Stay Focused: Why I Am Stepping Down From My Roles At PMBA And State Convention:

Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.-1 Thessalonians 4:11

Ellie Rose was born on Monday, February 19th at (way too early O'clock), since her birth it has given me a lot of time to walk her, pray and think about my future. As I examine my schedule and look over all of my responsibilities I keep hearing my high school track and field coach saying, "don't be a jack of all trades and a master of none." Along those lines of thought, I have been watching a lot of coverage of the Reverend Billy Graham's life. From all I have read and watched I gather that he was a man who invested deeply in one or two things and because of those one or two things he impacted the world. 

I don't want to stretch myself so thin that I am mediocre at a lot of things. I want my life to matter and make a difference for eternity and I feel strongly that the best way to impact eternity is to invest on one or two things rather than investing in ten things.

Therefore,

I will be stepping down from my roles in the Pilot Mountain Baptist Association (PMBA) including the church health focus group and leadership network team as well as stepping down from my role on the Engaging Lostness focus group of the NC Baptist State Convention. 

Stepping down from these roles will allow me to invest in four things which I believe will have the greatest impact for eternity.

1) Personal Devotion to God: The most important thing I do everyday is to spend time with the Father. My effectiveness as a Christian, husband, father, pastor, member of society is directly tied to me spending time everyday with God in His Word and through prayer. “God’s best for you is closely linked with this daily meeting with Him. The barometer of one’s Christian life is the Quiet Time. Do you have a Quiet Time, or have you let it slip? Be the man of God who takes time to be holy, speaks oft with his Lord, abides in Him only, and feeds on His Word. God grant that this may be true of you. You cannot tell me you have surrendered to God, that Jesus Christ is Lord of your life, or that you know the fullness of the Holy Spirit unless you have your manna in the morning. May your prayer be: Help me, O Lord, Thy Word to read,/Upon the living Bread to feed,/Seeking Thy Spirit’s quickening lead/That I may please Thee in all things.” Stephen F. Olford

2) Family Ministry: My family is my first ministry. I am first and foremost, Pastor Dad! I strive to be lion-hearted and lamb-like in the servant leadership of my family. I will not sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry. My family comes first, ministry comes second. 

3) CREW Student Ministry: I love working with students. I love the fact that students are raw and real and will call BS (they will actually say the word which is awesome) in a heartbeat . They don't mince words and you always know where you stand with students. My number one responsibility at FBC Stanleyville is to the students. They are my number one focus! Everything else can and at times has suffered (website, social media, CARE, shut in, associate pastor duties) but CREW Student Ministry will NEVER suffer. The students will NEVER be treated like they are second in my book! I need to free up more time to better minister to them on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, tutoring in local schools, attending clubs and activities which students are a part of and always being available to my students.

4) FBC Stanleyville: The church is the culmination of God’s redemptive work which spans thousands of years. It is one of — if not the — primary byproduct of the gospel. These things cannot be said of any other earthly institution. The church is not simply a man-made tool that we use to advance the cause of Christ; the church itself is central to the cause. God has not chosen to use associations, state conventions, etc to reach the world NO, God has chosen to use the church; therefore, I want to invest my life into an instiution which will outlive me and last for eternity; the church. I don't want to help other churches be healthy and neglect my own. I don't want to train other people in NC to engage lostness and evangelize but never teach my people at Stanleyville to evangelize. I don't want to help cast a vision for an association but never do the same for Stanleyville. No, I need to invest more in my church than in an association or state convention.

Right now I feel very strongly that if I could do these four things (personal devotion, Pastor dad, CREW Student Ministry, FBC Stanleyville) the rest of my life I would die a happy man. 

I will still continue to attend equipping ministries and invest financially in the PMBA and State Convention but serving on several focus groups is stretching me too thin.

I believe that by saying no to good things (focus groups) I am able to say yes to the best things (personal devotion, Pastor Dad, CREW Student Ministry and FBC Stanleyville).

I am looking forward to the future!