24 Days to Reflect on God's Heart for RedemptionSample

The inspiration behind "Jesus Agenda"

Weeks and months before I addressed the members of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) for the first time in January 2005, I searched the Bible for a theme, a message, a point of reference that would focus our works and efforts during the year I’d serve as president of the 2 million member convention of Texas Baptist Christians.

I settled on a passage from Luke, describing the first sermon of Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth. I was drawn by the vision Jesus outlined in his first sermon. It appeared to be an agenda for his ministry on Earth, so I called it “The Jesus Agenda.”

I challenged my fellow Texans, comprised of 5,500 churches and 23 institutions (universities, hospital systems, human welfare agencies and other affiliated ministries), to implement “The Jesus Agenda” of preaching good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for the prisoners, recovering sight for the blind, releasing the oppressed and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor for everyone in our circle of influence. I was glad to find this passage, but did not expect the passage to find me.

At the time I was president of the BGCT, I was also serving as president of the Baptist University of the Américas (BUA), a theological university in San Antonio, Texas, founded originally as the Mexican Bible Institute in 1947. Prior to serving at BUA, I was privileged to serve as pastor of three Texas churches in Dallas and El Paso. My story of redemption and my ministry experiences were on course to intersect with the vision of Jesus in his ministry agenda.

The message of “Jesus Agenda” slowly became a part of my thinking across the ministry assignments the Lord led me to, and has since then been a compass for my ministry. Looking back, the Lord sent me to places where I would have ample opportunity to preach good news to the poor, help set captives free, help people find healing, reverse situations of oppression, and to introduce the hope of the Lord’s favor for their lives.

Today, I serve as CEO of Buckner International, based in Dallas, Texas, a global multi-service ministry focused on making life better for vulnerable children, orphans, seniors, and their families through redemptive transformation. At Buckner, I am on a redemptive mission in the spirit of “The Jesus Agenda.” The passage I found in Luke 4 has found me over and over again.

It is my hope and prayer that something in this devotion would ignite a passion in you to shine hope through your life, your work, your ministry, your family, in your community, and around the world as an agent of redemption.

Reflection questions:

• What would it mean in the 21st century to preach good news to the poor?
• What would it mean to personally serve the prisoner, the blind, the oppressed, and to announce the Lord’s favor?
• What does that first sermon preached in the synagogue by Jesus have to do with our lives, our families, our churches, our ministries, and the Kingdom of God?
• What is your story of redemption?