Reb Rev's Blog

I mentioned (briefly) in a recent post that I was at the NC Bi-vocational Ministers Conference. For those who may not be familiar with the term bi-vocational means two vocations. Two callings. Two careers. So, a bi-vocational minister is a pastor, music minister, evangelist, etc AND something else. That something else consists of farmers, plumbers, military members, law enforcement, firemen, judicial officials, postal employeess, teachers, mechanics, salesmen, warehouse managers, and many, many more. These are just the ones I know.

Each year we come together for a weekend at Caraway Conference Center near Asheboro, NC. This means all these guys have to not only take off from the church, but often they must take vacation from their other vocation as well.

But, let me tell you it is ALWAYS worth it. The conference speakers are good, the fellowship is wonderful and the encouragement is priceless. This year our main conference speakers were Jim Henry (Pastor Emeritus of FBC Orlando, now interim pastor at Biltmore Baptist) and Ray Gilder who is himself a bi-vocational pastor. His “other” vocation is with the Tennessee Baptist State Convention where he serves as a coordinator for bi-vocational ministers and churches.

Yours truly was blessed to be on the program Sunday Morning.

The focus was on the minister’s family. Whether bi-vocational or fully funded, the minister’s family faces the same attacks and challenges as any other. This time together was a reminder that God established the family as the basic building block of society (and the church). Just as in other areas of life it is often easy to mistake activity for effectiveness and “church work” for a Christian walk.

Any family, ministerial or not, which does not have God at the center & Christ as the foundation is in trouble already. My prayer for you today is that you will take stock of where your family is and ask God’s guidance and leadership to move you where you need to be.   

To be continued . . .

This entry was posted on July 22, 2008 at 9:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.