Our theme this year for the South Carolina Baptist Pastors’ Conference is “Preach the Word.” I believe if there is anything that will keep the “graying of America” from infiltrating the church, it will be the preaching of the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of the living God. Our morning session for the conference will touch on this very subject, as our two preachers will challenge us to “Preach the Word in Confronting the Culture.”

As ministers of the gospel, we have been commissioned to preach the Word. We have not been called to prop up the Bible on a crutch, because it is not crippled. The Word of God is not sick, so we have not been called to doctor it. We have not been commissioned to apologize for the Word, because it has not made any errors nor does it contain any errors. We have been called to preach the Word, and to preach it in power!

I love what evangelist Bill Oakley of Mantle Ministries has to say about our call and commission to preach the Word: “We must preach the Word in power because it is heaven’s bread for earth’s hunger, it is heaven’s water for earth’s thirst, it is heaven’s light for earth’s darkness, it is heaven’s answer to earth’s questions, it is heaven’s diagnosis for earth’s illness, it is heaven’s medicine for earth’s diseases, it is heaven’s direction for earth’s adventure, and it is heaven’s victory for earth’s defeat.”

Preachers, if we are to keep the “graying of America” from altering our churches in a negative way, then we will simply preach the Word, and we will preach it in power! I look forward to seeing you in November at the Pastors’ Conference in Spartanburg. Until then, “Preach the Word!”

— J. Stuart Houston is pastor of Blue Ridge View Baptist Church and president of the 2015 South Carolina Baptist Pastors’ Conference.