June 10, 2002
LifeWay is much more than literature and books, Draper tells SBC messengers
___By Lonnie Wilkey
___Baptist & Reflector
___ST. LOUIS--Taking a page from the past, the president of LifeWay Christian Resources assured messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention that the agency is not just about literature or books.
___In his report June 11 during the SBC annual meeting, Jimmy Draper reminded messengers that in 1892, J.M. Frost stood before Southern Baptists in Atlanta to present the first report of the Sunday School Board.
___ In that report, Draper said, Frost told messengers, "Brethren, this great enterprise which you have entrusted us is not a scrabble and squabble for literature, but something very high and noble."
___ "Today, 110 years later, I stand before you to say, LifeWay is not just about literature, books, Bibles, conference centers and Christian stores," Draper said. "We are about the God-given mission of supporting churches in their efforts to reach people with the transforming message of Jesus Christ.
___ "LifeWay is committed to helping churches become dynamic participants in the growth of God's kingdom by identifying needs and opportunities and providing biblical solutions that will lead them to success in those efforts," Draper pledged.
___ Draper took note of how technology has changed the way LifeWay operates today.
___ "When I was elected president of LifeWay 11 years ago, we were convinced it took four to five years to plan and prepare curriculum materials for churches. On Sept. 11, we realized how much technology has changed that."
___ Within 60 minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center, LifeWay employees posted photos, text and a call to prayer on their lifeway.com website.
___ "In the first two weeks, we provided eight crisis-related Bible study lesson plans. We were amazed at the response. Those lessons were downloaded more than 218,000 times, and 6,300 more viewed them online," Draper said.
___ "Each day, more than 3 million U.S. adults go online to find religious information," he noted. "The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that each month, 2 million Americans go online for the first time.
___ "There is a tremendous need for us to take advantage of Internet capabilities for use in ministry," Draper said. He offered the services of LifeWay to SBC messengers to help design and provide free websites for their churches.
___ Draper also updated messengers of the progress of various other ministries, programs and products produced by the agency.
___ He noted that Frost, as he ended his first report to the SBC in 1892, concluded with a futuristic look. Frost said: "We stand in the present, but we speak for the future. We work in the present but shall gather and garner our harvest in the centuries and the ages and the eternities."
___ "Our desire in 2002," Draper said, "is to continue in that spirit. We must be concerned about today and tomorrow. We must dream of what we can be in this century and those that follow."
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