KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former President Jimmy Carter addressed an estimated 900 persons who gathered in a Kansas City megachurch April 2-3 for the Midwest regional meeting of different Baptist groups. The name and theme for the event was “Border Crossing,” depicting movement across the dividing lines that have traditionally kept strains of the Baptist family apart.
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Former president Jimmy Carter speaking in Kansas City. (PHOTO/Jim White)
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Kansas City “Baptist Border Crossing” was one four regional meetings this year of the New Baptist Covenant, an informal alliance of more than 30 racially, geographically and theologically diverse North American Baptist groups representing about 20 million members. The regional meetings are efforts to flesh out the inaugural NBC convocation in Atlanta in 2008, which drew participants from across the United States and Canada.
Speaking at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in suburban Liberty, Mo., Carter emphasized the need for Baptists to come together to create new patterns of cooperation and effective ministry. Using anecdotes from his presidency, he challenged Baptists to be courageous in crossing the boundaries that separate people and gave examples of successes and failures.
“We have serious problems, though, because it may be that at this time Christians are more divided than at any other time in history,” the former president said. Rather than seize the opportunities, however, Carter says we have become fixated on interpretations of specific verses. He cited several issues about which Baptists typically differ. Then he observed that there is no difference in their commitment to or understanding of salvation coming by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Carter cited the growth of the early church and affirmed “this growth would have been impossible if the early church had been as divided as we are today.” He said to redefine the gospel either to dilute its message or to add a particular human interpretation causes divisions. From his own childhood he recalled a “tragic twisting of the gospel” in which experts in theology visited his family’s church and declared that blacks and whites should not worship together.
Citing various Pauline scriptures, he demonstrated the teaching of the Apostle that in Christ Jesus, his people are one.
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Also speaking was Carolyn Ann Knight, an evangelist who used the biblical account of the four men who brought their friend to Jesus to be healed to challenge Baptists to be faithful enough to bring healing to those around them. The passage in Luke 5 is one of the few where the faith of one brought healing to another, she said.
Though we are strong in many areas, the nation is paralyzed in ethics and in morality, she said. Americans need to be healed and the faith of Baptists is needed to achieve that, she added. Knight challenged Baptists to lift up the needy and take them to Jesus.
Other speakers include David Goatley, executive secretary/treasurer of the Lott Carey Baptist Convention; David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance; and Tony Campolo, a noted author and advocate for the poor. A committee consisting of members of nine Baptist organizations planned the Kansas City event, which coincided with the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Missouri.
"My life is made up of border crossings," said Coffey, noting he had visited Egypt in January, Jamaica and Cuba in February and Jordan and Romania in March.
Coffey credited Carter with "rehabilitating the good name of Baptist people."
Citing the experience of Philip in bringing the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch, Coffey reminded listeners to be sensitive to God's calling, be prepared to make sacrifices ("it goes with the gospel") and not to be judgmental.
"Some of you have been wounded" by disinformation, denigration and discrimination, he said. "But you have to stand against judgmentalism; God will reward you for that."
The example of Philip and the Ethiopian was a classic example of border crossing, Coffey said, noting it called for an Arab Christian to share the gospel with a black man — high up in government — who had been castrated.
Like Philip, be creative, know how to apply the Bible and trust the providence of God, Coffey said.
Knight, also founder of Can Do Ministries, reminded listeners of the imperative to cross borders to engage in the simple act of bringing others to Christ.
Pointing to the account of a paralyzed man being lowered to the feet of Jesus by four determined friends, she suggested everyone present could relate to the paralytic.
"Someone, somewhere, took you to church, told you about Jesus…. Someone prayed for you," she said, noting the helpless man received healing and salvation because Jesus noted the faith of the man's friends.
As the four friends discovered, "getting people to Jesus is not easy," she said. "Being a Christian is not easy. It is not comfortable and smooth…. God wants to use you — your faith — to lift someone up."
In an animated closing sermon, Campolo compared the fall of ancient Babylon — destroyed by materialism — to America.
In Babylon, almost anything was available for purchase, he said, including people. "There is growing up in Babylon another city; it is the church of Jesus Christ."
"We have sought the welfare of ourselves, not the welfare of others," he charged. "The church has got to be different" and pursue justice for those in their communities who are most vulnerable, he said.
Wallace S. Hartsfield Sr., now retired as pastor of Metropolitan, the church of which his son is pastor, reinforced Campolo's call to seek justice for the vulnerable.
Hartsfield urged attendees in an earlier session to rally friends to go to the Missouri capital, Jefferson City, on April 16 to protest the House rejection of Gov. Jay Nixon's effort to raise from $3,000 to $6,000 the earnings threshold for those eligible to receive Medicaid.
The elder Hartsfield, long known for his involvement in social justice issues, said such legislation is necessary to help families and children who are hurting.
Baptist journalist Tony Cartledge, in a blog, has reported on other regional celebrations. Baptists in the Southeast will gather on the campus of Wake Forest University for a regional NBC event April 24-25. The university’s school of divinity is hosting the event, which will feature Maya Angelou, Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest as the opening speaker, with Carter bringing the closing address. The theme of the conference, “This is God’s Year to Act: Responding to a Society in Crisis,” will be emphasized through a variety of workshops and worship services designed to help churches respond to social and spiritual needs in a time of economic crisis.
Carter also will headline a meeting scheduled Aug. 6-7 at a new convention center in Norman, Okla. Bruce Prescott, executive director of Mainstream Baptists of Oklahoma and a member of the steering committee, said the Oklahoma celebration will highlight the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first Baptist church. Kim Henry, wife of Oklahoma governor Brad Henry, is scheduled to speak about their involvement in a mission project begun by former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missionary T. Thomas. The project, called “His Nets,” distributes free sleeping nets to protect poor residents of Ghana from malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
Gatherings for 2010 include a meeting tentatively scheduled for Chicago in June.
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald. Bill Webb, editor of Word & Way, also contributed to this article.