Pastoral Leadership Topic

When I believed God was burdening my heart to plant a church in my hometown, many people laughed or just shook their heads. You see, I am from Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1977, I planned to graduate on May 11, get married ten days later, and assist my pastor in building a recent successful church plant in Burlington, North Carolina. That year, however, God changed my direction towards planting a church in Las Vegas.

I would like to share some things that I think might be helpful in the husband and wife relationship for the preacher and his wife. I read an interesting book several years ago called Finishing Strong by Steve Farrar. He tells about a survey Dr. Howard Hendricks conducted of 246 men in full-time ministry who had experienced personal moral failure within a two-year period.

Being an independent Baptist in the 1970s was exciting. Elmer Towns published The Ten Largest Sunday Schools in America in 1969, and we occupied a majority of the spots. People were being saved, and churches were growing exponentially through aggressive soulwinning and outreach.

When Jesus left this world He commissioned His church to go into “all the world” with the gospel message. This is more than just the message of salvation; it is also administering baptism and then training or discipling new converts. If we are going to be successful in doing what Christ gave us to do, churches must be planted in order to carry out the three directives given by the Lord.