by: Emily Carstens
The 2014 National Old Paths Conference kicked off at the Longview Baptist Temple last night. This year’s theme for the Conference is “Christianity 365” emphasizing the need for Christians to be true Christians every day of the year, not just at church. Many pastors from around the country as close as Jefferson, Texas, and as far as Anchorage, Alaska were in attendance. A few missionaries were also in attendance representing the countries of Cameroon, the republic of Georgia and India.
The service was started off with the Longview Baptist Temple choir singing, “His Grace is Still Amazing.” After the first congregational, Dr. Bob Gray, II, pastor of the Longview Baptist Temple, called on the men in the congregation to kneel at the altar and pray for God’s power on the service. Dr. Gray emphasized that the men need to hear from God to ultimately impact the homes. After another congregational, Bro. Alvin Martinez, from North Valley Baptist Church in California, sang two songs. His first song, “I Know a Man Who Can,” reminded Christians that we may not be able to perform miracles, but Jesus is the Man Who can. His second song, “I Take Him Back,” encouraged the crowd to take the Devil back to the day of their salvation when he tries to discourage them from serving the Lord.
Next Dr. Gray preached the first sermon of the night. He preached on the subject “America Needs Preachers.” He emphasized that fact that America does not need more politicians or more Starbucks stores, but more preachers to preach Jesus. He gave three points to his message. First, if you are a preacher, do not quit, resign, or give up. Secondly, if you have a preacher, support him by saying, “Amen” and smiling. Thirdly, your city is very blessed if it has a preacher preaching the Gospel. He ended out his sermon by stating that a person will never get down the old paths without a preacher.
After Dr. Gray finished preaching, Bro. Martinez returned to the platform to bless the congregation with two more songs, “Just One More Soul” and “We Believe.” Bro. B. G. Buchanan, pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, preached a great sermon entitled, “I’m One of Them.” His sermon was taken from the story of Peter’s denial of Christ. Bro. Buchanan admonished Christians to be known as Christians by their testimony. Dr. Gray led the invitation and asked the men to identify themselves as dedicating themselves or being dedicated to being “one of those” Christians. The men filled the altars to identify as being “One of Them” who will walk the old paths. The service ended out with the Duckett family singing “His Life for Mine.” Announcements were given then everyone was then asked to return for the morning session at nine for more old fashioned preaching.
It was a great start to the 2014 National Old Paths Conference. God met with the delegates, and the anticipation of the LORD working through the rest of the week was very evident after the service. After a time of fellowship, the delegates left later in the evening anticipating Tuesday’s sessions.