Two words often used by professor and then president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Paige Patterson, were “life transference.” He used the expression to describe the importance of the classroom setting. The axiom depicts the difference in classroom versus online or satellite education.

How true! Being present with great men of God — being able to touch, talk and interact during and after class — brought inspiration and encouragement that I could not have gotten any other way. It is as though I walked away from the lesson with a little bit of the life of the teacher.

There it is! The one thing every preacher/pastor needs while facing the challenges of ministry is not a lesson, but a person — someone who has been there before, buried under the same circumstance or entombed with the same situations but still able to breathe life and hope into the lives of others.

In some way, this is what happened in 2 Kings 13:20-21 when “they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.” That was life transference from a spirit-filled prophet of God who had been buried in spiritually dark and discouraging times. Even after his death, getting close to him brought life to another who had expired of life, himself. That’s the point!

What I love about getting around other preachers and pastors is the life transference that happens. So I want to encourage you to plan now to experience the life transference that will happen at the South Carolina Pastors’ Conference, Nov. 9, in Spartanburg. Pastor Stuart Houston, our president, has planned a wonderful conference around the theme, “Preach the Word.”

— Mike Runion is pastor of City View First Baptist Church in Greenville and vice president of the 2015 South Carolina Baptist Pastors’ Conference.