February 3, 2003
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| THE TEXAS BAPTIST EVANGELISM CONFERENCE featured a variety of worship styles and speakers. The praise and worship band Envoy (left) leads contemporary worship. The choir of First Baptist Church of Arlington (right) led in traditional worship. (Ferrell Foster/BGCT Photos) |
World is ripe for spiritual revival; harvesters needed
___By John Hall & Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___ARLINGTON--The world is ripe for revival if Christians will boldly share and practice their faith, featured speakers said during the Texas Evangelism Conference Jan. 27-28.
___About 87 percent of all inventions were developed in the past 15 years, said Jon Randles, a vocational evangelist from Lubbock. The worldwide knowledge base may be doubling as quickly as every six months, he said at
the Baptist General Convention of Texas-sponsored event, held at First Baptist Church of Arlington.
___Upheaval following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has scared many people, he continued. The world has gotten larger and more confusing to people, and they are struggling to make sense of it. People are looking for moral absolutes, something they can count
on.
___Technology has given the world access to Christian teaching, Randles said. People worldwide have access to Christian notions as a result of the Internet, fax machines and e-mail.
___"If we don't go in the bunker and hide, we could be the generation that ushers in the greatest revival since the Book of Acts," Randles said.
___But technology also gives people access to many other philosophical and religious systems, Randles warned.
___"People are looking for answers," he said. "They are going to find God. If they find Allah, find Wicca, it could be a pretty ugly century."
___People who have been cured by Jesus have an obligation to bring a message of healing to the spiritually sick, said Michael Bell, pastor of the Greater St. Stephen First Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
___Bell drew his message from the New Testament story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man who lived among the tombs. The people in the city near that burial place were "comfortable with the man's predicament, as long as he was not too close to them."
___"How many people have we relegated to the outskirts? How many people have we marginalized?" Bell asked.
___After Jesus healed the man, he commanded him to "go back home" to those who knew him and be a witness of God's life-changing power.
___"Our assignment is to communicate to the lost the gut-grabbing compassion of God," Bell said. "All of us who are badge-wearing, card-carrying members of the household of faith are called to share the good news."
___Texas needs more "hardened Christians," according to David Hardage, pastor of First Baptist Church of Sulphur Springs.
___Hardage compared the vibrancy of the gospel among persecuted Christians in China and poverty-stricken believers on the African continent to the condition of Texas Baptists.
___"I think we are too soft," he said. "What we need are some hardened Christians who are faithful no matter what. We need hardened soul-winners who are given to telling the story of Jesus no matter what."
___Baptists in Texas may have grown "too comfortable, too distracted and too arrogant" because they have forgotten how to be still and know that God is God, Hardage surmised.
___Through prayer and meditation, believers can begin to feel the movement of the Holy Spirit, added Jim Baucom, pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va. The Spirit's movement blows away church bureaucracies to mobilize evangelism, he said.
___The Holy Spirit calls Christians to give all to God, but it also will work in the lives of others if allowed, Baucom said.
___"If we would just get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit work, the church would grow. "It's time to let loose. It's time to set the church free."
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Sandy Lewis
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Phyliss Jenkins
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Tiny Dominguez
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David Hardage
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