ATLANTA – Georgia Baptist Convention president Steve Browning, lead pastor of First Baptist Alpharetta, delivered a passionate and personal challenge to messengers at this year’s annual meeting, urging them to renew their focus on reaching “everyone, everywhere” with the hope of the gospel.
Speaking at First Baptist Atlanta earlier this month, Browning began with the dramatic story of a fisherman named Joe, who survived 17 hours in 25-foot seas during Hurricane Milton by climbing inside a floating cooler after his boat capsized. After a long search, a Coast Guard helicopter finally spotted “a man sitting on a cooler in the middle of the ocean,” Browning said.
“It’s almost unimaginable to think that you could go through something like that,” Browning said. “Or maybe it’s not. Maybe there’s something in Joe’s story that we can all relate to.”
Preaching from Luke 15, Browning described the way “tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus,” highlighting how Christ welcomed people far from God and entered relationships that shocked the religious leaders of His day.
“Jesus had no such concern about keeping up appearances, because His heart, His mission, was for people just like that,” Browning said.
He reminded pastors that the appeal of Jesus is rooted in His willingness to welcome and heal the broken.
“That’s why you are drawn to Jesus,” Browning told the crowd. “Because you and I, we’re sinners… and that’s why we find Jesus so compelling.”
Browning pressed messengers to evaluate their own witness.“Are people far from God drawn near to you?” he asked. “If not, maybe we should consider how much we actually resemble Jesus, the One we claim to follow.”
Turning to the parable of the lost sheep, Browning emphasized Jesus’ command to leave the ninety-nine to pursue the one. “We cannot be satisfied with the crowd,” he said. “As long as there’s even one, we are compelled to go and search for them.”
Browning illustrated the point with a modern parallel. Each day, tens of thousands of cruise passengers return safely to port every day. But imagine the response, he asked, if, when faced with one person missing at sea, the Coast Guard pointed to the vast numbers that were not lost. “There would be a public outcry,” he said. “Because as long as there’s even one, we are compelled to go and search for them.”
“If you don’t have a single friend that is far from God,” he challenged, “you might need to rethink your priorities.”
To demonstrate what intentional evangelism can look like, Browning shared a story from his years as a student pastor. After challenging his students to seek out someone far from God, a girl named Sarah told him she didn’t know a single lost person in her immediate circle.
Her solution: get a part-time job. Within four weeks, Sarah had brought four coworkers to church. Each one heard the gospel and trusted Christ as Savior.
“Why?” Browning asked. “Because of one teenage girl who said, ‘I will not be satisfied with the crowd. I’ll go after the one.’”
Browning reminded messengers that most lost people will never stream a sermon, search for a Bible app, or walk into a sanctuary uninvited. “Their only hope is if somebody, somebody from this room, somebody from your church, goes out to them and draws in the one,” he said.
He added that evangelism not only transforms the lost but also revitalizes believers.
“When you get engaged in going after the one who’s far from God, there is an incredible joy and spiritual growth and a vibrancy to your faith that you’re literally not going to experience any other way,” Browning said.
Reading Luke 15:7, Browning pointed to God’s own delight when even one person repents. “You just found a window into heaven,” he said. “What overjoys our heavenly Father’s heart is when one sinner turns to Him.”
Browning declared, “What a day it would be, if 7 million lost people across the state of Georgia turned to Him.”
Browning closed with a reminder to pastors: “This convention, your church, and your ministry is not about you,” he said. “It’s a place for sinners to find Jesus and be baptized.”
Browning ended by drawing another parallel from the Coast Guard’s elite rescue swimmers, whose motto is “So others may live.”
“If they would do all that for a guy on a cooler in the middle of the ocean,” Browning said, “how much more should we do it for our family, our friends, and our neighbors who need Jesus Christ with all eternity on the line?”
He bowed his head to pray, asking God to send Georgia Baptists back into their communities with renewed passion, “until everyone, everywhere, all across this state and around the globe can know that Jesus saves.”
___
Video of the sessions and presentations during the annual meeting is available on Acts2.
Share with others
