By Portia Williams
Pastors and church leaders were granted for a time of refueling and rejuvenation at the first Inaugural Breakfast event sponsored by the Scioto County Ministerial Association (SCMA) Saturday morning. The event was held at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, with guest speaker Al Oliver.
Craig Gilliland, president of SCMA, said Oliver really hit home with his message on Saturday.
“It was a great message, Al delivered. Just like he mentioned, when the chips are down, and we need a hit, he definitely delivered and gave an uplifting message to re-energize us,” Gilliland said. “I had a couple of individuals tell me, to use one of the guys’ words, it went right down the smoke stack, and hit right where he was at.”
He said hopefully more pastors and church leaders will take part in the event next year.
“Hopefully, this is being our first, this is a good start, and we are looking forward to doing this again next year, and hopefully have greater participation. Everybody is busy, we understand that, but it’s just an opportunity to get their batteries charged and get uplifted,” Gilliland said.
Breakfast attendees were given an autographed-copy of Al Oliver’s latest book, ‘Life is a Hit, Don’t Strike Out.’
“I have something else to add to my reading list. Overall, I thought it was a very successful morning, and I just really thankful to Al for kicking it off for us,” Gilliland said.
The speaker of the event, Al Oliver said he discussed the topic of Spiritual Degeneration.
“The subject that I used today was Spiritual Degeneration, and the subtopic was, Are We Where We Should Be?” Oliver said. “I don’t think that many of us are where we should be.”
Oliver said many times in churches, tension arises because people are put into different positions for the wrong reasons. He said this can be very stressful on pastors, and cause them to become burned out.
“The deacons should be doing what they are supposed to do, the trustees should be doing what they are supposed to do, the usher board, and all of the auxiliaries,” Oliver said. “If they are doing what they have committed themselves to, and being faithful in the capacities in which they are led by the Holy Spirit to serve in, everything will be okay.”
Oliver also touched on the issue of race as one of his topics of discussion.
“I am kind of tired of race being such a big issue that divides us,” he said. “My grandfather was a slave, my dad was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and they came here in the late 1920’s, but my dad never, ever mentioned race. He allowed me to go out into the world and find out for myself, what people are about, and I did and that’s why today I have no issues with race. We are all God’s children. The bottom line is that there is only one race, and that’s the human race.”
The event was concluded with Oliver’s book signing, and continued fellowship.
Reach Portia Williams at 740-353-3101, ext. 1929, or on Twitter@PortiaWillPDT.
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