Thom Rainer says he would give himself a D+ grade as a pastor, maybe even lower for the day he made a bride cry.
She’d picked the same day as a certain college rivalry game in the middle of football season, and Rainer had advised her against it, as had her dad. Probably a lot of people wouldn’t come, Rainer told her gently.
“She said, ‘Pastor, I just can’t believe that a football game … would keep people from coming to a wedding,’” he said.
But it did. And waiting for the first half to end delayed her dad bringing her down the aisle.
If that weren’t enough for the bride, Rainer delivered the final straw when he was secretly watching a tiny TV tucked in the pulpit and accidentally said, “Run, fool, run!” into the microphone in the middle of the ceremony.
“It was stupidity,” he said. “It’s a funny story now, but it wasn’t funny then when the bride started crying, when I ruined her wedding day. Through my choices I didn’t show love at all.”
Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, told those at the closing session of the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference on Nov. 12 that ministry has to be rooted in love.
Preaching from Philemon 8–9, Rainer pointed out that even though Paul could speak out of boldness, he chose to approach his message on the basis of love.
“Do we share the gospel based on love? It is possible that, in the course of our lives, the conflict, challenges and work so consume us that we forget we are first to demonstrate the agape love that was given to us on the cross.”
Michael Cassity, Pastors Conference president and pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Montgomery, said he hoped the conference encouraged the nearly 400 people present to draw away from the things that consume them on a daily basis and get refocused.
“We wanted to love you and lift you up as you make glorifying God the number one priority in your churches,” Cassity said.
As pastors make glorifying God their main focus they become “fools for Christ,” said Dusty McLemore, pastor of Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, Athens. He cited various passages in 1 Corinthians as he outlined what made Paul “foolish.”
Paul did not rely on his own ability, McLemore said — he relied on Jesus Christ.
“When you speak, you can’t do it, [but] God can,” he said, adding that when we learn to depend on God, He takes over.
In relying on Christ, pastors can also rely on God’s Word, which is “sufficient to exhort those who are sincere about God,” said Adam Dooley, pastor of Dauphin Way Baptist Church, Mobile, preaching from 1 Thessalonians.
“It is … a sacred privilege to teach the Word of God to others,” Dooley said. “God’s primary means of changing people’s lives is through the pages of His Word.”
He encouraged pastors in their preaching of the Bible. “Our people will read the Word of God the way we teach the Word of God,” he said. “Paul was willing to tell people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear.”
Dooley said the Bible is not a book about how to increase self-esteem or discover financial success. “The Bible is a book about how to find Jesus Christ,” he said.
And the Bible is sufficient to encourage those who are suffering for God, Dooley said.
That’s helpful in a world that is a battleground full of storms and suffering, said Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery.
“Friends, we know that in this fallen world you will encounter storms. I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done … you will encounter storms and you need to be prepared,” he said.
Preaching from Mark 4, Wolf charged the pastors to keep themselves anchored to God’s Word and God’s people. He said the Word of God is everything — it is living and active. He also said he could not imagine navigating the storms of life without his family and friends.
“The storms are coming … and remember, we need Jesus and we need each other,” Wolf said.
Our effectiveness in ministry is determined by how we relate to and love each other, said evangelist Phil Waldrep.
Believers in the early church loved Paul because Paul loved people, he said. In Romans 16, Paul expressed appreciation to people — and at least half of the names listed there were those of women or slaves. These two groups had no standing in that time, but Paul took time to appreciate them, Waldrep said.
And Paul took time to acknowledge people, which is one of the highest expressions of love, Waldrep said. Paul also affirmed them.
“That, my friend, is the secret to making a powerful impact in the lives of people — loving people like Paul loved people,” he said.
Teman Knight, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church, Montgomery, said fear can overwhelm pastors as they seek to lead God’s people.
Preaching from Joshua 1:1–10, Knight said Joshua had a lot to fear in leading the people of Israel — having to come behind Moses as leader, dealing with the Jordan in flood season and confronting Jericho.
“And pastors face a lot of obstacles too — a fear of failure, of what others might think, of lack of success, of disappointment, of what the future holds, of moral failure,” he said. “Most of all, you may fear letting God down.”
How do you overcome fear and lead God’s people into the promised land?
“What we need is a plan from God — a move of the Spirit and His will for our lives,” Knight said. “It will only come when we are savoring God’s Word, meditating on it and obeying it.”
Sammy Gilbreath, director of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said if we don’t live in obedience we get accustomed to the dark and lose sight of our passion for the Light.
“When we get used to the dark we lose our burden, our sense of urgency and our dream,” said Gilbreath.
He said that in 1 Peter 2:9, we are told God calls us out of the darkness and into marvelous light.
“I believe that if we could get Alabama lost, we could get Alabama saved,” Gilbreath said. “We don’t believe our grandkids are lost. We don’t believe our neighbors are lost. I love y’all, and I believe if you really believed it, you would tell them.”
But we get lulled into a comfortable place and crippled by fear, he said. “We need to rediscover our passion.”
James Merritt, lead pastor of Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, Ga., said passion comes from going “all in” for Jesus. In Luke 9:23, Jesus makes it clear that we are to die to ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him, Merritt said.
“If you ever saw anyone carrying a cross back then, they weren’t going to a party. They weren’t going to church, and they weren’t going to a convention. They were going to a funeral — theirs,” Merritt said.
Before you think that’s too high a price to pay, he said, remember that all Jesus is asking of us is to do for Him what He’s already done for us.
“Bet the ranch and be all in,” Merritt said. “You will never be happier in your life than when you die to yourself.”
Also during the conference at Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, pastors recognized president-elect Fred Lackey, pastor of Westside Baptist Church, Jasper, (who will serve as president for the 2013 conference) and treasurer Mark Smith, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church, Birmingham. Pastors elected Kevin Blackwell, pastor of Valley Creek Baptist Church, Hueytown, as president-elect and Dooley as vice president. Smith was re-elected treasurer.
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