By Aaron Earls
(Source Baptist Press):
RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP) – Since 1993, Black pastors and church leaders have gathered at Ridgecrest Conference Center for a week of recharging and refreshment. After 30 years, Mark Croston felt it was time for leaders to “reimagine” during the Black Church Leadership and Family Conference (BCLFC).
“Pastors need to grapple with changes that have happened and need to happen in their churches post-COVID,” said Croston, national director of Black Church Ministries at Lifeway Christian Resources. “What paradigm shifts need to be implemented to improve, and what things need to be gotten rid of? This conference is designed to help pastors reimagine how they can be successful.” Croston said he has been a part of the conference since the beginning, coming first as a pastor and then for the last 10 years as the event organizer with Lifeway.
Denominational and familial ties
In addition to daily prayer and worship and dozens of breakout sessions and activities, Croston said the BCLFC also allows pastors to develop deeper relationships with Southern Baptist entities and with their own families.
“Most participants are Southern Baptist,” he said, “but their churches haven’t been part of the SBC for generations.” Croston noted that for many other Southern Baptists, their churches have long histories within the convention. That’s not the case for most Black pastors, he said. “The first Black Southern Baptist church became a part of the convention in the 1950s. When I became a Southern Baptist pastor in the 1980s, there were 400 Black Southern Baptist churches. Today, there are more than 4,000,” Croston said.
The BCLFC allows participants the opportunity “to learn how entities exist to serve churches by hearing from their representatives,” he said. “They get to hear why it’s important to give to the Cooperative Program and all we do as Southern Baptists when we work together.”
Croston also said he intentionally develops the conference to allow pastors to bring their wives and families. “At these kinds of events, pastors and leaders often have to leave everyone else at home,” he said. Instead, at BCLFC, everyone in the family can participate and find the support and training they need, according to Croston. “My daughter came to the first conference as a preschooler,” he said. “Now, she’s here as a leader and has maintained friendships with people across the country she first met here when she was young.”
A unique Black Baptist event
Croston recognizes some may wonder why a conference specifically for Black pastors exists. As an illustration, he notes the different types of cuisines he enjoys, “but my go-to is soul food,” he said. “But I don’t want any of the others to close. They all have unique flavors that different people enjoy. Churches are like that. Each one has its own flavor.”
With that, Croston says the uniqueness of congregations plays a role in evangelistic efforts. “Our job is to reach the world with the Gospel,” he said. “We need all these different flavors of churches because no one church can reach all the world.”
While most of the participants are African Americans, Croston said some church leaders from other ethnicities come to learn about the Black Church context. “The conference is a great place for people who are serious about reaching African American communities,” he said. “Maybe the context has changed around a church, and they want to better reach their neighbors.” He also noted adoptive parents of a Black child have been attending to learn and provide special experiences for their child.
“Nowhere is the church monolithic,” Croston said, “neither on earth or in heaven. Every nation, tribe and tongue will be around the throne one day. Those ethnic distinctives will still exist at the throne.” The BCLFC provides a way for church leaders to experience worship and training in a unique context while equipping them for ministry at their church, he said, adding: “This helps pastors see they are not lone soldiers. They can take these great ideas and strategies and employ them in their congregation.”
Registration is now open for next year’s Black Church Leadership and Family Conference on July 22-26, 2024. To register, visit Lifeway.com/BlackChurchConference.
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