Brother Baxter is now gone. This article is very relevant for
our day. I hope you will read it prayerfully and carefully.
(Ken Tyler)
In all of our work for Christ, we are undertaking a major self-examination of every activity, every program, every expenditure. Every decision must be made in view of our prime objective and task, the saving of souls. Every activity must be reevaluated and every activity must justify itself afresh or be dropped.
We must make personal commitments of dedication and of willingness to sacrifice for the salvation of souls. All of us must be willing to dedicate ourselves, our talents, our time and our substance totally, to the cause of evangelism. We need to go back and reexamine the dedication of the apostles, especially the apostle Paul. Only when Christians throughout the world are really in earnest about bringing the gospel of Christ to the millions of people around us and the billions in our world, will our evangelistic efforts become effective.
Ours is a time of crisis in leadership. Elders, deacons, preachers, editors, speakers on radio and television programs, teachers and all others who occupy places of influence must lead the way in this evangelistic crisis. Leaders must lead if others are to follow. We have often become so busy doing other things – important and good things – that evangelism has been crowded out. Elders and preachers and leaders in other phases of the Lord’s work have often been so busy that they did not take the time to get out and talk to people about their souls or do very much to encourage and support those who did. Each one of us needs to examine himself and ask the question, “Who have I brought to Christ in the last 12 months?”
With all of our wonderful church buildings, with all of our fine Bible school programs, and with everything else that we have done, the contours of darkness have still continued to close in upon us. We have been too busy about secondary things, and the first thing has been neglected.
There have been too many chiefs and not enough Indians. There has been too little dedication. Our real crisis is a crisis of ineffectiveness growing out of a failure of will, a failure of dedication.
Batsell Barrett Baxter
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