Rice plans focus on cooperation to span generations

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FORT MYERS (FBW)-Twenty-five years after William E. "Willy" Rice attended his first Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting as the winner of the Youth Speakers Tournament, the native Florida Baptist was elected to lead the state convention as president.

The irony is not lost on Rice, who reflected on his unanimous election in comments to Florida Baptist Witness following the annual meeting in Fort Myers.

Rice returned to Calvary Baptist Church as pastor two years ago, having grown-up in the historic Clearwater congregation. Calvary's former pastor, Bill Anderson, delivered the prestigious convention sermon the year that Rice attended his first FBSC and spoke as the tournament winner.

"I was able to speak right before he gave the convention sermon that year. I'll never forget it. So it is somewhat amazing to me that 25 years later Florida Baptists have afforded me such an honor," Rice said.

"Humbled" by his election, Rice is quick to point to Jesus Christ, rather than himself.

"We all know that this isn't about honoring me or anyone else, but that we have a great task ahead. Jesus deserves to be honored and yet we live on a mission field where millions live in spiritual darkness. Our churches have an extraordinary challenge and these are extraordinary days, but we serve a mighty God and we must possess the faith and courage to believe that God can and will do great things through us if we are yielded to Him."

Rice praised outgoing FBSC president Hayes Wicker, pastor of First Baptist Church in Naples, for his leadership of the state convention for the past two years as a "wonderful leader" who is a "precious, godly man."

He affirmed Wicker's focus on the need for revival in the Fort Myers meeting. "I believe there is a sense among our people that we do need a fresh move of God's Spirit, a fresh vision, a fresh anointing to accomplish an eternal task."

Rice sees as his goals as FBSC president to "represent the Lord and Florida Baptists well. I want to encourage our pastors and leaders and our excellent state staff."

Emphasizing cooperation is another goal of Rice's, including reaching out to younger pastors who may be skeptical of the value of such.

"I think we are better together and that the fundamental precept of our cooperation is as true as ever. There are things we can do together that we can't do alone. We need each other. We are a diverse group but we need each other. I would hope to encourage some younger pastors who may not be engaged in convention life believing it to be irrelevant, unnecessary or even hostile to the creativity of their ministry. We need to span the generations, and keep our focus on what unites us," he said.

Illustrating the point, Rice recalled the story a former seminary professor, Joe Cothen at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and his two hound dogs which would fight each other when they were confined to the yard or truck, but when they hunted "they ran together in perfect harmony."

Baptists, Cothen said, are the same as his dogs.

"As long as we are focused on our mission we work together in unity, but if not our unity quickly can break down. The hour is too late and our state is too lost for us to get distracted from our mission to reach people for Christ," Rice said.

"I suspect most of our churches that have plateaued or are declining have lost a clear sense of purpose and mission. We have forgotten why we are here. I pray we can recover that sense of biblical purpose while we still have the time," he added.

Rice said he is "disturbed by some trends" in which "differences over secondary or non-essential issues" are allowed to "define or divide us."

"We have churches that are very traditional, and some that are very innovative and creative, and everything in-between. If we allow methodologies and personal preferences to divide us we will be making a terrible mistake. If we criticize other well-motivated leaders and ministries simply because we don't like their strategies or methodologies we may lose an entire generation of gifted leaders," Rice said.

Rice also took aim at some Internet Web logs-the so-called "bloggers"-who "resort to personal attacks, unfounded gossip and sarcastic criticisms on Internet blogs or other forums. We need to be careful and constructive in our speech. We all learned early on that we have a right to disagree but we don't have a right to be disagreeable."

Rice said it will be a challenge to balance his duties as FBSC president with his duties as Calvary's pastor and his responsibilities as husband and father-"the highest callings in my life."

The Calvary Church family "has already been so supportive" and Rice said he hopes they will play a "big role" in assisting him as FBSC president.

"I think Calvary is a great example of transitions," Rice said. "We are one of the very oldest churches in our state and at times we have been very traditional. But because our focus is on the purposes of God, not our cultural preferences or human traditions, we have been able to transition to communicate clearly to our culture and we are seeing historic growth as a result. I hope we can be an encouragement and an example to others."

Rice's early thoughts about next year's annual meeting are centered on emphasizing cooperation-"that we are united around a person, Jesus, and a purpose, bringing people to Him."