The Salt & Light Men’s Ministries conference, sponsored by the evangelism group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, was held Feb. 5-6 at White Oak Conference Center.
Salt & Light participants pause for a time of prayer.Keynote speaker was Robert Lewis, pastor-at-large of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Ark., and president of LifeReady, which provides video resources to prepare couples, parents, men and women to embrace God’s best for their lives.
Conferences were offered over the two-day event on action topics (such as being involved in disaster relief) and relational topics (such as the role of a husband in marriage). Most topics were related to evangelism and outreach.
Patrick Tyndall, a member of North Trenholm Baptist Church, Columbia, led a session titled, “Taking the Great Commission to the Great Outdoors.” Ironman Outdoors Ministries grew out of a Sunday school class at North Trenholm and now has 10 chapters in three states. “Our retreats accelerate the relationship-building process,” Tyndall said. “Manhood discussions are central to what we do.”
Frankie Tanner, pastor of Mechanicsville church in Darlington, led a session on “Handling Grief and Anger as a Man.” One participant said he had been waiting 40 years for a conference dealing with the issue.
Groups from churches all over the state attended, with a total registration of 477. Seven men from Varennes Heights Baptist Church, Anderson, attended with their pastor, Kirt Mitchell. Doug Wilson, men’s ministry leader at Varennes Heights, said his group got organized four years ago after attending a Salt & Light conference with a group of five core leaders. Today the church has 30 men regularly involved in various ministries. (As an outreach exercise, they rebuilt a 1923 hotrod.)
Music was shared by Loose Stone, a duo from Barnwell. Lewis closed the meeting by challenging pastors to be passionate about evangelism and exhorting all present to “man up” and become eternal difference-makers. – SCBC