By Will Hall & Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message
RUSTON —Wayne Jenkins said in years past his team had tried other Convention-wide initiatives, but nothing with the focus of the newly launched Harvest campaign to “pray for every home and share Christ with every person” in the state.
Moreover, the Louisiana Baptist Convention evangelism and church growth director said this cooperative effort is special because he truly believes Louisiana Baptists “have the ability to achieve these goals” ‑ and he said the harvest of salvations that resulted from Louisiana Baptists 2017 Evangelism Conference is promising.
Ed Newton led a kickoff for Harvest 2017-2018, aimed at youth, during the first day’s evening session of ECON 2017.
After a pizza social at Temple Baptist Church, Ruston, Jan. 23, Ed Newton presented a message emphasizing the Gospel to hundreds of young people who were part of a packed worship center.
“Heaven is real,” said Newton, pastor of Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas. “Life is short. Jesus is good, and, He desires to save you right where you’re at.”
Without believing in Christ, Newton said, the future is hopeless. But he emphasized no one had to remain trapped in that spiritual condition.
“Right where you’re at, Jesus could step out of Heaven and step into your heart,” he said. “We’re all one step away from eternity. What will you do with Jesus?”
Dozens of individuals came forward for prayer at his invitation, and when the service had concluded 34 spiritual decisions had been made, including: 10 individuals who repented for salvation, 13 who repented to restore their fellowship with Christ, 9 others made other commitments and 2 more declared a call to vocational ministry.
SMALL CHURCH REVIVAL
Gary Maroney, president of the Louisiana Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists, shared similar news regarding preliminary reports from the several small church revivals that were held simultaneously in the local area as part of the Harvest kickoff.
He said, overall, “this was one of the most powerful and anointed conferences,” emphasizing he has been to a lot of these meetings. When the final service ended for ECON 2017, Maroney said “God spoke to my heart.”
“Louisiana Baptists need to commit to the Harvest,” he implored. “God is giving us favor like never before.”
Although exact information had not been collected, yet, Maroney shared that evangelists like Bill Britt and Lyndon Longoria made similar observations about revival events that lasted from one to multiple days.
“All of our evangelists are reporting that people came forward during the invitations,” Maroney said, saying each man described “people pouring out of the pews.”
“This time of Harvest was nothing less than a fresh, sweet encounter with the Lord,” he declared.
HARVEST HITS HOME
“We decided to make Monday night more of a model of an evangelistic event,” Jenkins said, elaborating about youth night at ECON 2017. “It was a Monday night, a school night, and probably not the best time to do it. But we wanted to schedule something to reach our youth, one of our weakest baptism groups.”
Jenkins shared how LBC President Gevan Spinney, pastor of First Baptist Church in Haughton, saw two of his congregation’s teens being counseled after that kickoff event.
“Here’s Gevan putting his heart into this, working hard as president of our Convention,” Jenkins offered, “and he reaped benefits.”
Jenkins also learned his personal efforts to draw in others reaped a harvest for his own family.
David, Denton, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in New Iberia, and Jenkins’ son-in-law, shared the details with the Baptist Message.
Denton said he and his wife brought their two sons to ECON 2017 just so they could see what their grandfather did, and underscored he was not expecting either to respond.
But he also said 10-year-old Nate had been asking questions for some time and that they had been “talking a bit, and had gone through a couple of books that talk about salvation and what it means to have a relationship with the Lord.”
Denton said he was delighted when Nate responded and that he was blessed to counsel him about his decision.
“As a dad, I’m thrilled,” he exclaimed.
Jenkins was delighted as well, saying Nate’s decision was “icing on the cake” for his work on ECON 2017.
He also used this example to emphasize the need for evangelists in Louisiana Baptist churches.
“David’s church is a good church, and his congregation hears the Gospel all the time,” Jenkins said. “But in many cases it’s a special evangelism event that draws the net.”
“Evangelists are gifted in drawing the net,” he said, making the point that it takes a cooperative effort among pastors, evangelists and members. “It takes, prayer, hard work, working the plan, and trusting God to bring the increase, and He will.”
The Harvest has begun!
