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Your Executive Board voted to call Jim Gatliff to serve the churches as a shared strategist. He will be working with virtually all of the ministry areas of the SBTC. Jim is a gifted theologian, passionate evangelist, successful church planter and organizational planner. He is a great addition to our ministry team. One of his main assignments will be to implement the Ezekiel Project.
We have been working on the Ezekiel Project for almost two years. During the SBTC annual meeting in Arlington Nov. 12 and 13, your staff will unveil it. Here is a sneak preview. The Ezekiel Project addresses the problem of declining churches. It is a comprehensive plan from assessment to revitalization and everything in between. It calls for many partners working in concert. Those recruited to help will be Ezekiel Churches that are strong enough to provide guidance, associations that will take oversight, and individuals who will provide leadership to the churches in need. The SBTC cannot staff or administrate the Ezekiel Project. It will take all of us working together. We can see churches reclaim Matthew 28:19-20.
One of our heart beats is the Acts 1:8 effort. Getting people involved in missions connects them with their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the Ends of the Earth. The SBTC has an Acts 1:8 SENT Conference annually in the spring. Churches are encouraged to sign up as an Acts 1:8 Church. For years churches gave and did not go. Now all churches are encouraged to go and to continue to give faithfully through the Cooperative Program.
Church planting is a priority in Texas for the SBTC. More money and personnel is involved in the effort than in any other area of ministry. The largest in-state budget line item is new church starts at $1.69 million. We must plant churches in places where the gospel is needed.
Here’s the shocker. We will have to stop our Acts 1:8 effort and church planting activities if existing churches do not reclaim Matthew 28:19-20. The majority of SBTC churches, just like Southern Baptist churches everywhere, are on a plateau or they are declining. It is a crisis. We cannot start churches fast enough to replace the ones that are fading away.
It will be a massive undertaking by churches, associations and the SBTC to see a turnaround. I believe God wants to do it. The question is, do we want to? To do Matthew 28:19-20 properly we must be culturally relevant and biblically faithful. The world has changed around us and many churches have not adapted. Hundreds of churches are holy huddles while a lost world goes by. Who is in control is one of the main issues. A pastor, a deacon, a women’s group, a family?somebody wants to be able to call the shots. Sadly, all that is firing in those situations are blanks.
Here’s what we need?a brokenness before God. With all of our affluence, resources, and technology we still need the power of God. He must show himself mighty. Let’s get back to the basics, Matthew 28:19-20. Winning the lost, baptizing them and teaching them to win the lost. Definitely there are mechanics and logistics. That is where the Ezekiel Project comes in. God uses tools to make it happen.
Jim Gatliff can’t do it. The SBTC can’t do it. Holy Spirit-empowered churches reclaiming Matthew 28:19-20 can do it. God wants to show himself mighty. Let’s get in on his plan.
