Being Faithful where God has called us

I hope you had a blessed Labor Day weekend. I did! We had our extended family over for a grill out, watermelon and even s’mores. It’s like summer met fall on the same day. Even the weather was so.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the opportunity my wife and I had to attend Fairy Baptist Church in Hico, Texas. Rev. Bob Ray celebrated 60th years of pastoral ministry in that same church.

We worshipped with the congregation, and we presented a recognition to Pastor Bob Ray on behalf of Texas Baptists. This was a very historic moment. I am not aware of any other Baptist pastor who has had a 60-year ministry in the same church.

I reflected on the fact that I served the last two churches I pastored for a total of thirty years. While that’s significant for me, it is only half of the time Pastor Bob served, not in two churches but in one.

This is remarkable in several ways. It models for others the commitment to serve where God has placed us with dedication and a servant heart. Not all of us are called to spend 60 years in one place, and perhaps not all of us would be able to physically do so either, but all of us can be inspired to bloom where we are planted. Longevity in pastoral ministry is a gift.

Hico, Texas, is not a very big town, and Fairy Baptist Church is not a large church. But here is a testimony of someone who has poured out his life in ministry there. It is a reminder that ministry success is not measured by the size of the town or the church where we serve, but by our faithfulness to God’s people, where He has called us.

As we look at the fields which are white for the harvest, we pray for God to continue to call men and women to vocational ministry. We pray for individuals who are willing to go wherever they are called, whether to a rural, urban or suburban setting. We pray for those who are willing to give of themselves in the service of God’s people with commitment and humility.

There are many empty pulpits now. There will be more in the next few years. And we will need workers for new churches to be started. Lord, send laborers to the harvest!

Our Cooperative Program office also presented Fairy Baptist Church a special recognition in celebration of the Cooperative Program’s 100th anniversary. Fairy Baptist was one of the 25 churches that was selected for their generous contribution through the Cooperative Program and their practicing of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

We are blessed as a Texas Baptists family to have churches who are reaching their communities, making disciples and engaging in God’s mission to the nations. We are blessed with many wonderful pastors who are leading their churches well. Central Texas, East Texas, South Texas, West Texas, North Texas and outside of Texas, Jesus is being proclaimed in word and deed!