Fifty Years of Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists

                                                          COSBE

                           The Early Beginnings of Evangelists in the SBC

The vocational, itinerant evangelist has always had an important and prominent place in

the Southern Baptist Convention. In the pursuit of filling the Great Commission and the

Acts 1:8 mandate, Southern Baptists formed the Home Mission Board (HMB) for domestic

missions.

In 1846, the HMB appointed Southern Baptist Evangelists. With the coming of the Civil

War, evangelism efforts were hindered and little work was done. After the war, in 1866, the

Southern Baptist Convention again instructed the Home Mission Board to make evangelism

a priority, which included the appointment of itinerant evangelists as a part of the

comprehensive strategy for reaching lost people and starting new churches. These evangelists

were greatly used of  God in taking the Gospel to a nation in dire need of healing and spiritual

awakening.     

Historical records, provided by the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, show

that a group of Southern Baptist evangelists gathered in 1955 and called themselves the

Association of  Southern Baptist Evangelists. Their meeting was held in conjunction with

the annual convention, what is now known as the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists

(COSBE). This group of passionate soul winners had its beginnings on May 21, 1958, in

Houston, Texas, when the Association of Southern Baptist Evangelists had their annual

meeting. During this meeting, a motion was made and seconded that a committee be

appointed to draw up a constitution and by-laws for the Association of the Evangelists. Later,

the constitution and bylaws were presented and adopted by COSBE.

specifically states that the office of evangelist is a biblical office, according to Ephesians

4:11-12, “…for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of

the body of  Christ.” Bauer’s lexicon gives the meaning of euaggelistha as “proclaimer of

Old Testament writers described how God raised up “evangelists,” or prophets, to proclaim

The evangelist is a gift to Christ’s church as surely as are pastors/teachers.The role of

the evangelist has been to communicate the saving power of the cross. The evangelist

communicates the good news of Christ, finding the open doors into the culture and building

a platform from which to speak to his/her generation. The evangelist is to serve the local

churches as an initiator, a facilitator, and a catalyst for spiritual renewal… which God uses

to fan the flames of revival within the body of Christ. Finally, the evangelist should function

as a motivator and equipper in the work of evangelism, particularly for the local church.

In 2002, the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists (COSBE) adopted a system to hold

itself to a higher degree of accountability. This council serves as a voice for all members of

COSBE. The purpose of the Council of Accountability is to address any issues that bring into

Several very distinguished Southern Baptist leaders have served in various leadership

roles of COSBE over the years, such as: Dr. E. J. Daniels (1958), Dr. T. W. Wilson

(1959-60), Dr. John Bisango (1964), Manley Beasley (President, 1975), Eddie Martin

(President, 1977), Adrian Rogers (1977), Rudy Hernandez (1985), Dr. Bailey Smith

(President,  1990) and Dr. Johnny Hunt (2007). Additionally, the presidential office of

the SBC has been held by E.J.Daniels (1958) and Dr. R.G. Lee (1961 and 1963). Each

year, COSBE members elect a pastor from the Southern Baptist Convention

to serve as their “Pastor/Advisor.” Quite often, the “Pastor/Advisor” has been a

very prominent and influential pastor in the C.

Evangelists have a positive impact on reaching lost people for Christ and increasing

baptisms in Southern Baptist Churches. A 1993 study of adults in SBC churches revealed

that 1.5 percent of adults who made first time decisions for conversion said a revival was the

primary influence. However, 27.9 percent said a revival or crusade was a contributing factor

that led them to trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And most of these revivals and

crusades were likely led by evangelists.

The 1970’s were arguably Southern Baptist’s most effective time in terms of evangelism and

baptisms. During this time, the lay evangelism movement was gaining momentum with the

launch of Witness Involvement Now (WIN) schools, and most churches did two revivals a

year with a great majority using vocational evangelists. Churches mobilized the army in the  

pew through personal evangelism and provided revival meetings  (most using gifted

evangelists)  so their members could invite and bring family members and friends to

evangelistic harvest gatherings. God continues to bless when Southern Baptists use

evangelists to conduct revivals, crusades, special evangelistic events, and other mass

evangelism methodologies, while increasing the urgency for personal evangelism in

our churches and among all Southern Baptists.

In this Golden Anniversary year of COSBE, it is my joy as President of your North American

Mission Board to both congratulate and commend our God-called COSBE evangelists. The

harvest fields in North America, Canada and their territories, are indeed ripe. The biblical 

office of the evangelist has never been more important, both in “seeding down” our continent

with the Gospel, allowing the Holy Spirit to “convict of sin, righteousness and judgment,” and

point individuals to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I would heartily encourage our churches to use these evangelists “for the equipping of the

saints for ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” and to help all Southern Baptists

proclaim the Gospel to every person in every community in North America…and yes, to the

ends of the earth! Thank you for 50 years of ministry within and alongside our local SBC

churches.

Geoff Hammond

President, North American Mission Board