Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
Pastors and Christian Leaders: It is time for the Next Great Awakening
Everything in American life today points to our greatest need: the next great spiritual awakening in America. I believe there is a growing desperation rising up within the people of God and a continual expectation that God is going to do something great in our generation. I believe it is time.
It is time to cry out to God
I have now been part of leading prayer gatherings with over 1,500 pastors. In three of those four gatherings, my friend, Bill Elliff, talked about the importance of crying out to God. He uses an illustration that has captivated me each time he has used it. Let me tell it in my own words.
Imagine that you are called upon to pray for your daughter. As you pray, you would pray as any parent would, for all of God’s blessings to be upon her life. While passionate, the urgency is non-existent. Let’s suppose time passes and this same daughter is captured by a terrorist and no one knows where she is located. Your mind goes in one thousand directions at ninety miles an hour with all of the things that she could be going through. Now, when you pray for your daughter, how would you pray?
Without question, you would cry out to God with great passion and urgency! You would call out to Him in your complete brokenness and need. As your heart would be breaking, you would call upon Him with all you are to come and spare your daughter.
What does all this mean? This is the real condition of our lives, our families, our churches, and our nation. We are under the influence of a mighty terrorist named Satan, who has lied to and deceived us. It appears he is in charge.
Now in urgent desperation, we must cry out to God for our own spiritual lives! We must cry out to God for our own families! We must cry out to God for our churches! We must cry out to God for America!
There is no great movement of God that ever occurs that is not first preceded by the extraordinary prayer of God’s people. Pastors and Christian leaders, it is time to cry out to God in brokenness and desperation. As urgency increases, we must believe with all we are, that the only answer for our nation is spiritual awakening.
It is time to unite together
While many who read this may not be Southern Baptists, I want to speak for a moment specifically to my brothers and sisters who are Southern Baptists. It is time for us to unite together for the purpose of crying out to God in extraordinary prayer for the next great spiritual awakening in our land. We cannot expect God to move in our midst if we operate in a culture where we are more carnal and splintered, than spiritual and unified. God blesses the unity of His people and the unity of His church! No one believed that more than Jesus Himself.
We must come together for the sake of our future. We must come together for the sake of America. We must come together for the sake of reaching all the nations. For this sacred effort, all of our selfishness, carnality, and personal preferences must die. It is time to unify in order to pray for the next Great Awakening.
It is time to accelerate the completion of the Great Commission
I am convinced it is time to come together in agreement, to pray in an extraordinary way, for revival personally, revival in the church, and spiritual awakening in our nation; so that the Great Commission will become escalated to its rightful priority and accelerated to its completion in our generation. Revival is the manifested presence of God. If experienced personally, God shows up in your life powerfully. If experienced in the church, a fresh, mighty power of God’s presence comes upon the church. A spiritual awakening occurs when a region becomes God-conscious, resulting in great numbers of people coming to Christ.
If and when these things occur, and I am believing God for them to, we will see the Great Commission become our ultimate priority, and there will be a commitment to accelerate it to its completion in our generation. We will abandon ourselves completely for the purpose of seeing the gospel presented to every person in the world and to see disciples made in all the nations.
Yes, in our lives and our churches, and even within our Southern Baptist Convention, we need to see the Great Commission accelerated to its completion. Let’s come together in Jesus’ name, pray extraordinarily, and act upon the Word of God today. It is time for the next Great Awakening!
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
“Baptists, Just Without the Baptisms”… Baptists Should Take Notice!
When a national secular publication as prominent as The Atlantic publishes an article entitled, “Baptists, Just Without the Baptisms,” Baptists should stand up and take notice! If there is one thing we do not want to be known for, it is that we are not reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. Additionally, we do not want to be known for not reaching the next generation.
Actions We Should Consider Taking Immediately:
1. Each pastor and church leader should share “Pastors’ Task Force on SBC Evangelistic Impact & Declining Baptisms,” released last week, with their entire church leadership and perhaps their entire church.
Last week, I wrote a response to this report that may encourage you on how we are responding as a church. I believe we need to educate our lay people to these matters, and they will rise up with us to take the needed actions. They can join you not only in strategic thinking, but prayerful intercession.
2. Personally own the call to evangelize the lost.
As Great Commission Christians, we must own the Great Commission personally. We cannot blame others or make excuses. It comes down to each of us owning it and wearing it daily. Evangelizing, baptizing, and discipling must be escalated.
3. Prioritize the conversation in your church.
There is a lot of noise in our churches. It is hard to get the attention of our people. The world is not just noisy, but mobile. The growing infrequency of church attendance adds to this challenge. Yet, somehow, some way, we must prioritize the conversation of reaching lost people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can assure you, in our church, the more prioritized the conversation is with our team and leaders, the more people we see come to Christ. Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:19-20 is not an option; it is the Lord’s command to us. Therefore, it is our priority!
4. Address the reaching of the next generation.
How can we live with 60% of our churches not reaching and baptizing at least one teenager? How can we live with 80% of our churches reaching zero to just one adult from the ages of 18-29? In reality, we cannot do a whole lot about other churches, but we can address our own church. Perhaps if we are realizing some success in reaching the next generation, it will encourage other churches to do so as well. Quite honestly, we must return to the Lord and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believing and realizing that He and His message can transform lives, even the lives of teenagers and young adults. The gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes!
5. Agree together that the greatest need in this moment is to see God bring the next Great Awakening.
We can make all kinds of changes relating to reaching people. We can try lots of things to attempt to be more effective. Don’t get me wrong, there are times strategies and even leadership needs to change. However, let’s get real: Above all, we need to see God bring the next Great Awakening! Therefore, we need to pray like never before; meaning, we need to pray extraordinarily. Let’s join together in practicing and believing in extraordinary prayer. No great movement of God ever occurs unless it is preceded by the extraordinary prayer of God’s people.
Perhaps when we take some of these actions, we will become known again as being “Baptists With the Baptisms!”
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.