MILL VALLEY, Calif. (BP)–If leaders will stand up and slay the Goliaths of their day, like the biblical David, those in churches also will become giant-killers, Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page told students at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.
“We live in a day when fear has become the predominant perspective,” Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., said March 8. “There are giants to fear — giants of factions, power struggles, politics, personal agendas. But I do not believe all is lost.”
Page referred to 1 Samuel 17, which is the account of David the shepherd boy slaying Goliath the Philistine giant. Then Page noted the list of “giant-killers” in 1 Chronicles 20.
“What happened? In 1 Samuel 17 everybody was afraid of the giant, and in 1 Chronicles they’re all in the giant-killing business,” Page said. “The difference is we went from Saul’s leadership to David’s. When God’s leaders become giant-killers, God’s people become giant-killers.”
The SBC president cautioned students not to “run out of here ready to kill giants,” because they aren’t yet smart enough or good enough leaders, and they don’t yet have a good enough education even at a Southern Baptist seminary.
“David believed in a power not his own,” Page said. “It was not his power, his intelligence or his education, good as they were. There will come a time in your life when you will decide not to trust in your own power and you will trust instead in the power of God and you will call upon Him. And then you can kill the giants.”
Page concluded, “Are we going to cling to fear or faith? Defeat or victory? The good of the past or the great of the future? Let us be giant-killers — Davids, not Sauls.”
The seminary hosted Page at a luncheon for faculty, staff and church leaders from around the Bay Area, including a question-and-answer session. Page was asked about a variety of issues, including ministry to illegal immigrants, his impression of seminary students today, the role of believers in public schools and the challenge of keeping young adults in church.
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