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The power of one
Full-time heroes
Bivocational pastors lauded at annual meeting BY RICHARD NATIONS Special to the Hannibal, Mo. | “Bivocational pastors are my heroes,” said Frank Page, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, as he addressed the annual session of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network May 13-14 at Hannibal-LaGrange University. “You are not alone,” Page told the 55 pastors and wives gathered in the university’s auditorium. But bivocational ministry can feel lonely, and can come with its share of baggage, said Illinois pastor Cliff Woodman, president of the network. “We used to think that if a man couldn’t afford to live on the salary of his ministry, he would have to get another job (and be bivocational),” said Woodman, who pastors Emmanuel Baptist Church in Carlinville. But the term “bivocational” is no WOODMAN longer a stigma, he said. “Today there is more respect for the bivocational pastor. Men are intentionally going into bivocational ministry. Full-time ministry is not better than bivo. There is no ‘move up.’” P. 3
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