April 24, 2024
JONESBORO, Ga. – Georgia Baptists were challenged in a series of sermons Monday to never lose the wonder of ministry, to walk with God, and to never shrink away from the preaching the gospel regardless of cultural shifts.
“Don’t let the events or the circumstances or cultural drift or difficult people or political unrest or racial tension cause you to run away or shrink back form the power of the gospel that has been given to you by the Spirit,” said George Wright, pastor at Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.. who kicked off his ministry at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta.
Wright was one of three preachers who spoke Monday at the Georgia Baptist Pastors’ Conference, a yearly event held on the opening day of the Georgia Baptist Convention annual meeting.
Josh Smith, pastor of Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Bogart, Ga., preached from Hebrews 11, centering his message not on the figures most people consider the great heroes of the faith, but on two men who were known only for the simple things they did: Abel, who gave an acceptable offering to God, and Enoch, who walked with God.
“Some of you may be a Noah, Abraham or Joshua,” Smith said. “God may call some of us, most of us, to be Abel or Enoch. In this age of celebrity pastors, it’s easy to get discouraged by what you’re not and what you’re probably never going to be. I’m here to tell you that’s absolutely OK.
“If your family knows you and loves you, and your community knows you, and if your church know you, it doesn’t matter if anybody else knows you, because the normal Christian life is a life in which you just get up in the morning and walk with God, day after day, moment by moment.”
Wright, preaching from 2 Timothy 1:3-7, challenged Georgia Baptists to stand boldly because God has given the power to do so.
“Power is not being a bully,” he said. “Power is not being the one who is always right. Power is certainly not being a jerk. Power is not picking a fight. Power, according the Spirit of God, brings with it love and self-control. Oh, how we need to hear this in the church today, especially before we pull up Facebook. This power of the Spirit brings with it love and self-control. And this is what the world needs to see from the church. A church that is full of power and love and self-control.”
Josh Reavis, associate pastor of pastoral ministries at North Jacksonville Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla, warned pastors that they need to keep the wonder of ministry at the forefront of their minds.
“We can get jaded quickly in ministry,” he said. “We can lose the wonder of what it is we have been called to do.
“We lose the wonder quickly don’t we, when we forget who we’re doing it for, when we lose the wonder that He could ever use somebody like us, that He would ever call someone like us, entrust someone like us with the privilege to stand before the people of God week in and week out, and to be there for the birth of their children, for the burial of their loved ones, and to take this sacred text and preach it week after week? Don’t lose the wonder. Don’t lose the excitement.”
