By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
[email protected]
As I approach my 34th year with the Baptist and Reflector, I can’t even begin to count how many sermons and messages I have listened to in more than three decades.
A good number of those messages were preached during the State Evangelism Conference which at one time was the highlight for pastors all over Tennessee. During the late 1980s and through the mid to late 1990s, the evangelism conference was well attended for the most part.
Gradually, attendance began to wane. The conference was moved from its typical January slot to early spring. It later was moved back to January but attendance was never the same. The conference was changed to regional meetings but that never caught on. Eventually the State Evangelism Conference ceased to exist.
I can’t honestly say I was disappointed because it was less meetings to sit through, but as I reflect on the evangelism conferences, I realize that it probably was a mistake to discontinue them even though attendance had decreased significantly. I have come to understand that we can never put too much emphasis on evangelism.
Lonnie Wilkey
Those evangelism conferences in my early years with the paper brought renown speakers to the event who challenged pastors and lay leaders to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. They even had a Tuesday night session geared toward lay leaders who attended — and they were well attended. It was almost like a pep rally to excite the preachers and lay leaders and challenge them to go out into their communities to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite conferences over the years was the one in 1994 that technically did not take place. A winter/ice storm swept across the state the day before the conference, shutting down roads across Tennessee. It was the first time the evangelism conference was ever canceled.
That was the day before social media was popular so not everyone got the message. We had to rely on phone calls to television and radio stations across the state to get the message out. Though most people either got the message or were afraid to risk traveling, about 30 people came for the event, including conference speakers Hershel Hobbs and W.A. Criswell.
Jerry King, then evangelism director and James Porch, then executive director of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention (now Tennessee Baptist Mission Board), made the decision to have a “mini-conference” as both of the legendary pastors agreed to preach one sermon each on Monday afternoon at the former Two Rivers Baptist Church.
One of the highlights of my career with the paper came when both men agreed to an interview for a feature story. Keep in mind that these men were considered “giants” of their time. At the time, Criswell was pastor of the then largest Southern Baptist church, First Baptist in Dallas where he had served for almost 50 years and Hobbs was pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, and was widely known for the Sunday School commentaries he wrote for 25 years. Both men were past presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention.
As a young journalist, I have never forgotten the kindness and patience they showed to me that day. They could have gone back to their hotel rooms and relaxed after preaching but they took time for an interview. That article ranks high among my favorite stories that I have written over the years.
Clay Hallmark, president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Church, Lexington, leads attendees in a time of prayer and commitment at the 2022 State Evangelism Conference at New Vision Church in Murfreesboro.
So, this year the decision was made to bring back the Evangelism Conference. I believe that is a positive step in the right direction, Again, we cannot emphasize evangelism enough. That was one of the basic teachings of Jesus (see Matthew 28:19-20). That’s what the Great Commission is all about, telling others about Jesus and then discipling them so they can tell others.
Evangelism/discipleship is the first of Five Objectives adopted by messengers to the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2014 — to see at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized and set on the road to discipleship by 2024.
This year’s conference featured an “all-star” cast of preachers and included two father and son ministers — Steve and Grant Gaines and Tony and Jonathan Evans. In between were a host of powerful preachers who focused on the conference theme, “Snatching Them From the Fire,” based on Jude 1:23.
That theme needs to be the goal of every Christian. Approximately one-half of our state’s nearly seven million people do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. That is tragic. As my friend and colleague Roc Collins loves to say, “Let’s make sure that it is hard to go to hell from Tennessee.” B&R