Home Christian News Diversity, Opportunity To Contribute Spurred Ohio Church To Join SBC

Diversity, Opportunity To Contribute Spurred Ohio Church To Join SBC

The SBC’s growing diversity certainly factored in Mount Calvary’s decision.

The term “diversity” needs to expand out beyond race, he said.

“It needs to become a purposeful mission of connecting … churches to be able to broaden its perspectives of [fellow] Baptists,” said Williams, a Milwaukee native who will mark nine years at Mount Calvary in November.

That means not reaching out to people based on race, but because there is common ground in “like-mindedness and doctrine.”

Southern Baptists’ recent meeting in Anaheim reinforced to him that the perspective someone grew up with is important to that person. It is the lens through which he or she sees the world.

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However, he said, “Culture can never out-weigh our climate for Christ.

“We can never allow our background of where or how we were raised, our political perspectives, to out-weigh our command of what Christ has commissioned us to do and be about.”

Williams credits leadership in the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio with welcoming his church. Executive Director Jeremy Westbrook is scheduled to preach at Mount Calvary on Oct. 23.

“He has extended himself along with Reginald Hayes (SCBO Convention Relations-Community) to make me feel a part of the state convention and help us in our county-wide health COVID initiative. Jeremy is what Southern Baptists should bring to the forefront of its national leadership!”

In addition to meeting over the phone during the pandemic, the church stayed connected through a prayer line that met three times during the day and remains in use. It’s not unusual for as many as 50 to call in at 6 a.m., more than 100 at noon and a few hundred at 6 p.m., Williams said.

Meanwhile, the church has established another campus – New Mount Calvary in Cleveland. Plans are to launch New Mount Calvary West in East Lansing, Mich., next summer.

Like when he was preaching to an empty sanctuary, Williams said there are Southern Baptists-to-be out there.

“I want to use my experiences as a pastor and my determination as a man of God to help an organization that has success in helping pastors,” he said.

“I don’t want to be a person receiving all the goods. I want to come to the table to use my gifts to be effective and help Southern Baptists become a greater SBC than when we first joined.”

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.