Voices

Connect: Committed to Oklahoma Baptists /// PREVIEWED ON COVER

Todd Fisher

Oklahoma Baptists’ Executive Director-Treasurer @eToddFisher

What an honor it is for me to write my first article for the Baptist Messenger as Oklahoma Baptists’ executive director-treasurer! The last few months have been a whirlwind for me and my family, but we are so grateful for the way the Lord has worked and revealed His will to bring us to this point.

I am excited to start working to serve our state convention, churches and pastors. Words fail in attempting to express my gratitude to so many for your affirmation of me at the Annual Meeting in November and for the countless messages and expressions of encouragement and prayer support. I am truly humbled to be chosen by you to lead our wonderful state convention.

As the new executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists, I want to share my heart and some commitments I make to you in taking on this new role:

I commit to lead our state convention as a servant-leader. I do not presume to step into this role in my own strength or wisdom, but will daily seek to rely on the Lord and the collective wisdom and experience among Oklahoma Baptists and the exceptional employees of our state convention. I want to listen, be accessible and be an encouraging servant to pastors and churches of every size in every location in Oklahoma.

I commit to lead with integrity, transparency and to be above reproach in my personal and professional life. I commit to lead with faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. I will be faithful to adhere to the Baptist Faith and Message framed from the inerrant and sufficient Word of God, and the mission to which Christ has called us—to engage our culture with the Gospel.

I commit to serve with dedication our Oklahoma Baptist churches, pastors and associations—to come alongside them to equip and partner with them in advancing the Gospel and making disciples to reach their communities and the world. I firmly believe the strength and health of our state convention is directly connected to the strength and health of our churches. It is vital that Oklahoma Baptists remain focused on Kingdom work through the ministry of the local church.

I commit to be dedicated to Baptist polity and the important understanding that the Southern Baptist Convention and our state convention are bottom-up, not top-down, organizations where the seat of power rests with autonomous churches operating under the lordship of Christ. I will be dedicated to one of our greatest Baptist distinctives, commit to value and champion its importance, promotion and growth: the Cooperative Program.

I commit to work hard at building relationships within and outside of our state to put us in strong position to accomplish our Kingdom-minded goals. I will work in partnership with our Oklahoma affiliate presidents and boards to discover how our state can come alongside them to better help them accomplish their Kingdom-minded goals.

I commit to do my best not to speak or act, in public or private, in ways that would cause our state to be divided, distracted or the object of scorn. I commit to lead in a way that builds consensus and unity around our message and mission while at the same time having the conviction and courage to never capitulate biblical doctrine or our Baptist distinctives. I commit to do my best, through the guidance and grace of our Lord, to continue to lead our state in a way that unites us around what is most important.

I have entitled my space in the Baptist Messenger “Connect” in hopes that these articles will keep you connected with my thoughts on all kinds of things related to our Kingdom work as a state convention. I covet your prayers for me and my family as we make the transition into this new role.

My prayer is that Oklahoma Baptists can be a model for other state conventions in how to come together united around one message, one mission, advancing the Kingdom and glory of the one true God. Let’s get to work!

Sword & trowel: Banner year for the unborn?

Brian Hobbs

Editor of the Baptist Messenger @BrianGHobbs

As Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, Jan. 16, arrives in a matter of days, the year 2022 holds great promise for saving unborn lives and seeing legalized abortion finally come to an end. In so many ways, these are the best of times and worst of times for unborn children.

These are the best of times in that Christians have increasingly united in the great cause to protect unborn children. We have done this through establishing pregnancy-help ministries, leading legislative policy efforts, prayer initiatives, public debate and demonstrations, passionate sermons in the pulpit and more.

These are the best of times in that there are two major pending United States Supreme Court rulings (the Dobbs case and the Texas Heartbeat law) which, if the justices do the right thing, could break up the evil legal stalemate that has led to millions of lives lost since Roe v. Wade.

Lastly, these are the best of times in that various elements of the pro-life, anti-abortion movement—from pastors, to people in the pews, to lawmakers, to activists—have persuaded a new generation of young Americans who recognize that life truly does begin at conception and every life is worthy of protection (Psalm 139). God truly has been at work.

At the same time, these are the worst of times for the unborn. Legalized abortion continues day after day, including right here in Oklahoma. We are seeing a growing wave of chemical abortion and mail-in order abortion taking even more root. Recent statistics show that a majority of recorded abortions were chemically induced. The disastrous and unjust policy of President Biden’s Food and Drug Administration, allows for mail-order abortion pills exposes, not only more unborn children, but more abortion-vulnerable mothers, to deadly and dangerous effects.

Let’s stop and think about what this sharp rise in chemical abortion means. One writer compared the rise of chemical abortion to that of Internet pornography. Just as we saw pornography shops close in this country in decades past (and rightly celebrated that development), at the same time we saw the advent of Internet pornography, making it widely available and anonymous. The same effect is happening with abortion, as we see abortion centers closing (praise God!) but chemical, pill prescription, virtual appointments and mail-orderdrug abortions happening.

Wise voices, speaking against these dangerous trends in the culture of death, have spoken up. If we allow abortion in a surgery center, or abortion in a pill bottle, the net effect is the same. One life lost, and one life shattered.

Oklahoma Baptists have together taken our stand, calling on our policy makers to address these urgent issues. As Sanctity of Human Life Sunday nears, I implore every pastor and Christian to pause and think about what we can do together. At the website OklahomaBaptists.org/life, there are action points, preaching guides, powerful videos, prayer points and more, to equip you to compassionately, and passionately, stand for life.

It’s going to take all Christians working together to see the end of legalized abortion come about, and to see every abortion-vulnerable mother get the help she needs (along with fathers too).

Moreover, there are ways we can add even more credence to the logic of our pro-life position. We must do better in supporting foster care and adoption. We must stand up for the disabled and the elderly and marginalized. Jesus would have us do all we can for life and life abundantly (John 10:10). We must also, in all of this, be marked by a Christlike graciousness that had compassion, not condemnation, toward people.

As 2022—what could be a banner year for the unborn—is here, the question becomes: what are you going to do about it? How are you going to help?