Ministry assistants throughout the state have the opportunity to build relationships with each other and receive training through the Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries, an organization designed to highlight their calling.
“We minister to people sometimes before the pastor can,” Elizabeth Smith, the association’s president, told The Alabama Baptist. “When someone is calling with a prayer request and is crying, we’re able to sit there and cry with them. We’re able to pray with them. Sometimes people call and everybody else is in a meeting or at lunch, and we’re able to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”
The association primarily gathers for an annual conference, postponed this year because of COVID-19. Next year it is scheduled for March 6–9 at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega.
Each conference offers worship, networking and training.
“We offer a lot of financial classes because a lot of smaller churches and associations only have one secretary, and she has to do finances as well as everything else,” said Smith, ministry assistant to the pastor and the administrator at First Baptist Church, Enterprise.
Classes include using specific computer programs, as well as month-end and year-end financial procedures; others cover general office tasks and even grammar and proofreading “because we all have to proof the bulletin sometime,” Smith said.
Some classes are part of a certification program the group offers to lend credibility to ministry assistants who have completed those courses, which include leadership, doctrine and administration.
‘Different backgrounds’
“We offer spiritual classes,” Smith added. “At the last conference, we had Les Hughes teach a class on how to study the Bible because a lot of people assume that if a person works in the church office she’s studying her Bible, but we all come from different backgrounds.”
Fun classes are thrown in too, Smith said. In the past, they’ve offered group painting and cookie decorating “so ladies can laugh and have fun.”
“We just try to have a gamut,” Smith noted. “We have giveaways, and we have a banquet every year on Tuesday night with entertainment.”
Networking is emphasized because “sometimes you feel lonely, especially in smaller churches or associations,” Smith said. “A lot of our ladies are the only secretary, and it’s good to see that you’re not alone, that everybody has the same struggles, and they have someone they can call and ask questions and share prayer requests.”
The theme of the 59th annual conference will be, “Created on Purpose,” based on Psalm 139:14: “I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
“We are all created on purpose for a purpose,” Smith said.
Sara Bible, a graduate of Judson College and former officer of the association, will be guest speaker, and Zach Clark, assistant student pastor at First Baptist Enterprise, will lead worship.
Anyone who serves as a ministry assistant in a Southern Baptist church, association or denominational agency is invited to attend, Smith said, adding that anyone considering a calling to serve in such a role is welcome too.
Registration will open in mid-September, directed through the Shocco Springs website. The fee is $85 plus room and meals, increasing to $100 after Feb. 4.
The Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries is on Facebook for networking opportunities throughout the year, and online at alabamabaptistsecretaries.com. They also have a booth at the state convention meeting each November.
“This isn’t just a job. This is a calling,” Smith said, noting her goal Monday through Friday is “to make sure as much of the background work can be done so that when my pastor gets in the pulpit on Sunday he can be focused on preaching. He’s not worried about, ‘Oh, I forgot to call Sally back,’ when he sees her walk in the door.
“I’m there to help him promote the Kingdom by helping him take care of the day-to-day things that come up – making sure purchase orders are put in and that church members are called back and meetings are set up. We don’t really think about that, but that’s an important job,” Smith said.
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