Twenty-four new pastors came to the home office on May 11 and 12 for an intensive, two-day training to learn the essentials of their new jobs. Two new pastors were from Latin America: Jaime Gallardo from Chile and Israel Robledo from Guatemala. This training session preceded the General Conference of Elders meetings, which started on Friday, May 13.

The new pastors were quite varied in age and experience—those coming out of retirement to assume oversight of three or four churches, new hires from our local elder pool who have been serving in their churches for years and volunteer pastors who are caring for churches while we determine how we can staff them with permanent pastors.

I was so pleased and refreshed with the optimistic and energetic spirit to really care for churches! Most questions had to do with the relevant aspects of how to care for people, which included counseling, sermon subjects and content, conducting various ceremonies, organizing social activities, conflict resolution and much more. In one of our evening question and answer sessions, the one-and-a-half-hour discussion was completely about our outreach and preaching the Gospel.

President Dennis Luker opened the first day by speaking about the high calling of the ministry and the heart of a pastor. Then Roy Holladay gave a presentation about conducting various ceremonies such as weddings, funerals and baptisms.

We then had a longer session about the various administrative responsibilities of the pastor, which included reporting, expenses, handling assistance and other necessary forms. During the lunch hour LeeAnn Luker met separately with the women for a special discussion.

After lunch, Roy Holladay talked about duties and speaking at the Feast of Tabernacles. This year there will definitely be more speaking opportunities for all pastors. Mr. and Mrs. Luker spoke about the pastor’s marriage and its challenges.

At the end of the first day’s regular sessions, Gary Antion spoke to the group about counseling basics.

The second day began with Mr. Holladay going through the ministerial qualifications and practical principles from Timothy and Titus.

In two sessions for more than three hours Dr. Don Ward, Jerry Aust and Randy Stiver spoke about the principles of preaching. Then Mr. Antion covered some of the most common counseling issues—that of pre-marital and baptism counseling. The day ended with Mr. Holladay and Victor Kubik speaking about maintaining spiritual health and not letting ourselves be overrun by our duties.

All of us agreed that we gained much not only by what was taught, but by the fellowship we had with one another. We look positively to our continuing to work together to serve our brethren.