Photo by Joni B. Hannigan

Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola and a Pastors’ Conference speaker, prayed with and for pastors Nov. 14 in Ocala, urging them to shield themselves against affliction, which Apostle Paul described as “conflicts without and fears within.”

OCALA (FBW)—Humor and humility marked the Nov. 13-14 “Water for Warriors” 2005 Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference hosted by First Baptist Church in Ocala.

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Eight keynote speakers exhorted pastors and church leaders to saturate the conference motto: Be yourself; be courageous; be humble. More than 1,000 attended the annual event. First Baptist Church in Eustis sponsored the conference, which was organized by its pastor, Hal Kitchings, and amplified by its choir.

Experienced musicians led worship, including Charles Billingsley, a concert performer and worship leader at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.; Kayla Powell, the 17-year-old daughter of Richard Powell, pastor of McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers; and Simeon Nix, worship pastor at Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon.

In a business session, conferees elected officers for 2006 to assist Alan Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Middleburg, president: President-elect, Thomas Vinson, First Baptist Church, Winter Park; first vice-president, Troy Grant, Lake Asbury Baptist Church, Green Cove Springs; and second vice-president, David Cleveland, Broadway Baptist Church, Tampa.

On the first night, Nov. 14, Hayes Wicker, pastor of First Baptist Church in Naples, prayed over John Sullivan, the executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, and the convention members who approached the stage for prayer at Kitchings’ beckoning.

“Every one of us is so grateful for the privilege of serving in this great state,” Wicker said.

He asked people to pray for a Florida native, Adrian Rogers, who was in critical condition at the time but passed away Nov. 15. Rogers, an iconic-former-SBC president and preacher, led a preaching conference last month at Wicker’s church.

Water for warriors

Ted Traylor, pastor of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, expanded on the “Water for Warriors” theme derived from Samuel 23: 13-17 by sharing an anecdotal application.

In the historical narrative of King David’s life, the distraught warrior requested water from a well in his hometown of Bethlehem. Three courageous soldiers broke Philistine lines along the way to bring David relief, which he poured out as an offering to the Lord.

In Traylor’s own life, he said 1997 was a year filled with anguish. He said some church members made life miserable for him and his family. In particular, he said a letter writer addressed his wife as “Jezebel.” It contained a threat to burn down his house and the return address was marked “Legion.”

“You can get weary trying to help others because there’s no rest for the flesh,” Traylor said. “The church is moved by tired people.”

But, he said, there will be encouragers in congregations for pastors to locate despite the presence of negative people.

Traylor said three men from Pensacola drove to Traylor’s hometown in north Alabama to bring him back a drink of water. After consulting his parents, the men also brought him some sentimental rocks.

The rocks were from an area near the Tennessee border where Traylor believes God called him to the ministry as a youth.

The men told Traylor they were willing to give their lives for him.

“Our great God wants to bolster you,” he said of the pivotal moment in his life.

Traylor tearfully extended an altar call to pastors: “God, if there is a weary warrior here … give him a cool drink of water from heaven’s well … that others may see Jesus in Him,” he said.

He said believers must buffet themselves against affliction, which Apostle Paul described as “conflicts without and fears within.”

Paul’s pilgrimage through pride

On short notice, Jimmy Dale Patterson, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Sanford, presented an outline of Apostle Paul’s learning curve. He replaced David Nasser, a revival speaker, who could not attend due to scheduling conflicts.

Patterson traced Paul’s Damascus Road conversion to his journey to Arabia in preparation for ministry. After this solitary study, he said Paul put “feet to his faith” by preaching everywhere to “enemies of the cross.”

“We’ve got too many professing Christians,” Patterson said, and “not enough practicing Christians like the apostle Paul.”

Upon overtaking his tutor Barnabas in prominence, Paul reached the “pinnacle of his leadership,” Patterson said, and it was at this point—Gal. 1:1 in 49 A.D.—that he declared his ministry God ordained and not from man.

Patterson wondered aloud how many preachers would stop ministering if their office and perks were stripped.

“I’ve about had my fill of all these glamour-boy preachers with mousse in their hair,” he said. “The ministry is filled today with those who are grandma called, greed called, and glamour called … and that won’t get you through Monday morning.”

Six years after Paul announced his calling, Patterson said this “Johnny-come-lately apostle,” who once sought equal footing with the other apostles, decided to take a backseat to them due to his earlier persecution of the church.

Patterson said Paul’s brokenness occurred through hardships, including his rift with Barnabas. He related this to travails many pastors face.

“You’re like a dog chasing your tail trying to take care of every problem that is in your church,” Patterson said.

As believers, he said, pastors should glory in tribulations like Paul, who went from the “sent one” in Gal. 1:1 to the “secondary one” in 1 Cor. 15 to the “smallest one” in Eph. 3:8 in a span of more than a decade.

In 62 A.D. Paul dismounted his “high horse,” according to Patterson, by referring to himself as the “chief of sinners” in 1 Tim. 1:15.

“Some of us have gotten too big for our britches,” Patterson said. “We’ve been building our resume” when God says spiritual growth only comes by getting smaller.

Just be yourself

Scott Anderson, broke in the crowd with self-deprecating comments about his life in a wheelchair.

“Thank you for being under 5'5' or whatever you are,” Anderson told Ed Johnson, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Ocala, whose pulpit rose from the middle of the platform.

Anderson, who has cerebral palsy, said people often think he has muscular dystrophy, spinal bifida, or has been hit by a truck. He recounted a time when people kept staring at him in which he improvised an upbeat reaction.

“I stood up and I started walking toward them, and I said I was healed,” Anderson said. Although he can walk, Anderson needs the wheelchair because of muscle spasms, which limit him in other areas.

“I cannot write my name, but I can drive a car—pretty scary,” he said. “Being 34-years-old and still single, does that have anything to do with being in a wheelchair?”

Despite his limited mobility, Anderson, creative pastor of First Baptist Church in West Hollyood, said his “Momentum Ministry” has allowed him to speak to hundreds of churches worldwide.

In his extensive travels, Anderson said he’s heard many church members’ “horrible stories” by virtue of being from out of town, including an associate pastors’ coup against the senior pastor.

He decried the pretense of some pastors who download sermons from pastors.com mere hours before preaching or who contrive a style not their own after attending conferences.

Often people wish to escape or be someone else in adverse conditions, he said, but the solution lies in Deut. 31:6: “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you” (NKJV).

Of this verse, he said: “It confirms who I am. I don’t have to pretend to be somebody else.”

Anderson said even if he “had all the money in the world,” he would still be in a wheelchair. But, then again, “nothing in this world will bring me satisfaction except Jesus.

“Be satisfied with who you are … and the Lord will be with you every step of the way,” Anderson concluded.

God is in control

Charles Lowery, a psychologist, motivational speaker, and former college professor, entertained the crowd with one-liners.

“The wind was blowing so hard, the state bird was the toupee,” Lowery said of Hurricane Wilma.

Concocting a fictitious wedding scene in today’s society, he imagined a pastor giving the groom permission to take out his nose ring and place it on the bride’s finger.

Lowery believes God has a sense of humor, too. He described a mix-up with a church that invited him to visit thinking he was Mark Lowery, who is an acclaimed singer and comedian of no relation to Charles.

He said that although the pastor stubbornly demanded that he perform somehow to cover the mistake, God sovereignly knew the pastor needed to see a psychologist more than a singer.

Lowery estimated that nearly 90 percent of life is smooth, but he said the rest is filled with “jerks and jerkettes,” difficulties, and problems that are impossible to control, which is why people should absolve themselves as general managers of the universe.

“God made you His way,” Lowery said. “He’s God, you’re not, so get over it.” If the goal is straightening out people, he said one should consider becoming a mortician.

Lowery said that people must accept their church and stop tearing people down to create an unattainable fantasy. In the long run, he said, failure to accept the imperfection of individuals in a fallen world only produces misery.

Redeeming mankind is the primary business of the church, according to Lowery.

“Worship is leaving your world and entering their world and sacrificing whatever is important to you in order for people to be saved just like the boss, Jesus, did,” he said.

A compelling mission

An in-depth analysis of peak performances across many fields and most importantly, in the scriptures, reveals common attributes, according to Jay Strack, a minister from Orlando who has spoken in more than 22 countries.

He said refueling is the greatest task of leaders of the cause of Christ.

Strack divided the attributes into four catchphrases: “a mission that motivates,” “integrity that inspires,” “team members you can trust,” and “attitude that creates altitude.”

“If your dreams are second to your memories, you need a new mission,” said Strack of living for something bigger than yourself. “A compelling mission focuses me, fuels me, and finishes me.”

When great opportunities arrive, he said adversity is a given, as Paul made a habit of naming “hammerheads” or adversaries among the peppering of allies in his epistles.

“Some people focus when life squeezes them” while “some people fold,” he said.

Strack said Shamgar, a little-known Old Testament warrior, possessed the kind of “get-it-done” attitude that Christians should emulate. He saved Israel by slaying more than 600 Philistines.

Believers must be disciplined and not get distracted from telling people how to get to heaven, he said.

“As cool as what they do at NASA, it pales in comparison to what we do,” said Strack, who is helping to write the official team-building book for NASA. “I believe we’ve been given the greatest assignment on the planet.”

In carrying out the great commission, Strack said “to start where you are” and “use what you have.”

God’s Kingdom is active

“God’s Kingdom is alive with activity,” said Vance Pitman, the pastor/church planter of Hope Baptist Church in Las Vegas.

While Southern Baptists might pride themselves in having 45,000 churches, he said one city—Seoul, South Korea—is home to 10 of the 11 largest churches in the world.

South Korea is second in missionary sending only because the United States is 10 times bigger, according to Pitman, who said prayer was the catalyst for the explosive growth.

As an Alabama native, Pitman said, “Las Vegas isn’t hell, but you can smell it from there,” of his initial reaction to being called to pastor a church there.

He said he was eventually burdened by the great need for evangelical churches in the area. His church now supports a bevy of missionary activity in other countries, such as Egypt.

Pitman said the Kingdom of God is referenced more than 100 times in the Bible, so it should be the first priority.

“God’s Kingdom is God’s sovereign activity in the world resulting in people having a right relationship with God,” he said in clarifying the concept he believes has been obscured by the church-growth movement. “The church is not the end; it’s just the means to the end.”

Southern Baptists like to compare their blessings, Pitman said, but God blesses people so they can become vehicles for blessing others.

“What pleases God is when what’s on His heart is on our hearts,” Pitman said. “The heart cry of Jesus” is when those who have not accepted him do so.

Swallowing our pride

“Ego stands for edging God out,” said Frank Harber, a former atheist, who now pastors First Baptist Church in Colleyville, Texas. “Pride says that I don’t need God—I’m independent.”

God calls Christians to be poor in spirit, so pride—often disguising itself as false humility—must be crucified daily, according to Harber.

He warned to be leery of pride spotters in the church, which he said can be a haven for mean-spirited, critical people.

Harber shared a major regret in his earlier, unbelieving years that was fueled by pride.

His baseball coach substituted another hitter for him at a critical time in the game, he said. At that moment, he quit the team, climbed over the fence, and walked home instead of waiting for his ride. His coach then banned him from playing in the all-star game.

Out of pride, Harber said he refused to play baseball the following year, thinking he was hurting his coach, but unfortunately the whole episode discouraged him from playing competitively again.

He wondered if he could have played in the majors or earned a
college-baseball scholarship had pride not got in the way. When professional players who attend his church tell him stories about the big leagues, he said he relives his hard lesson.

Clutching a bat, Harber said that Christianity is a team sport: “If we’ll live together in humility, Jesus said we’ll truly be winners, able to hit anything that comes our way.”

A blueprint for humility

Ed Johnson, pastor of the host church, First Baptist in Ocala, quoted Peter’s blueprint for overseers: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion …” (1 Pet. 5:2 NKJV).

Johnson, emphasized that verse 5, which reads “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” in English, actually connotes that God sets Himself against the proud in the original Greek. He said God knows how to “get your attention and burst your bubble.”

Johnson recounted the time he met President George W. Bush due to his relationship with Florida State Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Ocala). He introduced Johnson to Bush as a pastor of one of the biggest churches in his district.

Bush shook his hand and said, “I can see you are the biggest pastor in your district” as well. Though Bush was just joking, Johnson said the exchange cut him down a notch in self-importance.

Johnson shared pointers in growing in humility.

“You’ve got to be ready for God’s spanking,” he said, and be willing to “serve God wherever you are.”

Johnson said pastors should treat assignments to minister at small places as very significant opportunities. He said God will exalt the humble in due time.

Because “He is committed to breaking you,” Johnson said, quickly repenting when chastised will spur spiritual progression.

Above all, Johnson said, God’s plan is so much better than what we could come up with, so it is wise to stop striving with God; instead, we are to follow God’s admonition in Matt. 6: 33: “But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (NKJV).