California pastor Stephen Feinstein to be nominated for SBC 2nd VP
By Timothy Cockes/BP
ELKTON, Tenn. (BP) – Chris Bolt, pastor of Elkton Baptist Church in Elkton, Tenn., has announced his intention to once again nominate Stephen Feinstein, pastor of Sovereign Way Christian Church in Hesperia, Calif., for second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting in Nashville, June 15-16.
Bolt announced in January of 2020 his intention to nominate Feinstein for second vice president at the 2020 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando, but that meeting was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He again announced his intention to nominate Feinstein for the position on Twitter Wednesday (June 9).
In his thread posted on Twitter, Bolt explained he is now even more confident of Feinstein’s qualifications for the role.
“I am even more encouraged after lengthy conversations with him (Feinstein) regarding our convention,” Bolt said. “Like many of you, Pastor Feinstein and I share concerns about the current state and trajectory of the SBC. We believe Southern Baptists must feel comfortable expressing their agreements and disagreements in an open and honest fashion for the sake of unity in the truth.
“What I really like about Steve is that, whether one agrees or disagrees with him, he does not compromise on his convictions, and is his own man. But he also deeply believes in the work of the Southern Baptist Convention and is representative of its future.”
Feinstein told Baptist Press in January 2020 that he hoped serving in the position would be an example of a small-town SBC pastor with a seat at the table.
“The vast majority of SBC churches are small,” he said. “Yet our convention celebrates large churches and the pastors of large churches. It would be nice for other pastors of small churches to know that the convention values us [small churches] too. This will communicate that pastors don’t have to buy their way into office with large CP donations from their megachurches,” Feinstein said. “If my election in even a small way can communicate this, then that is my main goal.”
Sovereign Way Church, where Feinstein serves as pastor, reported $5,000 in Cooperative Program giving in 2020 according to the ACP. The church reported no CP giving the 5 years prior to 2020.
Feinstein began his teaching ministry at age 20 and began pastoring 10 years later. In addition to his pastoral ministry, Feinstein is a major in the U.S. Army Reserve and has served as a chaplain through the North American Mission Board since 2009.
He holds a master of arts from Liberty University and a master of divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Bonny and they have two children, Rachel and Hadassah.
Students mobilized to ‘go change __________’s world’ at REV 7:9
By Myriah Snyder/IMB
NASHVILLE (BP) – The International Mission Board is introducing the first annual REV 7:9 conference to be held on Dec. 29-31, 2022, in Nashville. “Go change __________’s world,” will be the theme of the conference, a missions movement for 18–25-year-olds. The blank is intentionally placed in the theme to challenge students to think of a person or people group in need of the Gospel.
The vision of the conference is to bring students one step closer to missions through praying, giving and going. Its purpose is to “be a conduit between 18- to 25-year-olds and the nations,” conference organizers said.
“IMB is thrilled to help churches mobilize the rising generation of Christ-followers to steward the Revelation 7:9 vision to get the Gospel to every nation, all tribes, peoples and languages,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said. “To that end, we are excited to announce the REV 7:9 conference.
“This conference will inspire students to go to the nations, pray for the nations and send to the nations. A recent Barna research study found that 51 percent of churchgoers don’t know the Great Commission. Those who attend the REV 7:9 conference will not only know the Great Commission, but they’ll understand their part in the Great Commission and how to live it out.”
IMB leaders envision REV 7:9 to be a place for students and student leaders to participate in missions hands-on in the exhibit hall and interact with missionaries to build partnerships and learn about ways to serve overseas. Information on how to engage in future missions projects will be provided.
“REV 7:9 will be an exciting opportunity for young adults and their ministry leaders to learn how they can connect their lives with the mission of God while in college or after they graduate,” said Chris Derry, the IMB’s director of church and network mobilization.
“It’s our hope to see a movement of young adults join God in how He is at work through IMB teams working among the nations. We want them to grow bolder in their faith by living in community with other missionaries. We want them to leverage their talents, backgrounds and majors to create new opportunities to reach the next generation in global cities. We want them to celebrate the kingdom impact of their praying, giving and going.”
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