By Jon Hawkins
Training and volunteer coordinator, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board
As the training and volunteer coordinator for Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, I meet every new employee as part of our onboarding process. On March 19, 2021, I met Roger Britton, TBMB’s new bivocational ministries specialist, for the first time.
Within the first five minutes of our meeting, Roger very quickly shared his love for bivocational ministers. His words pierced my heart. I felt led to tell him a little about my background as a former bivocational worship leader for almost 20 years. We immediately formed an unspoken bond of brotherhood that only comes from the shared experiences of ministry.
Connection is profoundly important in ministry. It is easy for pastors and worship leaders both full-time and part-time alike to feel as if they are fighting their daily battles on an island by themselves.
For bivocational pastors, the addition of a full-time job on top of all the church responsibilities, family events, kid’s extracurricular activities, home maintenance, etc. (this list really never ends) continuously adds fuel to the fire of isolation, frustration, and burnout. The separation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 24 months has only increased these feelings.
This connection is what Roger and I experienced. During this first meeting, Roger asked me to lead the worship at the 2022 Bivocational Pastor and Wives Retreat in Pigeon Forge.
At first, I thought it was just friendly small talk. After all, who asks someone to take part in such an important part of an event without having at least heard them sing? Roger later told me he had felt led by the Lord to ask me. I am so glad he did.
I didn’t know what to expect. Many of my coworkers told me the conference was a sweet time of fellowship and worship. Others said this event was one of the best events put on by TBMB. I was overwhelmed, excited and scared to death to lead worship to prepare the way for preachers like Danny Sinquefield, Randy Davis, Willie McLaurin and Roc Collins. However, once I arrived and felt the spirit in the room, I was at peace.
As I looked around the room and saw necks being hugged and heard laughter billowing into the hallways of the convention center, I understood why so many of the TBMB staff called it special.
These servants of God hungered to be fed spiritually and worship together. As sermons began, notebooks feverishly opened to receive point after point from every preacher as if they would never hear from them again.
They listened intently, encouraging them with a chorus of amens, as several of their bivocational brothers shared how God had brought healing to their family or placed them in the unlikeliest of places only for them to see God move in a mighty way.
But also, these pastors and their wives needed the connection that only this event could bring. They needed to feel love from their fellow servants, they needed to laugh together, they needed to lift one another up in prayer, they needed to be reminded that they are not in this battle alone. That is what makes the Biovocational Ministers and Wives Retreat so special.
The Holy Spirit moved in profound ways among the people of God, who are like-minded in a desire to make Christ known. Through all the hardships (both COVID and non- COVID related) these pastors have endured over the last few years, this retreat helped many leave refreshed and with a renewed strength in knowing that they are not alone in this journey. B&R