South Carolina pastor Josh Powell spotlighted three qualities of “an approved worker of God” during the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference in Dallas.
“A minister of the gospel must not be interested in creating a reputation for himself,” the pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church said. “The approval of this world surely must not be our desire.
“We are here to serve the Lord,” he reminded fellow pastors. “We serve God, and we seek His approval as diligent workers, as clean vessels, as faithful servants.”
Powell shared a story from his early ministry about an elderly woman on the third row who was snoring loudly through one of his sermons. After the service, “she took my hand and looked me in the eye and said, ‘That was one of your best sermons yet, pastor,’” he laughed.
“We’re looking for approval from our people,” he said, “and that approval is quite hollow, isn’t it?”
Rather, seeking God’s approval, not people’s, should be a pastor’s desire, he said.
A diligent worker
“Everybody knows the person who just wants to sit around and talk all the time and never do work,” Powell said. In contrast, “one who is approved by God will be someone who is working for the gospel. He’s someone who is busy with the work.”
“If you’re constantly looking to quarrel about words and fight over these things, rather than proclaim them, live them, encourage others to follow them, then you’re missing the point of ministry,” he added. “You’re not working diligently at the task.
“Ministers must be like road workers who continually carve a path, making a way, and helping our people to see the truth of God’s Word — the path that is set before them,” Powell explained. “We remain faithful to what it’s taught, faithful to its truth.”
A clean vessel
“When people come over (to your house) for the first time, one uses the fine china. But for the family, one uses paper plates,” he observed.”Why is this? Because we recognize there’s a time to bring out those good vessels,” he said.
“We as ministers of the gospel must be like fine china for the Lord, the good vessels — not dishonorable (dishes), but ones used for noble purposes,” Powell explained.
“Be set apart; be holy,” he urged the pastors. To be useful to the Master, one must pursue holiness and always be ready for every good work, he said.
“No one wants to eat from a dirty dish,” he observed, adding that “the greatest hindrance is not a weak gospel, but dirty messengers.”
Powell lamented, “History is littered with those who have carried the message faithfully for a time, only to fall away and not clean themselves through the power of God’s Word and His Spirit.”
A faithful servant
“When we think about finding approval, we need to understand if we’re looking for the approval of men, we are not looking for the approval of Christ. Paul seems to make it clear that those two things are mutually exclusive. You cannot look for the approval of Christ and at the same time seek the approval of men,” Powell concluded.
Powell was one of eight speakers to preach on the conference’s theme, “Worth Following,” drawn from 2 Timothy. D.J. Horton, pastor of Church at The Mill and president of the Pastors’ Conference, planned and led this year’s meeting.
Members of Spartanburg’s Church at The Mill choir and praise band lead worship at the 2025 Pastors’ Conference in Dallas.