Born in the Heart of God
REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP
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REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP1. You must be a member of a Georgia Baptist Convention Church in good standing. A letter from your pastor attesting to this is needed. Fill out the membership application. (For new members or if any integrity questions arise.) 2. That your primary source of income be from this ministry (not a full time pastor or minister of music). 3. That you be in a minimum of 12 meetings a year. (Men who have given 25 years of their lives to vocational evangelism do not need to meet this requirement.) 4. That you be a member of the Conference of Georgia Baptist Evangelist. Dues paid ($25 at present) and are of a high moral character. ARTICLE IV
The President, Vice-president, Music Director, and Secretary-treasurer shall be composed of full time vocational preaching evangelists and full time music evangelists who give their total energies and time to the pursuit thereof and is their primary source of income. They are members of Southern Baptist churches in Georgia. RESPONSIBILITIES: PRESIDENT: The President shall work with the other officers and be accountable for all money, programs and Convention relationships of the Conference. VICE PRESIDENT: The Vice President shall assist the President and shall succeed as President if the President resigns, moves from the state, or changes ministry positions. MUSIC DIRECTOR: The Music Director shall work with the President to plan the music for all meetings related to the Conference. SECRETARY TREASURER: Shall keep minutes of all meetings, and receives dues and offerings. He/she shall disburse all monies for the Conference. PASTOR ADVISOR: shall serve as an ex-officio member of the conference. He shall promote the use of evangelists in Southern Baptist churches throughout Georgia. He shall act as a pastor, advisor, and counselor to the individual members and the Conference. ELECTION OF OFFICERS: The President shall appoint a Nominating committee that shall report at annual business session in January. VACATION OF OFFICE: If the president or any officer has to resign because he takes a church position or for any reason, the nominating committee shall immediately appoint an active evangelist/musician etc… to take his position. ARTICLE V
The Conference shall meet at the annual Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference and at the Annual Retreat. ARTICLE VI
Executive Board composed of elected officers and shall act for the conference between meetings. . It is apparent that the acting power of the conference would have to be centered in the office of the president. Because of the difficulty of gathering officers together, one man can best act for all. He naturally would contact others by phone. However, if the work is done or not done, the responsibility is on the president's shoulders. The president shall appoint a nominating committee. The committee shall nominate officers for the coming year to be elected at the annual business meeting. ARTICLE VII Parliamentary Authority: Robert’s Rule of order Revised. ARTICLE VIII POLICY CHANGE PROCEDURES: These guidelines maybe amended, changed, or deleted only with 30 days written notice and two thirds voting members. This shall during the annual business session. CONFERENCE OF GEORGIA BAPTIST EVANGELISTS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Name_______________________________ Date of Birth_____________________ Address_______________________________________________ Home Telephone_____________ Business Telephone _________ Email Address________________________ Cell Phone____________ Spouse's Name_______________________ Birthday_______________ Type of Evangelist Music____ Preaching ____ Other (please specify)___________
Divorced and remarried______ Current Church Membership Church Name___________________City__________________________ Pastor___________________________________ Address_____________________________________ Church or Denominational Experience (if any) Church/Agency Position Date(s)
Total years/mo. 1. Do you affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message? Yes____ No ____ 2. Give a brief testimony of your salvation experience. 3. Give a brief description of your call to evangelism. 4. Please give the number of Revivals, Special evangelistic events, Concerts, One Day Crusades etc… since you have been in fulltime evangelism. Please do not count interims or supply days. Revivals ____ Special Evangelistic Events ____ Concerts ____ One-Day Crusades ___ Number of meetings before entering fulltime evangelism _______ I give my total energies and time to the pursuit of evangelism and it is my primary source of income. Yes______ No________ If you were 62 years of age before June 11, 2001 Please answer: I was in evangelism full-time for at least 25 years. Yes___ No __ Signature_____________________________________ Date______________________ Another idea is to seek out interested pastors to help act as an advisory board. Dr. Joey Hancock was the only pastor to show up for our evangelists' meeting for at least three years in a row. An effort will be made to gain the interest of more key pastors in the C.O.G.B.E. Thank God for providing men such as Dean Haun, Ken Hall and other great men of God to boost evangelists in Georgia. A study was made of what other states are doing. Some states paid the evangelists' motel bills at the state evangelism conference and help foot the bill for retreats. One state had a true state evangelism conference by using all in state evangelists for the program one year. Another state has the president of the state evangelists' conference as a speaker each year. These are just a few possibilities that are presently being discussed and implemented. The future is indeed bright for the itinerant, Southern Baptist evangelists in the 21st Century in relation to the individual state conventions. What a blessing it is to be a part of it! The last couple of years our presidents have made great strides. New bylaws and accomplishments of Brian Fossett Chapter 19 CONCLUSIONS The evangelist is a gift of God to the church. He is given to reap a harvest and up build the church. (Ephesians 4:11ff). Any church or pastor who does not utilize the evangelist will have a distorted church growth and not a balanced growth. The pastor must wisely use the tool God has given him to evangelize his community, incite his church to witness, and stir his church in revival. That tool is the evangelist. Great prayer needs to go up that God might send more itinerant, revival evangelists to His church. The pastors need to give wise counsel to the young men which God calls to this office. The man God calls to be an evangelist must be a man of integrity, spirituality and practicality. His personal relationship to Christ and his daily filling with the Holy Spirit should insure that integrity. He must publicize his ministry. Very few pastors have God reveal the name of the man God wants them to use in their next revival effort unless they have at least heard of the man. Practical steps need to be taken to insure there are enough meetings to provide a financial base. If there is not a strong financial base, an organization needs to be formed to help in this area. The pastor and local church should take care of their home evangelist who is a member of their church. Financial, secretarial, prayerful, and encouraging support should all be a part of this. Some churches pay for the evangelist's convention expenses just like they do the pastor's. There are many other areas of help that can be given. "Friends of evangelists" are pastors who join the national and state conferences of evangelists. They pay dues and encourage evangelists. These "friends of evangelists" help send evangelists to North American and International Mission areas by providing financing. They use evangelists for Bible revivals (Bible Studies) and "One Day" revivals. This aides the evangelist financially while it promotes the reaping a great harvest in the church. Other friends of evangelists are the Evangelism Departments of the North American Mission Board and the state conventions. Not only are they a liaison between evangelists and the Convention, but they encourage God's churches to fully utilize the God given evangelist to reach this world for Christ. When the harvest is ready, use your evangelist. God has given over 500 plus evangelists in the preaching and music ministries. The areas that pastors are leery of can be overcome by a phone call and a personal talk. Do not miss out on the blessing God has for you because of a prejudice or fear. Use that evangelist! The Sunday School classes, WMU's, R.A.'s and G.A.'s should all place evangelists on their prayer and support list. The church should pray faithfully for her evangelists at home and abroad. The evangelist in turn should donate time to work in Home Missions and Foreign Missions. I suggest two to four weeks a year. Evangelists need to know who they are and what God has His hand on them for. This comes as God affirms their call and is seen as they are used in churches. The colleges and seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention have all increased their Evangelism Department classes for the vocational evangelists. This will help teach men the practical side of the ministry along with a Biblical basis. Text books need to be written and the seminaries have begun to offer degrees in this field. For the men who have been evangelists for years a good program that could keep them on the front line and still continue their education, would be capturing some classes and seminars on video cassettes and making them available for a small fee to the evangelists. The evangelist spends a lifetime developing emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. Some strategies and practical means of overcoming difficulties have been given. It must be remembered that great sacrifices financially and family wise are costly for most evangelists, especially during the first two to five years in the work. The financial road gets a little better nearly every year there after. However, it was nine full years before my family could travel with me. There are exceptions. God sends a Bailey Smith along occasionally to sky rocket into the work. Thank God for such men. But for most, faithfulness during the difficult years pays great rewards in years ahead. Remember a good name is better than gold. Any itinerant, Southern Baptist evangelist can be president of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists regardless of his financial circumstances. For years I did not think this was so. However, the North American Mission Board now pays travel expenses to the annual Executive Meeting of the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists. The conference itself pays for phone calls, mailing and other expenses. Every evangelist needs to be an active, dues paying member. The benefits are worth it for God's kingdom. The lostness of the world demands a united effort in soul winning. Currently, revivals are still the number one event that Baptists utilize for baptizing lost converts. For many churches 50% to 100% of baptisms come out of their revival meetings. The consummation of everything a church has done for the entire year is wrapped up, rounded up and brought together during revival time. Consequently, every effort to pray, prepare, unite, and come together in one accord should be part of the revival evangelistic effort. Simultaneous crusades should be done periodically. Again Namb, LifeWay, State Conventions, Associations and churches should put forth every effort to pray, prepare, unite, and come together in one accord to reach America for Christ. By cooperating we publicize the revivals and present Christ through radio, television, billboards, the web and the telephone. This makes it easier for the ground troupes to carry the Gospel to every household in America. The United States has approximately 160 million lost people. Two out of every three people on the street are a prospect for salvation. There are approximately four billion lost people on earth. If the church ever needed to witness, it is now! If the church ever needed to use its reapers (evangelists) in mass meetings, it is now! May God grant the greatest harvest of souls in history in the days ahead. The days are desperate. The numbers are overwhelming. But God is still all-powerful. Be faithful and preach unto them Jesus. Download 1.04 Mb. Share with your friends:
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