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Chitwood: ‘Kentucky Baptists, It’s Time to Light the Beacons’
11/15/2011
FLORENCE – Minutes after he was encircled by pastors and directors of missions in a prayer of commissioning, Kentucky Baptist Convention Paul Chitwood issued a challenge to all Kentucky Baptists to "ready, rally and respond" in a spiritual battle for the commonwealth.
A lack of a strong enough evangelical presence across Kentucky has led to families and communities in crisis, Chitwood said.
"At its essence, it is a problem between man and God," the former pastor of First Baptist Church of Mt. Washington said. "It is a sin problem."
"Sometimes it’s good to get bad news, for only when we get the bad news do we have the opportunity to ready, rally and respond," he said.
Chitwood, who was speaking to the convention’s annual session for the first time as executive director, said the spiritual condition in Kentucky today is as dire as the physical landscape recorded in the book of Joel.
Click here to watch the message.
"The land was being devoured from a great swarm of locusts. The crops were gone," he said. "There is no plague of locusts, but our state is being devoured.
"The enemy is having his way with not just the drug addicts and prostitutes," Chitwood continued. "He’s having his way with the pastors. If he can strike the shepherd, the sheep will scatter."
Throughout the 174th annual meeting held at Florence Baptist Church at Mt. Zion, Kentucky Baptists were challenged and encouraged to do and to be "More for Christ," referencing the three-year spiritual renewal emphasis that began earlier this year.
"If we continue to act as we have acted … we will continue to surrender Kingdom ground in Kentucky," Chitwood warned.
In accepting the More for Christ challenge for himself, Chitwood pledged "my prayers, my partnership and my listening ear" to his fellow Kentucky Baptists.
"I pledge to you, I will do my part. I understand that a great trust has been given to me. A trust of leadership, of your prayers, your commission, your charge, so I’ve come quickly to feel a sense of calling on my life, much like when I accepted the call to be a pastor."
In introducing Chitwood and the evening’s other speaker, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank Page, KBC President Floyd Paris told Kentucky Baptists, "We’re at a pivotal time in our history. We have time only to go out into the harvest and labor for our Lord."
Page described himself as the "CEO, Chief Encouraging Officer of the Southern Baptist Convention."
Click here to listen to Page's message. | Click here to watch the message.
The More for Christ challenge should be accepted with a sense of urgency, said Page, a former pastor and SBC president.
"In our 21st century world, we have winked at sin too often," he said. "For too long we have told the world, ‘Find your own way. We’re not going to tell you.’"
Cooperation is vitally important if Baptists and other believers are to fulfill the Great Commission, he added.
"I believe our unity affects our evangelism," Page said. "When we cannot work together, we forfeit the prayer of Jesus" that is recorded in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John. "We tell the world, ‘Go to hell. We don’t care.’"
Page said even though Satan has a plan to thwart Christians, it is important to remember that God has a plan, too.
"We have a mission," he said, referencing the biblical instruction to "run with patience the race that is set before us." Page said he finds comfort that there is a race to be run because it is proof that "God has a plan."
Audio of the messages from Chitwood, Page and all the annual meeting and pastors’ conference speakers will be available later this week at www.kybaptist.org.
Preliminary attendance figures for this year’s annual meeting were: 865 messengers, 359 church members and 27 visitors for a total of 1,251 persons. The total attendance was lower than last year’s 1,372 but higher than the 2009 annual meeting that drew 1,105.
Next year will mark 175 years since the Kentucky Baptist Convention was founded. The annual meeting will be held Nov. 13 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
by Dannah Prather, KBC Communications
