True spiritual revival and awakening results in a greater commitment to world evangelization. We have witnessed this and experienced it personally. It was on Sunday, June 4, 1995, when the Holy Spirit moved mightily upon our fellowship. He interrupted not only the day as planned, but succeeding weeks as initially planned, and in so many ways since. This mighty movement of God has still been felt in ministry dynamics and commitment in the area of world evangelization. Yes, our church has not been the same since that day.

Our commitment to regional evangelism went to an unprecedented level of commitment. Our commitment to reach this region with the Good News of Jesus is strong. As the wonderful church of God, you have done so much in creating ministry venues, providing funds, and now have created an additional campus that is surging forward in a God-sized manner. In the past three years alone, not counting the present year, our church has baptized an average of 957 people per year. This has happened because of the radical commitment you have made as a church. Praise God for you.

Our commitment to evangelize America went to an unprecedented level of commitment. We have launched churches in our region as well as in New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Cleveland, and we are working on more strategic opportunities even as I write to you. The church’s commitment in disaster relief, helping pastors, struggling churches, seminary leadership and students through the Hurricane Katrina has been unprecedented. Baptist work in both Louisiana and Mississippi was helped  dramatically because of you, plus we have helped great numbers of people in those regions and beyond. We mobilized 2,500 people beyond the many trips taken to the Louisiana coast to care for the displaced hurricane victims in the largest evacuee camp in Arkansas. As well, mentoring and connecting young ministers of the gospel has happened and is happening in so many ways. There is so much more you do in America, but space nor time permits me to tell it all.

Our commitment to evangelize the world went to an unprecedented level of commitment. Since 1999, we have launched 17 churches across the world, on every inhabited country of the world. What a vision…you did it! Additionally, your church averages 12 mission trips a year, plus sends every graduate of our Shiloh Christian School on an international mission experience, if they will go. Yes, we are cooperative and loyal Southern Baptists, demonstrated through the fact that 99.9% of our mission work globally is with Southern Baptists. Last year, we gave $489,862 for Southern Baptist causes, $221,000 of which was given through the Cooperative Program. This represents an average of over 8% improvement annually for the past five years. We were in the Top 100 SBC churches in gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. The church has done all of this and so much more while a $38.5 million building program on both campuses is moving towards completion. So much of our work is not counted towards the Cooperative Program because of the way our convention is structured; things like us mobilizing 142 people to Thailand to lead the missionaries of Asian countries in a time of retreat and growth, other mission trip expenditures, many church starts, benevolence, language ministry, jail ministry, and the list goes on and on.  $2.6 million was spent by your church last year taking the gospel into Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World, and this does not even count so much of what else we do. This is what we do…missions. This is who we are…missions! Of course, daily we are now on across the world via television and we hear from people worldwide. Dear church, you are a great church, committed to the task of global evangelization! We can do more and we will do more to the glory of God.

My point today: if the SBC experienced a genuine spiritual revival, missions would sky-rocket and we could finish the task of launching churches and leaders into every unreached people group in the world. I get really excited when I think about what God could do if we could just see this kind of awakening in our churches. Oh God, let it happen for the sake of global missions.

Oh God, give us revival!