A former South Carolina pastor and Southern Baptist Convention president will be among speakers for the annual State Evangelism Conference set for Feb. 23-24 at First Baptist Church in Columbia.
Ed Young
Tom Whitsett
Ken Forrester
Wendell Estep
J.C. Greear
Robert ColemanEd Young, who was pastor of First Baptist churches in Taylors and Columbia before accepting the pastorate of Second Baptist Church in Houston, where he has served for 30 years, will bring the closing message on the first day of the conference. Young served as SBC president in 1993-94.
The lineup of speakers for the two-day meeting also features Wendell Estep, pastor of Columbia First; Robert Coleman, widely known as a disciple-maker and evangelist; J.C. Greear, who ministers primarily among Muslims; Ken Forrester, pastor of Rocky Creek Baptist Church in Greenville; and Tom Whitsett, a full-time evangelist from Arkansas.
LordSong, a vocal ensemble from Spartanburg, will provide special music.
The conference opens in the afternoon of Feb. 23 with a series of break-out sessions scheduled for 2-2:50 and 3:10-4. The sessions cover a range of topics from sharing the gospel during times of disaster and effective evangelism with college students to building witnessing relationships with Muslims and reaching communities through ministry with public schools.
“Evangelists, pastors and teachers were given by Christ for the equipping of the saints for ministry and for the edifying of the body,” said Marshall Fagg, associate executive director of the SCBC evangelism and missions team. “This conference will combine all of these gifts and more as South Carolina Baptists prepare to build bridges to the lost world.”
First Baptist Church, Columbia, is celebrating its bicentennial in 2009. Fagg said 132 churches that are at least 200 years old have been invited to attend the evangelism conference. “All of these churches will be recognized for laying a solid foundation upon which the kingdom continues to be built,” he said.