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FORT WORTH—Texas pastors were encouraged Nov. 9-10 to devote themselves to persistent prayer and the unashamed preaching of God’s Word in hopes of seeing the winds of revival stir the nation in this generation. These challenges were issued at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s 2014 Bible Conference, themed “Rend the Heavens” after Isaiah 64:1-4, on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
Sunday Evening
“Because God is sovereign, he can launch the next revival any way he wants to,” Richard Ross said during the opening session.
Ross, professor of student ministry at Southwestern Seminary, explained that revival and spiritual awakening have been historically sparked by young people. When asked if he believes the current generation of teenagers is primed to spark revival, Ross responds, “Almost.”
Ross said most teenagers in churches hold to a worldview that experts call moral therapeutic deism, which Ross describes as “a little Jesus in my pocket “ who doesn’t guide people’s decisions but is there to “poof away” problems when needed.
“The young people are full of moral therapeutic deism because mom and dad are full of moral therapeutic deism,” Ross said. “It’s the American church that has a case of it; the young people just made it obvious to us first.”
Preaching from Hebrews 1, Ross said church members of all ages need to see from the Bible a picture of Jesus as he truly is—the exalted, reigning king of the universe, seated at the right hand of the father.
“The way your people see Jesus is how your people see God,” Ross told pastors, calling them to preach Jesus as he is revealed in Scripture.
“If you will reveal Jesus for all that he is to a younger generation,” Ross said, “their sails will be raised for revival.”
The evening session concluded with a message by Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee.
Gaines called on pastors and church members to return to fervent prayer as the catalyst for genuine revival in churches.
“We need God in government; we need God in our schools,” Gaines said, adding, “but let me tell you something else—we need God in our churches. … I wonder what would happen if Jesus really got into our churches; I wonder what it would look like.”
Gaines preached from Acts 12 on Peter being freed from prison and almost certain martyrdom for his faith. Gaines noted that throughout the chapter, the text notes the fervent prayer of God’s people, which brought about miraculous events and the spread of the gospel.
“Real revival will not come unless God’s people spend serious time in extraordinary prayer,” Gaines said.
Stating that churches today need to look like the churches in Acts, Gaines said the problem with most Southern Baptist churches is not their sermons, songs or systematic theology, but “it’s that we don’t pray like they did in the book of Acts.”
Gaines pointed out Jesus’ consistent habit of fervent prayer, adding, “If Jesus needed to pray, don’t you think you and I need to pray?”
At the end of his message, Gaines invited the audience to gather at the front of the auditorium to cry out to God for revival.
“What good is a prayerless preacher?” Gaines asked. “What good is a prayerless Christian? What good is a prayerless church?”
Monday Morning
A call to deeper devotion, as well as revival and spiritual awakening challenged attendees at the Monday morning session, which featured messages by Michael Pender and Eric Thomas.
Pender, pastor of Fallbrook Baptist Church in Houston, preached from Luke 10:38-42 about “Mary’s Devotional Moment at the Feet of Jesus.” Comparing and contrasting the attitudes of the two sisters, Pender noted the “necessity of Mary’s devotion.“
“The most important thing we can do is spend time with the Lord,” Pender said. “Devotional time with the Lord is so necessary that it supersedes ministry.”
Pender explained that while Martha’s choice might not have been sin, it wasn’t the best choice. Mary, he said, made the most excellent choice.
“There are a lot of things in this life that may not be sin, but there may be a better choice,” said Pender.
Pender concluded by pointing to the transforming work of devotion to the Lord.
“What good is devotion if there’s no change, no transformation?” Pender asked.
Following a Concert of Prayer for personal and church revival, Eric Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church of Norfolk, Virginia, continued the theme of personal devotion and revival, preaching from Luke 22:39-42. In the passage about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Thomas challenged listeners to prayer.
“We can’t just do the normal prayer,” Thomas said. “The prayer that leads to revival moves from the head to the heart and the heart to the head.
“Revival is born when we crawl into the father’s lap and say ‘Dad, I need you.’ It sets our hearts right. The infinite God becomes personal to us.”
Thomas also pointed out the importance of the word “nevertheless” in Christ’s prayer.
“’Nevertheless’ is a revival word,” Thomas said. “‘Nevertheless’ means, ‘the only thing that matters is that I’m sitting in your lap. I give you all that I am.’ The enemy of revival is you and me pretending and playing games instead of opening our hearts before a loving God and saying ‘nevertheless.’”
Monday Afternoon
Steven Smith, vice president for student services and communications at Southwestern Seminary, relayed Jesus’ teaching on prayer from Luke 11 during the third session Bible Conference.
“Jesus taught about 30 parables,” Smith said. “Only two of those parables focused on prayer, and those two parables on prayer both have the exact same theme: pray persistently.”
One of the two parables, found in Luke 11, tells the story of a man going to his friend at midnight asking for help. Just as the man persisted in his inquiring, so Jesus taught his disciples to be persistent in prayer.
In reference to the man who did not initially want to help his friend, Smith clarified, “This is not a parable of comparison; it’s a parable of contrast. The point is not that God is like this midnight friend [whom] you have to wear down. The point is that God is the opposite of that. God is a loving and gracious heavenly father who wants to meet our needs before we even ask him.”
Acknowledging the issue of unanswered prayers, Smith pointed to verse 13, which says that God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
“The reason why he said the Holy Spirit is because the Holy Spirit is simply the very best God has to give,” Smith explained.
To those who might grumble over unanswered prayers, Smith acknowledged that God’s gift of the Holy Spirit may seem inadequate. To that, however, Smith posed a question: “What if you go to God asking for something, and all you get is God? Is that enough?”
Concluding the Bible Conference was Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Graham preached from Acts 20, which tells the story of Paul delivering a farewell message to the elders of the church in Ephesus.
From this message, Graham gleaned four applications for Christian ministers, namely that they should humbly, compassionately, courageously and generously proclaim the word of Christ.
“Preach it, brothers,” Graham said. “Tell it, sisters. All of it—heaven and hell and sin and salvation; the power of God to save. Tell it all, the whole counsel of God—lest we walk into heaven with the blood of men on our hands.”
“If we [preach in this way],” Graham concluded, “a fire will start in us that will ignite our churches and our communities, and maybe, just maybe, one more time, we can see a great awakening in our country and great evangelism in our churches and in the nations of this world before Jesus comes again.”
Election of Officers
The Bible Conference elected new officers for next year’s conference, which will be held at Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Nov. 8-9, 2015.
Michael Pender, pastor of Fallbrook Baptist Church in Houston, was elected unopposed as Bible Conference president after being nominated by Robert Webb, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Kaufman.
Chris Moody, pastor of First Baptist Church in Beaumont, was elected unopposed as first vice president, nominated by Jeremy Rogers, pastor of Arlington Park Baptist Church in Arlington.
Gene Kendrick, pastor of Mims Baptist Church in Conroe, was elected unopposed as second vice president, nominated by Jeremy Pruitt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Garrison.
–with reporting by Stephanie Heading and Alex Sibley.
