The Southeastern Center for Pastoral Leadership and Preaching exists to equip and encourage pastors to lead healthy disciple-making churches for the glory of God around the world.
We want to see this done in a five-fold fashion:
1. The shadow of a church’s pastor falls long. Where the one proclaiming the message lacks a Great Commission focus or fails to preach the Word, the church seldom-if ever-spotlights reaching neighbors and nations. The Center seeks to provide training and assistance for men with a Great Commission heart.
2. No church, seminary, or denomination can overemphasize the importance of preaching the Word. History reminds us that pastoral leaders do not default into biblical preaching; instead, only an intentional effort anchors men of God in the Word of God. The Center aims at providing resources and support for leaders who preach the Word.
3. A pastor who is not a strong leader or who has lost his vision to lead will likely oversee a non-growing church. The Center offers strong practical leadership training, thereby helping to raise up men who will lead in the task given to them.
4. Most churches in North America are not healthy. Few are growing through conversion growth. Discipleship is an incomplete, if not missing, component of church strategies. The Center aims at equipping both seasoned and young pastors to lead healthy churches.
5. The long-term effectiveness of church plants cannot be divorced from the spiritual vitality and leadership skills of the church planter. Healthy church plants-an undeniable need both in North America and around the world-require healthy church planters who A) preach the Word; B) know how to lead, and C) are learning at the feet of a veteran pastor or church planter. The Center seeks to assist such men.
Ministry to Pastors and Churches
Prayer Care & Support
Because we understand the pressures of ministry, the Pastors’ Center seeks to equip pastors and ministry leaders with resources necessary to ensure their own spiritual health. In order to do so, we have partnered with the following ministries and opportunities.
North American Mission Board (NAMB) Pastoral Care and Development
NAMB realizes the health of local churches rises and falls on its leadership and, therefore, desires to be of help to pastors. They seek to come alongside pastors to help strengthen their relationships with God, their families, their peers, and their congregations. Some of the tools they provide include Pastor Round Tables, Flourish.me for ministry wives, Relational Care Intensives, and Pastors in Covenant Groups. Please visit their website for more information on these resources.
North American Mission Board (NAMB) Pastoral Care Prayer Line
The North American Mission Board (NAMB) has also recently launched a new pastor care resource that the Center encourages pastors, pastors’ wives, and others in ministry to utilize. Because many of pastors often feel alone and without options when they face crisis in their own lives, NAMB created a Pastor Care Line. It is staffed by counselors and chaplains at Focus on the Family. It is free and 100 percent confidential. No specific information about a pastor or his church is ever shared with NAMB. Depending on the level of need, the telephone counselors can even connect a pastor with a licensed counselor or psychologist in their area if needed. It is open to any SBC minister in need and to ministry wives as well. The number is 1-844-PASTOR1 and it is available from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM Eastern Time each weekday in English and Spanish.
First Baptist Woodstock’s City Of Refuge
For pastors who have reached a point of crisis, though, the Pastors’ Center recommends the City of Refuge ministry at First Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia. City of Refuge’s goal is to provide critical care for wounded and fallen ministers, giving them a safe and loving environment in which to grow and heal. City of Refuge is a long-term residential program that attempts to meet the needs of the minister and his family by providing housing, childcare, counseling and small group support at no cost to the family. They also offer assistance in helping the men find secular work so they can help support their families financially while they are healing and dealing with personal issues. Members of the church support the families in the City of Refuge by praying for them, encouraging them with gifts and times of fellowship, and loving them just as they are. Our goal for each City of Refuge participant is that they will experience the incredible healing power of intimate relationships with God and other believers. For more information on this opportunity, please their website. You may also contact the ministry director, Troy Haas, at Troy.Haas@fbcw.net or 678-569-1776.
Pastoral Retreat/Sabbatical Leave
SonScape Retreats
The Pastors’ Center encourages pastors in need of a retreat to consider SonScape Retreats, one of our partner ministries. SonScape offers weeklong guided retreats for pastors, missionaries, and parachurch leaders with their spouses. This week combines teachings, group discussions, individual sessions, and time for rest and personal reflection. For more information on this opportunity, please email SonScape Retreats at info@sonscape.org or call them at 888.766.7227.
Sabbatical Leave
The Pastors’ Center has compiled a list of Pastoral Retreat options to serve as a resource for pastors who are looking for retreat locations or temporary residences for sabbatical leaves. Please email us at pastorscenter@sebts.edu for more information.
Field Based Training for Pastors and Churches
This arm of the Center works to provide opportunities for academic credit to be earned by church leaders and interns while they are serving in the field. Our exciting EQUIP Network and Field Ministry opportunities are features of this arm and create mentoring relationships by and for pastors.
Southeastern believes that theological education is best done in partnership with the local church. Therefore, we established EQUIP: the Great Commission Equipping Network as an initiative to identify and partner with churches and para-church organizations to provide practical theological education through internships.
The EQUIP initiative has 4 goals:
- To provide the highest level of theological training in conjunction with local churches and para-church organizations;
- To provide opportunities for churches and organizations to help students who are called to the ministry begin, continue or complete their theological education while firmly tied to local ministry;
- To develop healthy, working relationships between Southeastern and church/para-church organizations;
- To develop the EQUIP network of mutually edifying relationships in which all participants communicate, encourage, teach, and challenge one another.
Board of Advisors
The Southeastern Center for Pastoral Leadership and Preaching relies on the support of a board of advisors composed of:
- Edgar Aponte, Director of Hispanic Leadership Development at SEBTS
- Johnny Hunt, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA
- Dennis Kim, Senior Pastor of Global Mission Church, Silver Spring, MD
- Chuck Lawless, Vice President of Graduate Studies and Ministry Centers at SEBTS
- Sam Rainer, Senior Pastor of Stevens Street Baptist Church, Cookeville, TN
- A. B. Vines, Senior Pastor of New Seasons Church, Spring Valley, CA
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