Don KirklandThe 2006 state evangelism conference, which was held last week at Trinity Baptist Church in Cayce, delivered everything its planners had in mind and produced something they really hoped for – a good turnout. Attendance at the conference, a staple of denominational life, had played to disappointing audiences in recent years, causing convention leaders to wonder whether the annual meeting still had value for South Carolina Baptists.
Attendance at last week’s conference – which was a shorter meeting than usual and heavy on inspiration – was consistently high throughout, reaching an estimated 1,500 on Monday evening who came to hear a concert by the Booth Brothers, who perform with the Gaithers, and the preaching of the irrepressible Jamey Ragle, who brought humor to bear on the work and lives of Baptists and other believers.
The conference remained on a high note from start to finish as Don Wilton, state convention president, brought the closing message as a stand-in for evangelist Junior Hill, who was unable to attend the conference due to the death of his brother.
To whatever extent the conference was entertainment, it was good entertainment – with fine humor often characterized by the willingness, if not always the eagerness, for all of us to laugh at ourselves, which always is a good exercise in humility and tends to enhance our perspective.
Throughout the proceedings could be heard a clarion call for each of us to assume our role in practicing evangelism, of recognizing that all people need to hear about Jesus and we must tell them. And along with telling them, we also must be demonstrating in front of them the validity of our Christianity by the way we live our lives. It is Jamey Ragle’s opinion that “the most significant cause of atheism is Christians who confess Jesus with their lips and deny him by their lifestyles.”
It certainly cannot be argued that effective witnessing requires a careful combination of words and deeds. We must recognize that our words without the deeds render our witness ineffective, but our deeds without the words result in a witness that is incomplete.
The other day, while reading another Southern Baptist newspaper, I came across a remark from one person to another that applies well to the need for giving testimony to our faith in Jesus. “If you know any good news, you’d best be telling it” was the comment. Christians do have good news to share, and we’d best be telling it.
Marshall Fagg, who is settling into his role as evangelism leader for South Carolina Baptists and deserves much credit for the success of last week’s conference, asked participants in that meeting, “When was the last time you told your story?” And Alvin Reid, professor of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, posed a related question in an article he wrote for a special edition of On Mission magazine, a publication of the North American Mission Board. “When was the last time,” he asked, “you had news so wonderful you just had to tell somebody about it?”
Reid went on to say, “We have the best news, the most important news, the most urgent news one could ever share.”
For all who are willing, God will provide ample opportunities for us to tell our personal story – a story of how God redeemed us and reconciled us to him through our faith in Jesus Christ.
For all who are willing.