By God’s grace, I was born to parents who were committed to the Lord. What a blessing that is!! Therefore, I first started attending a Southern Baptist church in my hometown of Hickory, NC when I was in the Nursery. I have been active in an SBC church ever since that day–I am now 70 years old. There have been many things in those years that have frustrated me. But overall, God has used Southern Baptists to bring great blessing into my life.
For example, it was in “Sunbeams” that I learned that Jesus wanted me for a sunbeam to shine for Him each day. In R.A.’s I learned that “As a Royal Ambassador I will do my best to become a well-informed responsible follower of Christ; to have a Christlike concern for all people; to learn how the message of Christ is carried around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ; and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body.” (I just typed all of that from memory). In Sunday School and Training Union I was taught about how God created the world in 6 days. I learned all of the foundational Bible Stories from the Old and New Testaments. I was taught to honor the Scriptures as the Word of God. I learned about Jesus Christ coming into the world to save sinners. I learned that the Bible is the source of truth and is the guide for how I should live my life. Once I got to high school I began singing in the choir. I already knew many of the great hymns of the faith by heart because we sang them every Sunday in Worship. In the choir, by standing next to Mr. Keith Mull, I learned how to sing the bass part of these songs that believers have been singing for centuries. Very cool.
I was also able to attend multiple R.A. Camps, be a part of special youth events, play on church softball and basketball teams, and go to Ridgecrest Conference Center for a week at a time in the summer while I was in high school. When I think back to how I became a Christian, I believe I was converted while listening to the sermon at Ridgecrest. This was the summer before my senior year. Several years before this, I actually responded to the “invitation” at the end of a worship service when I was 11 years old. I was sitting with my Aunt Polly and had decided it was time for me to get baptized so I walked to the front of the church during the invitation hymn (probably “Just As I Am”). I am quite certain that I did not become a Christian at that point. I did not realize how sinful I really was. Even with all the Bible stories, I did not understand what it meant to repent of sin and put my faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In fact, at that time, I could not have told you what the gospel was. But that night at Ridgecrest I was convinced that even a good kid like me, was truly sinful. I saw my great need for Christ. I clearly remember the counseling time afterwards when I was given a card to identify what my commitment was. I remember they gave the option of receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior OR as my Lord. I initially checked “Savior”, because I still wasn’t sure that I wanted Jesus to be in charge of my life. Then I erased it and checked “Lord”. I knew that if Jesus was not my Lord, my life as a good church-going kid would not change at all. But submitting my life to Jesus Christ as Lord really got to the crux of the matter. Praise God, I believe that is when I was born again.
This also leads me to two things that Southern Baptists did that frustrated me. First, after I made my “commitment” as an 11 year old, my Dad took me to talk with the Pastor to make sure I understood what it meant to be a Christian before I was baptized. The Pastor never talked about that. We talked about sports and other things, but not the gospel. My father was very frustrated. He had every right to be! I got baptized, but I shouldn’t have. Second, it is unbiblical to separate one’s commitment to Jesus as Savior OR Jesus as Lord. It is clear from Scripture that if Jesus Christ is not Lord then He is not Savior either!
In spite of those serious errors, God in His mercy saved me. And He used Southern Baptists to bring me into His kingdom. Praise God, I am so grateful to be a Southern Baptist!