Updated Monday, Nov 12, 2007

Engage people where they are

GREENSBORO -- Churches should engage people in culture where they are, not where the churches want them to be, a Southern Baptist missiologist said.

Ed Stetzer, the director of LifeWay Research in Nashville, Tenn., preached from 2 Corinthians 5 during the North Carolina Baptist Pastors' Conference. He said something is wrong when Baptists are known more for their customs, traditions and things they oppose than for serving Christ.

"There's something wrong with our faith if it turns us into miserable people," he said. "I just don't know what kind of faith produces unhappy, grumpy people."

Christians need a new perspective, Stetzer said.

"It's not turning over a new leaf," he said. "It's getting a new life."

God sends Christians on a mission of reconciliation, Stetzer said. Baptists should plead for people to be reconciled to God, he said.

Stetzer said Jesus' came to serve and to save. Serving people shouldn't be something only liberals are known for, he said.

"We can't get to the point that concern for the poor is not something conservative, evangelical Southern Baptists are known for," Stetzer said.

Baptists must engage people in the culture where they are, rather than where Baptists want them to be, he said.

"If the 50's come back, most of our churches are ready to go," he said.

Churches do not have the task of exporting their culture, but instead should seek to transform their communities "for the name and fame of Jesus," Stetzer said,

"We've got to stop being mad at each other because we don't look like each other," he said.

Stetzer said Christians should represent Jesus and His kingdom.

"Our job is not to represent a political party; our job is not to represent a musical style; our job is not to represent a clothing manufacturer," Stetzer said. "Our job is to represent the King.

"That means we can't be afraid of the world."

People say that Christians shouldn't be worldly, but they already are, Stetzer said. Rates of divorce and pornography addiction are similar between Christians and non-Christians, he said.

"We teach people to look different and act the same," he said. "The biblical model is the opposite."

The cross should be the focus, Stetzer said.

"The answer to the preference wars in our churches is the cross," he said.

A biblically faithful church in Greensboro will look different than a biblically faithful church in Durham and a biblically faithful church on the coast of North Carolina, Stetzer said.

"It's the cross that will unite us," he said.

__Embrace problems__

Tom Elliff, a vice president with the International Mission Board, preached from 2 Corinthians 12. He talked about the dangers associated with problems, the duties of those with problems and the discoveries that can be found in the midst of problems.

Elliff said that the Bible teaches that problems are necessary for spiritual maturity.

"If you're going to grow up, you're going to have problems," he said.

The main danger with problems is oversimplifying them, Elliff said.

"Sometimes I think we have a tendency to write off our suffering," he said. "We don't realize that God is doing something great."

Those with problems should look for the Lord, listen to the Lord and learn from the Lord, Elliff said.

Problems can help Christians experience the sufficiency of grace and exhibit the strength of God, he said.

Craig Hamlin, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Apex and the current Pastors' Conference vice president was elected to serve as president in 2009. Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist Church was elected last year to serve as conference president in 2008.

The conference was held at Lawndale Baptist Church in Greensboro.

__Spiritually Refreshing__

Homer Murdock, pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Morganton, a pastor since 1980, hasn't missed many pastor's conferences.

"It's just a great spiritual refreshing," he said. "There've been a few years where it's been political" but mainly it is about God's word and a refreshing time for a pastor.

Murdock called it a time "to get my battery charged."

Thomas Whray, pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Zionville, has been in the pastorate two years. He said preachers at the conference show how God has been faithful and supplied their needs.

"It's a time to be refreshed as a pastor," he said. "A pastor pours his heart out each week."

Jerry Parsons, pastor of Holly Springs Baptist Church in Broadway, has attended a lot of these conferences and the sermons provide "some new challenges for my own heart and oftentimes for the ministry," he said.