D’Linell Finley says not to listen to anybody who tells you to sit down.
“We’re working to finish the unfinished; there’s still a lot to be done,” he said as he spoke at the Alabama African American Fellowship banquet Nov. 13 at First Baptist Church Montgomery. “Jesus will sit you down when He’s ready, and until He calls you, just keep on working.”
Finley, pastor of Southlawn Baptist Church in Montgomery, shared a message from Philippians 1:6 at the banquet, challenging pastors to cling to the hope and strength of Christ as they labor to finish the unfinished task.
‘Keep working’
“It’s time for God’s people to start working, to keep working, to realize that those around you are counting on you, that they are looking to you to be an example,” Finley said. “Let’s labor to finish the unfinished because our community is a starving community, not only for food but for the Word of God.”
They need somebody to love them, meet their physical needs and tell them there is hope, he said.
“God is not through with me yet, and He’s not through with you yet,” Finley said. “So you need to start working. Start laboring. Look at what you can do to make a difference.”
Terrence Jones, one of AAAF’s co-coordinators and pastor of Strong Tower at Washington Park in Montgomery, said the “reason why we have this little fellowship and the reason why we are trying to encourage African American pastors to spend time with one another [and] don’t get so bogged down in your own locations, is because we can do more together than we can on our own.”
The banquet was AAAF’s second annual gathering.
During the meeting, Devins Jackson, pastor of The Body of Christ Church in Huntsville, also shared a testimony from a recent missions trip to Central Asia.
During the trip, a group of African American pastors went with Scotty Goldman, director of the office of global missions at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, to visit an African American missionary with the International Mission Board.
“This experience helped heighten my senses to the need among missionaries and being willing to support them for the work that they do,” Jackson shared via video during the banquet.
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