Voices

Just Joe: We’re going to be OK

Joe Ligon

Oklahoma Baptists’ Interim Executive Director-Treasurer @marlowpreacher

So, there I sat one day, basically minding my own business. My then boss, Dr. Hance Dilbeck, informed me that he was resigning his position as executive director–treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists. He then had the audacity to tell me that our convention’s constitution stated that I would be interim executive director.

That revelation brought me to the verge of panic. You know, like the panic you feel when you simultaneously see a Highway Patrol Trooper and your speedometer shows 92 mph. You know, like the panic you feel when you realize you just ate the last strip of bacon. You know, like the panic you feel when you realize the Texas Longhorns could somehow beat the Oklahoma Sooners on the gridiron. You know, like the panic you feel when you realize you are about to get a new responsibility that you weren’t expecting and certainly didn’t ask for. You know, like the panic that causes you to breathe into a paper sack while you are trying not to hyperventilate.

By the way, Walmart sacks are poor substitutes for that little exercise—you can easily inhale one of those flimsy little things, which will not only stop you from hyperventilating, it will stop you from any kind of ventilating. So, I learned you should keep a paper bag handy just in case you get some surprise announcement that causes you to breathe funny.

One of my very first thoughts after Dr. Dilbeck delivered his news was that once folks realized that I had this position, this interim was going to be shortest interim in the history of interims. For the sake of all that is good, they surely wouldn’t leave someone like me in a position like this.

So, I drank an ice cold Mountain Dew and ate a BLT without the L or the T—or the bread for that matter. You don’t ever want to ruin a mess of bacon by adding vegetables or berries or whatever tomatoes are supposed to be. That Mountain Dew and bacon calmed me right down. In fact, it calmed me down enough to realize Oklahoma Baptists are going to be OK.

One reason we are going to be OK is Dr. Dilbeck left us with an incredible vision to focus our efforts around the state. That vision is “We Encourage One Another to Advance the Gospel.” Here is part of what I know. If we focus on encouraging one another, we will be all right. And if we use all of our resources to advance the Gospel, we will be fulfilling the Great Commission.

Another reason we are going to be OK is we have the right people in the right places doing the right things. I am speaking specifically about the folks who serve Oklahoma Baptists through the work of the convention. We have a strong team of talented, passionate people who love the local church, who love pastors, who love our associations, and who are committed to getting Gospel work done at a very high level.

A third reason we are going to be OK is we have a great search team comprised of quality men who care deeply about Oklahoma Baptists. Although I do not and should not have any inside information about how they are doing their work, I am convinced they will do a good work.

Finally, we are going to be OK because you won’t find any people anywhere who are better than Oklahoma Baptists.

So, I think the best thing for me to do is to drink another Mountain Dew, eat some more bacon, and take a deep breath. We are going to be OK. I am sure of it.

Sword & trowel: Dropout danger zone

Brian Hobbs

Editor of the Baptist Messenger @BrianGHobbs

At the recent meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), one of the focal points was the goal to “turn around the ongoing decline in the SBC in reaching, baptizing and discipling 12- to 17-yearolds in the prime of their teenage years.”

In Oklahoma, we are blessed to have many ministries that specifically work toward that end. The most well-known is Falls Creek. As tens of thousands of young people, ages 12 to 17, walk on these hallowed campgrounds, Oklahoma Baptists can know that these students are hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and being encouraged toward the path of discipleship.

Falls Creek remains one of the best, most encouraging efforts anywhere in North America. In fact, its importance is only growing, when you stop to look at current trends among teens.

According to a recent article by Aaron Earls of Lifeway Research, today “most pastors and church leaders recognize the teenage dropout issue. Twothirds of churchgoing teens leave their local congregations as young adults, according to Lifeway Research. Many of these never come back.”

The study found out there is a specific age range that is most vulnerable, the time “in which students begin to fade away from church.” Can you guess when that is?

According to surveys of those who have dropped out of church life, the age is 16. That is when students enter a “church dropout danger zone.”

Earls said, “After their sweet 16 birthday, 73 percent of eventual church dropouts attend regularly, compared to 79 percent of those who stayed in church. By 17, the divide grows (64 percent of dropouts are attending versus 78 percent of non-dropouts).

“At 18,” Earls continued, “less than half of those who drop out are regularly attending (48 percent), while the percentage of non-dropouts attending remains stable (77 percent). The next year, at 19, only 26 percent of those who drop out are still regularly attending.”

Statistics can sound confusing, but the bottom line is that the “percentage (after 16) continues to decline until bottoming out… when young adults reach 21.” This all means, if we want to disciple a new generation of Christians, we have to take seriously our call to reach and retain young people for Christ.

It also means we have to pay better attention to students in these danger zones. Earls does not offer mere diagnosis of the problem. He and LifeWay offer solutions, including the following: Get the students in God’s Word; plug in with the parents of students attending your church; and have other godly adults pouring into their lives.

“Parents and student ministers are important to the spiritual development of teenagers,” Earls said, “but having multiple adults make positive investments in the lives of students has a tremendous impact.”

So the statistics are clear. The church has to be as intentional as ever on reaching students, of reaching the lost. More than that, though, we have to be even more intentional not to lose the reached.

Let’s not let a whole generation of students now in church slip away into the dark waters of the modern world. Together, through Falls Creek, the local church, personal efforts and more, let’s keep them from this dropout danger zone, by God’s grace.