Last night, my right hand man, Andy Wilson, drove me to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to preach at the Rye Hill Baptist Church. They have been having revival services since Sunday morning, asking different preachers to come nightly.  I had the joy of ending their services for the week.  I preached on “The Coming Global Storm.”  I am so grateful for Pastor Mike Franklin who invited me to come.

You see folks, my roots were in a church much smaller than the Rye Hill Church. I mean, Rye Hill is growing and reaching way over 200 people weekly.  The church I grew up in touched about 30-40 people weekly.  Those are my roots.  So last night was refreshing.

Graciousness filled the house, gratefulness rolled from their lips, and glory fell when the invitation was given. Yes, it was a great blessing to be with Pastor Mike and his growing church.  Have you been to a church like this before?  I grew up in one, and was pastor of at least a couple of them before I came here.  You say, “What do you mean Ronnie?”

At the end of the service, I was asked to stand down front and let the people come by and thank me for my ministry of the Word of God to them. Yes, I was blessed with their words and by their actions.  You see folks, that great growing church is on its way to continual growth.   Treat people right, people will come.

Let me make it real clear friends, I do not like terms like “small church” or “large church.” They trouble me greatly.  God is not into big or small, but into vision.  He is committed to people with vision, churches with vision, and leaders with vision.  What really matters is not the size of your church, but the size of your vision.

Thank God for men like Pastor Mike Franklin and churches like the Rye Hill Baptist Church.

I want to thank God for the leadership of Dr. Johnny Hunt, President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia, located in Metropolitan Atlanta. I have known Dr. Hunt for many years, but have become personally blessed with deeper friendship over the past few years. I admire and love him.

Dr. Hunt is a great President for Southern Baptists for many reasons, too many to even mention, but let me highlight a few:

Dr. Hunt is:

• The Pastor of a strong, growing, evangelistic Great Commission Church.
• A man who has built a strong, godly, Christian family.
• A man who loves his church, and his people love him greatly.
• A leader who is growing younger leaders.
• A Pastor-Leader, who as President is leading Southern Baptists into the future.

You see, our convention of churches is always best served by a president who models these things. In our greatest days of advancement and change, it has been this kind of leader who has served as our leader, mentor, and model. We are highly blessed to have this kind of leader again.

In Dr. Hunt’s desire to see change, he is leading our denomination to embrace a Great Commission Resurgence. In fact, if you have missed it, take the time to read it at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com.

Each morning, I pray for Dr. Hunt by name. Please join me in doing so daily. We love Johnny and Janet, as well as all of their family. They are special people, anointed by God’s Holy Spirit for such a time as this.

Committed to the Great Commission.

Yesterday I talked with you about the need for change in the Southern Baptist Convention. While I talked through this document last week with our Southern Baptist Convention President, Johnny Hunt, and a few other leaders, I did not know its release would be this week. Interestingly, it was the same day I blogged about the need for change. Obviously, I am hopeful that God is moving among us.

There is a major desire among many, and I believe most Southern Baptists, that our denomination be structured more suitably for our times. Why is this important? It always comes down to one reality: We must rally around the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Now is the time for all Southern Baptists to carry the burden and work TOGETHER to bring the needed changes so we can move our ministries towards the carrying out of the Great Commission.

I want to urge you to read this document that is found at www.greatcommissionresurgence.com, and as you work through it and feel led of God, support it with your signature. Yes, we are just in the beginning stages, and perhaps revisions will come as we continue to work through it, but whether you are a layperson, a minister, or a student, you are a Southern Baptist if you are a member of one of our churches. Together we can do more to take the gospel to the world.

Read and be encouraged

Our church is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention, a convention of some 45,000 churches nationwide. Additionally, through financial cooperation, we help support two mission boards with a missionary force worldwide of 10,500 missionaries, six different seminaries, and we also assist in having representation in Washington D. C. Beyond that, we have the largest Christian publishing ministry called Lifeway and provide the finest financial retirement and investment ministry for ministers called GuideStone. We are a part of a thriving denomination, but one that really needs to be reinvented for the future.

Last year in the annual meeting of Southern Baptists, we elected on the first ballot my dear friend, Johnny Hunt, a leading pastor in Woodstock, Georgia. He represents what a president should represent: a man committed to winning the world, the pastor of an alive and growing evangelistic church, and a leader with a heart for the future of our denomination. In the days of the great turnaround in our denomination over theological issues, it was men like Dr. Hunt who led that change. It was men with these kinds of credentials whom God seemed to use miraculously in those days of change. Thank God, Dr. Johnny Hunt is that kind of man and God is using him greatly. I am so proud of him and pray for him by name daily.

The change that must happen in our denomination has to do with streamlining our structure to better fulfill our mission of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. These structural changes really need to take place within all the various structures of Southern Baptist life. The time is now for these kinds of changes to be made. We cannot wait. Our denomination is losing our edge on reaching lost people, and more churches are plateaued or declining in membership and attendance than growing. Vision and cooperation need to be so engaged by all of us that the message of the gospel is proclaimed globally.

If we do not speak to our future and aggressively pursue what it needs to look like, we will lose the next generation of leaders. Dr. Hunt, along with many of us, is trying his very best to engage younger leaders into the life of our denomination. However, they desire relevance that at times seems to be missing. Therefore, in the meantime, we must prepare for the future in every way, charting a vision path so engaging that every generation from young to old wants to be a part of it. Friends, these are critical days, so let’s do whatever is necessary to pursue God’s future for us.

Join me in prayer for our future. The life of our convention of churches is significant to the future of Christian work in our nation.  We cannot go to sleep or act as though change is not needed. This is our time to rise up and join God in His future for us. I am excited about the opportunities and trust you will join me in this exciting moment in Christian history.

Let’s make a difference in the world together.

Jeana and I returned last night into Northwest Arkansas just before 10:00 p.m. We had been in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the annual conference for pastors and wives, called, “Mega-Metro”. This conference is for Southern Baptist pastors who’s churches average 2000 or more in Sunday attendance.

Let me give you a few wrap-up observations about the week:

1. Colorado Springs is a beautiful region of the country and served as a blessed site for beauty and fellowship. This is our second time to be there for this conference within the past decade. I am grateful for the opportunity afforded to us.
2. Pastor Gregg Matte of Houston’s First Baptist Church served as the leader of this meeting this year. He and his wife Kelly have been in Houston now for five years. He was the founder of the exciting and influential Breakaway Ministries which draws thousands of university students on the campus of Texas A&M University. I love Gregg and have gotten to know him quite well.
3. The #1 benefit of this gathering is fellowship experienced with men and women of God whom God is using in our churches. These men and women experience the same kinds of needs that Jeana and I experience. This gathering serves as a time of encouragement for everyone.
4. In 2010, April 19-21, Jeana and I will host this conference right here in Northwest Arkansas. Yes, our church will serve as the “Host Church” for this experience. Almost a decade ago, Jeana and I hosted this event, but did so in San Antonio, Texas. However, this next year as we serve, it is time to bring them right here to the blessed region of Northwest Arkansas.
5. I request humbly to you, please begin to pray for this conference today. Join us in praying daily for God’s will and intention to occur. Just think, the Lord will afford to us the experience of hosting and planning this strategic conference in 2010. This year’s conference probably had 40-45 pastors and wives. The 2010 conference may not exceed 60 pastors and wives; however, it is the influencing and investing in these God-anointed leaders that is so special.  You have read books, watched or listened to many of these God-anointed leaders. Please pray for us as we get the heart of God on the 2010 conference.

Sunday is coming, let’s pray for and make it a phenomenal day!

Each year, Jeana and I attend the Mega-Metro for Pastors and their wives. This experience is for pastors and their spouses of Southern Baptist Churches that average 2000 people or more on Sunday. We have developed some great relationships through the years.

Colorado Springs is one beautiful setting. It has provided a super opportunity for us to enjoy God’s creation. Located in the mountains, it has been a wonderful conference setting.

I have come to this meeting since 1988. It has changed so dramatically over the years. Obviously, the players in the room have changed through the years.

Next year at this time, Jeana and I will host the same meeting in Northwest Arkansas. Yes, these incredible Christian leaders, many of whom you have read about, have read their books, or heard them speak, will be coming to our region for three days. In fact, please pray for Jeana and I as we begin to get into the details of hosting this group.

We conclude at noon and by tomorrow evening late, we will be home.

In just two days, we will be hosting an event for thousands across Northwest Arkansas and millions around the nation. Dave Ramsey will be speaking via satellite in venues all across the country, and we will be hosts in our area at both of our campuses.

Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert, an extremely popular national radio personality and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover. In his latest book, a follow-up of his enormously successful New York Times best-sellers Financial Peace and More Than Enough, Ramsey exemplifies his life’s work of teaching others how to be financially responsible so they can acquire enough wealth to take care of loved ones, live prosperously into old age, and give generously to others.

Join us for this free event April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at The Church at Pinnacle Hills or The First Baptist Church of Springdale as we stand together to reignite the fire of hope!

Our church’s 100 child orphanage in Malawi, Africa, was dedicated yesterday. We interviewed our Global Missions Pastor, Doug Sarver, live from Malawi, just hours after the official dedication. The excitement in Doug’s voice transferred into the hearts of our people successfully.

Our church, in partnership with the Bigger than Life Foundation, has been able to pull this project off to the glory of God. Children who were homeless will now have a home. Children without hope will now have hope. The gospel of Jesus will ultimately provide them this hope. Praise the Lord!

Chief Kwataine stated, “Esther’s House has given hope to the hopeless and will transform my village.” The King and Queen were there as well for the dedication, stating words of commendation and hope for the orphanage. Oh my friends, praise God that you are a visionary people with a heart for all people.

Consider going on our next missionary journey to Africa.

On November 13, NEWSWEEK magazine published an article on “The Rise and Fall of Christian America.” Dr. Jeff Crawford interviewed me today for 40 minutes on several issues and this was one of them.  Dr. Crawford is the pastor of the Grand Family Church in Fort Smith.

Just yesterday morning, our own Dr. Scott Kaufman and I were talking about this article. He is so great at assessing and summarizing matters.  I asked him to summarize this article and then come up with some takeaways.  Since I conducted this interview today and there has been so much on television about this article, I thought I would publish what he sent to me. Since he summarizes it so supremely, I have decided to use his comments today.  I concur with these thoughts.

Key Thoughts and Summary Statements:

• According to the American Religious Identification Survey (March 2009), the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled since 1990, rising from 8 to 15 percent.
• While the unaffiliated has historically been concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, the report said, “This pattern has now changed, and the Northeast emerged in 2008 as the new stronghold of the religiously unidentified.”
• Al Mohler sees this as a signal that the historic foundation of America’s religious culture is cracking: “A remarkable culture-shift has taken place around us. The most basic contours of American culture have been radically altered. The so-called Judeo-Christian consensus of the last millenium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crisis which threatens the very heart of our culture.”
• The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990,  from 86 percent to 76 percent.
• A separate poll by the Pew Forum echoed the ARIS findings, reporting that the percentage of persons who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith has doubled in recent years to 16 percent.
• In terms of voting, this group grew from 5 percent in 1988 to 12 percent in 2008.
• Meanwhile, the number of persons willing to describe themselves as atheist or agnostic increased fourfold from 1990 to 2009, from 1 million to about 3.6 million.
• A possible silver lining to all this: A third of Americans say they are born again; this figure, along with the decline of politically moderate-to-liberal mainline Protestants, led the ARIS authors to note that “these trends…suggest a movement towards more conservative beliefs and particularly to a more ‘evangelical’ outlook among Christians.” In addition, the nation still remains vibrantly more religious than Europe.
• Two-thirds of the public (68 percent) now say that religion is “losing influence” in American society.
• The proportion of Americans who think religion “can answer all or most of today’s problems” is now at a historic low of 48 percent. During the Bush and Clinton years, that figure never dropped below 58 percent.
• America is not a “post-religious” society however. Many of the religiously unaffiliated still describe themselves as “spiritual,” as opposed to “religious.” We live in an increasingly pluralistic society.
• Mohler: “The worst fault of evangelicals in terms of politics in the last 30 years has been an indelible naivete about politics and politicians and parties. They invested far too much hope in a political solution to what are transpolitical issues and problems.” Columnust Cal Thomas was an early figure in the Moral Majority who came to see the “Christian America” movement was fatally flawed in theological terms. “No country can be truly “Christian,” only people can.” Christianity’s claims transcend any political order.
• “Christians should not have illusions about the nature of human governments. Ultimately they belong to what Augustine calls ‘the city of the world,’ in which self-interest rules.”

Some of My Own Thoughts:

• This report confirms what most of us already thought we were seeing in our culture.
• This trend could more reflect a greater decline in nominal Christianity than it does a decline in the ‘real deal.’ The cultural changes, by making it less ‘popular’ to be a Christian, may actually have a “purifying” effect on congregations by reducing the number of persons who are Christians in name only.
• There is a definite movement toward the expulsion of religion from society, as is evidenced by the proliferation of books by very vocal atheists in recent years (Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, others).
• Christians should not place so much hope and confidence in political offices.
• I think it will create new opportunities for the church. As the culture gets ‘darker’ the light will become more obvious.
• The uniqueness of the church will become more evident.
• Increased persecution has, historically, resulted in the advancement of Christ’s kingdom.
• Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church.

As you can tell, America is in need of spiritual awakening and revival.  Oh God, may it happen today.

Right beside my blog today is a picture from Easter Sunday with our only granddaughter, Reese Caroline. She is Nick and Meredith’s only child. Is she not precious? What a beautiful little sweetie.

Things will change in their lives and ours as Meredith is due with another child on November 16. They are thrilled as are we. Reese Caroline will adjust over time as any child would.

Therefore, Jeana and I will be the grandparents of four grandchildren. Wow, I am a young man! What is happening here? Keep those grandchildren coming! The more, the merrier!

There is nothing like new life.