28 March, 2024

Called to Speak

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by | 6 September, 2015 | 0 comments

By Darrel Rowland

This year”s NACC offered something from everyone, in a week filled with challenge, a few surprises, and at least one controversy.

We speak . . .

Both young and old . . .

With voices from America to Asia . . .

Through dynamic music to dramatic poetry . . .

From hard-core theology to lighthearted comedy . . .

Via onstage vignettes to on-screen video . . .

By anointing with oil to acknowledging those who have gone to their reward . . .

Every year it seems the North American Christian Convention offers something for everyone. But this year”s gathering under the “We Speak” theme seemed to offer something from everyone, regardless of which demographic boxes they checked.

A worship service at the 2015 North American Christian Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A worship service at the 2015 North American Christian Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Historic Hinge

The event”s timing stood on a historic hinge, sandwiched between the church shooting that took nine lives of Christians in a Bible study in Charleston, South Carolina, the week before and the U.S. Supreme Court”s ruling that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right across America literally as the convention was ending.

Both the response to the murders and the reality of the anticipated gay marriage decision were commented on frequently throughout the June 23-26 gathering in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The mere mention during convention President Mike Baker”s opening message that the families of the church shooting victims told the killer “I forgive you” drew the biggest applause of the night.

“That is bold. And that is the loudest voice I”ve heard out of Charleston in the past week,” Baker said.

“And that”s the message of the church. If you can look at a guy who just shot your mom and say “˜Jesus can change you,” well you believe that change is possible.”

Travis Hurley, director of the Dream of Destiny racial reconciliation initiative, said the church shooting and recent racial struggles “should give us a great sense of urgency in the church” because we should be the leading force for change.

Both Ajai Lall, founder and executive director of Central India Christian Mission, and Daniel Overdorf, dean of the School of Congregational Ministry at Johnson University, put the shooting in the context of widespread persecution of the church across the globe.

“Sometimes it”s tempting to look at a passage like Acts chapter 5 and say, “˜Now, we don”t face persecution like that today,”” Overdorf said.

“And I have to ask in that statement, who is “˜we”? “˜We” don”t face persecution? Let us not cheapen the sacrifices of our brothers and our sisters with the flippant use of “˜we.”

“Instead, let us recognize that we are family together in the family of God, that these are our brothers and sisters, and let us stand with them.”

09_NACC_wespeak_JNCalled to Speak

Baker”s kickoff message centered on Acts 4 and the apostles” defiant response to the rulers of their day that “We cannot help but speak” about Jesus and the “miraculous life change” he causes.

“I want to convince us all tonight . . . that we as Christians are still called to speak,” he said. “Now more than ever before, I think we Christians desperately need to enter into this world dialogue.”

Baker also foresees possible lawsuits and arrests for preaching the Bible honestly.

“I don”t know how fast it”s going to happen, but I really believe that there”s going to come a time where we”re going to have to choose: Are you going to listen to God or are you going to listen to man?” he said during a later interview.

“Our message is still more powerful than the Supreme Court. Our message is more powerful than racial hatred.”

Concerns about the impact of the widely anticipated same-sex marriage ruling generated a sold-out luncheon of nearly 200 to hear from the Alliance Defending Freedom, the nonprofit group that represented a Washington baker and New Mexico photographer who refused to take part in gay weddings.

But overall convention attendance was sharply down, dropping 37 percent from the previous year in Indianapolis, according to statistics compiled by Larry Collins, NACC managing director and meeting planner. And the 4,749 who registered this year was a drop from 6,511 for the 2011 Cincinnati convention. Offerings also were lower this year, at about $78,000, compared with an extraordinary $195,000 in 2011.

Baker, 50, said one of the week”s emphases was transitioning to a younger generation””and smaller offerings are often part of that process. Most sessions featured T-shirts being shot into the crowd, and Baker said he was told he became the first NACC president in history to wear shorts on stage during a main session.

“I can”t substantiate this, but I do feel like it”s a younger convention this year,” he said.

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Young and Old

A key part of that emphasis was a months-long preaching competition for high school juniors through college seniors. Four finalists each got a short speaking slot during the convention”s opening morning: Jack Allen of Baton Rogue, Louisiana; Mitchell East of Austin, Texas; Alex Jamerison of Ferguson, Missouri; and Zane Witcher of Georgetown, Texas.

They were followed by the oldest speaker in this year”s main sessions, LeRoy Lawson, 77, professor and director of the doctor of ministries program at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Johnson City, Tennessee, and an international consultant for Christian Missionary Fellowship.

Lawson blended humor into his message””as he usually does””observing that his age probably equaled the sum of the four young speakers” ages added together. He praised their “four outstanding sermons” before noting, “They stand on the threshold of their ministries. I teeter on the other end of mine.”

With the theme “We Speak from Our Experience,” Lawson centered his message on Psalm 71, especially the plea of an old man to God not to forsake him until he”s proclaimed God”s power to the next generation. The former college president also cited such sources as Alan Menken, Lin Yutang, Francois de La Rochefoucauld, and William Butler Yeats”s poem “Sailing to Byzantium”:

An aged man is but a paltry thing,

A tattered coat upon a stick, unless

Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing

For every tatter in its mortal dress . . .

“Our time is running out,” Lawson remarked. “The world is changing. We”re almost like strangers in a strange land.”

But after describing a moving foot-washing ceremony with his 3-year-old great-grandson, he concluded, “My soul sings, and louder sings as the years add up, and the loss of lucidity threatens. But as long as the soul sings, yours and mine . . . we speak.”

Jodi Hickerson, programming director at Mission Church in Ventura, California, pointed to the passage in 2 Corinthians 4 about treasure in jars of clay to challenge her listeners Wednesday night: “Sometimes we must be reminded: We are not God”s gift to people. Jesus is.”

Later, she added, “We take too much credit, when we should take pleasure when people leave us and latch onto Jesus. . . . Some of us need to repent, and I”m talking to myself, because we”ve taken too much of the spotlight.”

With a topic of “We Believe Therefore We Speak,” she said, “The most powerful words” when helping someone in a struggle are “me, too,” when even a Christian leader can admit having doubts and flaws.

“But let me speak about what I”m depending on for all of it, because it is the amazing grace of God. That”s what is making the difference. People don”t need us to be bulletproof heroes with all the answers, they just need us to be real people who just know where to turn.”

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Keep Speaking

Chris Seidman, senior minister at The Branch Church in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday morning showed likely the week”s most memorable video: his ride on the Slingshot, an instrument of torture in the Florida Panhandle. As he is suddenly rocketed into the air””after regrettably chowing down on a meal of shrimp beforehand””he repeatedly cries out, “Mercy of God!”

He said he is an expert in his topic”””We Speak Even if No One Listens”””because he is the father of three boys between the ages of 11 and 16, so he has a PhD in “being ignored.”

Seidman”s talk was based on the prophet Ezekiel, who was “the knuckles of God on the slammed doors of Israel”s heart.” And just like Ezekiel, who had no assurance of a receptive audience, God wants us to proclaim his message.

“The Great Commission is not the Great Suggestion, and it”s not the Great Option,” Seidman said. “Delayed obedience is nothing more than disobedience in disguise.”

The seemingly paradoxical message of the week”””We Speak in Powerful Weakness”””went to Rusty George, lead pastor of Real Life Church in Valencia, California.

He recalled trying to make a positive impression for Jesus and his church while mingling with neighbors at the community pool. But it turned out that the orange swimsuit that he hastily bought showed images once it got wet””of topless women.

George says too many of us succumb to the temptation of trying to be something we”re not.

“We believe if we”re not the smartest person in the room, people will stop listening to us, and if they stop listening to us, they”ll stop listening to God,” he said.

“We really want to look successful, because if we don”t, why would anybody give up their life to achieve ours? . . . When we do that, people think you”re living a life that they can”t, and will walk the other way.”

Maybe we should emphasize our weaknesses to highlight God”s power, George said.

“If God”s OK with the cross looking weak and foolish, we should be OK with looking more weak and foolish.”

After George”s talk came one of the week”s emotional highs. Baker asked those who wanted prayers for renewal and anointing with oil to come forward. Elders attending the convention that morning spread out across the front of the convention hall as dozens responded for prayers and a dab of oil on the forehead.

Desperate Times

Few could speak better about the subject “We Speak of Hope in the Midst of Suffering” than Lall, who has preached at gunpoint and knows those who have been killed, raped, burned, or otherwise injured because they were Christians.

He said, “Hope does not take away suffering,” but noted this joyous reality: “in

the midst of suffering we still have hope.”

“When we face persecution but preach boldly and stay faithful, we are showing the world that life is not our treasure, but Jesus is,” Lall said during the Thursday night session. “Hope has a name, and that name is Jesus Christ.”

Sean Palmer”s first time at the NACC had him on stage Friday morning sharing how “We Speak Good News.” His unfamiliarity with the annual event led him to mistakenly share the good news with his father, a child of the civil rights era, that he”d been chosen to speak””at the national NAACP convention. The lead minister at The Vine Church in Temple, Texas, talked of times of desperation, such as when it appeared he and his wife could not have children. And how after they had two daughters, one got very sick and he ached to take her place in the hospital.

“You come to a point where you would just give anything for things to be different,” Palmer said.

He recounted the desperation displayed in 2 Kings 6 when mothers in besieged Jerusalem were taking turns eating their own children.

“People will do anything when we get desperate enough,” Palmer said.

The leprous beggars who discovered that the invaders had fled realized they”d received a blessing, and must share the good news. Otherwise, they reasoned, “We will surely be punished for our silence.”

“Good news is supposed to be told,” Palmer exhorted.

After recounting a litany of current world problems, from ISIS to Iran, he asked, “You really think this is going to be solved by good news?”

He answered himself, “Absolutely.”

“If you want to heal a desperate world, all you need is good news.”

Overdorf”s wrap-up message was “We Will Never Stop Speaking.” He lamented that “far too many bail out long before God is done with them,” some because “ministry becomes less a passion and more a prison.”

In contrast to the popular saying, Overdorf said he agreed with author Erwin McManus that the safest place is NOT in the center of God”s will.

“If we stand for truth, we”re going to get knocked down. The question is, when we get knocked down, will we have the guts to stand back up?” he asked.

“Will they be able to say of us, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ?”

Darrel Rowland is an adult Bible fellowship teacher at Worthington (Ohio) Christian Church and public affairs editor of The Columbus Dispatch.

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