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[no audio] [music] [no audio] You may be seated. Thank you so very much.

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[no audio] The renowned English historian Arnold Toynbee says that history is made up of two forces, challenge and response. As Texas Baptists, it is ours to write a new history.

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The challenge is presented in Mission, Texas. It is a tremendous challenge when we think of the fact that there are more unchurched people in the state of Texas than can be found in many communist countries. Truly, the fields are white unto harvest, and that is the challenge.

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The other part of it is our response. What is our response to this challenge? We come to better prepare ourselves to write a new history. As we accept this challenge, it is one that

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says to us that we should be about the Father's business, that of engaging in evangelism. Not only Is it necessary that we recognize it, but that we go forth with the zeal that characterized the

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early apostles that in being 20th Century apostles that we will be instrumental in writing that new history It is to that end that we welcome you here to this evangelistic conference at Ebenezer That together we might go forth in writing

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that new history to the honor, to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we are indeed delighted to have you to come and to share together as we accept this challenge. We are glad, very glad you're here. Welcome. [ Pause ]

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gospel according to Saint Matthew. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them and when they saw him they worshipped him but some doubted and Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

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Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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Let us all bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly, eternal Father, we come before your omnipresence. And Lord, all we want to do is say at this time, we thank you. We thank you, Lord, for your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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And Father, we thank you for sending him, and he willingly came to die for us. Not only just dying, but having the power from the Father that raised him from the dead. So thus, Father, we thank you because you have saved us by your grace through faith, that which was a gift from you that did not come from ourselves, not as a result of works.

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And Lord, that's why we can be thankful this evening. Because you saved us while we were yet sinners. We were as bad off as we are ever or were ever going to be. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus

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Christ our Lord. And Lord you saw in our helplessness a state that was never going to turn around and accept you for we were dead in our trespasses and sins but yet upon your loving-kindness that you saved us not with words of righteousness but by the renewing and the regeneration of your Holy Spirit and

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positionally father we thank you but we pray for your spirits help that we walk according to the vocation in which we are called and we pray for this institute, that it would initiate a furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we can learn and implement ways of reaching those who do not know

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Jesus, that they may come running as the Philippian jailer saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved. We pray for this church, the Ebenezer Baptist Church. We pray for its leader, its shepherd, Dr. Griffin, as well as every other leader, preacher, lay person, woman, boy, and girl that assembles here tonight. May you continue

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to bless them according to the riches of Jesus is our prayer of thanksgiving. For this name we pray, amen. Dr. Griffin and distinguished platform guests, brothers and sisters, this is a real delight for me to be here tonight.

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This is my second time to be standing at this sacred desk, and I enjoy it, I appreciate it, and I'm so grateful that I have this chance to come and to say a further word about Mission Texas,

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and something about what our association is, and the task that is in front of us. Whenever I get to thinking about that, I'm reminded of that hurricane that was about to strike,

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or was striking a Florida coast. An old Baptist minister had gathered his congregation to gather in a church building to take refuge from the wind that was blowing.

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And the preacher was praying and the wind was blowing and the rain was beating against the side of the church building. And the preacher began to pray,

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Lord, send us the spirit of the children of Israel as he walked through the sea. Lord, send us the spirit of the children of Abraham to believe when it's impossible to believe.

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Lord, send us the spirit of the children of Moses as they face Pharaoh. And there was one old deacon out there in that crowd praying with one eye closed

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and the other one looking out the window the palm trees bending over almost touching the beach and the debris that was blowing by the windows out there. He stood up and lifted his face towards heaven.

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He cried out, "Lord, don't send nobody. "This ain't no time for chilling." Whenever we look at Austin, And whenever we look at the state in which we live,

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I wanna pray like that old deacon did. Lord, don't send nobody. You come yourself. This ain't no job for children.

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It's a serious business. The task is big. The workers are few. But indeed, the fields are white unto harvest.

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There's a verse of scripture in the first chapter of the book of Acts, the eighth verse. where the Lord himself was admonishing his children. And he said, "You wait there where you are,

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"and the power from heaven is going to come down "and it's going to empower you to do the task "that I have called you to do." I believe with all of my heart, brothers and sisters,

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that if we're really in tune to God and we are open and receptive to his Spirit, We can hear him saying today, "Wait a minute. "Don't go running off into every direction.

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"Wait a moment. "You're about to be empowered with a Holy Spirit "that will help you do what needs to be done." In 1982, the latter part of the year,

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Dr. William Pinson, our state executive director of the Baptist Convention of Texas, called a group of us together to come to his office in Dallas. There were about 50 of us.

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Dr. Pinson had just got through traveling all over the state talking to people about what was happening to us, and he said, "We need to do something. "We need to sit down and talk together

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"about what we're going to do "about the multitudes of people that are coming into our state." As Dr. Griffin said a moment ago, there are more lost people in the state of Texas,

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I mean more people with no relationship to the Lord at all than there are people in 46 of our 50 states. There are over 7 million, almost 8 million people living in Texas who have no affiliation with any kind of anybody's church.

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There are more people in our state who have no affiliation with a church than there are in 64 of the 102 nations where we have foreign missionaries serving.

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Somebody said a long time ago that if we weren't real careful as Baptists, other countries were going to be sending missionaries to us.

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Brazil, excuse me, Portugal is already doing it. What an indictment on the Christian church. What an indictment on Baptists. Well, this matter of Texas being a mission field, it's big.

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But it is also a mission base. Not only is Texas a mission field, it is a major mission base for Baptists. One out of every six people enrolled in a Baptist Sunday school

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is a Texas Baptist. Of the Southern Baptist foreign and home missionaries, and there are more than 6,000 of them, one out of five say their home state is Texas.

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Texas Baptist also provide one out of five of all of the dollars that are given to mission causes. Texas is a mission base. The urgent need is to reach our state

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and at the same time strengthen our base that we can reach out to the whole world. Now, how are we going to do that? Well, as we met a number of times in Dallas

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and prayed and agonized together, we decided that there were several ways that we might do that. We're not going to give churches more programs. We're programmed to death now.

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What we want to do is help each one of us pool our resources and work together as we try to reach our respective communities for Christ. We're going to do that by reaching more people.

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We're gonna do it in the second place by developing the believers that we already have. We're gonna do it in another place by strengthening our missions.

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We're gonna do those three things with two supportive concerns. One of them is praying for spiritual awakening, praying that God won't send nobody

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but the Holy Spirit to empower us and that we will have ourselves in the kind of a relationship with God that we can know and feel and respond to that Holy Spirit.

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And then in reaching back in our hip pocket and pulling out that money that don't make any racket when we lay it in the offering plate. I'm talking about stewardship of our giving.

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Now what about this matter of reaching people? The emphases and the goals addresses the need of Texas Baptists and particularly Baptists in the city of Austin. We're gonna try to increase baptisms by at least 10%.

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I don't know what your church baptized last year in number, but let's say just because I'm kind of simple-minded when it comes to math, let's just say you baptized 10 people last year.

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The challenge is that you baptized 11 this next year. 10% increase in your baptism. We're gonna say across the state we want to establish 2,000 new churches in the state of Texas.

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Our association has said that in the next three years in the city of Austin, we want to establish 30 new congregations. We also want to organize at least 10,000 new Sunday schools

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or Sunday school departments in our state. I can't tell you, and I'm sorry I can't, but we set a goal about how many of those we wanted in Austin, but let's just take our fair share of whatever that may be.

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We got 30-something thousand churches. We want to start at least 10,000. New Sunday school classes are units. We want to increase enrollment in our Bible study

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in our Sunday school by at least 4%, again, because I don't think good in numbers, especially on my feet. Let's say you have 100 enrolled in Sunday school.

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you want to enroll four additional ones so that you have an enrollment of 104. You see, that's not bad when you look at it like that. Just baptize one more for every 10 than you did last year.

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Have four more in Sunday school than you had on top of that 100 you had last year. It's not a goal that we cannot meet, but we're talking about reaching people.

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The second thing is we want to develop our believers. You ask a Mormon or you ask a Jehovah's Witness what he believes, they'll tell you. You ask a Baptist what he believes, maybe he can tell you.

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We want to develop our believers, helping them to develop spiritual maturity, develop churchmanship and doctrinal understanding, to strengthen the family units,

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to enhance the evangelism of our churches, to equip both the lay people and the people who stand where I am right now to be able to better communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ, to increase the training in our churches,

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to emphasize the call of God into vocational work. We've got so many churches where God, at least not visibly, has called anybody into special Christian service.

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That ought not to be. And then how about strengthening missions, increasing our mission awareness, expanding our participation in mission service?

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And I'm talking about that in the matter of praying for our missionaries, giving our money, and even going ourselves. Mrs. Hatley and I are a whole lot closer to retirement time than I like to think about,

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but I know it's out there and it's approaching. God has blessed us with good health and a reasonable amount of intelligence. He has permitted me to go to school.

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I can speak two languages. I mean, he didn't give me all of these talents and things for me to quit when I get to be 65. So Mrs. Hatley and I have a goal for our lives.

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If when Austin Baptist Association is finished with me, and I'm still blessed with good health and the ability to talk and that sort of thing, we want to go to some foreign country

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and relieve one of our missionaries while he's home on a medical leave or a study leave or just a period to rest, but for a short period of time

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to use our ability with another language to relieve one of God's chosen ones. Now, if that fails and we can't do that, then our second alternate plan

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is to go to some association like the one I'm serving now who cannot afford to pay somebody in my position and let me say to them, "Let me serve you for nothing

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"until your association gets up "and gets on its feet, gets to moving." If that plan fails, we got a third one. We want to go to some church that's without a pastor

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and down and out and say to that church, "Let me be your pastor. "Won't be the best one you can get, "but it won't cost you anything,

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and I can go where that church is and begin helping them to build themselves up and to move on out. If I can do it, you can do it.

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And I know I can do it because I've observed other people doing it. We can be short-term missionaries and not affect our effectiveness where we're serving.

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Yes, the fields are white. They're white right here in our city. One out of every five people you meet in the city of Austin speaks a language other than English.

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You meet ten people on the street and two of them speak something besides English. My wife and I were in HEBs the other day and I heard four different languages being spoken in HEBs

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while we were buying groceries. This coming Sunday morning, at the 11 o'clock hour, the gospel will be preached in seven different language and cultural groups within our association.

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And still, there are people in our town that cannot hear the gospel in their native language. That mission field is not in Africa. It's not in Cambodia.

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It's not somewhere else. That mission field's in Austin. And you and me have got the responsibility, God-given responsibility,

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to minister to their spiritual needs. Join us if you haven't already. I'm sure this crowd who's here tonight has. But if you haven't, join us

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as we try to change the spiritual climate of our city. If we do, God will bless us. He said it, not I. (gentle piano music)

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(piano music) ♪ More of our Jesus, more I want ♪ ♪ More of His grace to ever show ♪ ♪ More of His faith when all is sing ♪

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♪ More of His love, more I want to be ♪ ♪ More of our Jesus, more I want to be ♪ ♪ For His name is world and sea ♪ ♪ For His love through life of years ♪

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♪ For that Jesus left me at the cross ♪ ♪ For that Jesus left me at the cross ♪ ♪ On His holy ministry ♪ ♪ See how God my teacher is ♪

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♪ Showing the things of Christ to me ♪ ♪ All our love about Jesus ♪ ♪ All over my heart ♪ ♪ The Father of Jesus ♪

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♪ O come let us adore him ♪ ♪ O come let us adore him ♪ ♪ For his love will guide our way ♪ ♪

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♪ For about Jesus ♪ ♪ All is calm ♪ ♪ And glory all ye know ♪ ♪ For his kingdom sure is near ♪

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♪ For his love made bread for me ♪ ♪ All for the Christ Jesus ♪ ♪ All for the Christ Jesus ♪ ♪ For his name is on the sea ♪

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♪ For all his love so kind for me ♪ ♪ I'm warning you ♪ [Music] Alpha 3 13

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[Music] (gentle music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music)

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(dramatic music) [music] (gentle music) (gentle music)

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(gentle music) (piano music) [Music] ♪ Can't be not ♪

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♪ Old Timber's savior ♪ ♪ Near thy humble pride ♪ ♪ I know nothing ♪ ♪ All others are calling ♪

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♪ Do not ♪ ♪ Do not ♪ ♪ Do not pass me by ♪ ♪ As we watch ♪

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♪ As we watch ♪ ♪ Oh gentle Savior ♪ ♪ Hear my humble cry ♪ ♪ I'm not crying ♪

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♪ I'm not crying ♪ ♪ I'm falling ♪ ♪ Who knows ♪ ♪ To God ♪

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♪ To God ♪ ♪ As we are ♪ ♪ O God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪

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♪ O God ♪ ♪ Jesus ♪ Here I am, alright ♪ One of the birds that call me tonight ♪

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♪ Tonight ♪ ♪ You have passed me by ♪ [ Music ] [Music]

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[Gavel] I have the pleasant task of presenting our speaker. When we We're thinking of this occasion we were directed to invite him through the leadership of the Holy Spirit

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And he is in many ways Peculiarly fitted for the task He served for a number of years as

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pastor of the 19th Street Baptist Church in this city It was that church and Ebenezer that became the first churches in this state of color to become members of the

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Geron Baptist Convention. They became members of the Austin Baptist Association and pioneered in that particular way. Later he moved to Corpus Christi

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where he became possibly the first black moderator of a predominantly white association and later he was elected to the position of

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second vice moderator, the second vice president of the State Convention. He has served as a member of the foreign mission board of the Southern Baptist Convention and of the state mission board

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and many other positions I think that he has

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Done what he is going to speak to us about. I Remember a number of years ago when he first went to Corpus he was Pastoring the st. John church there, which was located in the inner city very much like Ebenezer is and he

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Led that congregation in moving the church out of town he really moved out of the city and the city limits as he Relocated the church and I just wondered if what had gone wrong with our speaker But when we went back a number of years we found that that church was located in the very heart of where the people were

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And that's the kind of vision. That's the kind of evangelistic venture in which he has led his congregation to participate and we welcome him here to share with us in this particular conference. I consider him a very close friend and dear friend and he is a brother beloved and

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The Austin Baptist Association welcomes you he is also Supported by his lovely wife and I want to take a chance sister branch where you just stand for those I think everybody here possibly knows her but in case somebody doesn't we grace with her presence and

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After the singing of another hymn, I believe we'll ask that you sing blessed assurance will stand and sing "Blessed Assurance" and after that let us prayerfully hear the Reverend Dr. Harold Branch who will bring to us the message on evangelism. Will you stand and sing "Blessed Assurance"?

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And I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask the, before we sing this, I'm going to ask the choir on that last stanza if you will just come down and sit in the congregation we don't want to have more in the choir behind us here than we have out there and you've done such a marvelous job in with the music and if

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you'll sit here in front of us and help us swell this audience I think it would be a better setting for the message which is to come. Thank you. [ Music ] ♪ Flash their ash-clouds, Jesus is mine ♪

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♪ Oh, what a moon, still so glory divine ♪ ♪ Heir of salvation, purchased from God ♪ Lord, I'll be scared, but I'll still get by This is my story, this is my song

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Praising my Savior, all the way along This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all day long. ♪ Where is the vision ♪ ♪ Where could it be lost ♪

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♪ Is your convention ♪ ♪ The first to the south ♪ ♪ Ain't nothing sitting ♪ ♪ In front of us ♪

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♪ Can't go on hurting ♪ ♪ Whisper my love ♪ ♪ This is my story ♪ ♪ This is my song ♪

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♪ This is my tale ♪ ♪ Far and long ♪ ♪ This is my story ♪ ♪ This is my song ♪

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♪ Raising my standard ♪ ♪ For the day of ♪ ♪ The great formation ♪ ♪ For Israel ♪

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♪ I am my Savior ♪ ♪ The God we have heard ♪ ♪ Watching and waiting ♪ ♪ The King of all ♪

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♪ The King of all ♪ ♪ The King of all ♪ ♪ Praise to my soul ♪ ♪ Praise to my soul ♪

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♪ Praise to my Savior ♪ ♪ The King of all ♪ ♪ Let us all say amen ♪ ♪ Let us all say amen ♪

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- Let us all say amen. To Reverend Dr. Marvin C. Griffin, to Missions Director Jim Hadley, to all of the associated ministers of the gospel present,

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and to the saints of God assembled, let me express the joy, the deep, deep joy, overflowing, joy that's in my heart because of the favor, divine favor really, that has been bestowed upon me by you to come and share with you this significant and most important event happening wherever God's people meet. There's an event for he says

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I'm in the midst and wherever Jesus is things happen and we are grateful for the privilege to be here. Thank you Dr. Griffin for the presentation. I don't think there was any need of introduction. I sort of always cherish coming back to Austin and it's been going on 30 years since we left Austin and it's something

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like 36 years ago that I got in debt to Ebenezer and I day by day realized how much more I owe you than I'll ever be able to to pay you for it was in 1949 that the Lord led me to select a lady from this church as my partner in life and we've shared we've shared our ministry since that time and it has been

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a blessed one and it's getting sweeter and sweeter as the days go by and I'm I'm eternally grateful to you, Ebenezer, for that blessing that came our way. I'm looking out in the audience at a good old friend of mine, Reverend Bob Cummings, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Brownsville, Texas, down in our neck of the woods.

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He's an evangelist now. And I'm grateful to have him here tonight because I know he brought some amens Because he knows what it is to stand where I now stand and then to to again be in fellowship with with brother Jim Hadley

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Who served my state convention? staff when I was a member of the State Missions Commission and we got to know each other real real good and he blessed us so many so many times as he ministered

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to our churches throughout the state of Texas and I'm grateful to be here with with Jim and then to join the churches join with the churches that's a part of the Austin Baptist Association and to thank God for you

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Brother Sneed Walked with your father that right? Yes walked with your father pastored with him when I came to Austin Let's see, it must have been Around 38 years ago. He was pastoring and we worked together so many years and how we thank God that God

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has laid his hands upon you to carry on in the footsteps of your father and to see the the churches that are growing as a part of the Austin Baptist Association and to come as a part of a statewide thrust

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to reach our state, to reach our state for Christ and and to tell you that I don't come with no great, great stories, no great, great success stories, no great amount of numbers, but I come, I come, I...

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