by Kay Adkins, posted Friday, April 18, 2008 (16 years ago)
EDEN, N.C. (BP)--Pastor Steve Griffith of Osborne Baptist Church vividly remembers prayerwalking around the corporate headquarters of a major textile plant one day in February 1998 when he sensed God telling him, "I'm going to give you this building."
"I could take you to the spot," said Griffith, adding that God impressed on him that it wasn't a matter of bricks and mortar but of His passion for people.
Nearing the time of his graduation from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993, Griffith preached in view of a call at the Eden, N.C., church, which was at a crisis point. He was perplexed when the church voted against calling him as pastor.
"About three weeks later they called me back saying the church had split and the people who wanted me to come were the ones who stayed," Griffith recounted. He sought counsel from his mentor, the late Mark Corts, then-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, who frankly warned him to "Run!"
But God did not let Griffith and his wife Jenny off the hook so easily. He returned a second time to preach and was called as Osborne's pastor.
"About three weeks later they called me back saying the church had split and the people who wanted me to come were the ones who stayed," Griffith recounted. He sought counsel from his mentor, the late Mark Corts, then-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, who frankly warned him to "Run!"
But God did not let Griffith and his wife Jenny off the hook so easily. He returned a second time to preach and was called as Osborne's pastor.
"When churches go through a split, nobody wins. The first two years were really weird," Griffith said. "I went to the Lord and asked Him, 'What are You doing? Where do You want us to go?'" Read More
