Q. What is the emPOWER conference and what is its purpose?
A. The name, “emPOWER Conference” is the new name that we have given to the old name, “Evangelism Conference.” It is an expression of Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49 where Jesus instructed his followers to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of evangelizing the nations. So, the emphasis of the emPOWER conference is the same as it has been; it is to provide inspiration, motivation and encouragement to God’s people all of whom have the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Q. Since the name does not include the word “t1:PersonName>evangelism” does it not create some misunderstanding as to the purpose of the conference?
A. The focus and heartbeat of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention is “Evangelism” and “Missions” as is conveyed by the annual budget of the convention. Therefore, the emphasis of the emPOWER conference is evangelism, and more. It will accentuate personal evangelism and missions born out of victoriously empowered churches and Christian living.
Q. There seems to be the conception that the conference is intended just for pastors and evangelists. Is this true?
A. By no means is this true. The fact is that it is designed with laymen and women in mind. After all, evangelism is the responsibility of the entire church membership. Every person who is a believer in Jesus Christ will benefit greatly by attending the conference. It is for the pastor, the staff, and the entire congregation. Every person will benefit enormously from hearing those who are on the program.
Q. When and where will the emPOWER conference to be held?
A. It is to be on February 9 & 10 at the Arlington convention center located at 1200 Ballpark Way in Arlington. The first session will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 9UP>th with SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards presiding.
Q What would you like to say in closing?
A. I want to personally invite every pastor, staff member, and every church member of every church in the state of Texas to attend the conference and take advantage of the opportunity that God is providing by means of the conference. I will look forward to seeing them there.
CORPUS CHRISTI?Messengers to the sixth annual meeting of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention adopted a $16.3 million budget for 2004 and marked the SBTC’s fifth anniversary, which included a surprise greeting via fax from President Bush.
The convention elected its officers unopposed, including Chris Osborne, pastor of Central Baptist Church of Bryan, as its president. The convention elected Dt1:PersonName>avid Galvan, pastor of Primera Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida in Garland, as first vice president for a second term and elected first-termers Bill Sutton, pastor of First Baptist Church, McAllen, second vice president, and Brenda Wills of First Baptist Church, Fort Worth, as recording secretary.
Osborne succeeds George Harris, who retired last year as pastor of Castle Hills First Baptist Church in San Antonio.
In nominating Osborne, Gil Lane, pastor of Paramount Baptist Church in Amarillo, said Osborne has many admirable credentials, “but it’s not his credentials that impress me; it’s his character,” Lane said. Osborne served as SBTC Pastors’ Conference president in 2003.
The convention registered an attendance of 1,370, including 831 messengers and 539 visitors. The SBTC has 1,380 congregations.
The SBTC’s 2004 budget of $16,339,576 is an 18 percent increase, or $2.47 million, over 2003. The majority?52 percent?will go to Southern Baptist Convention causes, such as the International and North American mission boards and the SBC’s six seminaries. The remaining 48 percent will fund church planting, missions and related ministry within Texas, reported Joe Davis, the SBTC’s chief financial officer.
No other Baptist state convention sends a higher percentage of receipts to Southern Baptist Convention ministries through the SBC’s Cooperative Program missions funding channel than the SBTC, Davis noted.
The 2004 budget is “aggressive,” Davis said?requiring $68,000 more per month in Cooperative Program receipts than in 2003?and we “believe this budget continues our practice of being good stewards with your Cooperative Program gifts and we are anxious to see what God will do in 2004.”
Of the SBTC budget, 29.49 percent will go to missions and 9.29 percent for evangelism (formerly part of the missions category). The remainder includes 14.19 percent for minister/church relations; 13.78 percent for church ministry support; 11.57 percent for affiliated and fraternally related ministries; 10.93 percent for operational and financial services and 10.75 percent for communications.
Gerald Smith, outgoing executive board chairman, reported to messengers that because of the “generous gifts of God’s people” the SBTC is building debt-free a 30,000 square foot office on 3.8 acres in Grapevine, set for completion next April. Owning a building will save the convention about $200,000 a year, according to a feasibility study, Smith said.
Throughout the two-day gathering, which featured the theme “Victory in Jesus,” numerous platform guests noted the SBTC’s fifth anniversary. The convention began in 1998 with 120 congregations.
During the Oct. 28 session, SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards stepped to the podium and read a greeting from President Bush, congratulating the convention on its five-year anniversary. The fax was to be accompanied by an official letter being sent by mail from the White House.
“I send greetings to those celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” the president wrote.
“Faith plays an important role in the lives of many Americans and in the fabric of our country. Throughout our history, people of faith have helped shape our character and have contributed to the vitality of our Nation.
“By celebrating and sharing your faith, you help to sustain a spirit of compassion in our country. Your dedication to loving and serving others reflects the strength of America.
“Laura joins me in sending our best wishes for a memorable event. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America.”
Richards remarked to the convention, “That was quite a surprise and I think Dr. (Richard) Land may have had his hand in that. We appreciate anyone who was responsible for notifying the president of our fifth anniversary celebration and we do thank the President of the 1st Place
FORT WORTH?Paige Patterson, a key architect in the conservative theological resurgence among Southern Baptists, was inaugurated Oct. 21 as the eighth president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary amid family, students, friends and colleagues. Majestic hymns and fiery exhortations from Baptist leaders?rife with historical references to past champions of biblical integrity?characterized the service.
The son of the late T.A. Patterson, a pastor and leader among Texas Baptists, Patterson and his platform guests entered the formal environs of Travis Avenue Baptist Church adorned in academic robes and regalia.
New Orleans Seminary President Charles Kelley and O.S. Hawkins, Southern Baptist Convention Annuity Board president, charged Patterson with presidential responsibilities. Patterson’s son-in-law, Mark Howell, delivered the inaugural message.
The program included Baptist leaders such as SBC President Jack Graham and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s Executive Director, Jim Richards, who greeted Patterson on behalf of the SBTC’s 1,370 congregations.
“The churches of the SBTC believe in you, Dr. Patterson, and believe in Southwestern. Our shared core values make us spiritual partners,” Richards said.
Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler, citing the faith of the church fathers and later Baptist forebears, exhorted Patterson in his signing of the Baptist Faith and Message confessional statement. Kenneth Hemphill, Patterson’s predecessor, presented Patterson the seminary’s Presidential Medallion.
Hawkins’ charge to Patterson drew applause and was defined by a rousing historical account of seminary founding President B.H. Carroll’s doctrinal beliefs.
“President Carroll, Bible in hand, did more than standardize orthodoxy in Texas; he rallied the host of Baptists to the Bible doctrines of the Holy Scripture,” Hawkins said in quoting J.B. Gambrell, Carroll’s friend and contemporary.
“Southwestern has always been known as a conservative place. Why? Because we have always sought to conserve something: the trustworthiness of the word of God, the dreams and visions of those founders.
“So we come this evening to celebrate a president of Southwestern Seminary” characterized by the courage to fight for the inerrancy of Scripture, the conviction to use confessional accountability, the consistency to hold to the Bible amid cultural change and a belief in denominational cooperation.
Hawkins then quipped, “And lest anyone in here this evening misunderstand, and lest you (Patterson) get too puffed up, I’m not speaking of Dr. Paige Patterson. I’m speaking of Dr. B.H. Carroll, the founder of Southwestern Seminary.”
Hawkins said Carroll’s writings are documented in “hundreds of printed pages that leave us the answer” as to how Carroll might respond to current theological debates.
“B.H. Carroll, though he is dead, still speaks.”
Patterson said Carroll believed in the “verbal, plenary (complete) inspiration” of Scripture.
” ‘One part is no more inspired than any other part,'” Hawkins said, quoting from Carroll’s book “The Inspiration of Scripture.” “‘It is perfectly foolish to talk about degrees of inspiration. What Jesus said in the flesh as we find it in the four gospels is no more his word than what the inspired prophets or inspired apostles said.
” ‘In other words,’ Carroll said, ‘we cannot pit the words of Christ over the words of Paul, as some seek to do today.'”
Continuing his quoting of Carroll, Hawkins said, “‘The modern cry (of) less creed and more liberty is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish and it means less unity and less morality and it means more heresy. It is a hurtful sin to magnify liberty at the expense of doctrine.’
Alluding to debate about SBC views on female pastors, Hawkins said Carroll believed in women’s ministry and even had deaconesses who served women at First Baptist Church, Waco. But, Hawkins said in quoting Carroll, “The custom in some congregations of having a woman as pastor is a flat contradiction to the apostolic teaching and is an open rebellion against Christ our king and is high treason against his sovereignty.”
Hawkins said Carroll immersed himself in denominational controversy, in Carroll’s words, “for one purpose ? to promote unity.”
Hawkins continued. “It’s not hard when we take time to read our forefathers in their own words to see who the real denominational loyalists and preservers of Baptist heritage truly are. One must ask, ‘Who has moved from Baptist roots?'”
Howell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Little Rock, Ark., delivered the inaugural sermon, “Why Do We Do What We Do?” from Acts 20:17-38.
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