Do you ever go to a worship service not expecting too much, minding your own business, when the Lord reaches down and shakes your cage? That has happened to me more than a few times.

A while back my friend, co-author, and colleague Mark Liederbach spoke in chapel at SEBTS. In his message he spoke with great eloquence on the importance of the local church in the life of the believer, even noting he served as professor at Southeastern with the permission of the leadership of his church. That message functioned in my life like a tiller churning up a field to make it more productive. It coincided with other forces in my life pushing me to bring my life to a more holistic focus.  That journey took a major turn yesterday.

Yesterday morning I taught a class at my home church, Richland Creek Community Church. Speaking on a Sunday morning is no surprise as I have had the honor of preaching in over 1700 churches throughout my adult life.  But this Sunday was different.

Today for the first time in 21 years — since our son Josh was a baby and before Hannah was born — I am serving on staff in my local church, Richland Creek Community Church. Part time to be sure, as I serve with great vigor and joy at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. But the local church, not a seminary, not a parachurch ministry, not a solo itinerant ministry, is the plan of God to reach people and build disciples. Beyond a believer’s biological family, the local church family should be our priority. Everything else supports that (or should). We should see our local church family as that–a family. Moving to another church or barely being involved makes no sense if we understand our commitment to the church reflects both our love for Jesus, the head of the church, and its members, our family.

I realized a while back that my life actually epitomized what I thought to be a central problem in the Western Church, that of compartmentalization.  We have too often created a culture that proves fertile for selfishness, divisiveness, for each one to look out for his or her own interests.  But I believe we should do more together, not separately. Not too long ago my local church experience, my preaching ministry in churches, my writing ministry, and my ministry as a professor operated far too separately. That has changed.

Now, I teach at Southeastern and minister to young professionals at my church,. Many (though not all) in the latter ministry are also students of mine at SEBTS. I have given my life to the younger generation, so this is a great fit. I still travel some, but the main folks I travel with are also integrally involved in that same church and at SEBTS.  My writing has a much greater focus on the local church. So much of my writing focuses on the next generation, whom I now observe daily through both my school and my church.  I will also be a better teacher to my students because I see things even more through the lens of the local church.

This fall I am meeting with a group of men in a small group, a mentoring group.  I have done so most semesters for many years now. Mentoring is a big deal to me (see my brand new and free ebook With: A Guide to Informal Ministry at alvinreid.com). But this time it is different; this time all the men are a part of my church and students at my seminary. And, several of them are also involved in the young pros ministry.

We do well to bring the body of Christ together so that we can build real community. I am not opposed to times of segregation for certain reasons: we do have a specific young pros class, a weekly time for middle/high school students, a weekly time of worship for college and young pros called two-four, and so on. But the more we can integrate the better, and the more we do, the more accountable we are to one another, which is a crucial part of building biblical community.

Once you have traveled and preached for a while if you have any ability at all you learn it is really not that hard to preach at a big megachurch or speak to a large group of youth. The challenge of weekly building a ministry is much harder. I am ready for the challenge.  Stay tuned.

About Alvin Reid

Hi and welcome! I am Alvin Reid, a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Michelle, father of Josh and Hannah, and minister of the gospel. I teach at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Southeastern College at Wake Forest in NC. I love people and have been blessed to meet a lot. I live to equip a generation of young men and women to change the world, to advance the great movement of God in our time.For the Christ follower, life is a mission trip-take it!