By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
SHREVEPORT, La. (LBM) – The Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association paid tribute to Cooperative Program father M.E. Dodd during its 50th anniversary celebration, Sunday, Oct. 20.
Throughout the evening, Louisiana Baptist and Southern Baptist leaders honored the association with video tributes and statements of appreciation at Summer Grove Baptist Church in Shreveport.
NWLBA Director of Missions Lane Moore stood behind the pulpit used by Dodd during his ministry as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Shreveport from 1912-1950 and shared how the legendary pastor helped lead an effort to form the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists’ main channel of giving to fund cooperative mission causes.
Moore recounted how during Dodd’s 1919 SBC Annual Meeting convention sermon, SBC leaders and messengers took up his challenge to increase the Convention’s missions fundraising goal from a previously planned $50 million to $75 million in a difficult post-World War I economy.
“Chairman Dodd and his committee went back to work and for several more years revised, re-worked and re-structured a detailed plan that was presented at the 1925 Southern Baptist Convention,” Moore said. “The Cooperative Program was born. And today all 45,000-plus Southern Baptist churches cooperatively work with their state, national and international mission partners to fund ministries and missions at home and abroad.”
Steve Horn, executive director for Louisiana Baptists, said while many things have changed since the association was founded in 1969, the one common denominator is the world is filled with hopeless people. Citing 1 Peter 1:3, Horn said Louisiana Baptists have a hope found in Jesus.
“Peter said if we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then we have a living hope inside of us,” Horn said. “Peter tells us if we have this living hope inside of us then that living hope calls us to a holy lifestyle. God has called us into a relationship with him that ought to be marked by holiness. We ought to be ready to share with anyone who asks a reason for the hope that is within us. So my challenge for all of you and for me is that for those of us who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, even though we might live in a hopeless world, we are not hopeless. We ought to be filled with hope and we ought to be sharing that hope with others. May our ‘next days’ prove to be our ‘best days.’ May they prove we are folks who are filled with hope and share that hope with others.”
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Robert Jeffress, pastor o the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, was the guest speaker and congratulated the association for its 50th year of ministry.
“It’s good to be here with you on this occasion the 50th anniversary of Northwest Louisiana Baptist Association as you celebrate the ministry of M.E. Dodd,” Jeffress said. “What an impact he made, not just on Louisiana but our country and the entire world. He was a friend of our church. He was in our pulpit often. It’s such an honor to stand behind his pulpit tonight. His life is an illustration of what we are going to talk about tonight.”
Jeffress, who has authored several books on Heaven, drew his message from 2 Corinthians 5. He said many people he has encountered know very little about Heaven and God’s plans for them there.
“This world is not as God intended it to be,” he said. “And the good news is this world is not where we will ultimately be. There is a better world God is preparing. And that better world is a place called heaven. That is the world that God has planned for us.”
He said non-believers and believers both will face a judgment at the end of time. After those who do not believe in Christ are condemned to an eternity in Hell, believers will be judged according to their faithfulness while on earth.
“Good works are actually useless in securing your ‘place’ in Heaven, but good works are invaluable in securing your ‘position’ in Heaven,” he said.
“Good works are meaningless to God before we are saved, but they are priceless after we are saved,” Jeffress explained. “We are not saved by good works but we are saved for good works. Those works are going to be the basis for our judgment, what we do after we are saved.”
Jeffress encouraged those attending the meeting to stay faithful until the end of life.
“When you become a Christian God gives you the gift of Jesus Christ. He is the foundation of your life. Every believer has that same foundation. That is a gift from God. But you decide what kind of life you are going to build on that foundation. What are you going to do with the time, the opportunities, the treasure God gives you? Are you going to spend that time, that treasure, those opportunities on building your kingdom or on God’s Kingdom. It’s one or the other. We are all building some kind of life with the time, talents and treasure that God has entrusted to us. Is your life built around the eternal or the temporal?”
