Relocation Highlight

Recently, our church underwent a complete relocation. My favorite part of the new building is the entrance. When you walk in, you see a picture of "Jesus Loves You!" in the form of Him embracing children. It demonstrates our focus on families, children, and the mission of Jesus at First Baptist Jenks. Recently, the company that we used for our artwork focused on the work. Here is a highlight of it:

No Such Thing as "the Gift of Evangelism" by Ed Stetzer

This is from Ed Stetzer's blog: Recently, I spoke at the Church of God Triennial meeting in Decatur, IL. One of the things I talked about was my belief that there is no such thing as "the gift of evangelism." Part of my concern is that I hear many people saying they don't have the "gift of evangelism" and thus believing it is not their responsibility to do evangelism (since they don't have the "gift"). And, since evangelism can be a challenge at times, that seems to be a "gift" that people don't want.

In the mid-90s, a well-known leader who created a "spiritual gifts test," told me that about 10% of people have the gift of evangelism. Yet, that number seems to be on decline. Barna recently released research saying, "Among the interesting facets of the research was that just 1% of believers claim to have the gift of evangelism (down from 4% five years ago)."

Hmmmmm.

I don't think this means there is a widespread growing realization that no one has the gift of evangelism. My best guess is that it is because people are talking themselves out of their obligation to do evangelism.

I think that the current challenge of evangelism is why an increasing number of people do not think they have the gift.

Here are four proposals I made at that meeting.

1. All believers are given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). That is, their role is to be agents of reconciliation and share how men and women are to be redeemed and changed by the power of the gospel.

2. Timothy was called to do his work in evangelistic ways (2 Timothy 4:5) but based on the fact that all are called to present the gospel of reconciliation, it makes sense that we can heed that admonition in all our lives. Thus, I encourage pastors to do ministry in evangelistic ways, but particularly church leaders (since Timothy was a church leader). Like in 1 Timothy 3, leaders are almost always commanded to do the things believers do-- just more so.

3. The church is gifted with evangelists (Eph. 4:11) who help us be faithful doing evangelism. We should talk more about the gifted people called evangelists.

4. It is unhelpful to refer to evangelism as a gift because it removes the responsibility of all believers. In other words, many think that if they don't have the gift, it is not their job. Evangelism is not a gift, it is a call to all believers.

What do you think?

SBC 2010: Great Commission Resurgence (GCR)

The biggest thing about this year’s convention was the passage of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Report (GCR). When I first heard about it, I personally felt like it was an indictment against Southern Baptist that we had strayed so far from what we (The Church) were created to do that we needed to push for the Great Commission to be our focus again, after all, what else is there for the church! Now, a little part of me still feels that way, but more of me is excited that we as a convention noticed the need to change our course and move in God’s direction for us.

There are 7 main parts of the GCR that can be read here, but basically it can be summed up by saying our goal as Southern Baptists is to penetrate the lostness in our world for the cause of Jesus Christ (fulfilling that which He called us to do). The main point of contention came with component three, “Celebrating and Empowering Great Commission Giving.” The reason this was controversial is that some thought it would take away from the CP (Cooperative Giving as established by the SBC in 1925). This point was minimized many times by Ronnie Floyd, NAMB, and the GCR task force as it only really includes giving to SBC causes and not rogues efforts – something I find silly since the Great Commission is not centered on the CP, the CP should be centered on the Great Commission.

Danny Akin addressed this at the B21 lunch when he said, “The CP has not become a golden calf, it’s worse than that.” (I am pretty sure I quoted that correctly, and I am pretty sure Danny Akin was the one who said it) Anyway, this component was changed a little bit to make some feel better about the sanctity of the CP, but I found the change unnecessary.

Some called this the most historic moment in SBC life ever, some called it he most historic sin the Conservative Resurgence, I call it getting focused on what we should be focused on. I am glad it passed, was happy to vote for it, and pray that we as church whom make up the SBC will be Kingdom minded Great Commission churches!

Here are some articles on the GCR:
The GCR
The GCR Campaign Page
SBC messengers approve GCRTF report
Hunt, Floyd discuss their increased CP commitment
GCR passage won't change SBC

Another important Resolution passed was on the Centrality of the Gospel, click here to follow (on Timmy Brister's blog).

SBC 2010: B21 Lunch

For the first time I went to something called the B21 lunch. It was a collection of younger minds (honestly there were 3 younger minds and the establishment there) to discuss topics going on in Southern Baptist life. It was phenomenal to hear what the younger minds said. According to their literature, "Baptist21 is a group of young Southern Baptists pursuing Gospel-Centrality through the Local Church among the Nations to the glory of King Jesus in the 21st Century: We believe this is best stated: Gospel. Church. Mission."

Dr. David Platt (Pastor, Brookhill Church)represented the changing of the guard for what the long-lived establishment wants the new guard to look like (conservative, thoughtful, expository, biblically minded, great example). With one exception – Platt challenges the lifestyles of those living the American Dream and calls them to live sacrificially for the cause of Christ. His message is that God has called us to sacrifice everything for the Great Commission, therefore we must follow Jesus in Radical fashion to live out the Great Commission. My favorite part of his emphasis was not what he said, but how Johnny Hunt responded to it, saying that he had been challenged by Platt to give up some of his own comfort already having accomplished the American dream… Dr. Johnny Hunt (Pastor, FBC Woodstock) is phenomenal leader and his genuine heart/transparency is what makes him truly great!

Matt Chandler (Pastor, The Village Church), was also on stage. He is on the board of directors for Acts 29, and is also a Southern Baptist, thus his church is dually aligned. He was quizzed about why he is dually aligned. To summarize his message, he is Acts 29 because he loves and has a heart for church planting. He is Southern Baptist because he is conservative in his theology and loves our seminaries. He was also quick to point out that the GCR had a major role in bringing him back into the SBC fold. It is my hope that the denominational leadership will listen to his critique of SBC church planting efforts so we can properly resource, train, coach and equip church plants (something Acts 29 does exponentially better than SBC).


Dr. Jimmy Scroggins (Pastor, FBC West Palm Beach) was the last guy who caught my attention. Although he is the pastor of a very influential church, I really had never heard anything about him or the work he had accomplished. He is the pastor of FBC West Palm Beach, Fl. What I appreciated about his comments is that he expressed concern over many of the things many of us have been thinking. He said that although he likes the idea of the Cooperative Program, there are many things he dislikes about it. For instance, he does not agree with the way all the dollars are spent. There are concerns over the structure, overhead and such as well that bother him. It was an honest, fair, and much appreciated expression of concern.

With all this being stated, the best part of the B21 lunch was the free books that came with the affordable $7 lunch price tag. Everyone received 4-6 books, which was awesome. The one book I wanted (Radical by David Platt), was one of 5 I received. All in all, it was a great event to attend and I’ll look forward to attending in the future.

* I did not take any of these photos myself, I found them online.