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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Louisiana evangelist reaches 14 million in global event, 100,000 saved and counting

By Will Hall, Baptist Message Executive Editor ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Evangelist Sammy Tippit, president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, trained 2 million Christians in May, primarily via WhatsApp, about how to share the Gospel with friends and family. As a result, millions more tuned in to a weekend evangelistic event broadcast on multiple media platforms in 11 languages, May 29-31. Moreover, organizers around the globe have reported one hundred thousand first-time professions of faith, so far, and they expect that tens of thousands more have been saved. The special one-hour program included a message on Matthew 7:24-27 (The Wise and Foolish Builders) by Tippit, a digitally integrated choir of individuals singing remotely across the globe, music by Jennifer Turner, the wife of country music star Josh Turner, and testimonies by Jay Begbie, pastor of Bethsaida Baptist Church in Many, and Guy Wolcott, a businessman in Portland, Oregon. “The responses that we have received from the broadcast have been wonderful,” Tippit told the Baptist Message. “There are so many hurting and needy people searching the Internet and looking for hope. We have the message that provides the only lasting hope.” MILLIONS … [Read more...]

VIDEO: Healing the divide with Fred Luter and Dennis Watson

By Message Staff NEW ORLEANS, La. (LBM) - New Orleans pastors Fred Luter and Dennis Watson recently participated in a dialogue about race, relations, respect and restoration. The discussion took place virtually on June 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPa6gsDlAyM&fbclid=IwAR1eN621YV0YJtvXhE_gyRcNvseTs28-G5anq5zZ7l3ztaSbRnP_cgTKa7A … [Read more...]

Chuck Kelley on the state of the SBC (Where We Are Now)

By Chuck Kelley The numbers are the numbers. Southern Baptists may be reluctant to accept the reality of the pervasive presence of decline and the loss of a vibrant evangelistic culture in SBC churches, but the official statistics of the Southern Baptist Convention paint a compelling portrait of churches struggling mightily to reach new converts and to hold on to people already in the fold. In spite of multiple efforts by a variety of people to stimulate growth, the SBC continues to decline. Doctors check the vital signs of temperature, weight, and blood pressure at every visit looking for indicators of how healthy we are. The chart below reviews the vital signs of Great Commission health for the SBC from 2010 through 2018, the most recent year for official SBC statistics. Complete statistics for 2019 are expected within the next two weeks. Both charts will be updated as soon as those numbers are made public. Statistical Snapshots of the SBC (2007-2018) This chart does not include two other sobering indicators of Great Commission health. LifeWay Research reports that from 20011-2018, the SBC lost an average of 1,144 churches a year who gave up their SBC ID number. Also, in 2000 the average number of baptisms … [Read more...]

Chuck Kelley on the state of the SBC (Evangelism Task Force)

By Chuck Kelley In 2017, SBC President Steve Gaines appointed an Evangelism Task Force, chaired by Paige Patterson, to investigate how Southern Baptists could be more effective in personal soul-winning and evangelistic preaching. Unlike earlier initiatives which received significant Convention attention, this Task Force made its final report to a distracted SBC President and largely uninterested messengers during the SBC meeting in Dallas in 2018. Evangelism and concerns about decline were completely overshadowed by other issues. The report was merely read into the record and formally approved by the Convention with little comment. However, while it is much too early to assess its impact, initial indications are that the recommendations of this Task Force may eventually make a measurable difference in SBC baptism numbers. The Evangelism Task Force (2018) The Evangelism Task Force can be distinguished from others in several ways. Clearly and publicly, the Task Force was instructed by the Convention to focus on direct evangelism. Clearly and publicly, members were told to suggest how churches could act effectively on the evangelism mandate. More importantly, the Task Force created an expectation for the North American Mission … [Read more...]