Gainey urges Florida Baptists to 'dig together'

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DAYTONA BEACH (FBC)—"Keep digging together," Leroy Gainey, professor of educational leadership at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., told Florida Baptists during the closing session of the Florida Baptist State Convention in Daytona Beach Nov. 13. "We get more accomplished together, but we have to be reminded there is work to be done."

Gainey explained that during the 1848 California Gold Rush, Easterners came to the West to make their fortune, unaware that finding gold was hard work. Because they first had to learn how to dig, "keep on digging," became the clarion call.

GAINEY

The professor cited the account of Isaac in Genesis 26:1-6; 11-33, when God tells the son of Abraham to remain in Gerar despite a great famine in the land. Heeding God, Isaac remains, begins to prosper and finds great wealth. But he is forced to continuously move to new locations and dig more wells for his flocks and herds. Yet in each location, God allows him to find water.

The passage offers five principles on "how to keep digging," said Gainey.

"Keep digging in the place where God put you," even if times are hard, difficult or challenging. "If God says to stay in a place, He will bless you," affirmed Gainey.

Dig together against the "haters," he said, those who are jealous and "throw dirt on your work. As long as you do nothing, no one will talk about you," but as soon as God blesses, others become envious. "When we work together and dig together, we can withstand the haters."

Keep digging for "new possibilities await you, because God knows the possibilities," he said. "God knows where all the wells are. Don't keep your eyes on the wells; keep your eyes on God."

Gainey challenged Florida Baptists to go to the "well God has given them" to bring unity to the diverse cultures within the state.

Dig for "God's evangelistic hand will reach the most unsuspecting person," Gainey said. "Our business is the most important business in the whole, wide world. There is no story greater than Jesus. That story will change the hearts of even the coldest, hardest person."

Keep digging together because "God is not through with you yet," Gainey concluded.

"As long as there is life in your limbs, as long as there is life in your body, God has called you to share Jesus Christ with people and we can do that better together."