GREENSBORO ­— Take off your shoes.

Rick Speas, president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSC) asked messengers to be daring in their caring and sharing.

“Take your shoes off North Carolina and see what God will do in and through you,” Speas said in his address to messengers at the annual session Tuesday, Nov. 11 at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.

The pastor of Old Town Baptist Church in Winston-Salem shared his concern over the lack of reverence paid to God.

“There is to be that holy separation between God and His people,” Speas said, sharing about his dislike for those who consider God to be a buddy.

God told Moses to remove his shoes. Speas said the soles couldn’t have been that thick, but the application has a deeper meaning.

“We try to come into God’s presence and we bring our junk,” said Speas. “Your attitude and my attitude matter to God.”

Speas encouraged messengers to not be like Moses, whose vision was too small.

“We do the same thing,” he said. “We look at the opportunity God gives us, and we question it. When it takes place God takes all the glory.”

When Moses asked how he could go to pharaoh, God gave a simple answer with a deep meaning: I am who I am.

“It didn’t matter who Moses was … it mattered who God is,” Speas said. “I believe God is calling North Carolina Baptists out of our seats” to a greater commitment.

Speas said N.C. Baptists have to be more intentional.

“We’re going to have to do some things we’ve never done before,” he said.

Playing off the theme, Speas said he wasn’t questioning that N.C. Baptists care or that they share.

“The question is, ‘Do we dare?” he said.

He urged messengers to stop listening to distracters and detractors and “get on with God’s business.”

At the end of his address, Speas, who admits he’s more pastor than president, called messengers to come forward to the altar and take off their shoes. Several hundred people came forward.

Speas asked messengers to surrender attitudes and complacency.

“I’m praying for revival in my life,” Speas said and encouraged N.C. Baptists to pray for revival for their families and their churches.

For complete coverage, click BSC 2008.