After a few attempts Steve and I were finally able to meet up with two other local pastors. Jamie is a new church planter and Scott pastors a larger, established church. Between the four of us two denominations and three associations were represented. We talked about our theological backgrounds and development, our church struggles and hopes, preaching, and the importance of this kind of pastoral fellowship. We plan on meeting once a month for mutual encouragement and have already set the next gathering on the calendar. We hope to find even more like-minded, Gospel-centered, missionally oriented guys to meet with.
Let me encourage other pastors, if you do not already have this kind of fellowship, seek relationships like this out. Look within and outside your denomination, talk with other pastors and church leaders in your city/region, and when you find men that share your heart make time to meet. In our case, since we are all in different situations and have unique backgrounds we are ready to learn from each other. Who knows what kind of network or partnerships will emerge out of this, but at the very least our friendship in the Gospel is another example of God’s grace to undeserving sinner/saint/pastors.
