DALLAS—Within the week after becoming a Christian, someone handed O.S. Hawkins a slip of paper with 1 Corinthians 10:13 written on it, then looked the 17-year old boy squarely in the face and said, “You better memorize this because you will need it!”

Quoting the verse, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it,” Hawkins said only God knows how many times across the years he had arrived at temptation’s corner and that verse, hidden in his heart and mind, kept him on the right path.

That was the starting point for Hawkins’ journey of Scripture memorization that has carried him through life every day since.

His trilogy of devotionals titled The Joshua Code, The Jesus Code and The James Code were penned with the strategic purpose of addressing the three common relationships every person has in life, encouraging memorization of key verses relating to each area.

In the first book, Hawkins offered 52 verses every believer should know to relate to the upward expression of a relationship with God. The second book in the series offers 52 Scripture questions every believer should answer in describing their inward relationship with Christ.

“Once we’ve been properly related to God and ourselves, then it’s the outward expression that gives credibility to our witness,” Hawkins said, describing the newest book that he designed to offer Scripture principles that put faith into action.

“If we’re really walking in the Spirit, we won’t be wearing out the seat of our pants. We will be wearing out the soles of our shoes,” he insisted. “Just like The Joshua Code, it’s not about getting people into the Word of God, it’s about getting the Word of God into us.”

His daughter, Holly Hawkins Shivers, took the same concept and applied it to helping parents teach their children the same verses her dad selected for The Joshua Code, offering I Can Learn the Bible: 52 Scriptures Every Kid Should Know.

Shivers wrote in her letter to parents, “We can educate our children with a biblical worldview, we can enroll them in church activities and teach them principles to the best of our abilities, and we can pray for them, discipline them, and love them well. But there is nothing like the Word of God being planted in their hearts, taking root and producing genuine spiritual growth.”

 Hawkins agreed that the best time to start Scripture memorization is when children are young. “If they can repeat the dialogue of Bubble Guppies when they are preschoolers, they can learn the Bible,” he noted.

From that first verse he memorized to deal with temptation, Hawkins learned to write a new memory verse in his own handwriting on a note card he keeps in his pocket. Whether at his desk or at a stoplight in the car, he reviews the first phrase until it is memorized, then the second, and so on.

“It is helpful for me to quote the entire verse from memory up to a hundred times in order to ‘seal it’ in my heart and mind before going to another verse,” he added.

In meditating on the verse, he sometimes puts the inflection on a different word each time. “It’s amazing how much insight comes from this simple practice for the young and the seasoned believer alike.”

Whether it’s a teenager starting out his journey of faith, a parent training a child to memorize a brief passage, or a man who has walked with Christ throughout his adult life, Hawkins stands by the promise of Joshua 1:8 that good success comes through recovering Scripture memorization and medication.

All of the royalties and proceeds from the three devotionals by O.S. Hawkins go to support Mission:Dignity, a ministry of GuideStone Financial Resources, helping supplement the income of thousands of retired ministers and their widows who are living near the poverty level. After 25 years of pastoring, Hawkins now serves as president of GuideStone which serves 250,000 pastors, church staff members, missionaries, and other workers in Christian organizations with retirement and benefit needs.

HOUSTON—“After we’ve prayed, then what?” Jimmy Pritchard, SBTC president, asked convention messengers at the outset of his message Monday evening, Nov. 9. The question was posited after hours of workshops, worship, and prayer that began the evening before. But, he asked, was there an ingredient missing from the efforts made to that point, something that would inhibit the work of discipleship?

Pritchard harkened back to the roots of modern U.S. missions—the Haystack Prayer Meeting of 1806. Five college students had been discussing the merits of foreign missions when their conversation was interrupted by a thunder storm. After taking refuge in a haystack they continued their deliberation and prayer. It was in that makeshift shelter that the men felt the burden to act upon what had been, up to that point, a moralistic debate and topic of prayer. Pritchard asked if the impetus to act upon a desire to see the lost saved and discipled was missing from the work of Texas Southern Baptist churches?

“It’s almost like we’ll pray and cross our arms and say, ‘Okay, God, now do something really wild because we’ve prayed,’” Pritchard said. “He might. But it is more than likely we need to add to our praying a bit of resolve like those five young college students who said, ‘We can do this, if we will.’”

Once the praying is done Pritchard challenged the messengers to consider that they may be the ones to perform the task they have asked God to do. Citing Paul in 1 Cor. 15:58, Pritchard charged the messengers to be likewise steadfast, immovable, abounding in the Lord’s work. In doing so they will be equipped and empowered to step through the wide door of opportunity that God will open, he said, referencing 1 Cor. 16:8-9 and Acts 19-20.

Pritchard was clear—stepping across the door’s threshold not only instills the believer with the power of Christ but also draws the ire of the Adversary. With the former the Apostle Paul was able to “fight the wild beasts” of the sent by latter. The beasts of 21st century America are little changed. They attack from inside and outside the church and even within ourselves.

But the one who sends always empowers. Stepping through the door God has opened connects Christians to the power of Christ.

“And so the promise of him being with us is connected to us being involved in the work,” Pritchard said. “God said, ‘I’m am going to be with you in power as you’re fulfilling the task I have given you.’”

The task before SBTC congregations remains the same as Paul’s—making disciples who will in turn make disciples. Pritchard repeated the conviction of the five college students who, after praying, stepped out on the conviction of “We can do this, if we will.”

Similarly, Pritchard said, after praying, SBTC congregations should consider they may be the answer to their own prayers.

CANTON  If churches within the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention are to reach their goal of taking the gospel to 1 million homes by 2020 as part of the “One In A Million” campaign, then it will take the same type of compassion, conviction and boldness recently exhibited by an elderly woman from Lakeside Baptist Church in Canton.

An introvert by nature, she was out of town visiting a family member when she decided to get outdoors and go for a walk. Eventually, she needed to rest.   

“She saw an older gentleman sitting on a bench, and she sat down and shared the gospel with him,” said Lakeside Baptist pastor Mark Moore, adding that the woman had taken the “Can We Talk?” evangelism training.  

“Because she had a strategy and because she had confidence, she did it,” Moore said. “This introvert shared with a complete stranger.”

The One In A Million campaign is being billed as the one of the largest evangelism efforts in Texas history, and it is being launched at a time when the state is more diverse than ever. In fact, three regions in Texas—San Antonio, Dallas-Plano-Irving and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown—were listed by CNBC among the 10 most diverse cities in America. 

One In A Million also is being launched at a period when the gospel is desperately needed in the state: Approximately 70 percent of Texans don’t know Christ, which accounts for more than 18 million people. 

“Texas used to be the buckle of the Bible Belt, but it certainly is not any longer,” Moore said. 

One In A Million has four goals:

1 Identify the lost within Texas.

2 Train 1,000 pastors to teach the “Can We Talk?” evangelism strategy to their members.

3 Equip churches to take the gospel to their community.

4 Reach 1 million homes with the gospel by 2020.

“Our biggest desire is to see churches set goals, create intentional strategies to reach those goals, and join together with SBTC churches from across the state to do something bigger than we could do individually,” said Nathan Lorick, SBTC director of evangelism.

Begun by pastor John Meador of First Euless, “Can We Talk?” teaches church members how to share the gospel with family members, neighbors, friends and co-workers during everyday conversations. 

West Conroe Baptist Church is among the churches using “Can We Talk?” 

“Several of our folks have said this has just given them tremendous confidence in sharing their faith,” said Jay Gross, West Conroe’s pastor. 

Among those is a Hispanic couple who recently joined West Conroe and went through the “Can We Talk?” training. On one Wednesday night during September, the husband stood up and explained how he had shared the gospel with a man he had wanted to talk to about Christ for a long time.  

“I knew what to say and knew how to talk to him,” the husband said.

West Conroe is situated in Montgomery County, an area just north of Houston with a population of 500,000. It’s “rapidly growing,” Gross said. 

“The world is moving here,” Gross said. “The projected growth of Montgomery County is unbelievable in the next five years. They are people from all sorts of backgrounds. Our folks are beginning to realize, ‘This is not your grandmother’s little country town.’ It’s truly become a suburban mix of all kinds of nationalities, all kinds of religions, all kinds of backgrounds.”

The lostness of Texas, Gross said, cannot be ignored. 

“Our nation as a whole has so turned away from God that it’s affected the Bible Belt,” he said. “The Bible Belt has become a mission field now.”

Gross has trained about 150 members to use “Can We Talk?”

“This has to be pastor-led,” Gross said. “We don’t hand this off to a staff member. It’s been so fulfilling for me as a pastor to know I’m training people personally. I feel more fulfilled doing that than I have anything else.”

Although “Can We Talk?” is being promoted by the SBTC, it certainly is not required to participate in One In A Million, Lorick said. 

“Whatever churches are utilizing to reach homes with the gospel, we encourage that and are cheering that,” Lorick said.

One of those churches that is using something different than “Can We Talk?” is Calvary Baptist Church in Kaufman, led by pastor Robert Webb. His church uses Share Jesus Without Fear, created and popularized by Bill Fay. 

The One In A Million campaign, Webb said, “fits in well with what we do.”

“We systematically go door to door and share the gospel,” Webb said. “We drive through our community.” 

There are two primary reasons his church goes door to door, Webb said. First, it “gives us a systematic way of tracking what we’re doing”—that is, which neighborhoods have been reached with the gospel. Second, it allows people who are timid about sharing their faith to tag along with a staff member who is more experienced.

“It gives us an opportunity to give them some time on the field watching somebody else share the gospel—here’s what it looks like when somebody shares the gospel,” Webb said. “You don’t have to say a word. We just want you to stand there, smile and pray quietly, and watch. And then, with that support, it gives them the opportunity to stick their toe in the water. 

“We’ve seen great success with that.”

If SBTC churches are to reach 1 million homes with the gospel by 2020, church members must get out of their comfort zones and outside of their circle of Christian friends, Webb said.

“The longer you’ve been a Christian, the fewer lost people you’ve probably known,” he said.

Gross said Christians must get a sense of urgency.

“I think it’s going to take a movement of the Holy Spirit of God in the hearts of his people,” Gross said. “There’s going to have to be revival in our hearts. It all starts with God’s people really understanding the urgency of the gospel. Every day people are dying and going to a literal hell. I think we have lost that sense of understanding how significant that is.” 

For more information on the One In A Million campaign, visit sbtexas.com/evangelism. For more information on “Can We Talk?,” visit oneconversation.org.