African American Leadership Conference equips over 500 for ministry, pulpit leadership

March 12-14, over 500 pastors and church leaders gathered at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Mansfield for three days of worship, workshops and fellowship to be equipped for ministry, stewardship and kingdom impact. 

With the theme “Leading Up,” attendees had the opportunity, over the three-day conference, to attend 24 unique workshops on topics such as discipleship, leadership, community outreach, evangelism, how to leave a legacy and more.

Rasby Mason, III, pastor of Impact Church DFW,  a 5-month-old Texas Baptists church plant in Mansfield, said he was impacted by a workshop led by Elmo Johnson, pastor of Rose of Sharon Baptist Church in Houston, focused on community outreach and connection. He said his major takeaway from the session was discovering and leaning into your “holy passion.” 

“If you can find some that you have a holy passion about and, like [Johnson] said, you're not chasing it for money, you're not chasing it for platforms and for recognition, but you’re actually doing it because it is something that God called you to do, I believe from there, there will be exponential growth,” said Mason. 

Leading like Paul 

Texas Baptists African American Evangelism Specialist Al Curley, III, led a workshop focused on “leading like Paul.” He shared five leadership methods Paul models in scripture. A leader’s authority comes from their encounter with Christ, not their resume; Cause matters in leadership; Leaders have to lead from a “non-negotiable center;” Leaders cannot compromise the message; Leaders have to be flexible. 

“You cannot lead people to a place that you have not been in, and if you have not been transformed by the gospel, you cannot lead a transformational ministry,” said Curley. “God's got a center [mission] that's non-negotiable… You’ve got to seek God for the center [of your leadership] that doesn’t change.” 

Drawing from 1 Corinthians 9 and Acts 17, he told attendees that “[Paul] doesn't change the message, he changes his posture to remove unnecessary obstacles to the gospel.” 

Curley concluded the workshop by encouraging attendees that “endurance and faithful service are the stars of leadership.” Drawing from 2 Corinthians 11, he pointed out that Paul’s “weakness was his greatest platform for God’s strength.” 

“Paul stayed the course [of his ministry] because his why was bigger than his hard,” said Curley. “You’ve got to be clear on the why so that you can endure the hard.” 

Drawing from Joshua 1:9, Curley encouraged attendees to “you are able to lead like Paul… because God is with you.” 

“Lead the people as if God is with you. Love the people as if God is with you. Listen to the people as if God is with you. Leverage those relationships as if God is with you [because he is],” said Curley. 

Ten Commandments of pulpit leadership 

Joel Gregory, professor of preaching at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, led all attendees in a “Leadership Intensive” workshop titled, “Partnering to Preach.” He walked through “ten commandments of pulpit leadership” that he compiled through “my own attempts and experiences [in preaching].” 

They are: Pulpit leadership must always be connected to biblical text; Pulpit leadership sermons must not only have a focus, but a stated function; Pulpit leadership must see what others do not; Pulpit leaders must be believable, have ethos and authority; Pulpit leaders must know the difference between persuasion, manipulation and coercion; Pulpit leaders must believe their message when no one else does; Pulpit leaders must live with open opposition; Pulpit leaders must be willing to take risks; Pulpit leaders must lead without producing shock that ends communication; Pulpit leaders must be Christocentric, leading to a Person, not only a cause.

“If you're going to lead people, sooner or later they're going to weigh how they perceive you,” said Gregory. “Communication equals trustworthiness plus expertise.” 

He concluded the workshop by emphasizing his final commandment that “pulpit leaders must be Christocentric.” He told attendees that those who are abandoned to God, trust in him and know that “everything we face finds its ultimate answer” in him.

“For those of us who believe in the virgin-born, sinlessly perfect, brutally crucified, really buried, visibly resurrected, ascended, coming Christ, there's nothing we touch that does not need to be centered in Him,” said Gregory. Whatever you are preaching about, you can find a way to the cross and the resurrection… Don’t forget to lead with that as your cornerstone.” 

Paul Jacks, senior pastor of New Creation Bible Church in Dallas, said he was impacted by Gregory’s authenticity and was encouraged by his charge that pulpit leaders “must be willing to take risks.” 

“[What stuck out to me] is that [Gregory’s points] were from lived experiences and not something he got out of the book,” said Jacks. “One of [Gregory’s points] is being authentic, and you could tell that [he spoke with authenticity] from his lived experiences, and that's valuable for me to hear,” said Jacks.  

“God is your solution”  

Tony Evans, founding pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author, shared a message with attendees from 2 Chronicles 15:1-7. He explained to attendees that this passage speaks about “an extended time where people could not locate peace” because “God troubled them with every sort of distress,” (2 Chronicles 15:5-6). 

He told attendees, “If God is your problem, only God is your solution.” 

“Everything visible and physical is always preceded by something invisible and spiritual,” said Evans. “If you don’t identify and address what is being derived from the invisible and spiritual, you will be unable to correct the problems that you are experiencing in the visible and physical. So [the people] were having visible/physical chaos, but there was an invisible/spiritual cause.” 

Referencing 2 Chronicles 15:3, Evans pointed out that there were three causes that “led to God allowing the chaos that the world was experiencing.” He said the first cause was that the people were without the true God.

“Religion wasn’t absent, it was the true God that was missing, and the further you go from the true God… the more you are setting yourself up for the distress you see in the culture,” said Evans. 

The second cause was that the people were without a teaching priest. The third cause, as a direct result of the second, was that the people were without the law.

“The truth had been abandoned by the pulpit… [and] the further the truth of the Bible is removed, the worse things get. The closer the true God is, the more ordered things become,” said Evans.

Evans concluded his message by pointing to the solution to the people’s chaos, found in 2 Chronicles 15:4. He said “God let things get bad enough long enough until they re-prioritized how they were living” and God would relieve the stress.

“I know we have chaos… and I know we wish he could leave Heaven and come down [to us] and one day he’s going to do that, but right now, he’s just giving instructions and he’s saying ‘If I ever get you in alignment [with me], then you’ll find out [that] you have enough power and enough strength to see things open up that you thought were closed,” said Evans. 

He encouraged attendees to consider, “What do you think Texas Baptists can do in the name of the true God?” 

To learn more about Texas Baptists African American Ministries and how it can be a resource to you and your church, visit txb.org/aam.