FROM THE PEW TO THE PULPIT

Three men. Three vocations. One shared calling.

Nathan is an emergency room nurse in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His nursing job provides for his family. His calling is to plant a new church in the area, hopefully with some he connects with at the hospital.

Bob spends his summers as a long-haul trucker transporting explosives to northern Alaska. The trips provide his family’s annual income because Bob, a 60-year-old Master of Divinity student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, also serves as pastor of a Baptist church in LaGrange, Kentucky.

Amos, in the Bible, was a farmer. He owned sheep and grew figs near the village of Tekoa, about 12 miles south of Jerusalem. Like Nathan and Bob, Amos worked a marketplace job while answering the calling to preach, serving as God’s prophet. His book is worth reading.

Three men, three vocations, one shared calling to preach God’s Word.

There are thousands of men like these across the Southern Baptist Convention, including nearly 2,000 in the Tennessee Baptist Convention.

Bivocational pastors are the backbone of Southern Baptist churches across our state and nation. More than 60% of the churches affiliated with the TBC are pastored by bivocational ministers. Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, once called them the “Iron Men of the SBC.” He was right.

My wife, Jeanne, and I have been involved with the annual Tennessee Baptist bivocational pastors and wives retreat for over 25 years. These warriors are friends, but I also respect and admire them as ministry heroes. The work they do on behalf of God’s Kingdom is monumental and vital.

Consider that nearly two-thirds of TBC churches have bivocational pastors. Then, consider that 400 TBC churches are currently without a pastor. Who will fill those pulpits? Any church without a shepherd is a crisis, in my opinion. So, what do we call 400 without shepherds?

People have asked me numerous times over the past two years why we need to reorganize the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and TBC ministries. I point to those 400 vacant pulpits and the urgency to “multiply gospel leaders who advance God’s kingdom,” the TBMB’s mission statement.

The spiritual needs in Tennessee are too great to continue with business as usual. We need gospel leaders — men and women, vocational and bivocational ministers, seminary-trained and equipped lay leaders — if we are to realize our vision as Tennessee Baptists of seeing every Tennessean hearing and responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We don’t have time to wait until every pulpit is filled by someone who has completed a three- or four-year seminary degree. The key to overcoming our leadership deficit lies with people like Nathan, Bob, and Amos.

A century ago, churches rarely had full-time pastors. They were farmers, doctors, schoolteachers, bankers, and other professionals. Today, the number of those engaging in bivocational ministry is rapidly growing.

For instance, I recently met a young man at one of our Baptist colleges studying pharmacy, but God had also called him to pastoral ministry. His vision: support himself as a pharmacist and pastor a traditional Baptist church.

But it isn’t just the young men we need. There is a great silent majority of godly men in their 50s and 60s working in the marketplace who also need to respond to the clarion call to rise from the pew and proceed to the pulpit.

If this is you, yes it may be beyond your comfort zone, but pray specifically about answering God’s call to pastor.

You may not feel equipped, but that has never been an impediment to what God can do through a willing servant. Plus, the TBMB is here to help. Our purpose is to serve churches and you in just this way.

I believe that within three to five years, we will have hundreds of people in a ministry preparation pipeline that will populate gospel leadership positions in churches across this state. Don’t wait. Act now!

Will you raise your hand and say, “Here I am, send me, Lord”? If so, email me or, better yet, call my cell at (615) 712-0382 so I can meet you, encourage you, direct you to people who can help, pray for you, and celebrate with you what God is doing — and will do — through your life.

As we travel this road together, know that it truly is a joy to be with you on this journey. B&R