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| John Kinney, dean of the theology school at Virginia Union University, suggested ways the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship can be the presence of Christ in the world during Thursday’s opening session of the 14th General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala. |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A reminder that Christians serve "the only power who can put the wet in water, the crisp in lettuce, the bubble in the brook, thoughts in your minds and wake you up in the morning" and an opportunity to show financial appreciation to the Baptist World Alliance highlighted the opening session of the 2004 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly Thursday.
The crowd of approximately 2,800 contributed $33,495 to BWA. A second BWA offering will be collected during Friday’s commissioning service. The offering punctuated a worship service that used numerous congregational songs and solos, scripture readings, interpretive dance and drama and featured a powerful message from John Kinney, dean of the school of theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va. Kinney drew parallels between the demoralized disciples of Jesus immediately after the crucifixion and Christians today who "cede power to people who have no power and forget that Jesus is alive."
"The disciples were so crushed with group grief, so busy telling everyone who would listen how, just when it looked like God was finally going to straighten things out everything had gone wrong that they didn’t recognize Jesus when He walked alongside them on the road to Emmaus," Kinney noted. "But when they did notice, look what happened – the power of Jesus changed them internally, Jesus departed from them, and they got up and moved."
First, "they were ‘strangely’ warmed inside – the principal of transference," Kinney explained. "After they recognized Him, His power flowed into them. It’s like the heat you feel radiating off a brick building at 4 p.m. on a summer day—those bricks didn’t produce that heat but are giving out what they have absorbed from the sun."
Second, "when their eyes were opened Jesus left – because they had the power of Jesus inside them so there was no need to keep looking for Him. He was no longer outside. When that happens to us we can say, ‘what I used to only know about is now a part of me."
Third, "immediately they got up and went back to Jerusalem to tell," Kinney concluded. "When you get the presence of Christ in your life it won’t just be Jesus getting up from the dead. You’ll get up, move and tell a world that is moping around in defeat and darkness that He lives! He lives! He lives!"
Kinney used personal illustrations to drive home his points.
He began by telling of a time early in his marriage when he came home to "a chilly house." Being "stuck on stupid then" he kept urging his wife to tell him what was wrong, noting that "I work hard to keep a roof over your head, I bring home my paycheck to pay the bills and I don’t have any major character flaws that I know of."
In response his wife pointed out that she was "an intelligent and resourceful woman who was quite capable of keeping a roof over her head on her own" but that she didn’t want his money, she wanted him because, even when I was at home I was not really present, I was just getting ready to go someplace else."
God is like that, he pointed out. "He wants us to be present when we are with Him. He wants our time and our attention so He can be present in our lives. When that happens, then we can be Christ’s presence in our world."
Anita Snell, an associate coordinator for mission teams with CBF Global Missions in Singapore, announced the offering for BWA, noting that, "Last year the BWA took a courageous step when they invited us to be part of the worldwide Baptist family. We want our Baptist brothers and sisters in 211 conventions and unions around the world –many of whom serve God under relentless oppression – to know that we care about them and want to be good family members … anything less than a sacrificial gift to show them that we appreciate their boldness in refusing to be controlled is just not good enough."
Earlier this month the Southern Baptist Convention severed its ties with the BWA – eliminating its annual contribution of $350,000. SBC leaders strongly opposed CBF’s admission to the BWA and indicated at the time of the vote that it could well lead to the SBC abandoning the worldwide association of national Baptist conventions and unions.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and