Great Time at Hardingville Bible Conference

What a blessing we had at the Hardingville Bible Church Bible Conference on Wednesday. It was great to be able to get up to New Jersey and to see some old friends and have a little time of fellowship with the good folks up there at Hardingville. I only wish that our schedule would have worked out so that we could have spent more time with our friends and so that we could have heard the other men preach.

In previous years, Hardingville has had a number of great men preach in their Bible Conferences. Speakers in the past have included men like Pastor John Ashbrook (long-time Pastor of Bible Community Church in Mentor, Ohio), Dr. Bob Jones, III (former President of Bob Jones University), Dr. Dave Burgraff (former Dean of Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary), Dr. Sam Horn (Vice President at Northland Baptist Bible College), Dr. Stephen Hankins (Dean of the Bob Jones Seminary), and others.

This year, Hardingville did something a little bit different with their Bible Conference. Rather than bringing in one of the more well-known preachers, Hardingville brought back six men (and their families) who have served at Hardingville Bible Church in the Church Internship Program. In addition to each man preaching, the wives were to give a testimony about life in the ministry and the men were to give an update on their current ministries and relate some things from their training at Hardingville that has impacted their current ministry.

I think the concept was a great concept for a change of pace. The Church Internship Program is a vital part of the ministry at Hardingville and, through this program, God has worked through Hardingville in the preparation of a number of men for ministry. While my situation was unique (I originally came to HBC as an Assistant with Youth Emphasis with the plans of remaining in such a capacity for as long as God allowed me and eventually went through an abbreviated form of the Church Internship Program due to the experience that God had already given me in ministry), I believe that this program - or something like it - should become a part of many more Fundamental churches. Men need to be trained for ministry and a solid, Fundamental, local church is the best place for the practical "hands-on" aspects of that training. It is my desire that one day we would be able to incorporate a similar program here at Fellowship Baptist Church of Salisbury for young men who have finished their academic schooling (probably having at least an M.A. before starting here) and are in need of further training for ministry.

As my part of the Bible Conference, I did a PowerPoint presentation to update the folks on what God is doing in our lives and ministry and I preached from Romans 12:11 on Serving the Lord - in keeping with the Conference theme.

Missy did a great job with her testimony. She is not really used to speaking before people and it makes her very nervous, but she did great. She was clear, articulate, funny, and practical - maybe we should change rolls :).

Anyway, it was good to see a lot of friends and to be able to preach God's Word as part of the conference.

Just my thoughts,

Frank