HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. – Baptist leaders in Christian County, Ky., believe God is doing something extraordinary.
What else can explain the sudden surge of men seeking to discern whether they are called to preach?
“It wasn’t on the radar screen,” said John Franklin, associational mission strategist for the Christian County Baptist Association. “We accidentally discovered it.”
Although only two churches in the association are currently without pastors, Franklin began noticing something unexpected — men sitting in pews whose hearts God seemed to be stirring.
Through conversations with pastors, Franklin learned that several men were wrestling with a sense of calling to ministry. As those discussions continued, it became clear the number was more than just a handful.
He contacted Tim Morgan at Fruit Hill Baptist Church in Crofton, Ky., and discovered the church had restarted Sunday night services because four men had been called into ministry and needed opportunities to preach.
Now knowing of at least six men expressing interest, Franklin reached out to Jimmy Stewart, a retired pastor in Christian County. Together, they began discussing the possibility of launching an interim training program.
“I’m all excited, sharing the story with some other pastors,” Franklin said.
To his surprise, nearly every church he contacted shared similar accounts of men sensing a call to ministry. “All of the sudden, we had 14 or 15 potentially,” Franklin said. “Following the advice of Henry Blackaby, who said to go where God is working, I pulled two other pastors, Andy Haley and David Tucker from our church strengthening team. The four of us mapped out what we were going to do.”
Franklin also connected with Mike Jones, the AMS at the Graves County Baptist Association, who had led a similar initiative that guided 30 men through discerning and responding to God’s call.
“Taking notes, I mostly copied Mike’s agenda,” Franklin said. “We put out a call and sent it to all my pastors. If you have anyone who feels they are having a call, come to a meeting of interest.”
A memo outlining the new program — titled “Answering the Call” — was distributed through the association’s weekly communication. Eleven men RSVP’d. But when the night arrived, 25 showed up, and three others called to express interest though they couldn’t attend.
With nine pastors joining Franklin, attendance reached 35 — a number no one expected, except, of course, God.
“Why do you get 25 people called? You get that from healthy churches who are modeling and walking with God is touching those guys in these churches,” Franklin said.
Though intended as an organizational meeting, the gathering quickly became much more.
They met for two hours and “it was off the chain,” Franklin said. “My team knocked it out of the park.”
David Tucker, pastor of Second Baptist, led a session using the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s Preaching Handbook. He focused on preparing to preach by praying through Scripture.
“He gave them activities to do. I don’t know how it could have gone any better. It was like a seminary class. The activities then engaged them. All of this created engagement among themselves and created excitement.”
Most of the men had never preached before, yet they were already stepping into that role. Each selected a passage from a prepared list and was assigned to preach a five-minute message from that Scripture at the next session, scheduled three weeks later.
They will also be evaluated by their peers, Franklin said. “And the energy was there.”
“Here’s what we thought: Only God calls people. The KBC has been using Calling Out the Called and a prayer team for two to three years. I talked with (KBC consultant) Jason Lowe and he said there were 21 or 22 groups (like this one). They have called for the third printing of the Preaching Handbook,” Franklin said.
The excitement was obvious. Even when the meeting ended around 8 o’clock, the men stayed around talking with each other for another nearly 90 minutes before leaving.
Participants will continue receiving training and then be given opportunities to preach throughout the association.
Sessions are scheduled for the third Monday of each month, with breaks in June, July and December. “The Preaching Handbook has eight lessons, so it fits perfect,” Franklin said.
Franklin noted there are at least eight avenues for preaching opportunities, including jails, state parks and Sunday night services. Tucker is also organizing a preaching conference for spring 2027 where these men will participate.
“The goal is, by the end of the year, they will each have one sermon that is really polished and good,” Franklin said. “We are excited to see where this goes but we are certain that God is in it.”
This article originally appeared in Kentucky Today.
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