by Terry Barone

PACIFIC OCEAN - California Southern Baptist pastors and church staff members were challenged to "stand fast in God's grace" in whatever circumstance they find themselves, during the first-of-its-kind Ministers' Leadership Cruise.

Some 200 California Southern Baptists participated in the April 23-27 cruise, an alternative to the traditional Hume Lake ministers' conference sponsored by the California Southern Baptist Convention healthy church group.

Steve Davidson, pastor of Clovis Hills Community Church in Clovis and featured speaker for the conference, said when ministers find themselves in stressful and difficult situations it isn't a "dark place" but a "doubly dark place" and they must rely on "grace - the unmerited, undeserved favor of God" to get through every situation.

Davidson shared that he recently found himself in one of those "dark places" for an extended period of time after several years of church growth.

"I believe the past two years have been the toughest in my ministry," he confessed, noting how the congregation grew while meeting at a school for 12 years before moving into a permanent facility.

After the move, Davidson said, "I was exhausted. The church was exhausted. We just settled in. Out of my deficit there was not enough of me to stay on the up-side of all the disciplines.

"When I'm in a dark place, I put all kinds of 'ought to's' on me and export them to those I shepherd and teach."

Davidson admitted when he finds himself in those places he has the tendency to slip into an "Old Testament works mentality" whereby "I keep score of me and you. I have a tendency to forget that grace means that God just loves us; but instead, fall back into religion, not relationship."

"To stand fast in God's grace means that He knew how thin I would be in 2006 and 2007," Davidson said. "He knew how much I'd fail, yet He still believed in me when I had stopped believing in myself."

Davidson encouraged pastors and staff to remember that God called them into ministry and that He will "bless us for no other reason than His love is greater than all our faults. His grace - not a big church, not works, not pain - will see us through."

Davidson's wife, Shirley, joined him in presenting one of the sessions about "embracing the situation" in which ministers find themselves.

"I need to embrace my situation because even though I may not be where I want to be, I need to be the best I can be," he said, adding, "Ministry is a lot of fun if you take all the suffering out.

"If you are involved in ministry you'll find yourself in one of three places - in the fire, coming out of the fire, or headed back into the fire."

Continuing with the theme of grace and using I Peter 5, Davidson said every situation in which a minister finds himself requires "humbleness. The more humble you are the more grace He pours out."

During the conference Davidson also addressed the issue of leadership in the church and used examples of Moses and the spies he sent into the Promised Land and the Lord's rejection of Saul as king of Israel.

Davidson said church leaders "have far more opportunity to influence than they know," as illustrated by those from the 12 tribes who said the land couldn't be conquered.

He said Moses was to send out a "leader" from each tribe, but what Moses sent out was "the head of a clan. These men were good, godly people who held positions of influence, but were not leaders."

Davidson noted leaders "make things happen" instead of maintaining the status quo. "You better have leaders," he said, "or things are going to go south."

He added that like Moses, churches today have two kinds of issues - spiritual and leadership. "I believe we have to link the God-factor and the leadership factor."

From a spiritual perspective, Davidson said "dynamic things happen in the church when leaders are trusting God and that all depends on Him." He encouraged the ministers to work as if "everything is all up to you but knowing it isn't."
Like Saul, David-son said ministers today try to make excuses for their failures instead of owning up to their shortcomings.

"I am increasingly becoming convinced," he said, "that a pastor's insecurity is the greatest weapon the devil has to derail us. All of us are hypocrites and the way to make the world better is to recognize it. I must confront the areas where I am less than what the Lord has called me."

The solution to both spiritual and leadership issues, Davidson said, is to "grab hold to the grace of God, know I am saved by grace, know I was called into ministry by grace and know I am sustained in the ministry in which I am currently serving by grace."

Eddie Pate, director of the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary campus in Brea, presented Bible studies each morning of the cruise, and Matt Atherton, worship pastor at Southwinds Church in Tracy, led worship.

Another conference will be held Sept. 17-20 at CSBC's Jenness Park Christian Camp near Sonora. For more information e-mail kfoxen@csbc.com; mmcguffee@csbc.com; or call 559-229-9533, ext. 259.