Baptist Life: SBC ST. LOUIS: ‘Awaken America, reach the world’

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (BP) — When Southern Baptists depart St. Louis after their annual meeting in June, says SBC president Ronnie Floyd, he will be praying they do so with a “deep burden for our nation, a new commitment to racial unity and an extraordinary commitment to evangelize America.”Awaken2016

With the theme of this year’s June 14-15 gathering being “Awaken America: Reach the World — Agree, Unite, Pray,” Floyd continues to point to passionate prayer as a critical tool for a “nationwide and global spiritual awakening.”

“I pray that our SBC messengers encounter the living God through moments of worship, preaching, challenge and prayer,” Floyd said.

For the second year, Floyd will lead a Tuesday evening session devoted to prayer. “A National Call to Prayer for Spiritual Leadership” will feature a diverse group of Southern Baptist leaders and pastors with special guests Keith and Kristyn Getty. Floyd has also invited African American pastor Jerry Young, who is president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., to participate in the evening session. Young also will be among the speakers at a special session, “A National Conversation on Racial Unity in America,” that will take place that morning.

Floyd described St. Louis as “one of America’s significant cities.”

“With the racial unrest in St. Louis due to what happened in Ferguson in August of 2014, Southern Baptists will have a strong opportunity to represent Christ through Crossover ministry in the city,” Floyd said of the annual evangelism outreach event that takes place each year in the annual meeting’s host city. They also have an opportunity to “speak to the racial challenges that face not only St. Louis, but our entire nation.”

He noted, “I believe we will leave St. Louis with a powerful, strong, clear and encouraging testimony of the need for loving one another, regardless of the color of one’s skin.”

Read more at SBC St. Louis: ‘Awaken America, reach the world’. 

###