The lights went down in Georgia Dome and hushed the crowd. More than 20,000 were in attendance for the Southern Baptist Convention in June 1995. Out of the darkness, the lights beamed behind a lone figure on the platform, a kind of clumpy gray-haired man in a dark suit. The crowd gasped.
It was Henry Blackaby. And for some reason, we had not been expecting him. Not like that.
Rarely is there a gasp-worthy moment in Southern Baptist life anymore, but that was one as I recall it. As a pastor in New Orleans, I had just led my first study group through Blackaby’s Experiencing God. For our little clutch of eight, it was life changing—as it would be for successive groups and our whole congregation as we sought God’s will for a changing church in a changing community.
Week-by-week, we listened as Henry unfolded his little Canadian church story on video. He taught how God led Moses and Moses followed. He talked about the work of the Holy Spirit, both in Scripture and in his own experience. He told how God led and Henry’s people followed, as the Lord did amazing things among many churches in the middle of nowhere Canada.
Henry and the believers in Saskatoon really experienced God. And so did our church miles and years away.
What Henry Blackaby and his co-author Claude King did for Southern Baptists was to open our eyes to the work of the Spirit in ways that Baptists didn’t often discuss. He called us as a denomination to deeper spiritual life, after decades buried in growth methods and doctrinal arguments. At the pew level, he caused us to expect God to speak, and he required us to listen. And follow.
When we hear from God, we must obey immediately, he explained. It’s not a time to ponder obedience.
At least eight million people studied Experiencing God, based on sales of the Lifeway study book. And Bro. Blackaby became a leader for prayer at the denominational level. We needed that.
We still do.
News in February that Blackaby had died at age 88 was great for him there, but sad for us here. It was one of those times we ask again, “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?” Specifically, who’s going to step up—or should we say, kneel down—and bring us all to a place of prayer.
With all the issues facing Southern Baptists right now, and confronted by believers in every walk and witness of life, we need another rumpled prophet who will call us to listen for the voice of God, to give up our own machinations, to seek divine direction afresh, and to obey.
As Blackaby said, and so many of us have quoted since, we need to determine where God is working and join him there.
Thank you, Henry, for pointing the way—thus far.
Eric Reed is editor of Illinois Baptist media.