3 Big Lessons in 27 Years

Twenty-seven years ago this month, I left my home state of Texas to follow God’s call to become the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springdale, Arkansas. When we launched our third campus almost three years ago, our named changed to Cross Church. When the last week of October comes, I will have served here for twenty-seven years.

As the Pastor of this changing and growing church, what are some of the biggest lessons I have learned through the years?

Lesson #1: Personal spiritual growth is the key to growing as a leader

I have been committed to my personal spiritual growth for most of my days on this earth. My daily time with God is comprised of praying, Bible reading, and journaling. I take each of these seriously, rising early each morning to spend my mornings with God.

This personal priority each day has kept me in a growth posture as a leader.

It keeps me humbled by the Word of God and His presence; submissive and teachable; and continually aware of my deep need for God’s presence and power in my life and ministry. Personal spiritual growth is the key to growing as a leader.

Spiritual growth in my life as a leader has kept me from chasing the wrong things, always keeping the gospel central in my life. It has called me up continually, refusing to let me keep any record of wrongs. It has given me a deep love for all people, never letting anyone outside of my circle of love.

Lesson #2: Investing in others produces long-term results

As a pastor of the same church for twenty-seven years, I could easily write about how investing in laypeople has paid huge dividends for the ministry of the church. Since today is written for pastors specifically, I want to share how investing in younger ministers produces long-term results.

I have no idea how many people from our church have surrendered their lives to gospel ministry over these past twenty-seven years, plus the many very young ministers who have come here as interns from across the world. Combining all of them into this pool of people we have invested in has been one of the best uses of my time through the years.

Any time I can invest in one of our younger pastors on our team, I do it. Recently, I began a monthly mentoring time with about forty of our young team members who serve on our Ministry Team or as interns on our staff. This is a rich time for me personally. As I pour into them, I know it produces long-term results. Additionally, God gave me a vision less than a year ago to begin our Cross Church School of Ministry. Our first class of eleven students has been meeting for two months now in this one-year residency ministry school. The long-term results of this will be huge! I cannot wait to see what God does with these people. Additionally, just this past summer, we poured into twenty-five interns from across America.

As I think back, over these years of pouring into people, I think of what God has done even in very recent days:

• Chris Johnson, soon to receive his PhD from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, walked into my office his final two years of high school, telling me God had called him into ministry. We helped him connect at Liberty University for his initial work and then assisted him in getting into Southwestern Seminary, where he even worked for the President, Dr. Paige Patterson. Prior to this, Chris worked with me for two summers. Recently, I had the joy of recommending Chris to another church. They called him as their pastor. Therefore, today, this young man I have poured into, is now the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Van Buren, Arkansas.

• Dr. Brad Jurkovich walked into my office his freshman year, acting like he owned the world, completely unintimidated by me in every way. I loved hanging with this guy and spent much time with him. Jeana and I introduced him to his wife, Stephanie. We helped him get into Southeastern College, coaching him then to get his masters from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and then on to getting his doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Just recently, I recommended to Dr. Fred Lowery and the Search Committee, that Brad Jurkovich follow Dr. Lowery as Senior Pastor. After much discussion and prayer, Dr. Brad Jurkovich became the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Bossier City, Louisiana.

Yes, all those times of hanging out, taking these guys with me along the way, and pouring into them, is now producing major results. The stories could go on and on with others. Without any question at all, investing in others produces long-term results.

Lesson #3: We can do more together than we can ever do on our own

Quite honestly, I was a little slower learning this important lesson. I always loved other leaders and ministries, and was especially fond of the grand ministries in my beloved denomination called the Southern Baptist Convention. However, I was a part of the generation of pastors who loved their independence and their ability to have an entrepreneur spirit.

Yet, over the last two decades, there has been a growing conviction within me, now being demonstrated through me, how we can do more together than we can ever do on our own. I could share with you easily things I am involved in today that would illustrate this growing conviction in my life. Rather than do that, let me just ask you to learn from my experience and take my word for it.

Cross Church today is doing things way beyond my imagination even a decade ago, all because of understanding the value of gospel partnerships. We have learned and are learning more and more: We can do more together than we can ever do on our own. If I had not grown in my leadership in this area over the last two decades, our church’s ministry and my personal pastoral ministry would be much more limited today.

Thank God for gospel partnerships! We need one another. We can do more together than we can ever do on our own. Today, powerful, exciting, life-changing things are occurring around the world that we are connected to all because of one thing: our partnership in ministry that we share with others, mainly our partnership with our convention of churches known as the Southern Baptist Convention.

A few final words

There is no way I can say these are the three biggest lessons I have learned here as a leader over the past twenty-seven years. Yet, I can say they are three big lessons! What I do know is that I have so much more to learn. I am so glad I love to learn!

Yours for the Great Commission,

Ronnie W. Floyd