“World Wide” used to be a term that seemed impossible when I was a kid. Since that time, it has become a statement that resonates in the hearts of those who are serious about reaching the unreached in our world today.
AtkinsThe World Wide Web has brought us to the point in history that people from all around the world can see what is taking place halfway around the world. It has also ushered in the realization that there is nowhere in the world where a satellite signal – and social media – cannot penetrate a previously unreached area with the gospel. That is the good news about the World Wide impact we can have as Southern Baptists in the media-driven world we live in.
This past week, I was honored to attend the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans with more than 8,000 fellow messengers. I was honored to have been nominated to potential service on the national level, and even though it was not the Lord’s will for my life at this time to be elected, it was still a great honor.
I was honored to be able to spend time with my wife and kids, friends from South Carolina, and to meet new friends. All in all, this time in New Orleans was a great honor as I not only represented Powdersville First Baptist Church, but also South Carolina Baptists at the state presidents’ breakfast. It was also a great honor to have been there when Fred Luter was elected as our new SBC president.
Yet, with every honor, there seems to be the other side of the sword. So much emphasis was placed on Fred Luter being the first African-American to serve as our SBC president that the qualities that God placed in his life that allowed him to ascend to this position were almost lost in the moment.
Here is a dear brother in Christ who has served faithfully and honorably in the same town for almost the entirety of his ministry. Here is a dear co-laborer in the kingdom of God who has lived a life of integrity and intentionality during one of the most crisis-filled times in the life of his city. Here is a called-out man of God who has allowed Christ to be so evidenced in his life that people from all over the SBC and around the world have fallen in love with this man’s heart – a heart that shows the love of God to all who are exposed to his preaching and blessed by his personal presence. These, my friends, are the reasons we are to rejoice that Fred Luter has been set apart by God to serve as our president.
Great Commission Living means that we must always see the measure of a man from God’s perspective. If we are to truly have a World Wide impact for the kingdom of God, it will take us seeing others as God sees them, loving them the way Jesus loves them, and doing all that we can to empower every tribe and tongue to know Him.
– Atkins is pastor of Powdersville First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.