond resigned under pressure from trustees.

Richard Harris, a NAMB executive with 30 years of experience with the agency and its predecessor entity, the Home Mission Board, has served as acting and interim president since Hammond’s resignation.

The eight-member NAMB presidential search committee was formed in October, with Traylor named chairman. Although Traylor’s term of service as a NAMB trustee concluded in June, the board agreed to allow him to continue to serve as search chairman. Traylor, however, will not have a vote when trustees consider the Ezell nomination.

In addition to Traylor, members of the search committee are Doug Dieterly, executive pastor, Plymouth Baptist Church, Plymouth, Ind.; Larry Gipson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Oneonta, Ala.; Chuck Herring, pastor of Collierville First Baptist Church in Collierville, Tenn.; Lisa Knutsen, a member of Green Valley Baptist Church in Henderson, Nev.; Ryan Palmer, pastor, Seventh Metro Church, Baltimore, Md.; and Tim Patterson, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, Jacksonville, and immediate past NAMB trustee chairman.

As chairman of NAMB’s trustee board, Tim Dowdy, serves as an ex officio member of the search committee.

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A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

Fox News commentator Glenn Beck, of course, is that Mormon at the center of all this. Beck isn’t the problem. He’s an entrepreneur, he’s brilliant, and, hats off to him, he knows his market. Latter-day Saints have every right to speak, with full religious liberty, in the public square. I’m quite willing to work with Mormons on various issues, as citizens working for the common good. What concerns me here is not what this says about Beck or the “Tea Party” or any other entertainment or political figure. What concerns me is about what this says about the Christian churches in the United States.

It’s taken us a long time to get here, in this plummet from Francis Schaeffer to Glenn Beck. In order to be this gullible, American Christians have had to endure years of vacuous talk about undefined “revival” and “turning America back to God” that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement.

Rather than cultivating a Christian vision of justice and the common good (which would have, by necessity, been nuanced enough to put us sometimes at odds with our political allies), we’ve relied on populist God-and-country sloganeering and outrage-generating talking heads. We’ve tolerated heresy and buffoonery in our leadership as long as with it there is sufficient political “conservatism” and a sufficient commercial venue to sell our books and products.

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah.

Leaders will always be tempted to bypass the problem behind the problems: captivity to sin, bondage to the accusations of the demonic powers, the sentence of death. That’s why so many of our Christian superstars smile at crowds of thousands, reassuring them that they don’t like to talk about sin. That’s why other Christian celebrities are seen to be courageous for fighting their culture wars, while they carefully leave out the sins most likely to be endemic to the people paying the bills in their movements.

Where there is no gospel, something else will fill the void: therapy, consumerism, racial or class resentment, utopian politics, crazy conspiracy theories of the left, crazy conspiracy theories of the right; anything will do. The prophet Isaiah warned us of such conspiracies replacing the Word of God centuries ago (Is. 8:12–20). As long as the Serpent’s voice is heard, “You shall not surely die,” the powers are comfortable.

This is, of course, not new. Our Lord Jesus faced this test when Satan took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth, and their glory. Satan did not mind surrendering his authority to Jesus. He didn’t mind a universe without pornography or Islam or abortion or nuclear weaponry. Satan did not mind Judeo-Christian values. He wasn’t worried about “revival” or “getting back to God.” What he opposes was the gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected for the sins of the world.

We used to sing that old gospel song, “I will cling to an old rugged cross, and exchange it some day for a crown.”  The scandalous scene at the Lincoln Memorial indicates that many of us want to exchange it in too soon. To Jesus, Satan offered power and glory. To us, all he needs offer is celebrity and attention.

Mormonism and Mammonism are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They offer another Lord Jesus than the One offered in the Scriptures and Christian tradition, and another way to approach him. An embrace of these tragic new vehicles for the old Gnostic heresy is unloving to our Mormon friends and secularist neighbors, and to the rest of the watching world. Any “revival” that is possible without the Lord Jesus Christ is a “revival” of a different kind of spirit than the Spirit of Christ (1 Jn. 4:1-3).

The answer to this scandal isn’t a retreat, as some would have it, to an allegedly apolitical isolation. Such attempts lead us right back here, in spades, to a hyper-political wasteland. If the churches are not forming consciences, consciences will be formed by the status quo, including whatever demagogues can yell the loudest or cry the hardest. The answer isn’t a narrowing sectarianism, retreating further and further into our enclaves. The answer includes local churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and disciple their congregations to know the difference between the kingdom of God and the latest political whim.

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.

And there will be a new generation, in America and elsewhere, who will be ready for a gospel that is more than just Fox News at prayer.

Dr. Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church, where he ministers weekly at the congregation’s Fegenbush location. Moore is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and Adopted for Life.

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As I was ushered to my aunt’s wheelchair, she recognized me and reached out for me. She was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and knew my name, but did not remember that my mother (her sister) had died almost 20 years ago. She spoke of her as if she had talked to her yesterday. She warned me incessantly of the need to “raise my son right” and “take care of that little princess.” Aunt Margie always had a way (which she quietly enjoyed) of making sure she told you “what you needed to hear.” At bottom, I think she always saw herself as my mother–especially since mine died when I was in college.

She wanted to show me to her room, so we slowly made our way down the corridor to the place she called home. We entered to find two hospital beds (one for her roommate) with a few pictures of our family (my mother and father among them) in the midst of what looked like a hospital room. My aunt repeated herself over and over again (as those who suffer with this disease do) until finally she seemed exhausted from our 15-minute visit. She wanted to hug my children and never tired of telling me that my son looked just like my mother.

As we left the room, I could not help but realize that the number of people in this nursing home (already filled to capacity) would only grow in the coming years as America’s population ages. The loneliness and despair of many in that facility made me wonder just how bad it would become for America’s elderly population.

Aging in the 21st Century

Richard J. Hodes, former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) wrote in his 2005 budget request that the United States is “in the midst of a demographic shift unprecedented in history.” Of the more than 300 million U.S. citizens, more than 35 million were older than 65. “There are more elderly people today than at any other time in history,” he wrote. He predicted the number of elderly Americans would double to more than 70 million, and make up approximately 20 percent of the population—up from 13 percent in 2005.

The latest statistics reveal that the fastest-growing group are those 85 and older. These are also those who are most at risk for serious illness and extended or permanent disability. “Their ranks are expected to grow from 4.3 million in 2000 to at least 19.4 million in 2050,” Hodes said.

“These statistics reveal a shocking reality for all of us who serve these aging adults,” stated Bill Pierce, president of Baptist Village Communities (BVC) of Oklahoma. “The challenges which are before us are enormous, but we must work to provide resources and services that are cost-effective, convenient and sustainable through the end of life.”

Pierce was recently recognized for his 20 years of service to BVC and remembers his first days in the job.

“When I first looked at the numbers, it was obvious to me that we would have problems simply meeting the budget—let alone expanding and developing the ways and means of service to those who looked to us for help,” he said.

Bill Pierce, at his desk in the Baptist Building, works to make a difference in the lives of the elderly in Oklahoma. (PHOTO: HILLARY GLAZE)

When Pierce took the helm, the organization owed almost $4 million to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO), and was some $23 million in debt.
His first priority as president was to simply tell people the truth about the financial state of BVC. By doing so, he fast became known as a man who speaks his mind and works to reconcile problems quickly as a change agent in a fast-paced and very expensive area of social and medical service.

“The BGCO has been enormously helpful to us, and we could not have accomplished what we have done over these decades without their help,” he said.

As he reflects on his years of service, he candidly admits that “somewhere along the way we have missed it with those who are elderly.” Rather than see them as “real people” who still have desires and hopes and dreams, “they are often viewed as a very different person than they once were.” While the effects of aging do take their toll on the body, “the mind and heart are still active in ways that still enable people to live and serve in community with one another.”

Pierce spends much of his time in the various villages and communities (all eight of them) interacting with the “neighbors” of BVC. He speaks of those “who live with us” as friends, but he notices a distinct attitude that permeates this entire segment of the U.S. population.

“They are very concerned about the direction of the country,” he said.  “It is not so much politically as it is the entire culture of our nation.”

He believes that while homosexual marriage and other social problems dominate the news, “a more fundamental concern exists about the way Americans retire and spend their last years.”

The rising costs of healthcare and the demands on families have combined to place in peril the way the elderly receive everything from healthcare to shelter to end of life issues. The amount of money required to adequately provide for the coming generational tidal wave of healthcare costs for this generation “cannot truly be comprehended,” Pierce said. “Financially, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, and it is going to get much worse.”

The looming crisis has developed over the course of several decades and involves millions of people, billions of transactions and (soon to be) trillions of dollars. Yet, closer to the question of how to pay for healthcare is the idea of what healthcare will be required and how best to provide the services for people who desperately need assistance. Simple ideas such as moving to electronic medical records, elimination of the duplication of medical tests, reforms in Medicaid that enable patient choice in health matters and preventative measures of wellness could salvage a system that most believe is in desperate need of reform. Pierce is quick to concede that unless radical changes come to the healthcare system in the United States, healthcare as it is known today is destined to collapse.

“While the new federal health care plan contains some elements which might be beneficial for seniors, the plan as a whole is very troubling,” he said. “Medicare and Medicaid as we know it are unsustainable. We will either have to raise taxes or reduce eligibility or a combination of both.” Pierce thinks that a combination of both actions looms on the horizon.

“The pace of change in healthcare is very fast, and the rapid changes require an ability by those of us who serve with senior adults to meet their needs in ways which provide for them a picture of the Gospel of Christ,” Pierce stated. “Change is coming whether we like it or not. How we prepare for that change is the great challenge for our time.”

Next Week – Part II – Adding Life to Years

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Hitchens is nothing if not blunt. He is unashamed to state that all world religions are the invention of human beings. Scratch beneath the surface and one finds only a battle for ideas which masks the real goal of power and money. Search out all theology, Hitchens would say, and all that is found is a man-made system of ideas that looks remarkably different from even the sacred texts from which the three world religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) originate. And speaking of sacred texts—the Old Testament in the Bible is not the place to look for a God of justice and grace.

In his book, God is Not Great, he is quick to point out various Old Testament texts that are severe in their content and shocking in their unvarnished honesty.  Hitchens’ understanding of the Bible can be summed up as an arbitrary collection of ancient scrolls assembled by corrupt men intent on the suppression of opposition at any cost—even the duping of millions through religious fiction disguised as truth. The appalling presence of evil in the world is the stumbling block that makes men like him and the entire cadre of the so-called “new” atheists resistant to any possibility that a personal God could exist and still be just.

Christopher Hitchens is interviewed by various media outlets after he reveals he has been diagnosed with cancer.

Indeed, the answer to one of life’s ultimate questions is not provided in Holy Scripture. What was Satan doing in God’s garden? The Bible is silent on the matter. What can be clearly seen, however, is that God is active against evil in ways that are visible and powerful. While human rebellion and their subsequent banishment from the garden usher in times of arrogance and further rebellion, God was quick to judge the world and route evil from it by crushing it in its tracks in the flood and the tower of Babel. In Jesus Christ, God both punished evil and restored the creation by becoming both the just and justifier of those who have faith in the accomplishment of Jesus Christ in their behalf. (Rom. 3:26).

The unspoken question raised by Hitchens and his ilk that terrorizes even the most faithful Christ-follower:  What if he is right? The various “proofs” for the existence of God coupled with the arguments of the most ardent Christian apologist can melt away like wax before a flame when death looms as a soon to be experienced reality. Hitchens, however, seems to be bracing for the end in a quite remarkable manner of intellectual engagement the likes of which students of Hitchens have not seen. When questioned as to the possibility of whether or not he will pray when faced with his own demise, he quickly retorts that to pray in the time of need to a being who may or may not be present (according to his logic) is to admit that the entirety of one’s life work could have been spent in error.

The renowned atheist and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi wrote of his brief brush with God during a razor’s edge experience of death in Auschwitz:

“I was waiting to file past the “commission” that with one glance would decide whether I should go immediately to the gas chamber or was instead strong     enough to go on working. For one instance, I felt the need to ask for help and asylum . . . one does not change the rules of the game at the end of the match, not when you are losing. A prayer under these conditions would have been not only absurd (what rights could I claim? and from whom?) but blasphemous, obscene, laden with the greatest impiety of which a nonbeliever is capable. I rejected the temptation; I knew that otherwise were I to survive, I would have to be ashamed of it.”

At this point, pride comes into full view as the ground of much of atheism. To actually admit need in a time of suffering is to admit the weakness of the human experience personally. If truth, as determined and grounded solely by human reason, is dependent on the “dispassionate” and “clear-headed thinking” that comes when human minds are not afflicted and clouded by pain, then suffering is indeed weakness and belief in God is little more than a projected pain-killer.

To the contrary, Holy Scripture reveals Jesus in absolute control of His own crucifixion. On the edge of His own death, Jesus tells the government official who holds His life in his hands that he (Pilate) would have no power over Him were it not granted to him from above (John 19:11). Suffering is the path to clarity, not away from it. As fundamentally weak and needy creatures captured by the chains of sin, human beings are at their worst when they deny their need for God. Through pain, clarity comes as a direct result—even because of—human frailty.

Levi and Hitchens would vehemently disagree, because they believe human beings are at their best when they are untouched by any intellectually or emotionally altering experience of personal pain. Yet, as life speeds toward an end for Hitchens, many prayers are being said for him—asking that he would be awakened to the truth of Holy Scripture that Jesus Christ is the Savior of his soul.

“For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.”
—Psalm 10:3

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It sure looked a lot younger at the SBC annual meeting this year. Many of us commented on the presence, involvement and impact of young leaders and an intergenerational look to the meeting.

The Pastors’ Conference elected “contemporary” (sorry to use that word) leaders in their late 30s, early 40s. The Baptist 21 (www.baptisttwentyone.com) panel boasted an attendance of “around” 1,300, many of whom were first time SBC attendees.  Pastors’ Conference speakers, as well as the main Convention program, provided a broad generational appeal. And, Bryant Wright was the youngest of the four SBC presidential candidates (and, to my knowledge, the only church planter ever elected SBC president).

So, all the young people were back, and everything is better, right?  Well, uh, no—though some of the older folks were dressed more casually. This year, registered messengers were not significantly different than years past. Although there are reasons for optimism, our eyes and even our opinions don’t change the facts: the percentage of younger messengers was actually down from the last year.

The dramatic decline of younger leaders registered as messengers to our annual meeting has not been reversed. Aging of the SBC is a long-time trend, and it will take time to turn the tide.

More than one-third of the registered messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas in 1985 were 18-39 years old—the highest percentage in history. The 18-39 year olds who were in Dallas are now 43-64 years old. In Orlando, less than one-fifth (17.5 percent) were 18-39 year-olds.  (The actual numbers are much more dramatic considering how much smaller the meetings are now.)

The downward trend of young leader participation has not been a rapid change, and the reverse is not going to be dramatic. Although we sense change and believe we’re making progress, the real numbers put us in an awkward position. Facts are stubborn things, and we cannot deny what we know to be true.  The fact is that we have a long way to go.

The concern about the numbers does not stop at the youngest end of the equation. Another trend is the growth among those 60 and older (34.81 percent). Growth in the 60+ demographic has now increased for six consecutive years. When we examined the numbers, a friend asked me, “Is the SBC nearing retirement?” Perhaps. We honor and bless those who have led us through the years and will continue to lead. But if the under-40 crowd is disappearing, and some of the over-60 folks are retiring, who will lead in the future?

Some facts, however, do show promise. Certain demographic areas experienced modest increases. For example, several age groups have been up the last two years, at least from the four years prior. The number of messengers in the 45-49 age group increased by 3.6 percent from the year before. Also, the 40-44 year olds increased by 1.54 percent, and the 18-29 year olds by .96 percent. (Source: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=33369) We celebrate these increases while acknowledging we still have work to do.

The reality is that we still face an unsustainable trend in regard to the age of messengers. Trends are pesky things. Trends don’t go away quickly.

Trends tend to last unless something changes them. This trend is merely a reflection of the reality of who we are as a convention—and who we are becoming. Yet, I believe the will exists among our churches and leadership to raise up a new generation of leaders for the work still ahead of us in God’s mission. The question is, “Will we?”

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Wright, pastor of Johnson Ferry Church in suburban Atlanta, was elected SBC president in June and launched a Web site, Pray4SBC.com, where he is posting monthly videos directed at SBC pastors and church leaders.

“There’s no doubt when we give more to missions, we have a greater heart for going on missions,” Wright said in his August video. “. . . No matter what size church you pastor, think of what it will do for the Kingdom of Christ for us to exceed the Lottie Moon Offerings that we’ve had in our churches in the past. It will allow us to do more for International missions, as well as more for missions, than perhaps in the history of the convention.”

Wright read from a letter from Kyle Waddell, pastor of Pine Level Church in Early Branch, S.C. Several years ago Waddell’s church had a Lottie Moon goal of $2,500, but Waddell challenged the church “to think about the money they spent around Christmas” and to give a special gift to missions. That year the church gave more than $10,000, an amount it has exceeded twice during the past three years. Waddell said he hopes the church can give $20,000 this year.

Wright’s August video, at eight minutes, also features an interview with Roswell Street Church pastor Ernest Easley, who helped lead his church to increase dramatically its offering to missions.

Roswell Street, in Marietta, Ga., has one missions offering each year, which funds the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for the International Mission Board, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for the North American Mission Board and state missions.

By having a combined offering, Easley said, “we’ve been able to give more to each one of those (offerings) annually than we’ve ever given before in the history of our church.” In an example Easley cited, the church had a goal of $150,000 for missions but gave $318,000. In the video, Easley also gave examples of how he and the church staff sparked members to give such a large amount.

In addition to the video, the Pray4SBC.com Web site features a daily devotion written by Wright, as well as the opportunity for church leaders to join Wright’s prayer team.

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I guess that is why I am so baffled by the fact that most Christians are willing to tell people about their favorite football team and their job, spouse, children, grandchildren and hobbies, but they fail to tell the most significant detail of all—the story of the transformation Christ has made in their lives. I have spent a lifetime trying to analyze this phenomenon. Frankly, the issue can be quickly spiritualized. It is caused by living “on empty.” Spirit-filled followers of Christ joyfully witness to the daily works of God in their lives. So step one in finding a solution is a fresh filling of God’s Spirit.

Perhaps the basis for our silence toward lost people is the general lack of sharing with one another about God’s work in our lives. Our churches have lost the art of testimony. When I was a child, we would have testimony time on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Sometimes the testimonies were recollections of the moment Christ became their Savior and Lord. Other times people would tell about God’s mercy and grace that carried them through difficult circumstances. These sessions were designed to brag and boast about God, and one always left with a sense that He had been and is at work.

I think our willingness to tell lost people about Jesus would be heightened if we would begin by simply telling one another about Jesus. In recent months, I have made it a mission to challenge people to tell their stories of salvation to their families. I have also challenged us to tell our stories to other Christians. We need to speak often of God’s grace in our lives, and in so doing the telling of our stories will become natural and easy.

BGCO evangelism leaders have developed a simple yet compelling way to witness. The emphasis is called MY316. Over the last few months, hundreds of church leaders have been trained to use this method to tell their stories of God’s work in them and then bridge to the most well known verse in the Bible, John 3:16.

This summer at Fall Creek, thousands of teens and sponsors learned to tell their stories and then open the way to His story in John 3:16. At CrossTimbers, hundreds of children were taught how to share their stories and bridge to His story. Thousands of pieces of training material, an iPhone app, a Facebook page and other unique and supportive approaches are being utilized to help you and your church tell your story and His.

The creation of MY316, its implementation, and all the related materials are provided without cost to you and your church. Why? Because of generous gifts to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering. This month your church will take a special offering to impact Oklahoma with the Gospel. MY316 as well as a multitude of other special projects and ministry opportunities specific to impacting lostness in Oklahoma would not be possible without your gifts.

So I ask you to do two things. First, tell somebody your story. In fact, tell your story to family, friends and strangers. Just become accustomed to telling your story of God’s goodness in your life. Second, give to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering through your church. Oklahoma is waiting to hear your story and His. Go ahead. Knock yourself out by generously testifying of the mighty works of God in your life and then giving abundantly so everyone in Oklahoma can hear the Good News.

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From June through August, I stay busy orchestrating mission trips around the world. I am on call 24 hours a day in case emergencies arise. They always do.

The morning we started our summer madness, my wife took her shower and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. While I finished my packing, she hurried back upstairs to say, “We have a problem.” Here came the singular/plural “we” again: We both had a problem, but I needed to fix it.

I rushed downstairs to see what she meant. I entered the kitchen and noticed we now had the ninth wonder of the world, Little Niagara Falls, pouring from our kitchen ceiling. The ceiling was not dripping water; it was gushing. Since Cathy and I were heading out that day to train our missionaries, the only thing we could do was turn off the water and mop up the mess.

When we returned home, we called the plumbers, who determined that the master bath on our second floor had a bad shower floor pan. Next, our insurance company informed us the tiles that covered our bathroom floor and walls hadn’t been manufactured since The Great Depression. To replace the floor pan, we would have to demolish the entire bathroom.

Here’s where things got interesting. The sheet rockers came in and rocked, the plumber came in and plumbed and our house was making progress. We now had a brand-new bathroom and a brand-new kitchen ceiling. But when the plumbers turned the water back on, down came Little Niagara Falls all over again. The cast iron pipe that extends from the shower pan to wherever pipes go had rusted out, and the stress of putting in a new drain had caused it to crumble. Now we needed more plumbers to plumb and more rockers to rock.

Finally, the shower was fixed for the second time. My wife and I were excited. The shower was all tiled, the ceiling was all sealed and we were happy homeowners once again.

A few nights later, I was awakened by the relaxing sound of our aquarium. Its gentle gurgling relieves our anxieties. That night, there was only one problem: we don’t own an aquarium!

I rushed downstairs to see the now-familiar Little Niagara Falls. For the third time in three months, we had the plumbers back to re-plumb and the sheet rockers back to re-rock. After 12 weeks of repairs, my wife and I were anxious about turning the water back on. As the sheet rockers left, we followed them out of the house, locked our door and left on a mini-vacation. We hope the problem is fixed, but we’ve experienced that hope . . . three times.

The past few weeks, I have had to check my attitude. “God, why me? I am a missionary! I go around the world starting churches and telling people about You. Don’t I deserve a leak-proof ceiling?”

Many years ago, God and I had a similar conversation, and all he told me was to “Rejoice always.” It took me 18 months to understand those two words through a mathematical formula: “Jesus plus Nothing equals Everything.” (J + 0 = E). If I make a dry ceiling the basis of my happiness and my ceiling gives way to Little Niagara Falls, I have lost my happiness. If I make stocks the basis of my happiness and my stocks go down, I have lost my happiness. If make my children the basis of my happiness and I lose my children, I have lost my happiness.

Only one thing can be the basis of your happiness and that one thing is Jesus. He said, “Never will I leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5-6). Everything in my life can be taken away but Him. Jesus is everything. He is my joy, my hope, my life. He is my peace, my rock, my protector and my all in all. Because these things are true, I can fulfill 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and “Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I know many of you are going through difficult times. We often think because we are followers of Jesus, our ceilings should never produce the ninth wonder of the world and our pipes should never rust out, but it doesn’t work that way. Instead, God changes the source of our happiness or joy. We no longer find our delight in the temporal things of this world but in Him. And that, my friends, is why we can rejoice . . . always.

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Sarah Cervantes with her 6-year-old twins Aiden, on left and Norah, on right. (PHOTO: JEFF WILSON)

When Sarah Cervantes moved to Edmond from Michigan one year ago, she knew no one outside of some relatives who lived in the area. The 29 year-old single mother of 6-year-old twins Aiden and Norah was battling cancer and often wondered how she would survive—both physically and financially. She had no job, and school was looming on the horizon for her children. Impoverished and on government assistance, she heard that free school supplies were being given to all children in the Edmond school district who needed them at Edmond, Henderson Hills. Initially, she had no desire to come to a church for help, fearing her own sense of shame would overshadow any opportunity to even gain the attention of someone who might take an interest in her family.

She admits that she “didn’t want to be judged by Christians” as so much of what had recently taken place in her life was, in many ways, beyond her control. Yet with the average cost of school supplies rising into the hundreds of dollars, her courage to at least show up on the Henderson campus to investigate the possibility of help for her children slowly began to overshadow her fear of rejection. Cervantes did not want to become the latest project of a sincere Christian who really did not understand just how difficult her day-to-day existence had become.

“So often those of us who are in need are very slow to admit just how bad things have gotten for us,” Cervantes said.

By the time she arrived, hundreds of parents and children were already in place to receive school supplies. She walked into the auditorium and was immediately greeted by members of the church all wearing special shirts identifying them as volunteer staff for the community-wide distribution. Once partnered with a Henderson member who took care of everything from the care of her children to making sure that they received everything they needed to begin school, she was amazed by the attention to detail and the “genuine interest they took in me and my children.”

“We were welcomed like family,” Cervantes said. “They cared about me, they served me, they loved me—not knowing anything about me at all.” Prior to her coming to the school supply giveaway, she was lonely and felt isolated even in the midst of a large crowd. By her own admission, her very identity seemed to shrink into the shadows as she often wondered what would become of her children should the cancer claim her life. Should she survive, what would become of her life, and how would she provide for her children?

One year later, she now wears a volunteer shirt for the school supply giveaway and is serving for the first time as a guide for a family who needs the help of Henderson’s massive community project. Now a member at Henderson, employed, and her cancer in remission, she points to this annual event as a turning point in her life.

“This is a wonderful outreach to the poor and needy in our community, and I can’t begin to tell you what it meant to me and my children just to be cared for by those in this church who loved me, shared the Gospel with me and helped me through a difficult time in my life.”

A System and a Plan
To observe the annual school supply giveaway at the church is to watch the vision of a social entrepreneur, the passion of a Christian evangelist and the administrative savvy of a business manager combine into a massive effort that served more than 1,000 families in about three hours. From the worship center to stations marked by signs identifying every school in the Edmond district (including homeschoolers) the operation is an exercise in optimum flow that would impress assembly line managers from corporate America to major event planners.

From left to right, in red: Sherry Bridwell, Luke Douglas, Karen Cid and Allison Cid help children select their school supplies. (PHOTO: JEFF WILSON)

Sarah Gunther and her two children (not members of any church in Edmond) first heard about the event by word of mouth. At work in her office building, she heard that “this big church was giving away free school supplies” and she wondered “why they would do that.” At first, she thought it surely was some way to get her “converted” or “baptized.” To her amazement, however, these “people were simply interested in helping us out and meeting a need for us.” She is unsure whether she will come back to attend a service here as she adamantly admits she is not a Christian. “I am kind of impressed that all these people would go to so much trouble to help us out,” she said. “They do not even know me, but I can tell they really care. Why, I don’t know, but I appreciate it.”

Kimberly Lathrop grew up in the Seventh Day Adventist tradition and found a Bible on the back of one of the chairs in the worship center as she was waiting to walk through the supply line with her friend, Kelly, and her four children. Finding the text of Exodus 20, she began reading the Ten Commandments to her friend’s son and explained, “I grew up in church, but I had forgotten where these were.” She plans on returning to Henderson soon and exploring more about how to become a Christian and possibly pursing membership in the congregation.

Sarah Cervantes serves as a guide in the same ministry that helped her one year ago. (PHOTO: JEFF WILSON)

A Volunteer Army
The gym of the church resembles an office supply store complete with thousands of pencils, pens, highlighters, notebooks, crayons, backpacks, Ziploc bags, scissors and gluesticks. There is not one school supply required by any school in the Edmond school district that isn’t found in this one room. As Jeff Wilson, the staff elder/pastor who oversees the entire event, stands and finally has opportunity to watch as hundreds move through the room taking what they need with their children, he is reminded of his own childhood.

“I’ve been in this situation before myself,” he said. “When my Dad died, we went on food stamps and other government help, and I know what it feels like to not have enough money to buy school supplies.” As he greets some of the mothers and fathers who have brought their children to the event, he turns and says to some other volunteers, “I just think the Lord is smiling on this right now and is pleased with us.”

More than 600 Henderson members are involved in the annual outreach, and the goal is for every family to have a personal touch with at least one member of the church should they need further help or desire pastoral ministry. As the families exit the supply room, staff pastors and others are present to listen, read the Bible and pray with those who ask to speak with someone about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some families are overwhelmed with emotion after leaving with bundles of school supplies as they realize the generosity of this congregation stems from something more than a fuzzy love for others. One entire family stopped for prayer as they explained just how a recent job loss had caused tremendous pressure in their lives. For one night, however, they “felt they were among new friends who cared about us and pointed us to Jesus.”

Just outside the door a carnival atmosphere awaits in the church’s courtyard (called the Village Green). The sights and sounds of children running and playing cause even the most skeptical atheist to soften in the face of such generosity. “I came here because I was forced to,” one person said as they declared that they still had doubts about God. “My boy needed stuff for school, and I didn’t know where to go.” After a free meal and watching how his children enjoyed playing with other members of the church, he plans to come back to hear what the church “really teaches about God and all the Christian stuff.”

To Wilson and the entire army of volunteers, this is exactly what they prayed would happen. “We aren’t here only for ourselves,” Wilson said. “We exist to declare the Gospel of Jesus, and I know when we give of ourselves freely for the community where the Lord has placed us, He is honored and we pray this ministry might grow and reach more people. It was pure joy seeing children smiling from ear to ear proudly carrying their new backpacks full of supplies.”

The annual outreach is held each year prior to the start of school in the Edmond school district. More information about the School Supply Drive is available here.

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The education system in the United States has become one of the most expensive enterprises in the world. Ranking near the top of the list of nations for its level of funding for universal or public education, the U.S. invests billions of dollars into a massive system that has grown to encompass everything from nutrition to exercise to parenting to athletics and, perhaps far behind other aspects of modern education, teaching. The modern classroom has become the laboratory for virtually every educational theory and practice over the last half century.

T. H. Bell, U.S. Secretary of Education from January 22, 1981 – January 20, 1985.

When President Ronald Reagan first called for a thorough study and report on the state of American education in the early 1980s, he formed one of the first national commissions to study American education. The National Commission on Excellence in Education produced what has become one of the most memorable government reports of all time. A Nation At Risk critically linked educational failure to the possibility of national demise. As American students sunk deeper into the quagmire of mediocrity and downright ignorance, the future of the nation was indeed at risk as more social programs would be required to supply essential life needs to the growing number of young Americans who could not read or write. With so little brainpower, America could be destroyed from within.

It was President Bill Clinton who first introduced the Goals 2000: Educate America Act which established a national education goals panel and worked to move all public education toward the accomplishment of eight national goals. By the year 2000, American education was on track to be transformed through participation and coordination at every level of education funding and service —national, state and local. Governors were seen as the leaders of education reform in their state, and they joined with business leaders as blue ribbon commissions were formed to recommend the path forward for students in every school across the nation.
It did not happen. Ten years after these goals were to be fully realized across the spectrum of American culture, students still evidence extreme difficulty regarding mathematics and science. Statistically, few students have mastered even basic algebra. Many cannot name the first president of the United States and even less can write a simple paper with paragraphs outlining coherent thought. Schools in high poverty regions often resemble prisons with barbed wire and security officers stationed in each hallway. Those who cannot afford tuition at a private school or homes in upper scale suburbs are forced to settle for a substandard education where most students will find themselves moving from the classroom to the street to prison.

Knowledge and the skills developed from it is the key to usefulness and advancement in the modern world. The ability to begin and sustain an aptitude for learning throughout life is critical given the fast pace of 21st century realities. For many, the modern American education system is not providing those skills, and parents are demanding answers. After decades of “reform,” however, a growing number of parents have simply walked away from the entire endeavor. Believing the public education system to be toxic to learning, the homeschooling movement has grown to unimaginable proportions.

Almost 2 million students are now homeschooled (almost 3 percent of the entire school-aged population) and there is no sign of decline. School choice, charter schools and vouchers dominate discussions of education reform. The need is so critical that even politics is often put aside to address the root of the problem. Adapting educational opportunities and delivery systems to the free market of supply and demand has resulted in shocking discoveries for many government and business leaders. When given a choice as to where their children will go to school, most parents prefer options that are not determined by the federal or state government. Rather, they prefer to choose for themselves who will teach their children.

In June, 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention went on record by passing a resolution in support of public education. At that time, the SBC was concerned that no public funds go to support private education. They reaffirmed their belief “that the use of public funds for education in church-controlled schools, regardless of the manner in which these funds are channeled to church schools, is contrary to the principle of religious liberty.”

Fast forward almost 40 years and Southern Seminary president, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., wrote in 2005: “I believe that now is the time for responsible Southern Baptists to develop an exit strategy from the public schools.” In response, more local churches are starting schools to educate their children in an effort to stop godless influences which vehemently seek to annihilate any aspect of faith or morality in a sea of moral equivalence and deconstruction. An intentional strategy is being implemented that seeks to provide alternatives to traditional public education.

This issue has not been without controversy across the SBC. Hundreds of public school teachers see the classroom as their mission field and the entire educational system as needy as some international mission outposts. The sheer depth of need evidenced by the poverty both of spirit and academic performance merits serious attention by local congregations across the nation.

As the 2010 academic year begins, there is little doubt that the United States cannot sustain itself with the current educational apparatus in place. Something must be done, but governmental strategies are proving to be of little help to the average local community. What has made a noticeable impact in many areas of America are local churches working together on multiple fronts to assist public schools as well as private institutions in after school tutoring, school supply giveaways and assistance to needy families who need stability and additional help to maintain order and routine in the lives of children.

In 1947, Dorothy Sayers authored The Lost Tools of Learning. She called for a renewed focus on a classical education that seeks to acquaint and equip students with abilities to learn across the entire academic curriculum. Believing that their futures must provide them with ways to sustain their minds and their hearts after their formal education was finished, she stated that “the sole true end of education is simply this: to teach men how to learn for themselves; and whatever instruction fails to do this is effort spent in vain.”

Throughout history, the Church has been actively involved in teaching people how to read and write. A literate people are those who can read the sacred Word of God. God’s Word and God’s world have always provided the ground of a truly holistic instruction whereby men and women would glorify God with their minds. Toward this goal, all education must strive lest, in the words of Malcolm Muggeridge, modern human beings “educate themselves into imbecility.”

Douglas E. Baker is executive editor of the Baptist Messenger and Communications Team leader for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

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