SBC President issues call to unity at Southeastern

by Lauren Crane

Frank Page has a vision for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention, and it does not include bickering, placidity or boredom.

Page, who is the pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C., as well as president of the SBC, spoke about the divisiveness that Satan brings to the people of God during Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s chapel service on February 12. His address came out of John 10:10, which teaches that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy.

Drawing from the example of General Edward Braddock, an officer of the British Army during the beginning of the French and Indian War, Page said Christians must never underestimate the enemy. Despite repeated warnings about the tactics and competency of the French and Indians, Braddock believed his British troops were safe from the threats, Page said. Despite his confidence, the British army was severely ambushed, mortally wounding Braddock in the battle.

“You know the moral of that story, don’t you?” Page asked. “Never underestimate the enemy. To underestimate the enemy is to invite dire consequences upon ourselves and upon those with whom we have influence.”

“I am convinced that our churches, our convention, our families and as individuals we have underestimated the enemy. We are reaping the results,” Page said. “As I survey the land, I see the enemy having won battle after battle after battle. I see a break in unity, a break in joy and a break in vision. He has won battle after battle because we have underestimated his power, and we have underestimated his strategy because we have not been able to see what he is doing.”

Page said John 10:10 encapsulates the reality of spiritual warfare and captures the essence of evangelism and missions. It is in this verse, Page said, that the devil is most accurately portrayed as the thief, killer and destroyer he is.

“What has he stolen from you? From some of you, even in your young lives, he has already begun to steal vision and passion from you; a passion that you felt when you were once saved has eroded,” Page said. “Now you wake up in a daily sameness. Your walk with Christ has lost its passion and its fervor, even in seminary. You find yourself involved in an academic pursuit and not in a passionate pursuit to serve the Lord Jesus.”

Page also said the thief steals unity, a fact he has seen demonstrated in a number of SBC churches.

“People spend time fighting among themselves instead of going out to win the world to Christ,” he said. “He’s stolen our unity, he’s stolen our joy and he’s stolen our passion to win the world to Christ. So much so that now, we fight among ourselves as Baptist while the world dies and goes to hell. It burdens me deeply.”

Speaking to Calvinists, non-Calvinists, contemporaries, traditionalists, young and old, Page said, “Will you join hands with me, at the end of the day? Say, ‘Let’s put aside our differences and win this world to Jesus?’ Is that which unifies us not more important than that which divides us?”

However, Page said, this verse also teaches that Jesus comes to counteract the work of Satan. Jesus came to give life and life abundant.

“Satan wants you to be lost and weak,” Page said. “He can do more damage with a weak Christian than a lost person.” He said God desires to see all people saved and to grow strong in the Lord.

More than just an average life though, Page said God wants people to have abundant life.

“I beg of you to help those churches see that everything they do needs to bring forth life and life abundant…Every programming decision, every staffing decision and every building decision ought to be based on that and that alone: Will this bring life and life abundant to those whom God has called us to minister to?”

“If we do not attack with passion the issue of life in our churches, and I mean by that, relevancy in our churches, then we will be struggling 20 years from now because we will have large numbers of empty, orthodox churches,” Page said.

Page said the culture has largely written off churches as irrelevant gatherings where there are no answers about life.

“The early church was met with persecution,” Page said. “Modern churches are met with a yawn.” He challenged the Southeastern family to take the message of life to a culture which has written off the church.

“We cannot underestimate the power of the enemy, but we also must not underestimate the power of the Savior,” Page said. “The war is raging.”