A Word from Rev. John Williams

I’m sitting at my mom’s dining room table in California, enjoying a few days of quiet after an intense week of meetings of the ABC/USA General Board and Biennial in Pasadena. The work has been good and connecting with friends from across the denomination has been wonderful; but now it is good to spend time with family and reflect on the things I have seen and heard in the past few days.

Trying to reconcile Leonard Sweet’s statement that “the communication currency of this age is not words, but images” with the powerful images conjured by the words of Dennis Johnson who spoke of living “somewhere north of hope” and the challenge to be “the hands and feet of Jesus” stretches me in my understanding of the many different methods we must use to share the gospel in our world. Listening to the testimonies of how the Spirit of God is working through so many diverse American Baptist congregations to reach people for Christ has been nothing short of amazing. The stories of transformation coming from our ABC missionaries, both at home and abroad, not only inspire but challenge us to intentional missional living as local congregations and individual believers. The reports of new initiatives and positive steps forward in our ABC colleges and seminaries are exciting as we recognize anew the need to provide the kind of education that prepares women and men to step into the place of healthy and transformational leadership in this new century. Talking with a former Central Region pastor (now serving in Nebraska), I was told “I have never been more proud and excited to be an American Baptist.” The tremendous wind of spiritual renewal and missional purpose that is blowing across the landscape of American Baptist life is not only exciting to behold, it is amazing to experience.

Back home (in the Central Region) I know I will continue to hear of the wonderful things God is doing in and through us. Reading church newsletters and visiting with Central Region pastors and church leaders, I am hearing of so many ministries taking place that touch peoples’ lives with the transforming power of Jesus Christ. VBS outreach, mission trips, special church-sponsored community events and more are being used as tools of God to reach people and proclaim with passion and power, the presence of the Kingdom. Region Board Vision Teams and Ministry Teams are hard at work looking for ways to engage in ministries that touch lives and transform people.

As our camping program draws to a close for another season, the reports of children and young people giving their lives to Jesus Christ are tremendous. Young people are not only hearing God’s call to relationship with Christ, but also hearing the call to discipleship. Many have declared their intent to respond to the Call of God to vocational ministry. And while we applaud that response, we also know these young people will require many years of growth and encouragement from the wider body of Christ in order to fully answer that Call. We all have a great responsibility to help these young people answer the Call of God upon their lives.

I urge you to look with fresh eyes for what God is doing around you. Listen, with ears tuned to the voice of the Spirit, and hear the testimonies of God’s life-transforming presence in our midst. Stretch out your hands to be a part of what God is doing to establish God’s reign in the lives of the people you meet. And as Central Region Baptists, let us join together in these incredible and exciting days as the Spirit of God does a new thing in the heart and life of our denomination, our Region, and your congregation.

Blessings,
John Williams

“See, I am doing a new thing!”
Isaiah 43:19