One of the greatest responsibilities and challenges of pastoring a small church or church plant is preaching every week. Charles Spurgeon said, “If any man will preach as he should preach, his work will take more out of him than any other labor under heaven.” Even the most passionate and gifted preachers need a week off every once in a while, and Spurgeon was no exception. These might be times to take a vacation with your family (Spurgeon often took his family to France) or to focus on other ministries of the church that need attention. One thing I repeatedly hear from pastors who preach weekly is how much God uses a week off to refresh them and give them new vision and direction for their church. These can be some of the most fruitful times of the year.
The problem, of course, is finding someone to fill the pulpit. Often you don’t have someone else who is qualified to preach or the funds to bring in a preacher.
We at The Summit would love to help you with that. One of the results of being a church that is training church planters is that we have several men who can preach and are looking for opportunities. These are not beginning preachers, stumbling through their first steps. They are men who we have been trained and vetted to preach God’s Word. They are looking to gain more experience before they go out and pastor or plant themselves. So we’ve decided to launch a pulpit supply ministry for churches in our region.
Here’s how it works: you contact us and tell us about your church, and we’ll connect you with a preacher that we think will be a good fit. Take the week off and go on a vacation with your family. Or stay in town – our guys would love to take you to lunch, get your feedback on the sermon, and pick your brain on ministry. You don’t even have to pay them. An honorarium is always a blessing, but you are providing a service to them by opening your pulpit and giving them your feedback.
If you want to find out more, contact Josh Miller at jmiller@summitRDU.com. We’re excited to serve your church and partner with you to develop more pastors to help fulfill the Great Commission.
