Kevin Williams: ‘The church will not be stopped, stalled, stymied or stumped’

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JONESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Baptist Convention President Kevin Williams called on church leaders Tuesday to “refocus” on sharing the gospel despite the lingering COVID-19 pandemic or highly publicized denominational disputes.

“As a pastor it’s been hard, because no one taught us how to lead through a pandemic,” Williams said in a sermon to nearly 1,000 Georgia Baptists gathered for an annual meeting in Jonesboro. “We have all this stuff going on at the SBC national level that has taken our eyes off the prize. We must get back to the main thing: reaching people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must refocus.”

In an encouraging message, Williams called for pastors and other church leaders to not allow their attention to be diverted from fulfilling the Great Commission.

“Here is what I know for sure,” he said. “The gates of hell shall not prevail, and the mission of the church will not be stopped, stalled, stymied or stumped.”

Williams, who also serves as a trustee on the International Mission Board, told the Georgia messengers that 163 previously unreached people groups have heard the Gospel during the past two years, despite the pandemic.

“The Gospel will not be stopped,” he said. “This journey was never meant to be easy, and it definitely has some potholes along the way. … We have found out through COVID that so many things we thought we had to have in order to have ‘church’ were really just fluff. What we really need and can’t live without is worship and the Word.”

Williams told Georgia Baptists they could sit back and say, “We can’t because of COVID” or choose to stand on the Rock and take the Gospel to the world.

“I know COVID is a real thing,” he said. “My wife and I almost died from it. I have done 15 funerals of sweet people from my church. I understand what we are dealing with, but that does not stop the gospel."

Williams told about an International Mission Board missionary who recently was arrested in Mexico and taken to jail. So, he preached Jesus to his fellow inmates and many of them were saved.

"He said, 'I was mad, becasue I couldn't get to the church, but I was exactly where God wanted me,'" Williams said. "God spoke to my heart and said, 'I have  you and the rest of the church in the United States exactly where  I want you."