March 27, 2000
'Don't ever give up,' Baker
urges Senior Adult Summit
___By Dan Martin
___Texas Baptist Communications
___WACO--"You hang in there. Don't you dare quit," BO Baker told more than 700 senior adults attending the Senior Adult Summit last week at Waco Convention Center.
___"Give it your best until you reach the end of your journey," Baker said.
___The veteran preacher/ evangelist and his musician brother, Dick, led worship services during the summit, which is held every other year and is sponsored by the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
DICK AND BO BAKER
___The Baker brothers have been preaching and singing together for more than 50 years, starting in the mid-1940s as teenagers. Later they took part in the youth revival movement of the 1950s with other notables such as Buckner Fanning, Browning Ware and Howard Butt.
___Even during the 25 years BO was pastor of Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving and the 15 Dick served as music minister at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, they did occasional revivals and meetings.
___Now that BO is 77 and Dick is 73, they still are at it, blending their preaching and singing as they reach out to camps, revivals, worship services and other events.
___Their brotherly banter spiced the presentations during three plenary sessions.
___"BO and I went to school together," Dick joshed. "I was in the first grade, and he drove the bus."
___BO gave back as good as he got, mentioning once that Moses died at 120, "about the same age as Dick, poor old fellow."
___BO based his final message of the summit on the story of Caleb, who was one of the faithful spies sent into the Promised Land by Moses. Because of his faithfulness, he was promised he would be allowed to enter the land after the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, even though Moses was not allowed in.
___"I want my mountain, the mountain Moses promised me," Baker quoted Caleb as saying as the children of Israel were poised to enter the land under the leadership of Joshua.
___"The 'stand-byers' probably told him he was too old for that task," Baker said. But he wasn't too old, and "you aren't too old, either."
___He warned the assembled seniors from across Texas not to put down the work they have done--Sunday School teacher, choir member, deacon, parking lot attendant.
___"You have never been as needed in your lifetime as you are right now for the cause of Christ," he said. "The churches need the young couples in the nursery, but they need the senior adults too.
___"Why do you think you are here? Do you think it is all over? Are you planning to go home and die tomorrow? God has kept us alive all this time for a purpose. God has a purpose for us, and don't you dare forget it.
___"Don't ever underestimate the strength of senior adults," he admonished. "You can still sing, teach, pray, work. And you can pay for just about anything you want to pay for.
___"We don't know how long we have. Why don't we use the time we have left for the cause? Why don't we try one more time to bring our world to Jesus before we go?"
___He recounted the story of the boy who had heard his father tell of how the bell rang at the old church he attended years before. After the boy pleaded with his dad to take him to the old church house, the father did so.
___When they arrived, the building was in shambles, but the rope still dangled from the bell in the tower.
___"The lad asked his dad, 'Let's ring the bell once more,' and when they did, people from all around the community came to the old building.
___"It is long past time that we should ring the bell again. With what you can do, and what you know, we can ring the bell one more time before we go."
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