On Sunday, March 12, we will gather at 4:30 p.m. for our monthly Evening Prayer. Following our prayer time, we will have a catered church supper. Come one or come all but come to pray. Chad Asire, one of our Shepherding Group Leaders, will preach a ten-minute sermon “Yahweh Who Sanctifies” in our evening teaching series, Walking in His Name. As Jesus did with His disciples at the end of the night on the eve of His arrest, we’ll close with a hymn. But the rest of the time we’ll be praying together for God to work in our lives, in the life of our church, and through our church for His name. Childcare will be available for children up through preschoolers.
In order to make adequate preparations, we need a count for the meal. We must have an accurate count for the food no later than 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 8, so please sign up below and make your plans to join us!
What’s at stake in the preacher’s work? Quite a bit actually.
Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. —1 Timothy 4:16
That’s why we host a preaching workshop every year for preachers in the Upstate, a partnershop with The Charles Simeon Trust. Our Lord loves us so much that he calls our preachers to this kind of careful work.
This year’s workshop ran from January 25–27. We were joined by 63 teachers and preachers from 25 churches, including 25 lead pastors.
James Sharp is a new friend to our church and the preaching pastor at Life Church in Salisbury, NC. James was a small group leader for this year’s workshop. I’ve asked him to share about himself, his church, and the workshop we just hosted.
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1. Tell us a little about your church, how you came there, and about your role.
Life Church was planted in 2014, out of the dissolution of a large, multisite church. In our (almost) nine years of ministry, the Lord has brought many gospel-loving and theologically-sound people to us. Prior to that transition, our church was numerically healthy and marked by vigorous activity with lots of ministry in our community. Today, by God’s grace, those external markers of health are paired with a growing love for the Word—one that has been sparked by a renewed commitment to biblical exposition—and expository preaching in particular.
I came to the church at the end of 2019, right before COVID-19 turned the world upside down. My responsibilities focus on teaching and vision. I preach around 38 weekends each year, lead our staff and elder teams, develop, cast, and implement the church’s vision, and invest in rising leaders.
2. You’ve been doing these workshops for quite a few years. Tell us how you got involved in them and why you stay involved?
At the invitation of a friend, I attended a Simeon Trust workshop for the first time in 2013. We worked in the minor prophets, studying Habakkuk and Malachi. I was a newly installed lead pastor of a large church at the time. I had some unarticulated and undeveloped commitments to biblical exposition in the pulpit and in the life of the church, but Simeon Trust helped clarify and formalize those commitments. As I look back, God was so kind to lead me to that workshop at that time. The ministry vision cast by the Simeon Trust was exactly what I longed for, and exactly what I needed.
I keep coming back to workshops because I need the reminder, year after year, that biblical exposition is necessary and possible. In addition, I love to spend time in a room with other pastors studying God’s Word. Now when I attend, because of my experience, I get the opportunity to invest in younger pastors and Bible teachers, which is an added bonus.
3. Each year we spend about six hours in small groups where we come with work prepared on several preaching texts and then help one another make progress with thoughtful questions to help one another along. Tell us about the make up of your group. Then tell us about one particularly “aha” moment you had together.
My small group this year was quite young and less experienced. Simeon Trust organizes small groups according to experience level, so I was with newer preachers. Some of the men were clearly in the deep end of the pool. I’m glad they came.
The most exciting part of that process is seeing the growth in the work of a man between the first and second worksheet presentations. Usually, guys do their work before they come, and their first presentation reflects their understanding of the process of interpretation before the workshop. After that first presentation, many guys will completely redo their work—utilizing the tools and strategies the Simeon Trust teaches—before presenting their second worksheet. For a couple of men in my group, the first presentation was quite poor. But then the second was quite good! It was exciting to see their progress in understanding the Word, even in a short time.
4. Our goal at these workshops isn’t perfection but progress. How did this year’s workshop help you make progress in your Word work?
I think I have attended a dozen workshops now. It never ceases to amaze me that I will still allow my habits to get a little sloppy, or a little lazy, over time. I don’t even realize it until I attend again, only to be confronted by small areas of “drift” away from a disciplined and rigorous approach to God’s Word.
In addition, attending a workshop annually allows me to remember, and believe again, that biblical exposition is necessary and possible. I need to be reminded of these things. I need others who believe them to encourage me to believe them. As we all are, I am in danger of drifting away from biblical convictions—even in the way I approach preaching. The Simeon Trust has helped me fight against that drift, time and time again.
5. How can we pray for you and your church?
Please pray that the Word of God would continue to increase among our people (Acts 6:7). Pray that the Lord would give our people soft, fruitful hearts from which to respond to the Word (Mark 4:20). Pray that we would delight in Scripture, finding it to be more desirable than gold and sweeter than honey (Ps. 19:10). And pray that the Lord would use his Word to accomplish his work among his people for the glory of his Name (Isa. 55:8-11).
HBC Ladies – you are invited to enjoy worship and fellowship together as we welcome our guest speaker, Abi Byrd, for our 2023 Women’s Conference. Come learn what it means to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).
When you think of hospitality, perhaps beautiful tablescapes, gourmet meals, and Instagram-worthy guest rooms come to mind. Or maybe you think of awkward small-talk, financial sacrifice, and panic cleaning. But what if God had something deeper and more significant in mind when he commanded his people to love and welcome other people into their lives?
Our world is experiencing what researchers are calling an “epidemic of loneliness.” Being on this side of a global pandemic in which we all experienced isolation more than usual, we have a better understanding of the basic human need to be in meaningful relationship with others. Who among us doesn’t want to belong and be welcomed into the lives of others? Who among us doesn’t want to be truly known and truly loved?
The good news for believers is that through Christ we have been welcomed like this! We who “were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph.2:13). We who were strangers and slaves have been made sons and heirs (Gal.4)! Through Christ we have been shown the greatest act of hospitality, and this is what fuels and motivates our hospitality toward others.
Biblical hospitality is not an end in itself. It is a means toward fulfilling the great commission that we have received to share the good news of the gospel with our neighbors. It is a way for us to welcome other believers into our lives for the purpose of discipleship and deeper friendship. And it is a way to demonstrate love and care to “the least of these” among us.
Come, join us as we hear from God’s Word the importance of this basic, yet deeply meaningful practice. We have been welcomed so in return we welcome others!
Abi Byrd serves on staff as a Ministry Associate at McLean Bible Church, Loudoun Campus, in Leesburg, Virginia. She works in women’s ministry, discipleship, and coaching for Church Groups. She is an instructor for the Charles Simeon Trust women’s workshops, training women to study and teach the Bible. Abi has a BEd Honors degree in music and education from Cambridge University. She has been a teacher in elementary school and served with the children’s ministry on staff at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. She and her family have also served as missionaries in the UK and Kosovo with Radstock Ministries.
Conference Schedule
Friday evening, February 24 Heritage Bible Church, Fellowship Hall 6:30-7:30 Dinner 7:30-8:50 Session I 8:50 Dessert Fellowship
Saturday, February 25 Heritage Bible Church, Fellowship Hall 9:30-10:45 Session II 10:45 Break; Synergy Coffee 11:30-12:30 Session III 12:30 Lunch 1:20 Session IV, including Q&A with Abi Byrd and Guided Prayer 2:30 Fellowship/Dimissal
If you have questions prior to registration, please contact Amber Grove, Conference Coordinator.
