The Open Door

As Executive Director of the Convention and also as a member of North Metro First Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, I want to extend an invitation to you to attend the 2007 Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference, which will be held in our church February 26-27.

I was 28 years of age when I first became a pastor in a Georgia Baptist church. As pastor of Tabernacle Baptist in Carrollton, I still remember what it meant to attend the Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference. For me, it was a time to charge my spiritual batteries by hearing some of the finest preachers in America.

Often those evangelism conferences would be held at Mabel White Baptist Church in Macon while Jimmy Waters was the pastor. I still remember the packed sanctuary and my sitting in the balcony looking over the rail to see and hear the preaching and music. These were very encouraging times for me spiritually. I enjoyed the fellowship with my pastor friends, and I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to sit and hear a sermon instead of being the one doing the preaching.

Through the years the Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference has continued to present outstanding programs of music and preaching. Over the years other evangelism conferences have been developed that have drawn preachers from far and wide to attend these alternate conferences on an annual basis.

This has challenged the strong attendance that we used to experience on a regular basis in our state convention evangelism conference. Some years our attendance has been better than others. I have said that to say that I do not believe that our Convention has ever had a finer lineup of evangelistic preachers than we do for this year’s evangelism conference, myself excluded. I do appreciate the opportunity to preach and I look forward to it, but I also look forward to hearing the widely known preachers that we have scheduled for the program.

Of course, I look forward to the music. I believe that the North Metro choir and orchestra do as fine a job as anywhere in America presenting the Gospel through song. My good friend Charles Billingsley will be on hand, as well as others who will lead us in praise of the Father.

At noon on February 27 there will be a ministers and wives luncheon at which Ike Reighard will be the guest speaker. Pastors are encouraged to bring their wives to the conference and enjoy the special inspiration at the luncheon.

Our church is enjoying our beautiful, new worship center, as we continue to experience incredible growth under the leadership of our pastor, Dr. Frank Cox. There will be ample seating, but I sure would love to see us fill it up. I want to encourage you to make plans to come and bring people from your church to attend this year’s evangelism conference.

I promise you that you will receive a great blessing and will be inspired to go back home as a more committed evangelist for the Lord Jesus Christ. I will see you at North Metro on February 26. The first session begins at 2 p.m.