SPRINGFIELD – Whatever else Missouri Baptists do in days to come, the Missouri Baptist Convention’s (MBC) new executive director Wes Fowler said they must proclaim the name of Jesus.
His exhortation closed the MBC annual meeting, Oct. 24, at Crossway Baptist Church in Springfield.
Many people, Fowler said, have asked about his plans for the future of the MBC. His current answer? Before making any other plans, his present plan is to listen and to learn about Missouri Baptist churches, about their needs and about their ministries.
In the meantime, however, Missouri Baptists can look to Colossians 1:28-29, which outlines a plan that all Christians must follow: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.”
“There’s a lot that we can do, a lot that we may do,” Fowler said. “But this is what we have to do. …
“This verse,” Fowler added, “brings us back to our primary calling. My calling – as a follower of Christ, as a pastor and now, apparently, as an executive director – is to proclaim Him. We proclaim Jesus as Christ, Jesus as the Savior, Jesus as risen, Jesus as Lord. That is what we’re called to do.”
We don’t proclaim ourselves or the convention. “In our social media saturated age, we’ve become experts at proclaiming ourselves,” he said. But, as this passage of Scripture teaches, Missouri Baptists are first called to proclaim not themselves but Jesus as Lord.
Second, Fowler said, the apostle Paul teaches in this passage that “we must warn the lost.”
“We need to warn people about what’s coming outside of Christ,” Fowler said, “and we don’t need to apologize for it. In other words, we need to warn people about the reality of hell. If we’re not preaching about the reality of hell and about the torment of hell and about the eternal nature of hell, then I don’t think we’re preaching.”
Third, Fowler said, “We must disciple the saved.” As made clear by the Great Commission, “discipleship is absolutely necessary.”
Fourth, he said, Missouri Baptists must “toil for faithfulness.” Like the apostle Paul, Missouri Baptists should struggle and strive to proclaim Christ – “not growing tired of ministry, but tired from ministry.”
“We must agonize, struggle and fight and strive to proclaim Him,” Fowler said, following the example of the apostle Paul, who told the Corinthian church, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls” (2 Cor 12:15).
Finally, as they toil to proclaim Christ, Missouri Baptists must depend on God’s power and strength to uphold them and work through them.
“If we try to do this in our power, we will fail,” Fowler said. “But, ladies and gentlemen, if we commit to do this in the Lord’s power, in the Lord’s strength, we cannot fail. We will not fail.”
After finishing his sermon, Fowler called outgoing MBC executive director John Yeats to stand alongside him behind the pulpit as he closed the annual meeting in prayer.