Training of VBC Sunday School Team

04 Feb 2011 03:37 pm

Welcome to the Educational Blog for the Village Baptist Sunday School team. This blog exists for the purpose of assisting in the training of our Sunday School teachers and leadership team members. A little about myself, Pastor Nick, Minister of Education and Children at Village, and my journey. I accepted Christ as a teenager at Massey Hill Baptist Church on Southern Avenue here in my hometown of Fayetteville. I accepted Christ under the ministry of the Reverend Curtis Nester. God also began to prepare my heart to accept His calling during Pastor Nester's ministry. The pastor would bring in missionaries to share during Sunday School and worship. I felt an urging to share the good news of Christ and interpreted this to be a calling to be a missionary. Unfortunately, something happened that led to Pastor Nester's leaving Massey Hill before I could share this with him. He was followed by the Reverend Carroll J. Calvert under whom's ministry in 1975 I surrendered to the call of full time ministry here at home rather than in a foreigh land. The Holy Spirit impressed on me early on the hurting that is around us. We have not yet reached our nation with the good news yet so my calling was to be working here in the United States. I commend those who feel called beyond our borders as God in his omniscience calls His children to work locations according to His plans.

My ministry officially began back in 1980 at the Fair Bluff Baptist Church in Fair Bluff, North Carolina. The pastor I was privileged to work with there was the Reverend Ray Lundy. I serve under his pastorate as the Minister of Education and Children. This ministry was during my college years at Campbell University. Following my graduation from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary I served as Mission Pastor for the church which today is First Baptist of Linden, NC. The Lord then sent me in 1985 to Immanuel Baptist of Fayetteville under the ministry of the Reverend John Cuthill. I served there as the Minister of Education and Youth. In 1987 I was called to serve in the commonwealth of Virginia as the Minister of Education and Youth at the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. The pastor I was privileged to serve with was the Dr. Bruce O. Martin. He became my mentor as well. Under Dr. Martin's ministry I began for the first time to study church growth. Chestnut Hill was a tough place to serve in many ways as many of the people were clanish and distrustful of outsiders. Both the pastor and I were from the strange land of North Carolina so the battle for accetance was to be fought constantly. However the more enlightened ones who were gracious and accepting. It is with these that we were able to work with and apply what we were learning. The Lord blessed and the Church grew in an area where most Baptist Churches were in serious decline. I am thankful those willing spirits who worked with us. (Carl Hale, Calvin Falwell, E.A. Thomas and his wife Lois, Susan Barley and her dad George as well as many others. They had a love for Christ that led them to follow two young ministers and do whatever it took to grow a Church.

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