INDIANAPOLIS — Tennessee Baptists who made the trip to Indianapolis for the Southern Baptist Convention 2024 Pastors Conference are being treated to a little home cooking.
Three of the pastors on this year’s 11-speaker lineup are from churches in the Tennessee Baptist Convention, including the event’s “lead-off hitter” — Bartholomew Orr — who opened the two-day conference on Sunday night. Orr is the senior pastor of Brown Missionary Baptist Church, which is located in Southaven, Miss., but is a TBC church.
Adam Dooley, senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, and Steve Gaines, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, will preach the conference’s closing sermon on Monday night. Gaines is a former SBC president.
The Pastors Conference — which is operating this year under the theme of Faithful: Pursuing Your Mission — serves as the lead-in event for the SBC annual meeting.
Orr’s conference-opening message on Sunday night was entitled “Watch the Light.”
Preaching from II Kings, Orr delivered his message while standing beside an actual traffic light that was borrowed from his hometown, he said. Orr said that, in everyday life, traffic lights can move us forward successfully and safely. The same is true in our spiritual life, he said, if believers are smart enough to “watch the light” that Jesus provides.
Using Hezekiah’s rise and fall as an example, Orr said believers can be on the look out for three signals from the Lord.
There are times, he said, when the Lord gives his followers a “green light.” “This is when the Lord tells us to go for it!” said Orr.
Other times, Orr said, the Lord gives his people a yellow light. “This means things are changing around us,” Orr said, “and we should slow down!” He joked that many of the pastors’ wives in the audience would be glad to “amen” that part of the message.
Lastly, he said, there are times when the Lord gives his people a red light and tells them to stop. In those instances, believers should look around and ask “what’s wrong here?” in order to figure out why the Lord is choosing to stop them from moving forward.
In Hezekiah’s case, Orr said, it was a prideful heart that impeded his ministry efforts. Orr said the key to avoiding to falling into the trap of pride is by remembering three things:
“I own nothing.”
“I owe everything.”
“I have something … wrong with me.”
Orr said Proverbs 6 provides a “stop list” of things that believes should stop doing in order to remain faithful to our calling — and to get the green light. B&R Note: The pastors conference resumes on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern).