"Despite the ongoing debates over gender roles, surveys show significant agreement in favor of female Sunday school teachers, worship leaders, speakers, and preachers." - CToday
It was the Summer of 1969, and I found myself in Memphis, Tennessee, pursuing some practical aspects of training for ministry. For two years, I had served as week-end Youth Pastor and Music Director for Faith Baptist church in Chester, South Carolina. I traveled the eighty miles from Greenville to Chester on Saturday afternoons, conducted a Teen meeting Saturday Evening, and slept on a pull-out bed in the church office Saturday night.
Sunday mornings found me sponge bathing in the church bathroom, teaching a Teen Sunday School class, leading congregational singing and directing the choir for morning worship. Afternoons involved choir rehearsal, another Teen meeting, and music for evening worship. Exhausted, I would drive home Sunday night, tumble into bed, and arise at 5:00 a.m., to deliver newspapers before my first university class at eight.
I cherished the opportunities in Chester, as they taught me much about pastoral ministry. But I also sensed a need for additional experiences, so I accepted an invitation to Interstate Baptist Church in Memphis to serve during the summer. My primary work was door to door visitation. Every day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., I knocked on doors of homes within reasonable distance from the church. Memphis is hot and humid in the summer, but the experience I gained talking to hundreds of people about the gospel was more than worth the uncomfortable weather. In addition, I worked with the Teens and supplied the pulpit for the three or four Sundays that the pastor was on vacation.
Here's a collection of some of the latest (at this moment) COVID-19 related news and views, mostly from Christian sources.
Christian perspectives...
"I’ve been truly blessed through most of my ministry to have some great team members. But I’ve also had some bad experiences in this department, and these contrasting experiences have revealed a few characteristics that make someone a truly great team member." - F&T
"Odle is currently pastor of First Baptist Church, Elyria, Ohio, where he has served since 2011, and a member of the GARBC Council of Eighteen. He was previously assistant pastor of Ankeny (Iowa) Baptist Church (1991–1999); pastor of Holmes Baptist Church, Clarion, Iowa (1999–2008); and vice president of enrollment and student life at Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary (2008–2011)." - GARBC
"Cases of Steve Timmis and Jonathan Fletcher illustrate debate over at what point a pastor’s exhortation crosses the line into coercion." - CToday
"The context of [1 Tim. 3:4-5] is the biblical qualifications for church overseers. It’s a passage of Scripture that’s created a great deal of stress for church leaders who have a wayward son or daughter or who have a child who appears out of control." - F&T
"Steve Timmis was acclaimed for his model of close church community. But former members claim that inside The Crowded House, he resorted to bullying and control." - CToday
