Author: Jayson Larson

‘A great encouragement’: SBTC DR Hurricane Beryl response continues in Southeast Texas

SOUTHEAST TEXAS—The man’s bruised face said it all. A limb had flown back, striking him hard as he used a chainsaw to cut up a tree felled by the EF2 tornado that ripped through Jasper County on July 8 in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.

“We had eight tornadoes in our area on that date,” veteran Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief chaplain Wayne Barber said. “Not all hit the ground.”

The disaster—as disasters tend to do—provided opportunities for spiritual and physical assistance.

Eight tornadoes, nine salvations

Almost immediately after the tornadoes, Barber and other SBTC DR volunteers from Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jasper moved into the community, joining their neighbors to see who needed help. Soon, other SBDR crews would come to the area to help.

Barber, among those who responded, approached the man struck by the limb and they began talking.

“What would you do if that limb had taken your life?” Barber asked the man and his friend who was there to help.

“He didn’t know what to say,” Barber later recalled.

After Barber presented the gospel, both men prayed to trust Christ as their Savior. Seven more salvations ensued over the next few days as SBTC DR chaplains ministered to survivors.

The Hillcrest Baptist SBTC DR volunteers were in the right place at the right time to minister quickly following the storms. Hundreds of SBDR teams from Texas and other states hurried to Southeast Texas soon after Beryl made landfall between Corpus Christi and Galveston as a category 1 storm about 4:30 a.m. on July 8, striking a region already inundated by pre-hurricane rains.

SBDR crews set up mass feeding units and shower/laundry trailers to serve immediate needs. Chaplaincy, chainsaw, and mud-out crews followed, their work overseen by SBDR incident management teams and unit leaders, also known as “white hats.”

As is typical in such situations, neighbors and community members also pitched in to help those affected.

“It’s the biggest mass deployment since Hurricane Harvey,” Stice said of the ongoing effort. “ … There’s still work to be done.”

A coordinated effort

Much work has been done by SBTC DR teams in addition to other Baptist DR teams from Texas and across the nation.

“Our SBTC DR teams, together with others, have served from Spring to Conroe, down into Houston. We’ve had work orders from Cleveland, Livingston, Jasper, and elsewhere. We’ve fed folks in Wharton … and we’re still at it helping survivors recover.”

Stice explained that SBTC DR serves in such situations as part of a larger coordinated effort among state Baptist DR teams, whose units deploy in strategic locations to avoid duplicating efforts. Feeding teams often work in conjunction with workers from the Red Cross and Salvation Army, who distribute food prepared by the Baptists.

Such was the case in Wharton, where an SBTC DR mass-feeding kitchen and a shower/laundry trailer operated until the site closed July 14. SBTC DR teams prepared more than 15,000 meals, in addition to providing showers and laundry services, logging a total of 1,100 volunteer hours.

Among other tasks, SBTC DR continues to operate a HAM radio communications network to help coordinate the overall response. SBTC DR and out-of-state Baptist DR partners are still responding to chainsaw needs in Spring, Texarkana, Huffman, and Jasper.

As of July 24, volunteers headquartered at Spring Baptist Church have logged nearly 3,000 volunteer hours, completing chainsaw and roof-tarping jobs. A single SBTC DR chainsaw team working out of Hillcrest Baptist Church has contributed 1,624 volunteer hours to complete more than 70 chainsaw jobs in the Kountze/Jasper area. Another SBTC DR team and a crew from Louisiana Baptist DR have worked in Lumberton out of Calvary Baptist Beaumont’s North Campus.

Arkansas disaster relief chainsaw teams are laboring in Texarkana, while Alabama and South Carolina crews have joined SBTC DR to work in Huffman, logging more than 6,000 volunteer hours.

By the grace of God

For Robert Frank, a maintenance staffer at Spring Baptist Church, the efforts of SBDR to assist his mother will never be forgotten.

Mary Frank, 76, has lived in the same Spring house since childhood. The massive pecan tree that once graced her half-acre yard was large when she moved in at age 12. Mary recalled climbing the tree often as a kid.

At the end of the storm, Robert—who lives in the family home and helps his mom care for the place—left to check on the Spring Baptist Church campus. Then he received an unexpected phone call from home.

“The tree fell and I can’t see my car,” Mary exclaimed. Shortly after this, neighbors arrived to cut the tree away from the car and clear Mary’s driveway.

“That more than 80-year-old tree had been leaning toward the house. It should have fallen on the home,” Robert said. “By the grace of God, that tree fell onto a narrow 10-foot space between the house and the fence.”

Robert put in a work order request to SBDR teams headquartered at the church, and a DR crew from the Tennessee state convention came to finish cutting up the tree, leaving only its stump.

“They did an awesome job,” Robert said. As a bonus, Mary loved the company, he added. “Miss Jane, the lady [who showed up with] the crew, talked with her. They gave her a Bible. It was a great encouragement.”

To contribute to Hurricane Beryl relief efforts and/or learn how to receive DR training and become a credentialed SBTC DR volunteer, visit sbtexas.com/disaster-relief/.

Fire engulfs historic sanctuary at FBC Dallas

DALLAS (BP)—The historic sanctuary at First Baptist Church Dallas burned Friday evening, July 19. The cause of the blaze is not yet known. The Victorian-style, red brick sanctuary building was erected 1890 and is a recognized Texas Historic Landmark.

According to media reports, Dallas Fire and Rescue received a call at 6:05 p.m. Friday evening regarding a building on fire in downtown Dallas. Firefighters responded and within 15 minutes of the first call, a second alarm was requested. Then around 7:30 p.m., the scene was upgraded to a three-alarm fire. A fourth alarm was called in around 8:15 p.m. The Dallas Morning News reported that “more than 60 units were dispatched to respond to the structure fire.”

The church released a statement on X at 9:34 p.m. saying the primary fire was extinguished but firefighters were still working at the scene.

First Baptist Church Dallas has an indelible history within the Southern Baptist Convention having been pastored by former SBC presidents George W. Truett and W.A. Criswell. Currently led by Robert Jeffress, First Baptist Dallas reported a membership of nearly 16,000 in 2023. The church currently worships in a state-of-the-art facility, which opened in 2013, adjacent to the historic sanctuary.

Jeffress posted on X Friday night asking for prayers for the church saying “We have experienced a fire in the Historic Sanctuary. To our knowledge, no one is hurt or injured, and we thank God for His protection. He is sovereign even in the most difficult times.”

The historic sanctuary was home to First Baptist Dallas’ contemporary service each week, called the Band-Led Service. There was a special VBS service scheduled for this Sunday, June 21. The church hosted its annual Vacation Bible School this week.

“We are grateful that no life has been lost that we know of even though we just had 2,000 children and volunteers on campus for Vacation Bible School earlier in the day,” Jeffress said in a statement to Baptist Press. “As tragic as the loss of this old sanctuary is, we are grateful that the church is not bricks and wood but composed of over 16,000 people who are determined more than ever before to reach the world for the gospel of Christ.”

The church campus consists of multiple buildings across a six-block footprint in downtown Dallas.

Something better than ‘WWJD?’

I am a child of the 90s. I grew up with Walkmans, Tamagotchis, and neon-colored windbreakers. I also grew up in the craze of the “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelet.

Every stylish Christian kid had at least one WWJD bracelet next to their cassette of DC Talk’s Jesus Freak (played at ear-piercing volume in your Walkman, with bass boost) and their puka shell necklace. For many, these bracelets became more than a reminder of acceptable behavior—they were a fashion statement!

What could be so wrong with that?

I think the most basic way to answer this question is not only to ask what Jesus would do, but why we should model Christlike behavior. At its core, WWJD assumes personal action. When we are faced with an ethical or moral dilemma, we ask, “What would Jesus do?”

The result is a good deed or good work. The connection to the dangerous prosperity gospel—which has attempted to infiltrate the gospel of grace by turning it into a gospel of works—is undeniable: If I do what Jesus would do, God will bless me. Essentially, if we model Christlike behavior, God will bless our efforts.

Now, don’t miss what I am saying. Indeed, we should behave in a way that reflects what we believe, but even more, we should reflect what has been done for us.

This brings us to the follow-up question: Why should we model Christlike behavior? This question gets to the core of the biblical gospel. Instead of looking back at our good works, we should look back at what has been done on our behalf. Our behavioral change comes out of a heart change.

Here are a handful of things to consider when you ask “WWJD?”:

Your ability to do anything Jesus would do is only because He has given you a new heart. Ezekiel 36:26 says we will be given new hearts as a result of the new covenant made in Christ’s blood. Our sinful hearts of stone will be removed and we will be given new hearts sealed with the Holy Spirit.
Apart from a new heart, all your works are dead in and of themselves. Paul says in Ephesians 2:1-3 that we are dead in our sins and trespasses. In our dead state, we carry out the desires of the flesh, and one of the strongest desires of the flesh is validation. As dead people, we find validation in doing good works, even though everything good we do as dead people only results in dead works with no value. But there is hope. Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-9 that God—being rich in grace, mercy, and love—has made us alive in Christ. The gospel is the message that God, in Christ, has brought dead men and women to life by grace through faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Having been made alive in Christ, we are to be imitators of Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2 says to be imitators of God and walk in love as a sacrifice to God, who has made you alive in Christ. Additionally, Paul writes to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” We are to follow in the sacrificial love of Jesus, who gave His life as a ransom for our sins to give us a new heart. In his grace, God also gave us strong men of the faith like Paul who model Christlikeness. They were imperfect and struggled with sin, but we are encouraged to follow them as they strive to follow Jesus.
Imitating Christ results in the fruits of the Spirit. Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-23 about the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruits are the byproduct of imitating Christ. They also become the salt we, as believers, are to season the earth with. In this, we work out our faith with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13).
The fruits of the Spirit are worked out in our good deeds. Paul says in Ephesians 2:10 that we are created in Christ Jesus for every good work. Additionally, James 2:17 says faith without works is dead. He continues in the next verse to say, “I will show you my faith by my works.”

WWJD is not simply about behavioral modification, but a reminder that God is at work within us. Simply asking what Jesus would do and doing that thing does not earn favor with God. Instead, when we understand that we should model Christlike behavior because He died to give us a new heart and bring us to life, we will desire to demonstrate our faith in Jesus by modeling Jesus through our words and deeds.

Several SBTC DR units already deployed after Hurricane Beryl

MATAGORDA, Texas (BP)—Disaster Relief units from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention have already deployed even as now-Tropical Storm Beryl makes its way northeast along the eastern edge of Texas and parts of Louisiana.

Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda around 4:30 a.m. Monday (July 8), about 95 miles southwest of Houston. The storm pummeled coastal areas like Galveston as well as the outskirts of Houston, America’s fourth-largest metro area. Nearly 3 million people are without electricity.

“We have one mass care feeding unit, two shower trailers, one quick response feeding unit and one chainsaw unit mobilized,” said SBTC DR director Scottie Stice in an email to Baptist Press. “However, we are less than 12 hours from landfall. More units will be activated.”

Houston has experienced flash flooding Monday after several inches of rain, with more expected. Flash flood warnings continue for Houston and Galveston.

At least two people were killed in southeast Texas by trees felled by the storm. Prior to its arrival in the U.S., Beryl caused widespread damage in Mexico and the Caribbean, killing at least 12. At one point, the storm reached Category 5 strength.

DR resources including a mass feeding unit, a chainsaw unit and a laundry unit are heading to three locations today—Wharton, Galveston County, and Spring, Texas. More locations will probably be added in the coming days, Stice said.

The mass feeding unit in Wharton will prepare meals that will be delivered by the Salvation Army.

“We will be here to serve so long as we have financial and volunteer resources available,” Stice said. “I anticipate requesting out-of-state DR teams.”

Stice urged Southern Baptists to pray for “God to be in the details.”

“We have logistical and volunteer needs already,” he said. “Pray for our volunteers as they meet needs of survivors. Lastly, pray with us as the Gospel is shared with the Texas Gulf Coast communities.

“I wish to thank Southern Baptists that have already sacrificed so much to get us to the field,” Stice continued. “SBTC DR is supported by CP, state mission offerings, and designated gifts. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for your prayer and financial investment in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.”

SBTC DR aids New Mexico fire and flood survivors, encounters flash floods themselves

RUIDOSO, N.M.—Eleven Southern Baptists of Texas Convention Disaster Relief volunteers rolled into Ruidoso, N.M., on Tuesday, June 26, quickly setting up the SBTC DR mass feeding unit from Flint Baptist Church in the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Ruidoso.

Their task? Partnering with New Mexico Baptist DR, they would support the American Red Cross in feeding evacuees at shelters and survivors in the community displaced by the devastating summer wildfires still partly burning around Ruidoso.

They got far more than expected.

“We came to respond to fires and a flood,” said Debby Nichols, a team leader from DeKalb. “But since we’ve been here, we have had two major flash floods.”

One flash flood occurred about 50 yards downhill from FBC Ruidoso.

Nichols and her yellow-shirted crew watched and prayed as firefighters hurried down the nearby hillside to rescue people stuck in their vehicles after a flash flood swept across the road just below the church.

The DR volunteers circled up to pray for the victims and the first responders, pulling them from flooded cars and trucks.

For Nichols and many of the volunteers, it was the first swift-water rescue they had ever seen: “We were in no danger, but they were. We prayed for them all.”

The team had at least one other narrow escape, Nichols said. Less than two hours after they had eaten in town after church on Sunday, June 30, another flash flood struck, inundating the street and restaurant where they had been.

Between close calls, the team has been busy preparing around 1,400 meals per day—700 lunches and 700 dinners—for distribution by the Red Cross to survivors at sites established in tribal areas, shelters, and other locations.

The SBTC DR mass feeding team expects to be in the area until Saturday, July 6, Nichols said.

In addition to the Texas feeding crew, volunteers from New Mexico, Arizona, and Louisiana Baptist DR teams are serving at the church, which is also functioning as a point of distribution for relief supplies for the community. SBDR chaplains are counseling and praying with survivors. SBDR administrative volunteers are assisting with logistical matters.

‘A blessing to help people’

As with all major emergencies involving a large SBDR response, Ruidoso is very much a team effort.

While officially charged with mass feeding operations, Nichols said SBTC DR volunteers are praying also, and not just for stranded motorists. They pray for and with truck drivers dropping off and picking up supplies, Red Cross workers driving emergency response vehicles into the church parking lot, and community members just walking by.

The Ruidoso deployment marks the first for Tyler resident Lori Padgett, a dyslexia reading specialist with the Tyler Independent School District. Although she trained in mass feeding more than a year ago, Padgett’s schedule has not allowed her to deploy prior to Ruidoso.

“It’s a great experience,” Padgett said, admitting she was initially a bit nervous. “It’s a lot of work but it’s a blessing to help people. We are supposed to help people in need and that is what we are doing.”

Everyone in the community has been grateful, Padgett noted. Often people in stores and restaurants stop and express gratitude to the “yellow shirts.”

“They thank us for being here and for helping,” she said.

“We are so grateful to serve the residents of New Mexico and work alongside the very capable NMDR team,” SBTC DR Director Scottie Stice said. He also praised the SBTC DR shower unit, which deployed to assist evacuees at a Roswell shelter.

“We can always count on New Mexico DR to respond to needs in Texas. We are pleased that we have been able to return the favor following fires and floods in Ruidoso and in Lincoln and Chavez counties,” Stice added.

Remembering the beauty of our calling

I have historically not been a strong reader. I don’t think I actually read a book from start to finish that wasn’t written by Beverly Cleary until I graduated from college. Later in life, I found out my reading struggles were caused by learning disabilities, but I did not know that growing up as a kid in the 90s.

Do you know what? I am kind of glad I didn’t know. If someone had told me I didn’t have the tools or that my situation was different, I probably would have just hung it up and never challenged myself.

At age 35, I went to seminary—where I was required to read about a book a week. I struggled with the theological vocabulary because it’s like learning a second language. I struggled with the volume of reading. I felt like I was drowning and didn’t have any time to myself. I was in full-time ministry and married with four kids. All the other students, 10 years younger than me, seemed to be running circles around me.

However, I had professors who made the subject matter so beautiful that I wanted to read these books. And they reminded me often that what I was doing was worth it.

So I grew—in my love for reading and for the Lord. I was molded into a different person. My weakness has become a strength. I have graduated and continue to read about a book a week.

Being a pastor is hard. I am told that a lot, and I think it is a growing trend for us to talk about how hard it can be. We need rest, we need soul care, and we need others to help us. Most of all, we need the Holy Spirit to do a job no man is strong enough to do.

But we need to be careful not to focus so much on the difficulties of pastoring that we never push through or delight in our calling. Just like with reading, I don’t always need someone to tell me why this will be hard for me, but I do need someone to remind me of the beauty of it.

Yes, our calling can be challenging, but here are some of the beautiful parts I want to remind you of:

There is no other job in this world where you get to hold people’s hands as they come into this world and as they leave it. There is no other job in this world where you see people get saved, graduate, get married, counsel them through the hard, celebrate the beautiful, see their children saved, and bury old friends knowing they will rise from the dead and see the Lord.
Of all the people who have ever existed, we are the few the Lord has allowed to professionally declare the full counsel of God. Think about that.
I am paid to read God’s Word, study God’s Word, teach God’s Word, and subsequently enjoy the God of the Word more and more. That’s like getting paid to eat candy.
God is our great joy and treasure. He is the bread we eat in the wilderness that gives us joy until we see His face. John Piper says, “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”
I saved the best and most beautiful reminder for last: We will see God. We will see His face. I imagine on that day, we will come to a realization that we just barely see now—that being a pastor is the greatest honor and one of the greatest treasures we could ever have. Take my life from me, but let me die serving the Lord.

Brothers, pastoring is one of the greatest joys ever. You can do it. His grace is sufficient, His power is perfect, and His joy is wonderful. Let us remind each other about these things.

What does a special-needs family experience when they visit your church?

Editor’s note: The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has designated July 14 as Disability Ministry Sunday.

We walked up to the registration area for the children’s classes one Sunday at the church we were visiting in North Carolina while staying with family. The woman we met there asked questions to figure out where the boys should go and typed the answers into her computer.

“What are their names? When are their birthdays? Do they have any allergies?”

The questions were easy to answer for our older son, but our younger son took more explanation. His birthday does not represent his developmental stage. The computer can’t consider all the variables that would tell her what class option would be a good fit. “Can I type in that he was born in a different year? Would that work?” she asked.

It was our first time visiting a new church after James’s autism diagnosis. We didn’t know what to expect, how to prepare, or even whether we would be able to attend or if they would turn us away. The church wanted to welcome us and figure out a way to include James, but without any options for kids who didn’t fit into the usual ministry structure, they weren’t sure how to proceed.

Visiting a church as a special-needs family is challenging. Of course, we are no strangers to challenges. We navigate special education meetings at school to advocate for our kids. We drive them to therapy appointments and incorporate those goals into our family life. And we learn new acronyms and visit specialists. We feel guilty about the time and attention one child requires over the others. And of course, we worry about what the future will look like for our children and ourselves.

Add in the unknown challenges of visiting a church, and you can understand why many families stay home on Sundays. Studies show that a family like mine who has a child with autism is 84% less likely to attend church than a typical family. When you consider that 1 in 36 children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with autism, you realize the number of families missing from our churches is significant.

What can churches do to reach and welcome special-needs families? There’s a biblical example they can follow. In Matthew 21, Jesus entered the temple area and drove out those who bought and sold goods and the money changers. What we often overlook in this passage is what came next, “The blind and the lame came to him in the temple ….” (v. 14a). There were obstacles in the way that made it impossible for people with disabilities to enter the temple area that they had access to. Jesus overturned and overcame those obstacles, setting an example for us today.

Here are three ways to make it easier for special-needs families to visit your church and feel welcomed:

1. Put information on your website

Special-needs families are often going to visit your website before they visit your church. They will likely look on the children’s ministry page to see if there’s any information about how you accommodate kids with disabilities. Also, consider whether there is a way for them to communicate about their child’s needs before they attend. If you have an online registration option, you can add a question like this: “Does your child have allergies, learning disabilities, or special needs that we can be aware of to make sure he/she is safe and comfortable in our ministry?” If a family answers yes, you can ask more questions so you’re better prepared.

2. Train your greeters and guest services team

They are the first people who will welcome families. Make sure they know how to help a family go to the right place if they want to attend children’s or youth ministry activities. You can also help them know how to meet the needs of families who attend the worship service. In our church lobby, we have noise-reducing headphones and buddy bags with sensory items available for those who need them. Our greeters can make sure families know where they are.

3. Have some level of accommodations available

Churches of every size can take steps of inclusion. There are three common types of accommodations in children’s ministry and Next Gen ministry: inclusive settings (often with additional help from a buddy), specialized settings like a sensory room or self-contained class, or a hybrid of both options (when a student attends class with typical peers and has the option to visit the sensory room when needed).

Your church can work toward these options. For example, if you don’t have space for a designated room, you may have a sensory corner in a classroom or put sensory items in the hallway when kids need a break.

The next time we visited a church, we were better prepared. I had looked at the church’s website ahead of time to see if they had any information on their children’s ministry page about accommodations or options for kids with disabilities. I emailed the children’s ministry director to let her know when we were coming and told her more about James (how he communicates and what might trigger his anxiety).

When we went to the registration area in the children’s lobby that Sunday, they welcomed us warmly and introduced us to the man who would be James’s buddy. The plan was for them to start in the class for his age group and visit the sensory room if he got overwhelmed. When we picked him up after the service, his buddy brought him to us and said he enjoyed music time and playing with trains. We were able to attend the worship service without worrying because we knew they were prepared.

Taking these three steps—putting information on your website, training your greeters, and having a level of accommodations available—will help special-needs families like mine feel welcome, knowing you are prepared for their visit.

SBC 2024: In leading worship, SWBTS’ Crider has one goal: ‘This is about Christ’

INDIANAPOLIS —Joe Crider smiled broadly as he stepped onstage Tuesday morning, surrounded by the worship team that had just opened the 2024 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention with songs ranging from the traditional to the jazzy.

They had arrived. Crider’s smile reflected joy—and perhaps a touch of relief.

He welcomed messengers and guests, evoking the convention theme from Romans “that we would magnify and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.” After reading from Psalm 90, he asked that the Lord would “establish the work of our hands during our meeting” and that “we would rejoice with one heart and one voice for what He has done, for what He is doing, and for what He will do.”

It’s been a busy year for Crider, dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s School of Church Music and Worship (SCMW).

Last-minute pre-SBC preparations included a daylong rehearsal on the first Saturday in June with two SWBTS musical groups both leading worship at Indy: Southwestern A Capella, the 17-member select vocal ensemble of graduate students, and the seminary’s 10-person Cowden Hall Band.

That Saturday marathon was followed by a Monday afternoon session with James Cheesman, going over the meeting’s musical selections that he led prior to Barber’s presidential address. Cheesman, worship leader at First Baptist Church in Farmersville—the church pastored by SBC President Bart Barber—led worship at last year’s SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

These rehearsals represent a fraction of the time spent getting ready for the annual meeting. Crider told Baptist Press in an earlier interview that he had lost track of the hours of rehearsal time spent over the past year.

As if things weren’t hectic enough, during the final pre-convention week, the seminary also hosted 67 young people attending its Student Worship Camp, conducted in partnership with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

“This place is hopping!” Crider said of the Southwestern campus, as he offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the story behind the story of worship at the annual meeting.

Countdown to Indy

As the days counted down to the opening of SBC 2024, Crider stressed the need for flexibility, adding that his team had worked diligently to ensure a seamless musical experience for messengers.

“We wanted to make sure we hit our times so we don’t cause any delays in the business. … We have to be flexible. Meetings run over. We may not do some sets at all,” he noted, adding, “We are ready to turn on a dime if needed. We have to be ready for anything.”

Serving as music director has entailed far more than holding rehearsals and selecting music, Crider said. He has attended meetings of the SBC’s Committee on the Order of Business as an observer, to be part of the conversation as needed.

He praised his team, including Chuck Lewis, associate SCMW dean and director of Southwestern A Cappella, for his handling of musical and logistical details, and Ricky Johnson, SCMW artist-in-residence and Cowden Hall pianist and band leader, for their invaluable assistance.

“This means a lot for us as a seminary,” Crider said. “One, that Pastor Bart [Barber] trusted us. We are grateful for the trust and the stewardship we have been given. We have been blessed with wonderful faculty and students in the School of Church Music and Worship to serve the convention.”

SBC 2024 marks the third consecutive year of significant involvement by Southwestern musical groups, Crider noted. Two years ago, the Cowden Hall Band played for the Pastors’ Conference in Anaheim, when Matt Boswell led worship. Last year, Southwestern A Capella sang under Cheesman’s direction.

“We are grateful for these three years of involvement,” Crider said.

Crider expressed enthusiasm about what serving at the convention will mean for the students, most of whom are pursuing master’s degrees. The band and ensemble represent a variety of ages and ethnicities, he said. While some have attended multiple annual meetings, for at least a third, this year’s SBC will mark their first exposure to the event.

“It’s pretty amazing. Several international students … are seeing firsthand the beauty in cooperation, the power of cooperation,” he said. They are “realizing that they, too, because they are part of Southern Baptist churches in the United States, that they … have a part in this although they might be from Mexico, Korea, Venezuela, Argentina, or even Nagaland.

“I hope they realize that all of us together are better than one of us alone.”

Picking the music

The musical selection process began months ago, as team members prayed about the meeting’s theme: “One Mind, One Voice,” and its scriptural basis in Romans 15:5-6.

The convention featured a variety of music, including several of the great classic hymns such as “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” and “I Stand Amazed in the Presence.” One session included selections inspired by a heaven theme; another focused on the blood of Jesus.

Selections reflected each speaker’s message or complemented the Scripture guiding a particular convention moment.

“We [chose songs] in the heart language of a lot of Southern Baptists,” Crider said. “For many, it may have been a long time since they have sung a lot of those older hymns.” he said.

The students will lead 35 songs throughout the two-day meeting, he said.

Logistical matters

It is no easy or inexpensive task to transport nearly 30 people from Texas to Indianapolis. Crider especially thanked First Baptist Benbrook, First Baptist Farmersville, and Birchman Baptist for their support. All three churches hosted special evenings of worship highlighting the seminary vocal ensemble and band, resulting in generous gifts to help defray costs.

Churches in Indiana—Friendship Baptist in Franklin and Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis—provided the use of their vans to transport the students from the airport to the convention center, eliminating the costs of taxis or ride shares.

“We really couldn’t have done it without all these churches,” Crider said. “ … We do not want to make this opportunity about us. This is about Christ and pointing people to Him. We want to rely completely on Him and the power of His Spirit to guide and direct us.”

SBC 2024: Pressley elected SBC president; Forney’s Lopez chosen as second VP

INDIANAPOLIS—In a six-way presidential race that resulted in two run-off votes, Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention June 12.

Brad Graves, pastor of First Baptist Church in Ada, Okla., was elected first vice president. Eddie Lopez, pastor of First Baptist Forney En Español, was elected second vice president. Lopez has been a church planter and led his church to plant other churches in the U.S and Mexico. He has served committees at the SBC level and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention as vice president.

Recording Secretary Nathan Finn and Registration Secretary Don Currence were re-elected by acclamation.

Task force recommendations OK’d by messengers

Messengers approved recommendations from three task force groups:

Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF)

The ARITF was formed in 2022 with the charge to study and bring recommendations to help Southern Baptists make their churches safer from sex abusers. The convention approved recommendations from the group in 2023 providing an additional year to build resources, such as the Ministry Toolkit, for training church leaders and volunteers, and for development of the Ministry Check database of known abusers associated with Southern Baptist churches.

The ARITF brought two recommendations to the convention:

It recommended the convention affirm the objectives emphasized in the group’s report: the expansion of the Ministry Toolkit; the establishment of the Ministry Check website; and the creation of a permanent home for abuse prevention and response.
The second recommendation urged the SBC Executive Committee to “work earnestly” by recommending a structure and funding for the implementation of the objectives, and report to messengers during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas.

Great Commission Task Force

The Great Commission Task Force was appointed last year to evaluate the outcomes of the Great Commission Task Force that reported to the convention in 2010. After its research, the task force made the following recommendations, all of which were approved by messengers:

State conventions and Lifeway are requested to discontinue using the term “Great Commission Giving” in an effort to reaffirm the Cooperative Program as the primary method of giving for Southern Baptist churches;
State conventions and Lifeway are requested to use a simplified Annual Church Profile, limited to six categories and two questions;
The North American Mission Board is requested to conduct an annual survey of churches planted, revitalized, or otherwise assisted with CP funds 10 years after their launch;
The Executive Committee is requested to increase the budget allocation for the International Mission Board to 51% beginning with the 2026-2027 budget year;
The Historical Library and Archives is requested to make the audio recordings of the 2010 Great Commission Task Force available and navigable by June 16, 2025; and
The Executive Committee is requested to propose changes to governing documents that would require entities to report on action they have taken in response to messenger-approved recommendations coming from special work groups or task forces.

Cooperation Group

The Cooperation Group was appointed in response to a 2023 motion, during a time when the nature of a church’s “friendly cooperation” was being reconsidered. Speaking to Baptist Press last fall, group chairman Jared Wellman, pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, said the Cooperation Group’s work needs to address what it means for autonomous, independent churches to work in cooperation in the SBC.

The group brought four motions to the convention, all of which were approved:

The process for editing or amending the Baptist Faith and Message should be the same as that for the SBC Constitution (two-thirds vote, two consecutive years);
The sole authority for seating [convention] messengers will be vested in the messenger body;
The Committee on Nominations should nominate as entity trustees and standing committee members only those candidates who affirm the convention’s adopted statement of faith; and
The Executive Committee will evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of a public list of SBC churches.

Eight resolutions approved

Messengers in Indianapolis approved eight resolutions expressing their convictions on relevant social and moral subjects on Tuesday, June 11. Although resolutions are not binding on the convention or its entities, these statements have been guidelines that allow convention leadership to generally know the thinking of Southern Baptist church members.

This year’s resolutions dealt with world events such as the Israel-Hamas conflict, moral issues such as in vitro fertilization and religious liberty, and convention issues such as the personal holiness of convention leaders.

Messengers offered support for Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks, while also standing with all those suffering in the region. The resolution additionally denied “assertions of moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas.”

In the resolution titled, “The Ethical Realities of Reproductive Technologies and the Dignity of the Human Embryo,” the convention affirmed “the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage ….” The statement went on to call on Southern Baptists to use only technologies consistent with that affirmation of life. This call included a consideration of “the number of embryos generated in the IVF [in vitro fertilization] process ….”

Speaking to religious liberty, a resolution rejected any effort to impose a state religion—whether Christianity or another faith—while also condemning efforts such as blasphemy laws that would restrict a person’s freedom of conscience.

A resolution on “Integrity in SBC Leadership” expressed gratitude to God for “righteous and godly leaders,” but rejected “the notion that giftedness, charisma, or influence supersede character and qualification in the life of a leader.” The resolution called on leaders to repent when they fall into sin.

Other resolutions addressed the rights and responsibilities of parents, the just conduct of war, evangelism and the Great Commission, and gratitude for the convention’s host city. The text of all eight resolutions will be posted to SBC.net.

Other convention business

In other news, an amendment that would have expanded the definition of a cooperating church with regard to the role of a pastor failed the garner the required two-thirds vote to be adopted.
The convention approved a 2024-2025 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget of $190 million to fund the work of 12 SBC entities. Cooperative Program allocations to missions (the International and North American mission boards) are over 73% of the funds received.
Messengers affirmed an SBC Credentials Committee recommendation declaring First Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., no longer in friendly cooperation with the convention because their faith and practice regarding complementarianism are incompatible with the convention’s statement of faith.

The 2025 Southern Baptist Convention will meet in Dallas June 10-11.

SBC 2024: Southwestern students lead people to Christ, learn lessons of evangelism through Crossover

Trying to share the gospel with a 73-year-old man who was “rude,” reminded Joo*, a Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Master of Divinity student from East Asia, how God “patiently waited” for her when she came to Christ about seven years ago.

Joo recalled the man told the team to “stop” talking about Jesus before he walked away. She said when she “faced his rejection,” she thought about her “personal journey” and how God “used different people to reach my life.”

Joo was one of 22 Southwestern students and friends who participated in Crossover, an evangelistic outreach the week before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, in Indianapolis, Ind., June 3-7. The Southwestern students spent each morning in classroom instruction alongside other students from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, before they would disperse in the afternoons to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through door-to-door evangelism in groups of three to four people.

Through Thursday, the Southwestern team saw 13 salvations, shared the gospel 126 times, and engaged 342 people in conversation.

Carl J. Bradford, dean of Texas Baptist College and assistant professor of evangelism, has led Southwestern’s Crossover teams since 2018. He said Crossover “provides opportunities for further cooperation within our convention.”

“Students partner with churches and NAMB to engage the surrounding community of the SBC’s annual meeting of that particular year through door-to-door evangelism,” Bradford said. “It’s fulfilling the Great Commission together.”

Bradford said during the week of sharing the gospel in Indianapolis, students’ hearts “broke” for the lost, which resulted in “the students embrac[ing] the uncomfortableness of evangelizing with strangers.”

McLain Johnson, a Master of Divinity student with a theology concentration from McKinney, Texas, participated in Crossover for the first time. Johnson said he learned “teamwork” from his week in Indianapolis as the “neatest thing” was “seeing everyone be encouraged to evangelize and work together and figuring out how to help each other and giving advice.”

He added “seeing the Spirit move between the different team members, while we’re actually out talking to somebody” was the “coolest thing” as they would see “a light go off in somebody’s head” as they understood what the team was sharing. Johnson explained it led the team members to understand “this is the perfect time to share this part of my testimony” or to apply something they learned earlier.

Johnson recalled a Tuesday afternoon experience in a group sharing door-to-door with Joo and Richard Silva, a student in the 5-year program from Brazil. He said the trio encountered Laverta who said she was “curious” about God. He said as the group talked with her, they learned she was “open to different religions and just wanted to know the true way to God.”

As the group spoke further with Laverta, Johnson said she mentioned that her late father was a preacher and she had his Bible. They also noticed she had stickers of the cross on her car because “she said it made her feel closer to God,” he said.

“We just thought that was a great bridge, a great opportunity,” Johnson said. “We talked about how, you know, the true meaning of the cross … is God bringing us closer to Him. He’s coming close to us” and “uniting us with Him through that cross.”

Laverta told the group, “I don’t know what the true way is,” and Johnson said the group explained, “God was here to tell her that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” based on Jesus’s words to His disciples in John 14:6. Johnson said they asked Laverta if she wanted to “commit” her life to Christ that day, but the woman “struggled,” and said she would “go to church” and “she would give her life [to Christ] when she got to church.”

Johnson said the group “pleaded with her” telling her “you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.” Laverta “gave her life to Christ right there” as Johnson said he led her in prayer—his first time to lead someone to Christ “in a prayer like that.”

“As far as prayers go, it was a pretty poor prayer,” Johnson recalled, adding “I was not prepared for that. But it wasn’t about me. I had no part in it. So, it was just neat to get to see God do that, despite me.”

Spending the week sharing the gospel caused Grace Kim, a Doctor of Philosophy student from Korea who grew up as a missionary kid in Japan, to understand the importance of evangelism in Christian education. Kim, who was participating in Crossover for the first time, said attending a Christian college for her undergraduate studies and two seminaries afterward caused her to have a “mindset” that is “really focused on discipleship.” Subsequently, she said she has sought to “encourage the Christians around me making sure that they fix their eyes on God and encouraging them in God’s Word.”

However, her Crossover experience was “stretching” as she said it was the first time she was “so exposed to the world, and realizing how much they are lost people in the world,” adding that she “knew it in my head, but actually seeing this is a great awakening moment for me.”

During the Thursday afternoon opportunity for door-to-door evangelism, Kim and her teammates, Anna Matsuura, a Master of Arts in Christian Education student from Japan, and Josh Okoye, a Master of Divinity student in evangelism from Houston, encountered a man who had experienced depression and at one point in his life tried to commit suicide. Kim explained as they talked with the man in his 40s, they learned he did “firmly believe in God,” but was “struggling to find a church” and was grieving the loss of both of his parents within the past year.

Kim noted that Okoye pointed out it was “not a coincidence” that the team encountered the man as the man could “be led to church and have that Christian fellowship together.”

“And so in that sense, yes, in evangelism, we do want to reach out to non-Christians, but at the same time, God allows these Christians to meet and help them [and] encourage them in faith,” Kim observed. She said encountering Christians allowed the opportunity to “testify Christ” and that “the Gospel itself is so powerful.”

Okoye said that hearing about Crossover through participating in Everyday Evangelism with Bradford led him to think it was an “opportunity to come out and evangelize in a different context.” Everyday Evangelism, a weekly evangelism initiative led by Bradford during the academic year, allows students to share the Gospel at parks, shopping centers, and other places around Fort Worth.

Okoye said during the week he “saw God bring people to salvation.”

Okoye, who helped lead people to Christ through door-to-door opportunities, said “one thing” that he “definitely” likes about evangelism is that “despite our weaknesses, … He’s still able to do His work.”

He added that it “creates an environment where we have to rely on Him more than we have to rely on ourselves and, honestly, the more I think that that happens, then the greater that we can expect to see from God.”

One of the experiences from the week that stood out to Okoye included when he was witnessing to three men “and they all eventually ended up coming to Christ. They were convicted about the message that we were sharing.” He said preparing the invitation and “helping them in the process of placing their faith in Christ or praying through it” was something that he found to be a “struggle.” However, he learned from Bradford who “sort of stepped in and helped me with that process.” Okoye said the next time he applied what he learned from Bradford as he led a man to faith in Christ.

Okoye said his first experience participating in Crossover showed him God’s sovereignty “to answer other people’s prayers” as he encountered two people who had been praying about finding a church and “to see people come from halfway across the country, not even just in their environment, but to see people come from halfway across the country and have the need met.”

As he prepares to return to Fort Worth at the end of the week, Okoye said he brings with him the lessons of keeping evangelism as a “practice” and helping people in the local church body “get more acclimated to having the conversations or having that on the forefront of their mind and going out.”

Okoye concluded that he believes there is an “intentionality that is key” to evangelism and he wants to help those in the local church to have “conversations” within their own “spheres” that are “that are Christ-exalting and are evangelistic.”

Bradford observed the long-term result of the Southwestern group’s participation in Crossover was committing “themselves to take the next step in their evangelism practice, whether knocking on a stranger’s door, praying for an individual, getting through an entire Gospel conversation, or answering an objection to the gospel. Simply put, they allowed God to work in them and through them.”

*Name changed for security reasons.