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By Michael J. Brooks

I’ve written good-natured laments in recent months about young preachers. I was one and was called on at 15 and 16 to speak God’s truth.

One of my friends told me about his first sermon as a teenager.

“I had three points,” he said. “Go to church, read the Bible and be good. That’s all I had!”

I suppose, likewise, I spoke sincerely but with little profundity.

I was interested to see a recent story in Baptist Press about the Francis Lake Baptist Church in Georgia. Not only is the congregation unusual with an 86-year-old pastor who’s served them for 46 years, but the church has had Colby Davis, age 11, preach twice in recent months. Young Colby impressed the church with the earnestness of his prayers, and the pastor invited him to preach at the final service of the year last December, and again last spring.

“During my second sermon in May of this year,” Colby said, “I wanted people to have the seeds of salvation planted in their hearts and to think about removing the weeds, which are the sins from their lives.”

Sounds pretty deep for a boy of God!

Reading this story reminded me with gratitude of faithful churches in my youth who gave us kids an opportunity to share our faith. Our church had an annual Youth Sunday and we teens taught Sunday School, led music and spoke from the pulpit. I’m not sure we were as profound as Colby, but I do know these church members deserve a golden crown for their tolerance and for their patience. They loved us despite our timidity at times and impudence at other times.

I’ve tried in recent months to understand the current shortage of pastors.

Our state Baptist leadership told us 18% of our churches don’t have pastors currently. One official suggested to me we don’t make as much of young people considering a call to vocational ministry as we once did, and I think there’s truth there.

Not only should we encourage our youth to consider serving, but adults as well.

I’ve known a number of ministers who realized God’s call to service later in life, some after years in another career. And, of course, many maintain their careers and serve churches in addition. We’ve commonly called these bi-vocational. One church leader today talks about “co-vocational” which means a minister intentionally maintains residence in a chosen vocation and in church ministry since many churches don’t have sufficient income to support a full-time staff.

Whatever the case, every Christian is called to serve the Lord in some way. Those of us privileged to serve in ministry leadership need compassionate Christians to help us learn and grow. 

“Reflections” is a weekly faith column written by Michael J. Brooks, pastor of the Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster. The church’s website is siluriabaptist.com.