By Tony Martin
Editor
The 2025 Mississippi Baptist State Evangelism Conference was held Jan. 26-27 at Brandon Church, Brandon. The theme was “Preach the Word.”
“The Evangelism Conference each year gives Mississippi Baptists a chance to get together for nothing but worship and fellowship,” said Don Lum, director of evangelism at the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB) in Jackson.
“Everyone got to see friends, eat together, hear speakers that God used to challenge them, and have their lives refreshed,” Lum said.
Conference speakers included:
- Jason Curry, teaching pastor, Next Generation Ministry, The Church at Rock Creek, Little Rock, Arkansas
- Kevin Hamm, pastor, First Church, Gardendale, Alabama
- Fred Luter, pastor, Franklin Avenue Church, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Steve Gaines, pastor, Bellevue Church, Cordova, Tennessee
- Bob Pittman, Bob Pitman Ministries, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
- Vance Pittman, NAMB Send Network
- Tom Richter, pastor, First Church, Cullman, Alabama
Worship music was provided by the Mississippi Baptist Singing Churchmen and the William Carey Choral Department.
“Mississippi Baptists have always been built on God’s Word, and part of what makes us who we are is the opportunity to fellowship together, create friendships, and then engage in those friendships,” Lum said.
Lum noted that Brandon Church was an excellent host. “The pastor, staff, and volunteers welcomed us and served us,” he said.
Encouraging Christians to be on guard, Curry said, “The blind areas of our life are where Satan thrives and many, many, many people will miss the kingdom of God doing good things for the wrong reason. The pride of life is the most difficult to overcome.”
Hamm, using verses from 2 Timothy 3, 1 Corinthians 2, and 2 Timothy 4, noted that preaching should be guided by the text, powered by the text, and applied to the audience.
Preaching from Romans 1, Luter said that the gospel is personal, powerful, practical, and persistent.
Gaines, who was diagnosed about a year and three months ago with stage four urothelial cancer, preached from the book of Job using the theme of “God’s School of Suffering.”
“I’ve heard people say God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good,” Gaines said. “God is good. God is good. But sometimes our good God allows his people to go through hard things. He does. He allows it.”
Using Luke 6 as his text, Bob Pittman said, referring to the woman Jesus healed who had been hemorrhaging for years, “You may be walking through a tough, tough time. I encourage you to reach out and touch Jesus.”
Vance Pittman said, “You know what sovereignty means? It means that God’s sitting on the throne. God does what He wants to do when He wants to do it, how He wants to do it, but He does not need us. But what I am submitting to you is that God within the scope of his sovereignty has ordained that He’s going to move in this world in response to the prayers of His people.”
Richter preached on the theme “Can I Get a Witness?” using Isaiah 43 as his text.
“God tells Israel, ‘You are my witnesses,’” Richter said. “He doesn’t say ‘you are to DO witnessing.’ Your lives are to be such that at any time a pagan Babylon says ‘God can’t save,’ God can call your life to the stand.”
Lum may be contacted at dlum@mbcb.org. The ministries of the MBCB Evangelism Department are supported by gifts to the Mississippi Cooperative Program.
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