Published Dec 02, 2019
The 2019 Pastors’ Conference was held Oct. 21-22, prior to the California
Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, and featured the theme, “Fulfill Your Ministry: Lessons From II Timothy for Pastors.” Sessions were at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon.
Speakers included
⁜ Mike Bullmore, senior pastor of CrossWay Community Church in Bristol, WI
⁜ Chris Morgan, dean of the school of Christian ministries at California Baptist University in Riverside
⁜ Walter Price, retired
pastor of Fellowship Church in Beaumont
⁜ Roger Spradlin, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield
⁜ Milton Vincent,
pastor-teacher, Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church in Riverside
Here are highlights from their messages. The full sermons are available at vimeo.com/csbc.
⁜ Mike Bullmore
“Preach the Word. (These words) stand out because Paul makes them stand out.”
“The Word is made up both of the sacred writings and the apostolic writings — the word we are to preach is the body of truth given by God consisting of the Old Testament scriptures and the apostolic teaching of Christ that is the ‘new scripture.’”
“God creates and forms and nourishes and sustains His people by His Word. This Word has the power to do all of these things because it is God’s Word. Speak it forth so people will hear it and receive it so it can have its effect on them.”
“In all of scripture … there is always some greatly desired effect that God is seeking to accomplish. Always.”
“Our preaching is to be controlled by not just the content of God’s Word, but by the intent of God’s Word … . Grasp and communicate the divine intent of what God has said in order to do what God is seeking to get done.”
“The task of your preaching is to create a space where God can speak.”
“My fellow pastors, steady on. Faithfully preach the Word. You will be tempted in many ways to give up — you will be tempted at many moments to quit … but don’t give up. Preach the Word: this you must do.”
⁜ Chris Morgan
“We should never try to separate theology from life — we’re making a division the Bible never makes. The gospel is not only information — it is information used
by God to shape who we are top to bottom.”
“We may have our doctrine right, but we may get it out of order, out of priority and out of proportion.”
“The gospel has come to us and is to shape every decision I’m to make.”
“You and I are responsible stewards and it’s our job to protect this (gospel) deposit — keep it, guard it, preserve it.”
“You can’t guard what you don’t know — you have to study it to know it. … Are you and I studying? Are you resting on old degrees, on old learning?”
“We realize we can’t do any of this on our own — it’s about God’s grace all the way through. I’m not able to guard the gospel on my own. … Paul says lean on grace, walk in gospel power. … When you don’t have the strength to keep going, don’t look in, look up — trust in the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“Our mission is to share the gospel with people, then to see them come to faith, then to disciple them accordingly.”
“You guard (the gospel mission) by entrusting it to faithful people who will be able to teach others. … We are entrusted to entrust.”
⁜ Walter Price
The Apostle Paul gives Timothy four encouragements: “remind, charge, do your best, avoid.”
“While you are reminding (the church at Ephesus), charge them, and charge them before God. ‘Before God’ literally means before the face of God, or in the presence of God. … Let your charge be a reminder to them of how serious these issues are, of how serious getting the gospel right is.”
“False doctrine is a spreading, consuming disease. … Pastor, you do everything in your power not to upset the faith of your people.”
Paul tells Timothy to “do your best. That’s the command: to present yourself to God as one approved.”
“Our preaching, our teaching is first for God, not anyone else.”
“Young pastor, if there’s anything I can impress upon you tonight — get in your mind right now who it is you are serving. When you stand to preach a sermon, you are there to be approved by God.”
“Get the gospel right. Rightly handling the Word of Truth — that’s the way to do your best.”
“The first thing you have to do is handle
it. Too many people have nothing to say on Sunday morning because they haven’t had the Word of God in their hands all week. … If it’s not doing something in you, it’s not going to do anything through you.”
“God wants you to give His Word to the church, not a Ted Talk.”
⁜ Roger Spradlin
Paul’s encouragement to Timothy about issues with false teachers in the church: “You focus on the gospel, you focus on discipleship, you focus on passing the baton on to the next generation.”
“There’s power in the message of this Book, of the gospel, way beyond political ideology or social justice — it has the power to transform people’s lives.”
“Genuine faith does not exempt us from suffering — in fact, it can become the cause of suffering. … Jesus said if they persecuted Me, they’ll persecute you. We are in the world!”
“Culture will continue to deteriorate
spiritually and false teachers will proliferate. ‘Timothy, things are bad but cheer up — they’ll continue to get worse!’”
“We preachers are not to declare an
opinion, but the gospel — the Good News!”
“The basis of our knowledge of God and our spiritual maturity is scripture. It makes you wise for salvation — that’s the goal of scripture. It’s not a book about morality or self-help or political ideology — the whole point is to point us to Jesus.”
“Our culture thinks that at the end there’s going to be a balance scale — if the good outweighs the bad you’re in Heaven … if the bad outweighs the good, you’ll need your asbestos pants!”
There should be one emphasis for pastors: “preach the Word. Make the proclamation of God’s Word your priority in ministry.”
⁜ Milton Vincent
Six things can help kindle the fire of ministry:
1. Remember those who pray for and rejoice in us
“If you need to kindle afresh the gift of God that is within you, think about the people who are praying for you and thanking God for you. Don’t let your critics cause you to forget about such people.”
2. Ponder that the faith in us first dwelt in others
“We’re one lap in a long relay race.”
3. Realize the nature of the Spirit God has given us
“He has given us a spirit of power and love and discipline. You may be naturally a weak person, but so what? The Spirit in you is strong!”
4. Boldly embrace gospel ministry even if it means suffering
“When we engage in gospel ministry then find ourselves suffering for the sake of the gospel, it’s not a glitch — it’s always according to the power of God. That ought to make every one of us unafraid — we must boldly preach the Word of God with a prophetic voice to this generation who needs it desperately.”
5. Savor the Gospel of our God and Savior Christ Jesus
“If you want to kindle afresh the gift of God that is within you, stare at the gospel and savor it. … You only will know the full capacity of your gifting when you are feeding it a steady supply of gospel truth, and believing it.”
6. Savor the personal ministry of faithful friends
“In the trenches of life and ministry, we need faithful brothers and sisters who will come alongside us. Do you have someone like this in your life? Are you this kind of person to others?”
The worship team from Fellowship Church in Beaumont, led by Jeff Marshman, provided worship for the Pastors’ Conference.
Ben Skaug, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland, was elected as 2020 Pastors’ Conference president; Matt Spradlin, senior pastor of Shoreline Baptist Church in Fountain Valley, will serve as president in 2021.
(Compiled by Holly Smith.)