Updated Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007

Former SBC president urges unity

By Dianna L. Cagle

BR Assistant Managing Editor

Norman Jameson

BR Editor

GREENSBORO - Jim Henry, former Southern Baptist Convention president and popular North Carolina interim pastor since he retired from First Baptist Church, Orlando, Fla., spoke both at the pastor's conference Nov. 11 and opening night at the annual session Nov. 12.

Well, not "retired" from Orlando, but "redeployed" he said, because "pastors never retire."

He encouraged pastors with a reminder of God's providence, which he defined as the "continual care God exercises over the universe he has created."

Henry pointed out that at times in the Bible and in his own life when just the right solution arrived at just the nick of time.

From God's perspective on eternity, He planned the solutions well ahead of the need, Henry said, and in his providence delivered the at just the right moment.

"God will have the final word in world history and the destiny of man," Henry said.

He told about finding his way to First Baptist Orlando, which he led for almost 20 years, after leading Bible study at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in Black Mountain. He only led the camp as a favor because he really wanted to attend the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Some boys who attended the camp returned home to Orlando and told their pastor search committee they needed to check out the Bible study leader at the FCA camp.

He said pastors live in a pagan world and "stories of moral failure are just everywhere." Cautioning pastors to be on their guard always, he told of a 90-year-old man in his Bible study group who was asked if a man ever gets to the point where he is unaffected by a beautiful woman.

After a long pause, the old man said, "I don't know yet."

Difficult situations

At the opening night of the Baptist State Convention annual meeting, Henry told messengers that difficult situations are unavoidable.

"It's critical we be unified," when those times come, said Henry, currently interim pastor at Biltmore Baptist Church in Arden.

"I appeal to you North Carolina Baptists to stand together in difficult times," he said. "You're at a crossroads. We are at war. The world around us is unraveling."

Sex scandals in churches, movements in other religions, people's fears, loneliness, teen birth rate, etc., are contributing to disunity.

"It is a time of spiritual war," he said. "We cannot afford to come apart."

Unity does not mean uniformity, he stressed.

"Uniformity results from pressure from outside," he said. "Unity is a matter of the Holy Spirit working on the inside."

Different beliefs are OK, he said, but "we have to stay together on certain things. There are certain biblical truths we cannot compromise."

Henry said there are four essential conditions for unity:

* Encouragement

* Love

* Fellowship

* Tenderness and compassion.

"Attitude makes all the difference," he said, urging people to consider "how we look at situations and people."

Humility is key in maintaining unity, Henry said, and "unity answers Jesus' prayer."

In John 17, Jesus prayed that all might know Him and that all might be one.

"Jesus prayed this powerful prayer just before going to the cross," Henry said.

New Testament churches had their problems too, he said.

"It was a church that was moving forward that changed the world," he said. "(Paul) knew the disastrous results of disunity."

Referring to Paul's extensive knowledge of Old Testament characters that faced disunity, Henry encouraged North Carolina Baptists to "behave decently."

Henry, who was also recently interim pastor at Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, said he felt "like you've adopted me because I'm here so much. I feel like I owe you so much Ö because I came to Ridgecrest as a teenager and I've loved it ever since."