DURHAM, N.C.(BP) — J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Yates Baptist Association of Durham, N.C., led and simulcasted an event to preview an upcoming evangelism emphasis called “Who’s Your One?” The aim is to encourage every Southern Baptist church member to actively engage in sharing their faith.
“These are some challenging days for the Southern Baptist Convention,” Greear, pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., said today (January 31). “They’re challenging days for the church in general in the United States, but is God perhaps setting us up for one of the greatest evangelism explosions that we’ve ever seen?”
Simulcasting from Ridgecrest Baptist Church in Durham, Greear introduced associational mission strategists across North America to the material. Between 50 and 60 were expected to attend in person with roughly 250 strategists registered to participate via the simulcast.
The resource, which is being designed and produced by the North American Mission Board, will help pastors equip church members to share their faith. NAMB president Kevin Ezell said he “could not be more excited” about the Who’s Your One? emphasis.
“When I think of Who’s Your One?, I think it would be perfect for any church of any size to help us all individualize this,” Ezell said. “At the North American Mission Board, we want to do everything we possibly can to resource pastors and associations. Everything we do at NAMB is about the Gospel, and we want you to be as equipped as possible.”
Johnny Hunt, NAMB’s senior vice president of evangelism and leadership, addressed the audience through a prerecorded video message.
“We will be challenging every church in our denomination to simply list a name on a card, begin to pray and ask God for opportunities to engage that person” with the Gospel, Hunt said. “By the grace of God, the Lord will use you to win that person to Christ.”
Greear said he hopes Who’s Your One? will be the catalyst for an evangelism movement among Southern Baptists.
“It’s very easy for us to let all of the good things that we are about as a convention get in the way of the one thing we’re to be about,” sharing the Gospel with a lost world, Greear said.
The Gospel will not advance only through what pastors share from the pulpit, Greear said, but evangelism will happen when “ordinary people” take the Gospel message to their neighbors and coworkers.
“I believe this is a very historic meeting. I believe this is helping us to get back to our roots,” said Marty Childress, associational mission strategist for the Yates Association who hosted the event. “I pray that this initiative will wake us up as a church and help us to see that lostness is real.”
On February 13, executive directors from Baptist state conventions will receive a preview of the Who’s Your One? resource kit. Then, pastors will be able to order a kit online after the official launch on Feb. 20.
Pastors and leaders can visit WhosYourOne.com to learn more. A prayer guide and an implementation guide are currently posted with more resources coming Feb. 20.
Who’s Your One? is one pillar of “Gospel Above All,” the theme for Greear’s presidency. The other pillars have been crafted as ways for the churches of the SBC to expand missions efforts in local communities, across North America and around the world.
Along with the Who’s Your One? emphasis and resource are: Go2, which is a challenge for college students to strategically spend their first two years after graduation on the mission field; multiplying churches, which emphasizes church planting in North America and around the globe; and undivided churches, which helps congregations reflect the unity of God’s kingdom to a divided world.
More information about the Gospel Above All theme can be found at gospelaboveall.com.