“I will move into teaching and mentoring leaders for urban ministry. This role is crucial going forward because the greatest shortage and need is leaders, not just money.”

While grief is different for a pastor in certain respects, ultimately, congregations can love their pastors through times of loss with simple words — “I am sorry for your loss. I am praying for you. I care.”

Though our founding heroes were flawed men, they were used by God to forge a continuing church that preserved much of American Presbyterianism’s best, those very things that attracted me at the start.

What if there was a way for men and women to stay in their local church and get a virtual seminary education while being mentored and getting real-world ministry experience?

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21

As pastors from the six PCA churches in the Baton Rouge area inform Disaster Response about the needs around them, site manager Keith Perry dispatches volunteers to help.

Although the changes come in the form of brick and mortar, Anderson believes the real impact will ultimately be eternal. Being able to serve 150 more campers at any given time results in at least 1,500 more youth every summer who will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel in a fresh environment.

Since the videos were released, “it has been amazing to see how people have used them personally and corporately as they lead others in the local church,” Hodge says.

“I think the passing of Overture 43, and the fruit that will come of it, will be a help in recruiting African-American pastors into our denomination. It demonstrates to them that we are real, not trying to cover up sins of the past or present, but owning them and seeking to grow from them.”

“It was a response to the Gospel calling us to love our neighbors as ourselves,” Anderson explains. “The church wanted to bring a balance between word and deed ministry and create an appealing service opportunity for men.”