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Brothers and Sisters,
It has been a few weeks since my last newsletter. This is not because there hasn’t been much to highlight—on the contrary, God is continuing to work in great ways! We recently witnessed Mason Yandell’s baptism, hosted a very successful May the 4th Camp Fundraiser, sent our Mission Team to visit the Arkansas Baptist Children’s and Family Ministries building in Little Rock, and heard Terry Skelton preach his first sermon!
As your pastor, it is my calling to follow God’s Word and obey what He commands pastors to do. In Ephesians 4, we read:
[11] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, [12] to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, [14] so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. [15] Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
One of the clear commands in this passage is that shepherds (pastors/elders) are to equip the saints for the work of ministry. While all believers are called to make disciples, the pastor is specifically called to equip believers for ministry.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with two men in our church, modeling for them how to preach. This includes showing them how I pray over a text, how I study it, how I apply it with our people in mind, how I practice delivering the sermon, how I give and receive feedback, and how I provide opportunities for them to preach.
My goal is to continually disciple and hand over opportunities to qualified men to preach. This is exactly what Terry was able to do, and it was a massive blessing to both me and our church. I want to take a moment to thank you as a church for how encouraging you were to him and to me. Some churches neglect the command in Ephesians 4 by expecting the single pastor to do all the preaching unless he is sick. But I desire to lead a church that trains up faithful men who long to preach. In fact, I pray that God raises up so many that we are able to send them out to strengthen other churches in our area.
One concern I see in our denomination is the average age of pastors. “A Lifeway Research analysis found the average age of U.S. Protestant pastors has remained fairly stable over the past decade moving from 53.6 in 2013 to 53.84 in 2023. The Hartford Institute research found a more consistent increase, climbing from 57 in 2020 to 59 in 2023.” That means I am one of the younger outliers in the SBC, and it highlights the urgent need to train up the next generation of pastors.
Thank you for being a church that supports these efforts. So every time I’m not in the pulpit, know that I’m striving to fulfill Ephesians 4:12 at Fellowship Baptist Church.
God is doing great things at Fellowship Baptist Church!
In Christ,
Travis Smith
Servant of Jesus Christ
Lead Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Church
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