Pastors Conference, TAB collaboration fuels connections

Pastors Conference, TAB collaboration fuels connections

For eight years The Alabama Baptist (TAB) has partnered with the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference to put together a time that is both encouraging and informative for the state’s pastors and their families.

And it’s definitely a team effort, said 2019 Pastors Conference president, Stuart Davidson. 

“The Pastors Conference would not exist if it were not for [The Alabama Baptist],” he said. “They help secure all the folks that come in as vendors and that in turn helps us fuel the speakers, the band and just all the technology that goes into making the Pastors Conference happen.”

The main goal of the Pastors Conference is not to generate revenue but to “rejuvenate, refocus and reconnect,” said Davidson, who also serves as pastor of Eastern Shore Baptist Church, Daphne, where the Pastors Conference was hosted this year. “As pastors there’s a lot of things that pull for our attention — some of it’s good, some of it’s bad. It’s very easy to take your eye off the ball. … It’s inevitable that the Pastors Conference is going to be an encouraging time because you get to see your friends again, but you also get to spend time in worship and really focusing on the gospel message and that is huge.”

The one-day conference isn’t just a time to reconnect with old pastoral friends. It’s also a time for pastors and ministry leaders to connect with new ministry opportunities and businesses serving churches.

“The vendors are there to connect with the leadership of the churches to see if there are needs and partnership opportunities for various things — youth camps, audiovisual services, seminaries, construction and remodeling companies, etc.,” said TAB’s director of sales Bill Gilmore. “It’s always refreshing to find local, like-minded companies to support and do business with.”

And there’s also ample opportunity for the vendors to connect with each other as well. 

Opportunity to connect

“We try to connect not only those attending the conference but the vendors who are here among one another because they have ministries and services that can join together to further serve churches,” he said. “Our mission at TAB is ‘informing, inspiring, connecting’ and the Pastors Conference is somewhere we get to do all three.” (Jessica Ingram)

Read more about the 2019 Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference here.