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Point of View: Let’s continue dreaming, Imagine If ...
by JOHN CROSS
Special to Florida Baptist Witness

Article Date: Nov 25, 2009

Our Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Pensacola was soaked by the wind and rain of Tropical Storm Ida, yet God did amazing things while we were there. I believe the winds of the Holy Spirit were blowing in fresh ways, and as the hymn writer wrote, God sent us “showers of blessings”! Just think about some of the things we saw happen. We prayed and fasted asking God to pour out His Spirit in supernatural ways that would produce supernatural results. Just think about how God graciously and generously did that before our very eyes!

LIVE LOVE LOUD was amazing! The Pensacola Bay Baptist Association, led by Director of Missions Bob Green, along with David Burton and Jeff Hessinger from the Florida Baptist Convention Evangelism Division, helped provide organization for this event. Florida Baptists shared and showed the love of Christ in a number of creative and compelling ways. We had sports clinics, block parties, kids events, and student events; and distributed free groceries, personal hygiene items, and Bibles to 1,600 families! The groceries we had the joy of giving away were valued between $135,000–$150,000! Volunteers shared the hope of Jesus with over 1,000 people personally and at least 169 people chose to become followers of Jesus! To God’s glory, we had approximately 5,400 people attend our Saturday LIVE LOVE LOUD events!

We’ve been dreaming “Imagine If ....” I believe we are seeing what happens when God births fresh dreams in our hearts to step outside of ourselves and enter the world of those He came to save!

“Imagine If ...” the pastors and leaders of our 2900 Florida Baptist churches began to become missional in our communities. “Imagine If ...” we as pastors led our churches to set aside anything in our lives personally and in our churches corporately that may be a hindrance to us connecting with our culture. “Imagine If ...” we truly experienced a Great Commission Resurgence.

During my FBSC presidential address I tried my best to remind us of our responsibility. As we dream about our amazing potential, we also have to look at where we’ve been. I want to share what I believe are some very startling statistics. Remember, every number represents a soul for whom Jesus died. They are the people in your neighborhood, city, county, and state—nearly 19 million of them! God has chosen to call us to serve Him in this state and He commissioned His church to tell them about Jesus—all of them! 

In 1960, the population of Florida was just under five million. We had 1,257 Florida Baptist churches, which gave $2,584,840 through the Cooperative Program. The state convention had 62 employees. Fifty percent of the Cooperative Program money stayed in Florida while the other 50 percent went on to Southern Baptist Convention causes. Of the portion that stayed in Florida, 27.5 percent went to Florida Baptist Convention ministries and 22.5 percent went to FBSC agencies and institutions. Florida Baptist churches totaled 480,407 in membership and baptized 25,517 people representing .52 percent of Florida’s population.

In 2008, the population of Florida was 18,807,219. We had 2907 Florida Baptist churches, which gave $38,654,690 through the Cooperative Program. The state convention staff had 154.5 employees. Sixty percent of the Cooperative Program money stayed in Florida while the other 40 percent went on to  Southern Baptist Convention causes. Of the 60 percent that stayed in Florida, 40.93 percent went to Florida Baptist Convention ministries, 11.82 percent went to FBSC agencies and institutions, and 7.25 percent went to church planting and church annuity. Florida Baptist churches totaled 1,016,726 in membership and baptized 34,414 people (not including those baptized in our Haitian partnership), representing .18 percent of Florida’s population.

Another disturbing fact is that 56 percent of the membership growth in our churches these last 48 years has been transfer growth. The mission given by Jesus was to “seek and to save that which was lost.” Far too often people think their church is growing because membership and attendance is up. Two questions should be asked: Who do you want to reach? Who are you reaching?  This is a huge problem. We celebrate “growing churches” who too often are simply shuffling believers from one church to another.

I challenge you—check out your own church. Look at your 2009 Annual Church Profile and perhaps the ones for the last 10 years or so. They have a story to tell you about what your church is really about – keepers of the aquarium or fishers of men?

Orthodoxy is when we have right beliefs. Orthopraxy is right behaviors. James tells us, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead“ (James 2:17). Education in God’s Word is important, but information without application and transformation is an abomination. We’ve got to live out what we believe.

Think about this. Every three minutes and five seconds a Floridian dies. That means about 27 Floridians die every 30 minutes, 467 Floridians each day, and 170,455 Floridians die each year. Most are lost. That means most spend eternity in a literal hell. Eternal damnation. Pain and suffering. My prayer is that we will make it hard for people to go to hell from Florida.

When you read the data about our state convention, what do you think? How do you interpret it? What does all this mean? Does it create within you a realization that we’ve got a lot of important work to do? Forty-eight years of data. Nearly half a century. Does it help you see that there is a problem somewhere between our mission and our methods, between our orthodoxy and orthopraxy? Are we impacting the lostness of Florida? Are we maximizing our opportunities to share Christ with the three billion throughout the world who’ve yet to hear of Jesus and His love? Is our current system working effectively and efficiently? Does it burden our hearts that so many are going to hell right here from our own state?

If our mission is to grow churches through transferring believers from one church to another, with membership growth being 56 percent transfer growth the past 48 years, I guess you might consider that somewhat “successful.” If our mission is Jesus’ mission for His church of “seeking and saving that which was lost,” we’ve got some serious things to consider. 

I am thankful for the opportunity you have entrusted to me to appoint an “Imagine If ... Great Commission Task Force” to study how we may become more effective and efficient in fulfilling the Great Commission given to us by Jesus. This is not a responsibility I’ve taken lightly. Please fast and pray with me that God will grant wisdom to each task force member. Please fast and pray that all of us as Florida Baptists will seek God and His agenda rather than our own. Please pray we will all set aside any and everything that is in our lives personally or our church corporately that is hindering a Great Comission Resurgence.

I believe we’ve already seen God moving us toward a Great Commission Resurgence.

Think about it. We had around 7,000-7,500 people involved in some way with our Pensacola annual meeting! Approximately 5,400 people attended our LIVE LOVE LOUD events! We had over 1,000 messengers and guests at our annual convention during a tropical storm! By one observer’s estimate, we had as many as 1,600 students and young adults attend our closing session to hear Carrie McDonnell challenge us to take Christ to the unreached people of the planet! There were approximately 100 students and young adults who came to the altar to surrender to God’s call on their lives in missions and ministry! Nineteen students publicly chose to become followers of Jesus! ALL who attended the convention were challenged to now go and live sent lives to be about Jesus’ mission! Imagine If...

Let’s continue dreaming together! Let’s get ready for all kinds of “growing pains” as we experience a Great Commission Resurgence for the glory of God! Imagine If....

John Cross, pastor of South Biscayne Church in North Port, is president of the Florida Baptist State Convention.

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