New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary partnered with five Baptist state conventions to facilitate the Prepare Here Pastor’s Summit (Oct. 9-10), an event designed to encourage and equip pastors from those different conventions.
A representative from each participating state convention, including three executive directors and notable pastors, spoke during the event. Hance Dilbeck, president and CEO of GuideStone Financial Resources, also preached during one of the Summit’s plenary sessions.
The event was presented by New Orleans Seminary’s Jim Henry Leadership Institute, which is directed by Reggie Ogea, professor of leadership and pastoral ministry.
Representatives from the participating conventions included:
The theme of the two-day Summit focused on the power of influence that a pastor has in ministry. Plenaries examined the pastor as servant leader, shepherd leader and strategic leader.
Parker preached in his chapel message about the pastor as servant leader.
“We need to focus on the fact that one of these days we’re going to stand before God and give an account for the way that we utilized the responsibilities that He has entrusted and extended to us to minister, serve and love those around us,” Parker said. “We need to stay focused on that. If you think more about the next life and you’ll do more for this one.”
Dilbeck spoke from Psalm 78 about the crucial concept of being a shepherd-leader.
“If you had to boil down everything the Bible teaches about being a Kingdom leader into one word, it would be the word shepherd,” Dilbeck said.
“It is not insignificant that Jesus said to Peter “shepherd my flock,” when He restored him, and it is not insignificant that Peter said the elders, ‘shepherd the flock of God which is among you.’ From Old to New Testament, the key concept for being a Kingdom leader is the concept of being a shepherd.”
Davis offered a closing challenge to the pastors during the event’s last session about the pastor being a strategic leader.
“One of the biggest things that pastors can do is communicate simply to their people,” Davis said.
Thursday afternoon’s roundtable discussions were led by various pastors and leaders from the partnering state conventions.
In addition to Rummage, roundtable speakers included:
Roundtable topics included maintaining ministry momentum, becoming a missional church, church staffing issues, church turnaround and preaching on the end times.
Each state convention also held a roundtable discussion with their own pastors and leaders.
Additionally, Ogea presented research project updates from the Jim Henry Institute.
NOBTS President Jamie Dew encouraged the pastors in attendance to press on in ministry during Friday’s closing panel.
“We love having you all here, and we’re grateful for you being on campus,” Dew said.
“Hopefully not only the panels and plenary sessions have been encouraging to you but also the times of fellowship that you’ve had with one another. We’re hopeful that this time was a refreshment to your soul.
“This is important work that we do. I’ve often said that I think the work that pastors do is the most important work being done on Earth right now because there’s only one hope for the world and it is Jesus Christ. Keep preaching and teaching the Gospel. We want to just encourage you to stay strong and persist in this work. That’s the hope and the goal of this event.”