Live from Lewisville, NC (Impact 2008)

Let me just say that I am glad I came.  If you are a small church pastor who opted out of attending this conference then you have missed a blessing.  I met people from as far north as New Jersey and as far West as Oregon.  This is truly a national leadership conference for small church pastors and leaders. What follows is not by any means a comprehensive representation of tonight’s meeting but merely a thumbnail sketch of tonight’s messages.  Hopefully, tapes will be available for those who did not attend.
Les Puryear was the first speaker tonight. For his text, he used Matthew 16:18 and 18:20.  He pointed to these verses as being the focus verses for this conference.  He pointed out the American mindset that has invaded the church in believing that bigger is always better.  Puryear presented the large group with the fact that over 80% of the churches in the Southern Baptist Convention have less than 200 worship attendees on an average Sunday morning.  The Southern Baptist Convention is a convention of small churches. He stressed that the eyes of the world are not the standard which God uses to measure His church.  Puryear urges us to avoid comparing churches because this is not wise in God’s eyes.  He offered the encouragement that the Convention is ready and willing to help the small church pastor.

Dr. Brad Waggoner presented statistics from Lifeway Research about the small church pastor.  His presentation was helpful and informative.  A critical issue for 65% of small church pastors was time. He emphasized the importance of not neglecting ones personal quiet time with God.  He was honest in admitting that he had no easy solutions for this obstacle for small church pastors but from his personal experience as a pastor, he offered his own insights on how to deal with the time problem.  30% of small church pastors described resistance to change as a problem in the church.  Dr. Waggoner pointed out that it is crucial to discover the church “bosses” and guide them to a biblical view of the church.  Other problems small church pastors encounter are a lack of commitment from church members, not enough workers, the age of the congregation, lack of money, worldiness in the church, age of the pastor, too few people, and demographics.  He did point out that growing churches had long tenure pastors who were humble, godly men who had a burning passion for Christ and were located in growing communities.  He shared three elements needed to lead a church through change.  This were:

1. The current reality for the church.
2. The future desired state for the church.
3. How to get there.

Most pastors have problems with element #3.  Dr. Waggoner closed his message by sharing many more statistics, concepts, and advice helpful to a small church pastor.

The final speaker was Dr. Alvin Reid.  Dr. Reid mixed humor with probing insights as he dealt with the topic, “God’s Call on the Small Church Pastor.”  He used 2 Timothy 2:1-10 as his text as he pointed out 7 characteristics of pastoral leadership.  In sharing these7 principles, he shared many illustrations.  He quoted Dr. Danny Akin who has stressed the need for a Great Commission Resurgence.  Shockingly, over 50% of senior pastors have not shared the Gospel with anyone in the last six months according the research done by Thom Rainer.  Dr. Reid pointed out that everything rises and falls on leadership. These 7 principles briefly are:

1. Leadership is grounded in the call of God.
2. Pastors lead by equipping others.
3. Pastors lead others in humility.
4. Pastors lead others to greatness.
5. Pastors lead with faith.
6. Pastors lead by defining the reality.
7. Pastors must lead by the strength of their character.

Dr. Reid’s message called pastors to be faithful in sharing the Gospel, teaching the Gospel, equipping the saints and preaching the Gospel.

As I said, if you are not here, you are missing a blessing and get the tapes of this conference if any are offered.