“Our goal was to help our pastors realize that church ‘health’ is what we are looking at. We want all of our churches to be healthy — and that can mean different things for each individual church.”
Pastor Rich Murray of Mountain View Baptist Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, is bivocational and proud of it. “If it worked for (the Apostle) Paul, why wouldn’t it work for me?” he asked.
Change is inevitable in all areas of life and includes changes for individuals, businesses and even denominational organizations and churches, says seminary president Jeff Iorg.
Pastors are not “supermen,” and they still struggle with anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges that often lead to ministerial burnout and occasionally suicide.
In upper East Tennessee, pastor Don Winters of Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Butler is lovingly referred to by some family and friends as the
“The same God who delivered victory for the Israelites is the same God who continues to carry us through whatever we may be facing.” —Jonathan Howe
Filling this role is obviously a God-sized task and as Southern Baptists, we need to pray God’s wisdom for leaders within the EC as they seek God’s man for “a time such as this.” There’s really nothing “people” can do.
A former Presbyterian minister has been chosen to serve as director of urban church planting for the North American Mission Board’s Send Network.
“I am in awe of how God allows us to be part of His plan. It is very apparent that God wants, needs and desires for bivocational pastors … to take time to refuel,” Roger Britton noted.
Pump Springs Baptist Church in Harrogate, Tennessee, has a mission field that is less than five minutes from the church — Lincoln Memorial University, a four-year, private liberal arts university.
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