by Jim Edge
BBFI President Mark Hodges has called upon our Fellowship to pray for revival. Our officers, pastors, church leaders, and missionaries are praying for a moving of the Holy Spirit that will grip our hearts and inspire a fresh unity and vision. We at Baptist Bible College are committed to praying for our Fellowship and colleges to experience a fresh encounter with God. Consider this information from the Association for Biblical Higher Education regarding the effectiveness of the church in North America:
• Only seven church denominations or fellowships experienced any net growth in the past decade — and that includes the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
• The growth rate of established churches over the past decade is zero percent.
• No county experienced church growth over the past decade.
• Fifty percent of churches did not record one conversion last year.
• Seventy-two churches close each week in North America, while 48 new ones are being planted.
While we hope that the above statistics do not apply to the churches of the Baptist Bible Fellowship, we also must admit that we have lost momentum in recent years.
At BBC, we have asked God for revival to begin in our hearts and the hearts of our students. As a college, we have been through the fire. When others were ready to pronounce the doors closed at BBC, God saw fit to sustain His college through the generosity of churches and individuals and the sacrificial work of faculty and staff. We are grateful for how God has worked, yet we realize that our greatest need is for personal revival both in our lives and in the lives of our students. If our students are to truly impact their world, they will need the constant empowerment and wisdom that only a meaningful dependency upon God can provide. To reclaim our future, we are committed to join with the BBFI Executive Committee and other leaders to pray and prepare our hearts for revival.
In a world where darkness prevails, we will be more committed to the light of absolute Truth. In a world where selfishness and arrogance is the norm, we will model and teach humility and a spirit of sacrifice as demonstrated by our Savior. In an environment where leadership is seen as maneuvering and manipulating, we rededicate ourselves to a spirit of servanthood, cooperation, and unity. In a culture where materialism and carelessness have replaced discipline and hard work, we recommit to work strategically and tirelessly to reclaim the future for BBC and the Baptist Bible Fellowship.
We believe that revival is possible because God’s desire for world evangelization through the local church has not changed. More than ever we need every agency in our Fellowship to work and pray for one another’s success.