Timmy Blair, 2016 president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, closed the first day of this year’s Nov. 14-15 annual meeting in Greensboro by urging messengers to have compassion for the downtrodden.
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BR photo by Steve Cooke “You can have religion, but religion won’t give you compassion,” said Timmy Blair during his president’s sermon for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina annual meeting in Greensboro. |
He spoke from Luke 10:25-37 in the annual presidential address, “We have an answer for those who cry from the ditches of life. Jesus Christ can change those lives. … We know someone who can set those people free. Jesus Christ can do it. He has the power.”
Blair, who serves as pastor of Piney Grove Chapel Baptist Church in Angier, warned against nominal Christianity, calling for obedience to God and confidence in the gospel.
“You can have religion,” said Blair, “but religion won’t give you compassion. Every church has been placed in every community for a specific reason. That reason is to be a beacon, a shining light, pointing people … to the old rugged cross.”
Near the sermon’s end, actors dramatized unfortunate life situations and cried out for help as they joined Blair on stage, illustrating his point.
“There are people laying in the ditches of life all around us tonight,” Blair emphasized. “Can you hear them?”
He drew everyone’s attention to a cross displayed on the projection screen above the stage.
Pointing, Blair said, “I know a place, a place where there’s hope, a place where there’s help. I know someone that will forgive you. His name is Jesus. Look, go to the cross. There, He can help you.”
Blair has served five consecutive years in BSC official roles: two years as president (2015-16), one year as first vice-president (2014), and two years as second vice-president (2012-13). He was elected in 2015 to serve as president of the 2017 North Carolina Pastor’s Conference (NCPC).
Thanking North Carolina Baptists for his leadership opportunities, Blair said, “What a blessing you have been to me – thank you so much for the privilege to serve you.”
Messengers elected Cameron McGill as the 2017 BSC president. McGill is the immediate past president of the NCPC and pastor of Dublin First Baptist Church.