Sunday Sitdown
DR. BILL JONES
DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS, NECHES RIVER BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
The Messenger has expanded our Sunday Sitdown reports to include not only our local pastors but educators, local businesspeople, students, interesting people of all walks of life in Houston County. To see the full interview, check out the video at the link below. The Messenger would like to thank Cutshaw Chevrolet in Grapeland for sponsoring this week’s edition.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1357170295079608
What do you think God wants from each of us?
“God wants a relationship with us. That’s why He created Adam and Eve. That relationship is the key but He also wants obedience. He said in the Old Testament that obedience is better than any other sacrifice. Jesus in the New Testament tell us to love God with all our heart, all our strength and all our mind. God wants that relationship of love and obedience.”
What has been the most difficult part of being a pastor?
“There were different issues when I started than there are today. Early on, you could pick up and hold a child or hug a child. You could hug people. But we are in a time today, where that has become far more difficult. Especially as a man you have to be careful because some people are looking for something. It only takes one accusation to ruin a ministry. It doesn’t have to be true – it just has to be an accusation. So I guard that very carefully.”
What do you like most about being a pastor?
“My favorite part are the people. I had a professor in seminary who told us, ‘The most important word in the English language is relationships.’ I didn’t understand what he meant then, but now that I have been in ministry for many years, I understand it. Pastors who just stay in their office and do not develop relationships with people – they are part of a church that is not growing. You have to have relationships with people.”
What can churches do to get more young people involved?
“It is an issue I see all the time. I have seen it in a lot of our churches. A lot of people have ideas about how to fix it that will not work. I was blessed to have been in a church where we saw what could be done and we did it because I had the freedom to do it. A lot of people just wish people would come to church like they did when they were kids. You can wish all you want but they are not coming. We need to redevelop how we do child and student ministry. The ones that don’t are the churches that are dying. We should instill in students a love to be in church. I wanted my boys to grow up believing the two most exciting places in the whole of life were our home and church. In the home that is easy but developing that in the church became more difficult. We have to invest more into our child and student ministries than ever before. I ask people, ‘How many of you in church this morning were saved before the age of 18?’ It is usually more than 95%. If that’s true, we shouldn’t be spending all of our money on adults in the church. God laid it out pretty clearly in the Bible. We are to teach them when we wake up in the morning, at noon and when we go to bed at night.”
Have you ever thought of a question or something you would say to God when you meet Him?
“I think my question would be, ‘How could You love me?’ I know about the cross – but I don’t understand it. How could the Son of God, who had all the splendor of heaven, leave that and be treated the way He was, beaten the way He was and go to the cross? I don’t understand that. God may let me know or He may not. It may not matter at that point. ”
Dr. Jones is always active as an interim pastor, helping to train new ministers and assisting with missions. Contact him at (936)544-3754.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
