Focus on lost souls emphasized in Hunt’s chapel message, Hemphill Center conference

Keep a heart for souls, Johnny Hunt preached during his April 14 chapel message at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College. Hunt’s chapel message was part of the larger “Who’s Your One?” Conference held on the Fort Worth campus and sponsored by the institution’s Hemphill Center for Church Revitalization and the North American Mission Board.

In his introduction of Hunt, President Adam W. Greenway said NAMB’s senior vice president for evangelism and leadership is “synonymous” with evangelism because people who “get around him get a passion for souls and a passion for the Word.” Before beginning his service with NAMB, Hunt pastored First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, for 33 years. He also served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, 2008-2010.

Prior to Hunt’s chapel message, Greenway announced the appointment of Kenneth S. Hemphill as distinguished fellow of the Hemphill Center for Church Revitalization and senior professor of church revitalization in the Roy J. Fish School of Evangelism and Missions at Southwestern Seminary. Hemphill served as Southwestern Seminary’s seventh president. The institution’s board of trustees voted to rename the Center for Church Revitalization in Hemphill’s honor during its fall 2021 meeting. 

Preaching from Psalm 126, which Hunt said has a “spiritual typology of a person’s salvation,” he observed the blessing, burden, and business of being saved, noting, “God sets people free.”

Observing the “blessing of being saved experienced,” Hunt said in verse 1 the psalmist likens conversion to a dream.

“Why would God liken our freedom to a dream?” Hunt asked. “Because when a man or a woman gets genuinely converted to Jesus Christ the reality is so good that it seems unbelievable.” 

The North Carolina native recalled his own salvation experience during a Sunday evening service at a church in Wilmington, explaining, “I went to church on my way to hell and went home on my way to heaven.”

Hunt said the salvation one experiences should result in a change that is recognizable to others. “We need to start preaching again that when there’s no change, there’s no Christ,” he added. 

The burden of being saved was exhibited, Hunt observed, as the people were filled with “laughter,” but God released the Israelites from their captivity “a remanent” at a time.

“When God changes your life, you normally have a passion of seeing other people’s lives changed,” Hunt challenged. He said the passage shows the remnant that was released was praising God for their freedom, while also asking for the release of others who were still in Babylon. Hunt correlated the scenario with believers who rejoice over being saved but are praying for the “release” of others who do not know the Lord.

Hunt concluded his message by explaining the “business of being saved” means that believers should be sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, noting “a seed in the basket will not produce a harvest.” Hunt encouraged the assembly to pray for lost people and share the Gospel. 

Hunt said statistics show 85 percent of Southern Baptists have never shared their testimony or asked a lost person, “Would you like today to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?”

Following the chapel message, “Who’s Your One?” conference attendees heard from Catherine Renfro, director of evangelism at NAMB, about cultivating a heart for evangelism. “Who’s Your One?” is an initiative led by NAMB to encourage Southern Baptists to intentionally pray for and share the Gospel with at least one lost person in their lives.

Renfro told attendees, who included pastors, directors of missions, and pastors’ wives, that “success” in sharing the Gospel needs to be redefined.

“Success is not seeing someone saved,” Renfro said. “Success is simply sharing the Gospel.” She reminded the audience God has asked believers “to be faithful to share the Gospel” and allow the results to rest with Him.

Renfro said it is important for believers to remember the purpose for their existence is “to know Jesus and to make Him known.”

“What if everything that we were to do in a day revolved around those two things, knowing Jesus more and making Him known?” Renfro asked. “How would it change the way that we interact with people? How would it change what we do in our jobs?”

Renfro also encouraged attendees to pray for opportunities to share the Gospel, to see people, listen for opportunities to start Gospel conversations, and share their stories with others.

Attendees also heard from Hemphill, who noted that “Jesus always demonstrated the Gospel before He ever articulated the Gospel,” observing the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda as recounted in John 5. After Jesus healed the man who had been disabled for 38 years on the Sabbath, Hemphill said the Jews asked the man who healed him. Hemphill observed the man explained it was Jesus who healed him. He said Jesus told the Jews who were questioning Him that the Son does what He sees the Father doing. 

“Do you ever notice how many things Jesus does that are evangelistic that are on the way somewhere else?” Hemphill asked the audience. He encouraged the gathering to “sensitize” themselves to the Kingdom of God and ask Him daily what He is doing and join Him in His work.

During an afternoon Q&A session with Hunt, Hemphill, and John Mark Clifton, senior director of church replanting and rural strategy for NAMB, pastors asked questions that focused on disciple-making, engaging church members of various generations, and how to allow church members to use their spiritual gifts.

Hunt encouraged the pastors to remember every Christian has a spiritual gift that they are under a mandate to use and steward. He also reminded the pastors that every Christian has been given the energy to use the gift and they should glorify God with their spiritual gifts.

Hunt’s entire chapel message can be found here.

More information about the Hemphill Center for Church Revitalization can be found here.