JJ Washington, director of personal evangelism for NAMB, delivers a message on Sunday night at the 2023 Tennessee State Evangelism Conference at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. — Photos by David Dawson
MURFREESBORO — Without even looking at attendance figures or reading through response surveys, Roc Collins confidently said that the 2023 State Evangelism Conference was an effective event.
He based his assessment on one simple fact: “It was a great success because you could not leave the conference without being challenged in the area of evangelism and winning the lost for Jesus,” said Collins, the director of evangelism and strategic objectives for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “Every element of the conference had an emphasis on winning Tennessee for Jesus.”
The two-day conference, hosted by New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, started with an evening worship session on Sunday night, Jan. 29, followed by a full day of activities on Jan. 30.
The second day included worship sessions at 9 a.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., along with a series of breakout sessions in the afternoon.
Randy C. Davis, president and executive director of the TBMB, praised the efforts of both the TBMB staff and the New Vision staff for the success of the event, which drew roughly 400 registered guests and “drop-in” attendees.
“I am so appreciative of the hard work done by the TBMB discipleship and evangelism team,” said Davis. “They made sure that everything they did was done with excellence. I also appreciate so much New Vision pastor Brady Cooper and his staff. They really rolled out the red carpet and had a ‘second-mile’ mentality in each detail of the conference.”
The conference — which was “relaunched” last year after an absence of more than a decade — was anchored by eight speakers, along with praise music by the Daniel Doss Band.
One of the focal points of the conference was emphasizing the role of prayer in evangelism.
“Prayer is the hallmark of discipleship and the accelerant of evangelism,” Davis said during his sermon on Monday evening while preaching from II Chronicles 7:14.
Attendees at the State Evangelism Conference come to the altar for a time of prayer during the Monday afternoon session at New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. Roc Collins, director of evangelism and strategic objectives for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, far left, preached a challenge sermon during the session and Daniel Doss (at the keyboard) led the worship music.
Earlier in the day, during the afternoon session, Collins called for prayer, and most of the attendees responded by coming to the altar for a time of intense conversation with God.
“This is how we are going to win Tennessee for Christ,” said Collins. “We can hand out tracts and we can have events. … But if we want to win Tennessee, this is how it starts.”
Mark Miller, baptism-discipleship team leader for the TBMB, said he is excited to see the conference returning to the forefront of the “evangelism calendar” for Tennessee Baptists.
“This year’s conference delivered another powerful and inspiring outcome for all those in attendance,” said Miller. “All the planning paid off with a great challenge to testify of the greatness and sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Tom Boehne, temporary interim pastor at Bakers Grove in Mount Juliet, was among the attendees. He said he found out about the conference from seeing a promotional flier, and said he was glad that he made the effort to attend.
“This has been excellent,” said Boehne. “I got here right away this morning (Monday morning) and I’ve really enjoyed it.”
The Daniel Doss Band anchored the conference with high-energy praise songs, including Honey from the Rock, Glorious Day and How Great Thou Art. (Doss is a recording artist and the worship leader at New Vision).
Collins said he believes the conference took a step forward this year, and he is confident that it will continue to gain momentum.
The Daniel Doss Band leads worship during the opening session of the State Evangelism Conference at New Vision Church in Murfreesboro.
“With this being our second year for the conference since the relaunch, it was exciting to see how sharp our focus had become for this event,” said Collins, who presented a “challenge sermon” during the Monday afternoon session.
In addition to Collins and Davis, this year’s lineup of featured speakers included: JJ Washington, North American Mission Board’s national director of personal evangelism; Jamie Dew, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; Matthew Greer, senior pastor at Missionary Grove Baptist Church, Camden; Barron Martin, founder and pastor of One Faith Christian Center, Millington; Dan Spencer, senior pastor, First Baptist Church, Sevierville; Stephen Rummage, senior pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Okla., and professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Collins said he enjoyed the diversity of the speakers, and said that the conference’s theme — “Testify” — was evident in each message. “Each preacher emphasized the need for evangelism and offered inspiring messages,” said Collins.
Miller said he was excited to see churches of all sizes represented: “I have rejoiced, both this year and last year, to see pastors and staff from all across Tennessee at the conference,” he said.
A group of attendees gather for prayer in the concourse at the conclusion of the state evangelism conference at New Vision Baptist Church.
Monday’s schedule allowed attendees to choose from one of eight breakout sessions. The list included:
• Elements Of Evangelistic Preaching led by Stephen Rummage;
• Mobilizing Young Adults For Ministry led by TBMB emerging generations specialist Ryan Keaton;
• Reaching Teenagers Through Peer-To-Peer Interaction led by TBMB youth specialist Jay Barbier;
• Reaching And Discipling Kids And Their Families led by TBMB childhood specialists Donna Blaydes and Vicki Hulsey;
• Creating Social Media Content That Sticks led by TBMB Resource Objectives Specialist Matt Tullos;
• Seven Essential Steps To Effective Church Planting led by TBMB New Churches Team Leader and Ethnic Church Planting Specialist William Burton;
• Church Revitalization led by Morgan Owen, BCM campus minister at the University of Tennessee-Martin;
• Sharing Christ Effectively led by Christian author Preston Condra.
The breakout sessions each lasted about 90 minutes and were held at different locations across the church campus.
“I went to the evangelism and revitalization workshop (breakout session) with a couple of dozen other people, and it was very insightful,” said Boehne, temporary interim pastor at Bakers Grove.
Collins said he believes the event will continue to grow stronger in the years ahead.
“I urge all Tennessee Baptists to attend next year,” said Collins. “As lostness grows in Tennessee, we need to ‘re-up’ our efforts to point people to Jesus!” B&R
