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MABANK—Call it an invitation to an invitation.
Casey Perry, a longtime Southern Baptists of Texas Convention pastor, recently hosted 11 pastors at his home to share about the importance of offering an invitation after preaching God’s word. The breakfast meeting was also attended by Jim Richards, SBTC’s executive director emeritus, Ronnie Yarber, another longtime SBTC pastor, and Wayne Livingston, an SBTC field representative whose area spreads across East Texas.
Richards, Perry, and Yarber were instrumental in the formation of the SBTC two decades ago, but on this morning, their focus was on the future of gospel invitations—which are not as much a staple of worship services as they once were.
Perry, 87, shared about a number of invitations that have either had a personal impact on himself or others. When he was 9, he recalled seeing a young man walk the aisle at church and give his life to Jesus. That moment had such an impact on Perry that he continued to think about it and, about a week later, gave his own life to Christ one evening while working cows in a pasture. The next meaningful invitation happened soon after, when he went forward to announce his decision to the pastor and the church.
At age 12, an invitation provided him the opportunity to proclaim his desire to follow in obedience to the command of Christ regarding baptism and, three years later, he walked the sawdust aisle at a Baptist youth camp in New Mexico to surrender his life to the ministry during a time of invitation.
“It would not have happened without an invitation,” he said.
Perry said an invitation should plainly and clearly call people to accept Christ, give listeners an opportunity to join the church, or re-dedicate their lives to the Lord. “I think one of the things we really miss with our invitations today is, I don’t think we’re calling out the called” to ministry service, he added.
Each pastor on hand was given a copy of Roy Fish’s book, “Coming to Jesus: Giving A Good Invitation” provided by the SBTC. Fish was a lifelong pastor who was committed to personal soul-winning and evangelism education. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s school of evangelism and missions is named for Fish.
Later, in giving a brief sketch of SBTC’s history, Yarber expressed the convention’s heart for assisting its pastors much in the way that was happening on this particular day.
“The fact is, if you’re affiliated with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” he said, “you’re affiliated with a body of believers and churches that cares for you, that wants the best for you, that prays for you, and that has a ministry to offer you.”
