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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) – Thousands of young adults ages 18-25 heard about the importance of missions and the local church this week at the 2021 CROSS Conference.
The conference, held Dec. 31-Jan. 2 at the Kentucky International Convention Center, discussed topics such as spreading the gospel to the world and the importance of the local church in missions.
David Platt, senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in Vienna, Virginia, and former president of the International Mission Board, urged young adults in his final conference address to prioritize missions and share the gospel in the short time available to us.
“The Bible says each of us is here for a little while,” Platt said. “Life is a vapor; it’s a mist. It’s here one second and gone the next second. Life is short, so don’t waste it.
“Students, leaders, your life is a fog, so make the fog count. Your death is coming…and the death of others is coming. The people we are talking about are dying.
Tanner Keen, an intern at Huntington Community Church in Huntington, Virginia, attended the event with the church’s collegiate ministry.
Keen, 22, is expected to graduate from Marshall University this spring and then marry his fiancée. This year’s CROSS conference was the second, and each one was a great reminder of the importance of the Great Commission, he said.
“It was a very good reminder of the urgency of taking the Gospel to the nations,” Keen said. “It’s very easy to get excited about world missions and this idea of unreached people groups when you’re here, but the busyness of life unfortunately sometimes makes you forget that, and so I think that happens to a very good moment for me.”
All of the sermons at this year’s conference came from 1 Corinthians as Platt and others preached on the centrality of the cross in the gospel message.
The CROSS conference was founded by Platt in 2013 and conferences were held in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020 (virtual only).
In addition to Platt, the 2021 conference featured a strong Southern Baptist presence.
JD Greear, senior pastor of Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, and immediate past president of the SBC, opened the conference preaching from 1 Corinthians 1.
Matt Boswell, pastor of Trails Church in Prosper, Texas, and assistant professor of religious music and worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, led worship during the conference. He performed several of his own modern hymns and also taught an afternoon small group session on how worship is much more than just singing.
Other notable Southern Baptist speakers and panelists included Jeremy Pierre, associate professor of biblical counseling at Southern Seminary, Cyndi Logsdon, central director of faith groups at McLean Bible Church, and Ben Lacey, associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington , D.C.
Several SBC seminars set up booths to talk to prospective students, and SBC auxiliary groups 9Marks and The Pillar Network hosted late-night panel discussions.
Other notable evangelical guests included pastors Kevin DeYoung and John Piper, as well as a New Year’s Eve concert by Dove Award-winning Christian artist KB.
The conference takes place in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and a new year that will have many young adults thinking about the future decisions they will need to make.
Keen said the conference can be especially encouraging for young Southern Baptists, as a reminder that mission work is the most important thing we do as a convention.
“I think (Mission Works) is one of the highlights of attending the convention,” Keen said. “There have been a lot of controversial issues in Congress over the last few years, and I think the brightest spot we have that I would like people on all sides of the controversies to focus on is unity around missions and our agencies. I love the things that IMB and (the North American Mission Board) are doing.
He then explained the importance of missions in the Huntington community, as it is located approximately 30 minutes from the NAMB Send Relief Center in Ashville, Kentucky, and the church will send its former worship leader and his family to serve with the IMB this year.
“Our church is really good at reminding us that one of the best parts of the SBC is how everyone cooperates on missions,” Keen said.
Keen himself plans to attend an SBC seminar this fall, but he is still undecided about his future. He said that whatever he decides, the conference reminded him that everything we do as Christians must serve to advance God’s mission.
“It’s like JD (Greear) said the first night, ‘Do something good for the glory of God and strategically for the mission of God,’” Keen said. “I’m not just trying to figure out what I’m going to do, but I’m making sure that whatever decision I ultimately make, there has to be intentional and strategic thinking about how I can move the kingdom forward wherever it is. I am.”