PLANO, Texas – The 2013 Send North America Conference in Plano, Texas, kicked off July 29 with a high-tech multimedia journey through key moments in Southern Baptist history. While illustrating the rich legacy from the past that Southern Baptists can lean upon, the presentation looked forward to a potential future movement of God as attendees take a hold of the moment they’ve been given. More than 4,000 were in attendance.
As the presentation moved into the future, North American Mission Board Vice President for Mobilization Aaron Coe continued that theme, urging attendees to seize their moments.
“Here’s our prayer: We’re praying this moment will be a defining moment for you,” Coe said.
Coe mentioned two specific ways he prayed Jesus would define attendees’ moments for them at the conference. First, after reminding attendees of Jesus’ promise to build His Church, he said he was praying Jesus would remind them during this conference that He is for them and is an advocate for them.
Second, he told attendees that he was praying Jesus would give them a defining moment at the conference.
“Our movement didn’t start a few years ago,” Coe told attendees. “It started 2,000 years ago. We get to be a part of that movement today. It’s a movement marked by pioneers who have fearlessly stepped into places where darkness exists, missionaries who fearlessly stepped into places that were dangerous so they could see the Church move forward.”
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NAMB photo by Susan Whitley Aaron Coe, vice president for mobilization for the North American Mission Board, opened the 2013 Send North America Conference by urging more than 4,000 attendees to seize their moments. “Here’s our prayer: We’re praying this moment will be a defining moment for you,” Coe said. |
He then told the story of his great-great-grandmother, Lucy Clements, who moved to a Louisville suburb without churches in the 1930s. A lifelong Sunday School teacher, she decided to hold a class in her front yard. The Sunday School class grew over time and eventually became Bethlehem Baptist Church.
“Lucy stepped into that moment,” Coe said. “She identified darkness and against all odds for a woman in 1939, she stepped into her moment and penetrated darkness where it exists.”
Then Coe turned his attention to attendees and the moments before them at the 2013 Send North America Conference, held at Prestonwood Baptist Church.
“Will this be a defining moment or will this be a forgotten moment?” Coe said. “The difference between a defining moment and a forgotten moment is a seized moment. We’re praying that we are able to give you the tools over these next days for you to seize the moment, to look for lostness where it exists, to look for the tools that will equip your church to move out beyond where it is so that we can penetrate lostness together.”