The Associational Advisor

  (Greg Benfield)  Those who know me know that I am passionate about missions and my desire is to lead this association to equip, engage, and expand disciple-makers that worship God from here to the nations in keeping with the biblical mandate of Matthew 28:18-20. Below is the introduction and Article's I and II from the constitution of the  Southern Baptist Convention: The messengers from missionary societies, churches, and other religious bodies of the Baptist denomination in various parts of the United States met in Augusta, Georgia, May 8, 1845, for the purpose of carrying into effect the benevolent intention of our constituents by organizing a plan for eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the denomination for the propagation of the gospel and adopted rules and fundamental principles which, as amended from time to time, are as follows: Article I. The Name:  The name of this body is the “Southern Baptist Convention.” Article II. Purpose: ...

I have ministered to the churches of POBA for thirteen years. I have observed a pattern that must discontinue.   Good intentioned church leaders, seeking someone to fill the pulpit shortly after the pastor has left, pursues what  seems  best at the time, pursues that which does not trouble a person for long, seeks a guy who can “be here Sunday”, turns to a "pastor" that is a friend, an  acquaintance, "a guy I know", or co-worker that's a "good guy” and is invited to fill the pulpit "until we sort through the loss of our previous pastor" but is not who the church is, that is, he is not Southern Baptist. This  decision to simply "fill the pulpit" without considering the great and severe consequences must not continue.  Doctrine matters. The man that fills the pulpit and his doctrine, whether once, for a season, or is the next  pastor, matters. This decision affects the church -the members- and the investment made by the current, all pr...