Early in his tenure as executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, Dr. Todd Gray called 120 KBC churches who, at the time, were searching for a senior pastor. He discovered that mid-size and large churches had no problem finding qualified candidates, but smaller churches were facing great difficulty. He heard some churches were so desperate that they were considering non-Southern Baptist candidates.

Dr. Gray decided to call for a statewide initiative to address the need. He asked me to lead the initiative, along with selected members of the Church Consulting and Revitalization team. We gladly accepted the assignment because of the potential benefits to KBC churches. As a part of the assignment, Dr. Gray shared four main convictions about the need.

Dr. Gray’s 4 “Calling Out the Called” Convictions

1. Men sitting in the pews of nearby area churches can best meet these needs.

2. Many of these men are professionals and deeply committed Christians who have abilities to teach, preach and lead.

3. These men need to hear the call of God, answer that call and receive basic skills training for ministry.

4. The KBC needs to lead in this area to help churches meet the need.

This initiative will be a multi-year project, but we believe there is urgency. As a result, we hope to make immediate strides with a goal of announcing key initiative elements at the 2021 KBC Annual Meeting in Elizabethtown on Nov. 9, 2021.

Please join us in praying for God’s blessing and wisdom. The harvest is indeed great, but more laborers are needed. Pray that God will send laborers for His work and for His glory!

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Steve Rice is team leader of Church Consulting and Revitalization of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.