This year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference will feature great preaching, but it also will include something many Southern Baptists may not have seen – key leaders opening up to tell how Christ brought them through low moments of their lives.
SAN ANTONIO (BP) – This year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference will feature
great preaching, but it also will include something many Southern
Baptists may not have seen – key leaders opening up to tell how Christ
brought them through low moments of their lives.
Pastors’ Conference President Hayes Wicker has asked four current or
former entity presidents to give personal testimonies in San Antonio
about the “valleys” in their Christian walk.
For instance, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert
Mohler Jr. will speak about his time in intensive care last year with a
life-threatening pulmonary emboli.
Also scheduled to give personal testimonies during the June 10-ll
conference are GuideStone Financial Resources’ O.S. Hawkins, former
LifeWay Christian Resources President James T. Draper Jr. and
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Paige Patterson.
“These men are really baring their hearts in a way that is not normally
done,” said Wicker, pastor of First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla.
“Normally they are in a preaching, leadership role, teaching Scripture.
But this is an opportunity for them to say, ‘Here’s what God did in my
life; He can do the same in your life.’ It’s going to be very difficult
for them to talk about these things. They are doing this because I felt
led to ask them.
“I believe it will promote connectivity with our leaders out among the
grassroots folks. They will be seen not as these larger-than-life
figures, but as real people who struggle with real problems like the
rest of us.”
Likewise, pastors’ wives will be able to hear Kathy Ferguson – whose
husband Rick died in a 2002 car accident – speak during the Pastors’
Wives’ Conference Monday, June 11. Rick Ferguson was pastor of
Riverside Baptist Church in Denver.
“She will be sharing about Rick’s death and all that they went through,” Wicker said. “That will be very powerful.”
Patterson will speak Sunday evening, June 10, while Hawkins will speak
on Monday afternoon and Mohler and Draper Monday evening.
Monday morning will once again feature breakout sessions (dubbed
“elective seminars”) with various speakers at 8:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.
At 11 a.m., everyone will come together for a prayer gathering led by
T.W. Hunt.
“The purpose is not primarily for T.W. to teach us about prayer, but to guide us in a prayer experience,” Wicker said.
Each breakout session will feature six electives from which to choose.
One of those includes a “pastors’ symposium,” with four men speaking 10
minutes each on a specific topic (such as discipleship, “the alcohol
question” or expository preaching). The remaining time will be left for
questions from the audience.
The complete Pastors’ Conference schedule is available online at
www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=25545. The complete Pastors’ Wives’
Conference is available at www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=25668