For All The Churches

By Tony Crocker, President • BMA of Arkansas

Hello, BMA of Arkansas! Our state association will meet at Central Baptist College in Conway Nov. 7-8. More information and a detailed schedule will be published in a future issue of the Trumpet, but please add this event to your calendars now and plan to be with us as we partner together in the work of this association. As in past years, the state WMA and Brotherhood will have meetings, and plans are already underway for our annual Pastor’s Conference.

Thank you for the honor to serve as your president for the 2024 meeting. Serving with me are Vice Presidents Daniel Williams and Derrick Bremer and Clerks Wes Hulvey and Danny Paul. I thank God for these men. Of all the blessings in ministry — pastoring, teaching at CBC, serving as an international missionary and on our state and national advisory committees — this particular honor is, by far, the most unexpected.

This year’s theme is “For All the Churches” from II Cor. 11:28. Preceding that phrase is the apostle Paul’s summary of trials experienced as he traversed his world carrying the gospel of Christ. He had suffered beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, exposure to the elements, being pursued by enemies and threatened with unnamed perils in every imaginable environment. It is a mind-numbing list on first reading, and it is astonishing to consider how he had not yet completed his third missionary journey at that point. He even began his letter informing the Corinthians of an intense, unidentified trial experienced in Asia that left him and his companions believing their lives were over.

However, as intense as those experiences were, they did not compare to Paul’s greater concern. Why had he endured afflictions? What kept him advancing forward? We know the Lord was his strength. We know Christ’s specific commission upon him was to be a light to the Gentiles. But that is not what Paul said here. Instead, above all he had endured, there was his daily anxiety, his care and concern “for all the churches.”

The word translated “anxiety” or “care” is interesting. It is the same word Jesus used in the Parable of the Sower when he talked about those seeds that fell among thorns and were choked by “the cares of the world.” In that instance, the “cares for the world” had strangled the gospel from producing fruit in those hearing it. But Paul’s use of this word described a concern that was suffocating all other concerns. He pressed on through trials because his aching knowledge of the need of the churches was greater than the pains and afflictions he was experiencing in ministry.

Let that soak in for a moment. It is something worth our pondering. What specific elements fan the flames in our ministries? Is it our zeal for Christ and preaching His Word? Is it unflinching confidence in the power of the gospel and the joy of Heaven? Absolutely! But there is also this one white-hot ember sparking everything within the men who are called to preach and those who serve in gospel ministry. We love and serve our Lord and desire to do our best for the good of His churches. Concern for the Lord’s churches should compel us in all our ministries.

In November 2019, I was returning from my first visit to Mongolia in 10 years. As we boarded the trans-Pacific flight, airline workers asked passengers a series of questions. Had we been to China? Had we been around any animals? Did we have any symptoms of illness? Every person was being asked similar questions, regardless of their point of origin. It seemed odd then, but we are all aware now that those questions were about a loaded gun our world faced a few short weeks later.

Each of us can share stories of what we experienced wherever we were serving five years ago. Half a decade later, we are still navigating the twists and turns of those events. It stands as the most comprehensive trial we collectively endured as an association, but not the greatest trial forecasted for us in the future. I pray we understand that we are not looking back with regret nor forward with alarm but acknowledging that what has been endured and what will be endured is going to be for the glory of God and for the good of “all the churches.”

Thank you for all you do. I look forward to seeing you in November.