Southern Baptists can expect to hear a lot about evangelism in 2019, according to Jim Law, executive director of evangelism and leadership for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “We’re looking for every opportunity to talk evangelism,” he told the Biblical Recorder in a phone interview about the recently announced “Who’s Your One?” initiative.
J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and pastor of The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., plans to give Southern Baptist associational leaders an advance look at the evangelism campaign during a simulcast event Jan. 31. “Who’s Your One?” will formally launch Feb. 20.
The rollout will include a ministry leadership toolbox created by NAMB to help pastors lead their churches to be more active in sharing their faith.
Johnny Hunt, NAMB’s senior vice president of evangelism and leadership, will unveil the “evangelism kit” that includes educational materials, sermon outlines, prayer cards and NAMB contact information for pastors that want further guidance.
Hunt told the Recorder that he “could not be more excited” about the effort.
“Everyone can be involved and intentional,” he said. “We can all pray, invite, share our testimony, share the gospel and trust Jesus with the results. … If our over five million Sunday morning worshippers were to pray about their ‘one,’ I can only imagine what could happen. Let’s just do it. Thousands will come to Christ.”
Two weeks after the briefing for associational leaders, Hunt will preview the material with Southern Baptist state executives at their annual meeting in February, before promotion to churches begins.
Law expressed confidence in the campaign’s ability to help churches be more evangelistic because both Hunt and Greear have conducted similar, successful initiatives at their respective churches. Hunt previously served as pastor of Woodstock Baptist Church near Atlanta, Ga.
“We’ve got to prioritize evangelism again,” Law said.
Law also expects evangelism to be a “major topic of discussion” at the SBC annual meeting in Birmingham this June.
“We’re not trying to focus on one particular resource,” he continued. “We’re trying to get people to use any resource they want to get people to share their faith.”
Hunt and Greear plan to embark on a “Gospel Above All” tour in the fall of 2019 and into next year. NAMB also has a number of national and regional events focused on evangelism.
A leadership training program called “Timothy+Barnabas” – which Hunt developed and led at Woodstock for years – came under the umbrella of NAMB’s leadership development arm on Jan. 1. Hunt will continue to lead the program and plans to host five training events in 2019 across the United States.
“Leadership and evangelism go together,” said Law, explaining that many congregations fail to share the Good News in their communities because they have not been led to do so by their church leaders.
Visit NAMB.net/evangelism for more information.