Elected as New MI Executive Director

Thank you to so many that have been praying for me and our family during these significant days of decision regarding the new ministry opportunity to serve the Baptist State Convention of Michigan as Executive Director and Treasurer.
If you have not already heard, during its meeting for the 53rd annual state convention, the Baptist State Convention of Michigan elected me to serve as its fourth Executive Director. I am humbled and honored by the confidence made in me to serve in this critical ministry role.

 

Below is the text of my message which I delivered after being elected on Wednesday, October 27, 2010. (Out-takes are in the Endnotes).

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The Resources Are In the Harvest

Matthew 9:36-38 (HCSB)

 

For more than 2 months, the world followed the saga of 33 Chilean miners trapped under the earth. I’m sure they feared for their lives, until a line of communication was established. THEN, they had hope. For 69 days, they held onto the hope of a rescue. When they were miraculously rescued, there was a great celebration.

 

Michigan is a state where more than 80% of our population is trapped in a spiritual mine with no hope. The problem is . . . they don’t know that they are in the spiritual mine.

 

It is our job to help Michiganders realize that they are trapped in the spiritual mine with no hope . . . and help them meet the Person who is eternal hope, Jesus Christ.

 

READ Matthew 9:36-38 (HCSB)

36When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Thank you for your affirmation of God’s call on my life to continue serving as your missionary here in Michigan. My sincere prayer is that I can serve you in such a way that it will stimulate all of us to be communities of missionaries who are pushing back the lostness in Michigan and around the world.

 

Michigan Baptist have had a rich history. Led by passionate men of God like Dr. Bob Wilson, Billy Whitt, Fred Hubbs and many more … many churches have been started and lives transformed.

 

As northern industrialization expanded, we saw the dynamic growth of churches across our state as we saw a harvest of souls.

 

However, today we must face the harsh and brutal realities that we are no longer living in the 1950’s and 60’s. We must face the reality that things are different now. We have too many churches that are saying, “God, I remember when” rather than “God, how can we reach them.”

 

Let me give you my simple assessment of what has happened in Michigan and what we must do as a convention of churches, then, I want us to talk about reaching the harvest.

 

Since it has been so difficult to evangelize the unreached in Michigan, we have allowed ourselves to be diverted to secondary priorities. Not only have we turned to secondary priorities, but we have come to consider them primary. Many of our churches do not even realize that they have given priority to the wrong things. But it’s evident by the lack of Kingdom results.

 

Any outside observer could come away with the impression that the church’s primary aim has become maintaining the compound and the institution and not reaching out to change a lost world.

 

Dr. Donald McGavran wrote in his book, The Bridges of God, “Once a mission station comes to be an institutional center its chances of starting a Christ-ward march of the peoples in the mission field are very small . . . in fact, such institutionalization actually prevents the start of Christ-ward Movements”

 

Let me say very clearly … Christ died for individuals and left the church to carry on His work. He did not leave the state convention or associations. What that means is that our role as a convention is to serve the local church ... not try to BE the local church.

 

We are a support battalion for the soldiers that are engaged in the frontline battles of praying for the lost, sowing God’s Word among the lost and engaging a lost culture.1

 

Now let’s take a few moments to talk about the harvest.

 

Michigan has more lost people thaN 42 other states have in total population. As we have already noted, every MICHIGAN Baptist would have to lead 653 persons to Christ for us to reach our state today.

 

How can we ever begin to make a difference? We make a difference when we understand that the RESOURCES ARE IN THE HARVEST.

 

Ninety percent of churches in America are plateaued or declining. That means only 10% are growing. BUT of that 10%, ONLY 1% are growing from conversion growth.2

 

Apparently, we aren’t making a real difference because we aren’t seeing many churches growing from conversions from the harvest field. WHY?

 

If people aren’t coming to Christ in Michigan, there are really only three possible reasons.

• Maybe it’s God - He’s decided it’s just not worth His time or he’s distracted or he’s just gotten bored). OR POSSIBLY
• It’s the LOST themselves – Maybe we would agree that it’s just too hard to reach people in Michigan. It too tough. It’s all their fault for being so hard to reach. OR POSSIBLY
• It’s US – We’re not effectively being salt and light in a dark world.

In South Korea, there were more people being born-again than being born in 2006. There were 452,000 babies born that year and more than that reborn. The church in South Korea was making progress spreading the message of Christ and seeing transformation.

 

In Michigan, we are losing ground when it comes to pushing back the lostness. No single county in Michigan has more people being born-again than born.

 

If it can happen in S. Korea, why not here?

• It can happen, IF, every Michigan Baptist Church will be intentional in sharing Christ.
• It can happen if we preach and teach evangelism.
• It can happen if we prioritize it on our calendars.
• It can happen if we remind ourselves what’s at stake . . . the souls of millions of Michiganders.

I was with a rural Wisconsin Church Planter last week. He said, “We see regeneration because we expect to see it.” In just over 10 years, they have seen over 600 adults baptized. They are intentional about evangelism and they expect to see results as God blesses their efforts.

 

Michigan Baptist, we cannot be satisfied saints who sit, soak & sour. We must be stalwart Saints that are staring the enemy in the eye and declaring the victory through Jesus.

 

How do we make a difference? One person at a time.

 

We must have top leaders to lead the charge.

 

Where do we find leaders to push back the lostness in Michigan?

• There are church planters yet to be won to Jesus that need to be reached by your church.
• There are dynamic youth leaders yet to be reached by your church.
• There are musicians yet to be reached by your church.
• There are deacons yet to be reached by your church.
• There are lay church leaders yet to be reached by your church.

Remember, the people RESOURCES are in the Harvest.

 

In a National Study by the Intercultural Institute for Contextual Ministry, they identified 335 locations in Michigan as primary locations for church plants. Based on the “LOW active evangelical presence and the HIGH number of unreached peoples” these are priority locations for reaching people.

 

Would all of our church planters stand for a moment? With a failure rate of 70-80%, most of these men will not be here in 3 years. We have to do a better job coming along side our new churches if we are ever going to see our convention of churches grow, pushing back the lostness in Michigan.

 

Will Michigan Baptist churches reach into the 335 pockets of lostness to be salt and light? Will our churches lead the way in planting new churches and reaching out into the 335 caverns of hopelessness?

 

I pray you will. And I promise you that our convention will do its very best to come along side you to resource your efforts.

 

Do you realize that approximately 69,000 Michiganders entered a Christ-less eternity last year? That’s right . . . that is 80% of the deaths in Michigan last year. People that can never have the opportunity to hear the message of Christ. Our chance to share Christ with them is gone.

 

How many more will die without Christ before we become witnesses to the Hope they can have in Jesus Christ?

 

Will you stand up and be a witness? Will you stand up and be a part of bringing in the harvest? I pray you will.

 

I don’t worry much about our finances or attendance or much anything else because I have confidence in Jesus Christ and His promises. I know without doubt, that the RESOURCES ARE IN THE HARVEST.

 

If we resource the vision of our churches that are reaching people, God will provide.

 

If we are keeping first things first … God will bless us with a great harvest.

 

In closing, I must ask you to answer this question …

 

(SING) Will You Be a Witness?  

with Middlebelt Baptist Church choir
CLICK HERE to view a YouTube video clip of song recorded by a pastor.

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ENDNOTES

 

1. EDITED OUT OF SERMON DUE TO TIME:

As a convention, we must serve all congregations …

• From Mackinac to Maybee
• From Traverse City to Trenton
• From Dearborn to Detroit
• From Marquette to Monroe

If we do not serve all congregations, we give up our right to serve any congregations.

• Small, medium, and large congregations must be served.  
• Inner city, neighborhood, suburban, town & country and rural congregations must be served.
• Declining, plateaued and growing congregations must be served.
• New and established congregations must be served.
• Congregations with a bi-vocational pastor, a full-time pastor, and a pastor plus staff ministers must be served.

However, not all congregations can be served in the same way because they are all unique. Trying to serve all congregations the same way will mean we’re not serving any congregations well.

To be an effective convention we must care more about making kingdom progress than the thriving of the convention as an institutional presence.

Serving our congregations is essential for our convention. We must design our strategies, systems, and structures with empowering congregations as our primary focus.

We need to serve our pastors and staff by helping them increase their capacity to be

• Spiritual,  
• Strategic, and
• Relational leaders.

To effectively resource our churches, we must design ourselves to be . . .

• Fast
• Flexible
• Focused, and
• Friendly

The mandate of last year’s convention is to move to a strategic model that relies on our associations and churches as our foundational ministry partners.

Those partnerships must develop leaders in our churches, enrich the ministry of our congregations, share the message of Jesus and start healthy, reproducing churches.

Our convention must rediscover congregations as the basic building block of denominational life.

To be successful, we must affirm we exist to serve the kingdom of God through congregations, rather than congregations existing to serve the kingdom of God through the convention.

We must celebrate what happens in the life and ministry of congregations more than what happens in the life and ministry of our convention organizations.

We must do whatever we can to help congregations experience growth. We must take significant risks to serve congregations, at almost all costs.

We must be willing to make the hard choices to assist each unique congregation in reaching its Kingdom capacity. Each church is different, so we must customize how we help them to be effective.

If we refuse to prioritize our time, budget and other resources in the areas where they can have the greatest impact … then, it leaves the door open for para-church groups and non-denominational movements to focus on our congregations.

We cannot be so narrow-minded to insist that Southern Baptist have the only materials and resources worthy of use by our churches.

Rather we must be resource brokers who help our congregations learn where they can get the best products and services that fit the unique needs of each situation.

Our convention must use interactive web sites, social networking, blogs, webinars, podcasts, teleconferences and other technology tools to connect our congregational leaders for dialogue.

Our convention must not see itself as the experts. We need to view our new congregations, our effective, and innovative congregations, and our transforming congregations as the experts.

2. References:

• http://www.america-betrayed-1787.com/church-leadership-training.html
• http://www.provocativechurch.com/2008/07/1-of-churches-growth-come-from.html
• http://www.joelcomiskeygroup.com/articles/churchLeaders/stateofNorthAmericanChurch.htm
• http://deepintheheart.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/church-growth-vs-kingdom-growth/

Some discrepancy about the # of churches actually growing, but very consistent on the 1% growing by conversion growth.