The South Carolina Baptist Convention sponsored a retreat for bivocational pastors, music leaders and Hispanic pastors at White Oak Conference Center, Oct. 23-24. More than 60 people attended.
Mario Vargas and Flor Morales.The event began with a banquet on Friday evening. Jim Austin, SCBC executive director-treasurer, gave a message on being a church in exile, citing the biblical example of the Jews in exile in Babylon, focusing on Jeremiah 29. His final words of challenge were, “The people who turned the world upside down 2,000 years ago are back, and we are them.”
At the banquet, the Small Church Pastor of the Year award was presented to Gerald Mabry, pastor of Hendersonville Baptist Church in Walterboro, where he has served as bivocational pastor for 29 years. Mabry was nominated by Zane Brown, director of missions for Colleton Baptist Association.
Hispanic pastors were the largest group in attendance. Two of the three men who began Hispanic work in South Carolina in the early 1980s attended the event: Flor Morales, who is pastoring two churches in Broad River Baptist Association in Gaffney, and Mario Vargas, who has been working the past 10 years in Beaufort and will be relocating to the Camden area next year.
Don Matthews, center, with Susan and Don Ward.Also attending was Ron Ward, a bivocational pastor at Mt. Tabor Baptist Church in Georgetown, who serves as a consultant for the bivocational small church leadership network, along with his wife Susan. Ward was the first president of the South Carolina Association of Bivocational Ministers. “Bivocational pastors are a unique breed,” he said. “We are thankful for the fellowship and training offered by events like these.”
Mark Powers, director of the worship and music office, SCBC, worked with Juan David Prettel from Tzuriel Church in Greenville; and Victor Prieto, pastor of a Spanish mission church from Taylors First Baptist Church and also a professor at North Greenville University. “I had been praying that we would have some Hispanic leadership next year for our worship summit,” Powers said, “and God answered this prayer by sending these two men to this event.”
Gerald and Doloris Mabry pose with Jim Austin, right, SCBC executive director-treasurer. Mabry, pastor of Hendersonville Baptist Church, Walterboro, received the Small Church Pastor of the Year award.The SCBC church health and revitalization office coordinated the retreat. Workshops were held on various topics, including basic training for Hispanic pastors, led by Marcos Elizondo; training for bivocational pastors, led by Don Matthews; training for music leaders, led by Mark Powers; and a workshop for staff wives, led by Mary Ann Matthews.
The retreat was a partnership between the SCBC’s church health and revitalization office, worship and music office, association and pastoral ministries office, and the multi-ethnic group. – SCBC