Transitions
Last Sunday was interesting for me as in a cosmically-sovereign way (what in the world does cosmically-sovereign even mean?) when two of my worlds - past and present - intersected with transitions.
First, at New Testament Baptist Church in Miami and Broward County, FL, where I serve as the Executive Pastor and Vice-President of our schools, we said goodbye to our Senior Pastor, Dr. Dino Pedrone. He is relocating to Binghamton, NY where he will assume the presidency of Davis College full-time after a year and a half of commuting each week. Dr. Pedrone is only the 4th pastor in the 55-year history of this fellowship and followed the founder, Dr. Al Janney, the late Dr. E.G. Roberson and Kirk Nowery (who is currently the COO of Samaritan’s Purse).
In his final sermon, Dr. Pedrone gave us a charge and recommendation on what the next Pastor of New Testament should bring to this ministry which I thought was sound counsel.
A. Strong understanding, history, support and involvement in the Christian school movement.
Dade Christian Schools has been one of the highest profile Christian schools in the nation for over 40 years. Our thousands of graduates cover the globe. Hundreds are in vocational ministry who received their education at DCS and worshipped at NTBC. DCS was the founding place of movements such as the American Association of Christian Schools and the Florida Association of Christian Colleges and Schools. All three Presidents of FACCS (Janney, me and Pedrone) have had affiliation with DCS and our second school, The Master’s Academy. Ministries which have significant Christian schools need to call pastors who care for and love Christian education or they will be viewed as more trouble than they are worth or will allowed to become a drain on the ministry. This was good counsel.
B. Leader of Leaders
Any pastor knows that leadership is an essential element to shepherding a flock of God’s people. Today’s pastor must be part theologian, part attorney, part counselor, part educator, part accountant, part motivator, part scholar, part humanitarian — just to handle the myriad problems that will cross his desk. No one man can do that. Thus, he needs to be a leader of leaders, wise enough to surround himself with people smarter than he is and willing to let them exercise their spiritual gifts without being threatened by them. Churches are filled with strong personalities and the occasional challenge from someone with a personal agenda. A good pastor must be able to lead leaders.
C. Strong Expositor of the Scriptures
Today, many pulpits are filled with motivational speakers who understand story-telling, comedy, crowd manipulation and charisma — but who do not know orthodox doctrine and how to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Being committed to keeping the preaching of the Word of God central to the mission of the local church is essential in a pastor.
D. Evangelism Gift with Discipleship Oversight
I once read a sign on a church wall that said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” If we aren’t reaching souls with the Gospel and we aren’t seeing them discipled in the Word of God, then why are we doing what we are doing? Evangelism is more than seeing someone make a “decision”. It is about seeing the Holy Spirit convert people to new life in Christ, seeing them following Christ in Biblical baptism and then watching them grow through purposeful and systematic discipleship. Those that neglect discipleship are, in my opinion, guilty of spiritual child abuse.
E. Multi-Cultural Oversight
Our particular congregation has over 70 different ethniticies, nationalities and people groups represented on a typical week-end. Probably half of our congregation is bilingual — perhaps more. South Florida is one of the most diverse areas of the nation. There is no room in ministry anywhere — but particularly in South Florida — for a narrow view of the Body of Christ when it comes to reaching the community. There is a need to respect, enjoy, celebrate and participate in the cultural melting pot that is our community and to encourage others to break down the walls that divide us unBiblically.
I hope you will pray for the leadership of this church in the coming days as the search for our next Senior Pastor begins in earnest.
My role remains as the Executive Pastor and Vice-President and in the absence of a Senior Pastor, that puts me at the helm. We are not calling an “Interim Pastor”, but maintaining the current organizational structure. I will be preaching each Sunday at our Broward Campus at 8:30 a.m. and at our Dade Campus at 10:00 a.m.. I will also be conducting our mid-week Bible studies at the Dade Campus on Wednesday evenings at 7:00. Pastor Brian Burkholder will remain as the campus pastor at our Broward branch and will be preaching on Saturday evenings to our Spanish congregation and at the 11:30 service at Broward. He will also teach the mid-week Bible studies at Broward on Wednesday evenings. Both of us will keep our respective Bible Fellowship Classes on Sunday mornings as well. Once a month, we will swap service schedules and he will preach at Dade and I will preach at the late service at Broward.
The other facet of last week-end was the welcome news that my former church, Northside Baptist Church, in Charlotte, NC has called their 4th pastor in their 55-year history. Brian Boyles, who formerly served on the pastoral staff of the great Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, will be assuming the Senior Pastor’s office on December 7th after receiving the call from the congregation this past Sunday. As the fourth pastor, he follows the founder, the late Dr. Jack Hudson, Dr. Bradley Price and me. Northside has been without a pastor for 29 months and I know they have to be enthusiastic about finding their new pastor and are anxious to welcome him and his young family into their new home. I know Pastor Boyles will be blessed by the many wonderful and generous people who make up NBC and I have already begun praying for him as he takes the leadership of this historic church.
Transitions in life are often when God reminds us that He is always in control and that He has a specific plan for us. I hope you’ll be praying for both of these churches in the coming weeks as these transitions unfold.