Plowing Concrete with A Plastic Fork: rural church strategy for small towns, churches and future ministry leaders

I was eight days old when mom and dad put me in the church nursery for the first time on Easter Sunday April 22, 1962. I was born into a Southern Baptist family, and my dad was an active deacon for 54 years. We were the first ones at church every time the doors were open and the last ones to leave. Mom and dad taught me to love Jesus and serve His church. God called me to pastoral ministry when I was six years old. But because of delayed obedience I didn't respond to His call until I was in my early 40's and I have followed His call with full obedience since. Serving in churches of all sizes and filling every role that was asked of me including selling everything we owned, saying good-bye to family and moving to the lower Amazon jungle of Peru as a missionary. One of the first lessons I learned was that "Small town churches can have a big impact for the Kingdom of God." God has place to love in my heart for the churches most people overlook or have forgotten. There is still life in them with a vast well of wisdom. I say to my small rural town church plant, "if our prayers don't scare us, they are not big enough." That is why my prayer is that small town and rural churches will one day become "Training Centers" for the next generation of leaders. Luke 10:2 The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. (NLT)