The Next Step - Pastor Wesley
Laughter, smiles, conversation, warmth of shoulder to shoulder fellowship, and a staple of Southern Baptist gathering . . . food! These paint a picture of this past weekend when around 50 people came together Friday night and Saturday to learn more about how each one of Christ’s followers are gifted to serve in ministry and 100 adults and children gathered Sunday evening for dinner and a time to hear about the opportunities to serve at Boyd Avenue Baptist Church. I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to gather together as the body of Christ, and this was no exception.
As a Christ-centered church, Boyd Avenue Baptist Church (BABC) expresses joy at various church events. We celebrate professions of faith in Christ, families gather at baptisms, and we share hugs and hearty handshakes with those who decide to pledge church membership. These things are well worth celebrating, yet they are not to be the emphasis of church life. I think in the minds of many these celebrations are viewed as a kind of "graduation party", that the lost are being saved and the church is gaining members and what was sought after has been fulfilled. Again, these are good things, but they are not THE thing. THE purpose of the church is given by Jesus in Matthew 28:12, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations . . .” I’m grateful to be part of a church body which rightly understands the God-given purpose of the church is disciple-making. I'm thankful that BABC sees salvations, baptisms, and an increase in church rolls as more of a baby-shower than a graduation party. If salvation is the first step in the life of a Christian, then activities like those of this past weekend in discovering our "gift-mix" are the next step in the life of a Christian. The Christian life is not "accomplished" once we are saved, as if we can now put Jesus in our pocket as a token of salvation and continue to live life as we always have. The Christian life is spent for the rest of our lives endeavoring to become a disciple who seeks to serve God, and serve our fellow man. And I do not believe we can live with the abundance Jesus talks about (John 10:10) and serve others WITHOUT discovering the gifts the Holy Spirit has blessed each believer with. I am grateful to serve in a place that not only believes that disciple-making is important, but organizes events such as those of this past weekend to encourage us to put that belief into practice.
How is your journey to becoming a disciple coming along? Are you looking for ways you can serve? Have you discovered the unique manner in which God has created and gifted you to benefit others? Or perhaps you have been saved by Christ's sacrifice on the cross and you've been content to just keep Him in your pocket without a thought to service? The apostle Paul discusses spiritual gifts in places like 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. And certainly the church benefits from and NEEDS the unique gifting of the various members of the body in order to fulfill the charge Jesus gave the church to go and make disciples. But my testimony is that as bad as the church needs its members to serve, YOU need it more. I have been BLESSED to be the Associate Pastor at BABC since February 2020, and it is a blessing I would have never known had I just been content to keep Jesus in my pocket while serving myself. I thought I knew how to live my life and to attain happiness on my own and through opportunities to serve BABC I have learned how wrong I've been. I encourage you, I IMPLORE you, if you do not know how or where to serve, reach out to myself or another member of BABC staff so we can help you find out. You may have taken the first step in the walk of the Christian, but the abundant joy of life is found in the next step.
-- Pastor Wesley