The Open Door

This year, Janice and I celebrate the completion of fifteen wonderful years of ministry with the Georgia Baptist Convention. I want you to know that these years have been the most thrilling of my ministry. You have been so generous in inviting me to preach in your churches and at association events.

Without a doubt, the favorite thing I do is to get out among Georgia Baptists for fellowship and worship. For sure, I have never felt like the Maytag repairman who is portrayed as lonely, just sitting around with not much to do. From the time I returned to Georgia from Kentucky you have kept me on the road and in your churches. I have loved every minute of it.

Thank you for your kindness to me and to my family. You have been consistently encouraging to me in my ministry. You have allowed me the privilege of getting involved in ministry outside of Georgia through various opportunities of service with the Southern Baptist Convention. You have been supportive of my involvement in going across the world to be engaged first-hand in doing missions and spending time with our missionaries.

I can think of no more wonderful place on the planet to work. What a great joy it is to work with the finest staff in the world. I have never been associated with finer, more committed believers and servants of Christ in my life.

At the Georgia Baptist Missions and Ministry Center there is an outstanding spirit of unity and family relationship among those who serve on the staff. We genuinely love each other and enjoy working together on a daily basis. We are a staff on mission for Christ and we love what we do. It is a thrill to get up and go to work in the morning.

One thing I have learned across these fifteen years is that when I begin each day, I never know what I may face before I return home that evening. We certainly have faced some huge challenges across these years, but the Lord has heard our prayers and has been so faithful to lead us as we attempt to follow His will for the ministry of the Convention. One consistent prayer that I pray is, “Lord, just help me today to make the decisions You want me to make. Help me to be sensitive to Your will for me and for our Convention. Please give me wisdom in all that I do today and may what I do bring honor and glory to Your wonderful name.”

God has been so faithful in answering that daily prayer. I am genuine when I say that any good I may have accomplished over these years is clearly the result of the Lord being at work through me. I am not capable of doing this work. I felt that as a pastor as well. The Lord’s strength has been made perfect in my weakness and the glory for whatever has been accomplished belongs to Him.

Another group of people I want to express gratitude for is the host of people who have served on the executive committee, the administration committee, the standing committees, the ad hoc committees, and the elected leadership of the Convention. These people are the decision makers who have had everything to do with our progress through these fifteen years. I have depended upon their wisdom and their keen ability as a body to sense the will of God in matters that we have dealt with through these years. Serving as an employee of the executive committee has been a great honor.

There is one other I would like to single out for whom I am so grateful. As a pastor for many years I rarely ever needed the counsel of an attorney. That has not been the case with the Convention. Tom Duvall, our Convention attorney for over twenty years, has been from the time I first began my work as executive director a trusted working associate, a dependable legal counsel, and a dear personal friend. I am glad that I did not know before I came to the Convention everything of a legal nature that would come to pass. One by one we have dealt with issues as they have presented themselves and we could have never done this effectively without the close involvement of Tom Duvall.

My heart is full and I find it quite impossible to adequately express my appreciation for all Georgia Baptists who have come to mean so much to me. Suffice it to say that “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5