New TBMB evangelism director has passion to see lost souls saved
Editor’s note: You can listen to Roc Collins discuss evangelism during Episode 3 of Radio B&R, the official news podcast of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. That podcast can be found here.
By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
Roc Collins delivers his president’s address at the Summit last November.
BRENTWOOD — “It’s later than you think, but it’s not too late.”
That phrase, uttered during his president’s address at the annual meeting of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, has become the signature statement for Roc Collins, past president of the convention and former pastor of Indian Springs Baptist Church in Kingsport.
In December, Collins was announced as the director of evangelism for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. In an interview with the Baptist and Reflector in early January, Collins offered his candid views on “the state of evangelism in Tennessee.”
“It seems that we’re trying to keep our heads above water,” Collins said, noting that baptisms have declined. He is determined, however, to try to direct Tennessee Baptist churches in leading more Tennesseans to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. “Evangelism is my passion,” he said.
Collins admitted it was not easy leaving a church family he had “loved and cared for” over 11 years, but ultimately, “I had a clear call from God that this is where I am supposed to be,” he affirmed.
Collins noted that statistics indicate that there are six million people in Tennessee but only three million who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “One out of every two people in the state needs to hear the gospel,” he said.
“Our problem won’t be finding lost people. We have lost folks. The issue is, ‘Will we carry the message to them?’ ”
Collins believes one of the main reasons for the decline in baptisms, not only in the TBC but the Southern Baptist Convention, is that too many Christians have rejected the Great Commission. “We refuse to fulfill it. It’s not optional.
“We have lost our sense of urgency. As we see our world in such disarray, we need to point people to the only stability that there is — Jesus Christ.”
As he looks ahead to his new task, Collins hopes to accomplish several things in his first year.
“My heart is to keep the urgency of evangelism in front of us. I want to fan the flames,” he said.
Collins noted that he wrote a column last year in the Baptist and Reflector while serving as TBC president. In it, he encouraged every Tennessee Baptist church to shoot for a goal of baptizing 16 people in 2016. While that did not happen, he is excited that incoming TBC president Steve Freeman is continuing that theme with “17 in ’17.”
The first of Five Objectives adopted as goals for the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2014 is to see “at least 50,000 Tennesseans annually saved, baptized, and set on the road to discipleship by 2024,” Collins said, noting that it is imperative to keep that goal before Tennessee Baptists.
Based on data from the Annual Church Profile, there are 3,000 Tennessee Baptist churches, he said. If every church baptized 17 people there would be 51,000 baptisms this year, Collins continued. More realistically, there are 2,200 churches that turned in an ACP report last year. If just those churches baptized 17 people there would be 37,400 baptisms in 2017, Collins said.
The new evangelism director, though optimistic, is realistic. “I know it’s a reality that not every church can have 17 baptisms. Get all you can and never settle for zero,” he urged. “One soul matters.”
For every church that cannot win 17 people to Christ this year, there are churches that can do a far greater number, Collins observed. Realistically, he challenged every church to baptize somebody. “If you baptize one this year, set a goal of two for next year,” he suggested.
“17 in ’17 is not an edict. We are simply giving an avenue by which we can reach our goal of 50,000 baptisms annually by 2024 or sooner. It’s a tall order. We have before us a God-sized challenge, but our God is up to it,” he stressed. “It will take all of us working together to make it happen.”
Collins also has a goal of establishing prayer outposts all across Tennessee. Prayer is actually the first step in seeing 50,000 people come to Christ in a single year, he said. “Prayer is the number one and most overarching need before us. We have to get serious about prayer,” he said, citing II Chronicles 7:14.
The prayer outposts can be held in either homes or churches. Prayer outposts will enable anyone to be involved in helping to see more people saved in Tennessee. For those who are homebound, their own house can be a prayer outpost, Collins said. While details are yet to be determined, he said the prayer outposts are where people will pray for the lost to be saved.
The new TBMB staff member said he will be accessible to Tennessee Baptists. “I want to be available to help anybody in our state that needs help in evangelizing the lost,” he pledged.
“As we go into 2017, we are early in the year, but I want to remind you that it’s later than you think and that there are lost people who need to hear about Jesus,” Collins concluded. “Tell somebody today about Jesus because it’s not too late.”
