By Brian Koonce
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD – For the third year in a row, the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) will open with a Solemn Assembly – a time of concerted prayer and repentance – the day before the business of the annual meeting.
This year’s assembly will be Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Colorado Room of the University Plaza Hotel, led by Bob Loggins, prayer and spiritual awakening specialist for the MBC.
Those choosing to attend will pray for the nation, the state, Missouri churches, families and communities. The goal is to experience personal and corporate spiritual cleansing, brokenness and repentance.
Although Missouri Baptists are beginning to get used to the idea of a special, set-aside prayer meeting before the business sessions, that doesn’t mean “we have arrived,” Loggins said.
“We have not even begun to scratch the surface,” he said. “The scalpel is still slowly inching toward the skin.”
The goal of the assembly as well as various Prayer Summits Loggins has been hosting throughout the state is not to have “another meeting” or log a few more hours in prayer, he said.
“We need to stop having conferences and do it,” he said. “If I was digging to rescue some miners trapped in a collapse, what good would it be if I stop and held a press conference? What good would it do if whenever I encountered a new layer of limestone I appointed a committee to study and discuss the limestone? You need to press on and do the actual work, not just talk about it.”
How can messengers headed to Springfield prepare for the Solemn Assembly?
“Do you think prayer is important?” Loggins asked. “You’re ready.”