The president of the International Mission Board has told a South Carolina audience that the Great Commission is given to all Christians and to all churches who must “witness to a lost world, to be a light to the nations.”
IMB president Jerry Rankin, left, is welcomed to the missions celebration by Broadus Moody, director of missions for Piedmont Baptist Association.Jerry Rankin was the keynote speaker Aug. 26 for Piedmont Baptist Association’s missions celebration held at Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Easley. The theme of the meeting was “Partners on Mission.”
The IMB president said that no one is exempt from God’s call to spread the gospel. He called on believers to respond with a sense of urgency to the responsibility of “making the gospel known to the world.”
“We have the means and the resources to take the gospel to the whole world,” he said.
Rankin said that the International Mission Board has identified more than 300 people groups, representing approximately 1.3 billion souls, “who have not yet heard the name of Jesus.”
The Southern Baptist missions leader said that a concern for the spiritual needs of people without Christ must be accompanied by “an impulse from an indwelling presence that sends us to reach the lost.”
Rankin encouraged the members of Piedmont Association churches to “find a place” in God’s plan of “global evangelization” and “discover what you can do to reach a lost world.”
Singers from Mt. Airy Baptist Church, Easley, lead a time of praise and worship at the Piedmont Baptist Association missions celebration.He urged his audience to overcome any indifference caused by “a closed mind, a calloused heart and a reluctant will,” instead saying, “Wherever he leads I’ll go.”
In a theme interpretation, Tony Qualkinbush, pastor of First Baptist Church in Central, said that God has provided “every resource we need” for being “effective witnesses across the street or around the world.”
“When God puts us in a field to harvest, he doesn’t leave us empty-handed,” the Central pastor added.
Qualkinbush emphasized the importance of “being in the field” with its potential harvest of souls for the kingdom of God, recognizing that “some must be willing to sow while others will reap.”
Broadus Moody, in his ninth year as director of missions for Piedmont Baptist Association, told the large gathering that “our heartbeat is to help our churches be on mission.”
Two Piedmont Association churches were recognized for giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions – Calvary Hill for per capita giving and Brushy Creek for total contributions. Rankin presented awards to each of the churches.