2005 Pastors Conference encourages men of God

After a lengthy ovation for a longtime Southern Baptist legacy, Adrian Rogers, pastor emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tenn., explained to the crowd of Southern Baptists attending the Pastors Conference June 19–20 what makes up the ministry of a man of God.
   
Rogers headlined the Pastors Conference in Nashville, wrapping up the conference following 10 other speakers. Steve Gaines, pastor of Gardendale’s First Baptist Church and president of the Pastors Conference, led a time of prayer at the conclusion of the conference for Rogers, who recently announced he is fighting cancer.
   
Rogers outlined vision, valor, vigilance, vitality and victory from Judges 6–7 in the life of Gideon, a man “just small enough and weak enough” that God could use him.
   
“I have seen men too big for God to use but never one too small,” Rogers said. “Gideon was called not for what he was but for what God could make out of him.”
   
Not only did Gideon have a calling, he had a vision that was a direct result of an encounter with the living God, Rogers said.
   
“We have so many preachers today who are living lives of quiet desperation — drawing their breath, drawing their salary and waiting for retirement,” he said. “They need to get a fresh vision of Almighty God. Never has there been a day, an age or an opportunity to preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ like there is today.”
   
Also on the program was Hartselle evangelist Junior Hill, who didn’t disappoint those anticipating his traditional down-home humor built around true stories and whimsical antics to illustrate his sermon points. 
   
Developing his sermon around 2 Timothy 1, Hill said, “Every one of us that has any ministry function, has to deal with [three traps that lie in the pathway of every man of God].”
   
First, discouragement of difficulties. “You are headed for a life of hardness,” Hill said. “Serving Jesus is a rather difficult task. If you haven’t discovered it yet, get ready it is coming down your path.”
   
The ministry involves intimidation and frustration, he pointed out. “There’s always somebody lurking in the shadows trying to do you harm,” he said, noting there is a choice of how to deal with the intimidation.     “You can be sugar that pleases or you can be salt that preserves,” he said.
   
Second, the danger of diversions. “Paul says don’t get interwoven with the world and lose your focus,” Hill said. “There is nothing more dangerous than to let the world influence you to be diverted of what God has called you to do.”
   
Third, disgrace of disqualification. Disqualification comes when “our methods are carnal.”
   
“Paul told Timothy that not only is it important that you run the race but also how you run the race,” Hill said. “It is one thing to run the race but another thing to run the race lawfully according to the methodology of God.
   
“Sincere pastors know you need change but don’t know what is too much change.”
Hill listed five principles for any method about to be used in the church.
   
1. Does it contradict the principles of the Scripture?
2. Does it obscure or cheapen the demands of the cross?
3. Does it dilute or weaken sound doctrine?
4. Does it honor and exalt the local church — make it stronger, cause it to have more passion?
5. Does it increase passion for and effectiveness in winning the lost?
   
“I believe in my heart if the principles of methodologies you are using compromise those five statements, it is wise not to use it,” Hill said. “Wise churches will change but be very careful not to change so that we alienate that which God has established for us. Our motive is to honor Jesus.”
   
Johnny Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., said evangelistic churches are led by evangelistic pastors not afraid to move toward simplicity — and simply preach the gospel of Christ.
   
“We as a Southern Baptist Convention know what we believe and fight for it, but I have a question — so what? Are we telling people why we believe it?” Hunt asked. “I want to invest myself in something that will outlast me, and not only outlast me, but last for all eternity. I don’t know a better way to do that than to share Jesus.”
   
Pastors should live out for their churches what evangelism looks like, Hunt added, but more than half of them haven’t personally shared their faith even once in the last six months.
   
“Pastors, you have to model the ministry you are challenging your church to do,” Hunt said. 
   
For many pastors, the place where they are sent may seem unlikely or untimely, but obedience is key to staying in the leadership of God, he said.
   
Hunt spoke from the latter portion of Acts 8, detailing how Philip was led into the desert in the middle of the day — an unlikely destination but a place where he was ordained to meet someone who needed to hear the gospel.
   
“When God leads you to the desert place on a road that’s not heavily traveled, it may be God is about to intersect our lives with someone else who needs to hear,” he said. “Our position — our obedience and heart — is more important than our location.”
   
Other speakers were Mac Brunson, pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas; Ergun Caner, a dean at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.; Voddie Baucham of Spring, Texas; Jerry Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Fla.; Roy Fish, professor of evangelism at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas; and Don Miller, also of Fort Worth, Texas.
   
Jerry Falwell, senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., also spoke in what was his first outside engagement since being hospitalized in May, and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore shared his thoughts on the importance of acknowledging God, even in adverse situations.
   
Elected to serve as the 2006 Pastors Conference officers were:
   
President — Bryant Wright, pastor of Johnson’s Ferry Baptist Church, Atlanta. 
   
Vice President — Doug Munton, pastor of First Baptist Church, O’Fallon, Ill. Munton was nominated by Fred Wolfe, retired pastor of Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile.
   
Secretary — Gary Urich, pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church, Bolivar, Mo., volunteered to serve. He was nominated from the floor.
   
The first Pastors’ Wives’ Conference took place in conjunction with the Pastors Conference, garnering what Donna Gaines, wife of Steve Gaines, called a “tremendous” response. The program, which took place June 20 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, offered a program packed with pastors’ wives and other women with ministry-related roles. Speakers touched on topics relevant to their audience.
   
“Some of us have been praying for this for years, and when we announced that this was the first of an annual session, the women broke out into applause,” Donna Gaines said. “We are all here each year anyway, so it made sense for us to draw together and allow seasoned pastors’ wives to minister to other pastors’ wives.”
   
A nine-member board was chosen to organize next year’s event for pastors’ wives. (TAB)