Episode 1: Welcome Back!

The Rural Church Podcast 2 .0. Welcome to the Rural Church Podcast. Just a couple of pastors discussing life ministry the gospel and theology from the perspective of the local church.

Hey Eddie.

What's it time for?

The Rural Church Podcast.

Welcome to the Rural Church Podcast 2 .0. 2 .0 Eddie. Yeah, it's great to be back off of a However many year hiatus from 2018 for what while you were completing your PhD. Well, we are in a different world today that is so true, you know 2018 was BC.

Wow. Yeah, that's right. I don't know if that might be sacrilegious to say it that way. But yeah, you're right before kovat well, listen this we better introduce ourselves because we're sure to be a Different different audience if anybody's even listening at all.

Hi mom. So we have Great lady. Yeah I'm Alan Nelson the pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in the metropolis of Perryville, Arkansas just under 1 ,500 people if you don't know where Perryville is we're just outside of Toadstool.

So and then I'm with me as my friend and co-labor and brother in Christ Eddie Ragsdale. Eddie Why don't you introduce yourself real quick? Yeah, I'm Eddie Ragsdale. I'm the pastor at Marshall First Baptist Church in Marshall Arkansas slightly smaller than Perryville about 1 ,300 people in beautiful Searcy County Just south of the Buffalo River.

No idea when this episode is going to air hopefully sooner rather than later. But what we wanted to do is just talk a little bit about who we are and about our heart for the local church and about why we wanted to Do this podcast.

Why the Local Church Is the Center of Kingdom Work

So Eddie, why don't you tell them? Why is this rural church podcast 2 .0? Why don't you talk a little bit about the rural church podcast?

Well.

Yeah, you know, I think maybe you know in the last four years. A lot has changed. I know four years ago. We both would have said that we love the local church. But even more so now I think over these last years, especially as we have went through Shift, you know, even with the pandemic and all those things the necessity of realizing.

That what God is doing kingdom-wide is in. The work of the local church. I think so often. We we think of things in terms of movements. I was thinking of this this morning when I was Getting ready to come to church.

I was just thinking about how that so often we want to be a part of a movement we want to be a part of something that's larger than ourselves and so we think in terms of the Convention or we think in terms of denomination or we think in terms of Those kinds of things when the thing that's larger than ourselves is your local church.

That is the thing that's larger than ourselves. Amen, amen, and I don't you know. So we did the rural church podcast and we just we just tried to stay disciplined and and it it just kind of fell apart.

But here's here's my vision and I want to. I want to talk a little bit maybe in this episode about my summer. But but my vision is just me and me and Eddie are good friends and we enjoy the time together.

So we we are about what would you say Eddie? 90 minutes apart. About maybe just a hair over that something like that. It doesn't seem like that long, but it's far enough. We don't see each other. It's far enough that we just don't see each other.

I pastored in in Clinton, Arkansas. And I met Eddie in 2013 he was preaching a hard message at the associational Meeting and I walked up to him afterwards. It was at his church. I'd never seen this guy before my life but he was smoking about easy believism and all these things and honestly sounded like a Paul Washer sermon, so I.

I.

Walked up to him afterwards and my shibboleth was Have you ever heard of Paul Washer. And and my response was did you not just hear that message? Right, right. So we kind of hit it off and became friends and so one of the purposes of this podcast is if no one else listens Me and Eddie get to talk to each other at least in once a week.

And so we enjoy that. But the idea is we love the local church. We love the rural church. Not that we don't care about churches and city centers, that's great, but we just feel like there's not a whole lot of talk about rural America and This is where this is where God has planted both of us.

And so if we were in urban centers, we would be talking about from a different perspective. But we're able to kind of give you know a certain perspective from the rural. Regarding the rural church that I'm not sure is out there on the interwebs.

Al Gore's interwebs. So we're just we enjoy that. Anything and that that's kind of what we'll be talking about theology life things that come up for example and not very long and a few. Probably about a little around eight weeks, maybe seven weeks.

There is a goat fest. Really in Perryville and I'm gonna go do some evangelism there. Anyway, hopefully there'll be some sheep.

Some.

Sheep are going to the goat fest bro. But anyway crazy stuff comes up. That's that's what we want to talk about on this podcast. We'll talk about life theology ministry all from a local church perspective.

And then of course our unique perspective of being in in rural Arkansas. Anything you want to add to that about about kind of the the idea for the podcast? Yeah, and I think also too is thinking through How that God is growing things in in your local context your local church and The church is nearest the you that you can be in In partnership with so I think about you and I and how that you know.

We're both not far from Conway and there's some great things that the Lord's doing there and in us thinking in terms of. Instead of thinking we've got to be tied into something that's happened two states away or or something like that how can we partner with the people that are that we can look in the eye and Then be able to partner even for global mission when we're when we're thinking about the kingdom of God starting with the local churches that we're a part of and the brothers that God has put in our lives and as opposed to maybe What we've seen in the past where it's about.

These these big.

Organizations. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa, don't you but don't you need a big organization if you want to make a global impact? Well that I'm glad you said that because I was about to ask you to share a little bit about About your summer and I want to share a little bit about my summer because I think we both had Experiences this this summer that have maybe.

Would help us to even think through this idea of local church partnership. We both lost a bag but in different ways. Mine Aero Mexico lost my bag, but guess what they gave it back and I didn't get mine back.

You didn't get your back yet. Someone breaking the Eighth Commandment and All right, well I'm a different pastor I believe in August. This is we're recording this in August in August of 2022 even than I was in May of 2022.

I think I mean, you know, I I don't want to look you can go back you can look on iTunes you can find the rural church podcast. This is the rural church podcast 2 .0. I hope it'll be on iTunes as well.

But if you find the original rural church podcast. You can listen to our episodes and and there's a lot about Eddie and myself that are that hasn't changed. But there is some things I think Eddie's right that have changed in this and and not.

Maybe you don't say changed as far as like our roots have just gone deeper, you know, and and our convictions and so for me two things for me and I shared this with our church a few weeks ago, but two things for me were Anaheim the Southern Baptist annual meeting in Anaheim and then the Mission trip I went on to Mexico.

Anaheim Exposes the Crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention

In.

Anaheim and and Eddie you you didn't go to Anaheim. I try to talk you into it. I try to you know guilt you into it and excite you into it and anything short of just paying you to go but. But you were you were you were kind of a little bit already past where I was yeah.

We're well and not just myself, but our church was are a little further down the road. As far as relationship to the convention, you know, give you a quick now you guys are yeah. I'll give you a quick analogy from Anaheim in 2012 in the fall of 2012.

I bought my dad and myself Tickets to go see Alabama versus Arkansas because I just knew that year was going to be the year that we beat him. You know, we hadn't beat him. I've been married 16 years and This coming fall and I have five children and I was not married the last time.

Arkansas beat, Alabama. So Here we go. We're going up there and but you remember Petrino had left and I was like, oh, I wasn't feeling good. But hey, maybe we can beat him. We can rah-rah and beat him and they slaughtered us 52 to nothing something like that.

I mean, they just destroyed us. Okay Anaheim was worse than that in my opinion. Anaheim was an absolute kick to the teeth. You had Rick Warren. Who was celebrated? Who even made a jab at reformed theology?

He was celebrated even though he has women pastors. We we said we couldn't define what a pastor is. We had Adam Greenway that was trying to defend partnering with churches with women pastors. You had seminary presidents who would not who refused to talk about equal protection for the unborn except for our molar.

Our molar did you had. You had a refusal to talk about plagiarism in the pulpit. You had a refusal to talk about qualified men in the pulpit. You had a refusal to listen to the the wisdom of men like Mark Coppinger on the sex abuse task force.

It was just an absolute slaughter. Tom Askell got beat. Bodhi Bachem got beat. You know every kind of conserved a strong male presence was beat. We ended up with Bart Barber. We've seen already that Bart is willing to compromise and It's just it was really a kick in the teeth and my heart was just broken.

Anything you want to add. I've talked for a minute anything you want to add. I do want to talk about Mexico. But anything you'd like to add about that? Well, I mean, yeah, I would say that our church had already made some moves really after after Nashville a Lot of this comes down to where where your people are as a church.

We've the Lord has been gracious and we have seen a lot of growth in our church in the last three years. But all of that growth is people who've never been Southern Baptist before and don't really care anything about being Southern Baptist and they're looking at all the The egalitarianism they're looking all the wokeness and they're just saying wow.

Why why would we want to be a part of this? Well, you know and they're not and so our church was already after Nashville. Looking toward probably moving away and we actually this year starting in January when we started our new budget we pulled our funding of the cooperative program and have been funding individual missionaries and mission societies on a monthly basis and praying for them and that's been the way that we've been doing our Giving so a lot of that had had a lot to do with me not.

Investing the time to go to Anaheim. Because we were kind of already past the point where we probably weren't going back no matter what happened in Anaheim. But all of that being said once again, I think it comes down to do we view The you know I've heard Tom Askell mentioned this a lot the idea behind the cooperative program and behind the Southern Baptist Convention if you go all the way back to the founding.

Is that it's supposed to be? The headquarters being in the local church, but the reality. And regardless of what the reality of that looks like in the SBC I do think that what God is doing in his kingdom is is best served by us.

Being.

Committed to what we're going to accomplish in the local church and this is where we want to be faithful with our service Seeking the Lord's glory and and I can't affect the 42 ,000 churches in the SBC but God has planted me in Marshall and among the brothers and sisters of Marshall First Baptist and that's where I Believe the Lord's gonna Reward that faithfulness.

Cooperative Program or Local Church Stewardship

Yeah on on paper. Here's the deal on paper. I've said this to my church I've said this I probably publicly it openly up on paper. I like the cooperative programs idea I like the idea, but practically it has become a shell of its former self it has.

It is being abused and corrupted and it's it's and I so so much so that I would say look if you're listening this and your Church is giving a blank check as it were to the cooperative program. Hey, we're gonna send five grand to the cooperative program.

Y 'all divide it up. However, you want I'd say please please don't do that. You're going to be held accountable. We're wasting we're wasting our missions money to send it in like that that and and I would say 20 years ago.

That.

The SBC was happy to have rule small churches. But I would say today especially with with Twitter and blogs and podcasts They honestly just rather us leave because we have a different fundamental Idea of mission what the church should be what cooperation should be.

Bro, uh the the the the push right now for cooperation with people who Affirm women pastors and can't define pastors. Wow, you know like what. And this isn't coming from Bob in his mom's basement. This is coming from Nathan Finn, you know Nathan Finn.

Yeah, this is coming from Adam Greenway. This is coming from.

Prominent.

Leaders a seminary president in the Southern Baptist Convention, so. Anyway, I was pretty dejected. I told my church that on Tuesday I was brokenhearted and on Wednesday, I was angry on Wednesday if I were to come home on Wednesday I said we're out we're leaving we're done.

Our church is not going to take that position but we are Lord willing going to be adjusting our cooperative program where we've already had the talks and we have to you know. We have to vote on all that.

We can't just pull a lever as it were but that's that's the direction that we're Moving Lord willing, but anyway anything else you I want I want you to move on to talk about Mexico. But but but just on that note of thinking about our partnership with missionaries.

I'll just use July as an example for our church. So in July The missionary family that we're working with is the scovert family and I personally know Marco and Marco and Laura scovert. They are working in Johannesburg, South Africa.

And so I was able to call Marco up and Get in touch with him and he was able to share not just what was going on in their ministry but in their family and with their children and and They were dealing with something with a with their infant son.

And so our church was able to know about that and pray about that which honestly you you just can't do that with however many thousands of missionaries that two cents of what Marshall first Baptist actually makes it to.

But.

We were able able to actually connect with and support and pray for Marco and Laura and in the ministry that they're doing there and Because we know them and because we know where they stand Theologically and where they stand from a missions, you know.

Philosophical standpoint we're able to pray with great confidence for what they're doing there. Amen and so that's just one example and we've and that's how it's been this year and it's been a blessing.

And if and I don't want to use them because I know them and faith on the but let's just say if you are Supporting a missionary and this missionary decides to go a different route. You don't have to spend five years fighting.

You can just say okay. Hey, we just can't can can to walk together unless they are agreed. We just can't we can't get in you to support you and you find someone because it's not like man. There's only there's only three missionaries in the world to support, you know, or whatever.

I mean there's on that same note a mission a missions Group that we did support back in the spring. About the same time that we were supporting them. Talked to the main person in charge and heard them present something that I don't don't believe our church would be.

I don't want. To get into the specifics, but sure. I mean it wasn't heresy, but it wasn't something that would be probably in line with with our philosophy and Theological convictions. And so, you know what next year, you know at the end of this year we're not when when we sit down as a mission team and finance committees and all those things to To set next year's budget and next year's mission support.

We'll we'll probably put somebody else in that spot but not because just because we have the freedom. And the responsibility in stewardship and faithfulness to the Lord to do that as a local church. We there are too many like-minded missionaries to feel like you have to compromise.

Amen, that's right. So we've got to get moving because we wanted to kind of keep these episodes 30 minutes ish. Give or take a little bit, but I do want to talk about Mexico and I know you probably want to talk about, Utah.

Mexico Reorients the Heart Toward the Local Church

Yeah.

Move on so. What you want to talk about Utah first or Mexico. You go ahead with Mexico. So I met. Last summer I met Randall Easter pastor at by the word Baptist Church in Briar, Texas right-sided a little community right outside of Azle, Texas and We just kind of hit it off.

And so he came and he preached a an evangelism Conference for me and then I went and in this spring and then I went and preached at his Easter week Conference in April and he was basically like hey, you need to go to Mexico with this.

And then Jonathan Murdoch I met him and at the conference in April and they're like, yeah, you should go to Mexico. Well, then I don't remember really how the conversation went, but Randall called me a couple weeks later and he was like You need to go to Mexico and it was kind of like it wasn't like it wasn't like you should go to Mexico is like you're going and so I started and.

I.

Started the process of going and so we went and I got my passport that's a different story kind of funny on how all that happened, but I went and boy God Broke my heart in Anaheim and he he fixed it up and filled it even fuller.

For the local church in Mexico if that makes sense. One of my church members said. One of my church members said Anaheim doused you in gasoline and Mexico set you on fire. I think that's good. But I can't describe everything and hopefully we're trying to work out a thing to get Jonathan on here and talk more about it.

But the thing going on in Mexico and in Central America is amazing reformed Baptist pastors guys coming out of the charismatic movement guys that are coming out of like The Baptist groups down there that are just similar to SPC just kind of watered down and now they're they're digging into reformed confessions and Baptist history and and it's just amazing so Tom Nettles, we actually do a zoom call once a week actually after this I'm going to jump on a zoom call with them.

But Tom Nettles was on the last couple weeks teaching about church history. And so we go down there and look here here I am on my high horse I'm going to teach these pastors in Mexico about how important the local church is, you know and and bro, they ministered to me and I was preaching one message about seek the things that are above from Colossians 3 and Sometime immediately during that message right after that message.

I was just convicted that I spent too much Energy and brainpower on the Southern Baptist Convention. I was that's not seeking that things are above and. And just to see those people their heart down there for the local church.

They're doing church discipline there they're they're they're trying to worship God rightly in their music and in their scripture reading and they're preaching and. They're trying to have healthy churches and all this is a part.

There's no mission organization. There's no like there's no like overhead. This is all local churches helping local churches and and so a meeting pastor down there hungry for the Word of God Church members that that were coming to services all day.

There's no AC and now in our conference we did but I have some split units or whatever. But I mean like just a hunger and just it just I'm like, what am I doing? And and and so I came back and I preached a couple of strong messages here.

But the point is we've got to be a healthy church. If they ask me I don't want to see the SPC Tumble into the sea. I hope there's a revival and Reformation and and I will contribute some I'm sure and and help some that I can.

But.

I've got to focus on prairieville second Baptist and that's a real real short version Eddie of How God has just been working through me in me this summer and some of my. I love the local church. And we've got we've got to be healthy.

Faithfulness in Hardship and the Mission to Utah

Right, right. Well and and look the the I Want to get to talk about Utah, but the issue with the SPC is not even the things that are happening at the convention. The issue is 42 ,000 unhealthy churches and The greatest thing that you or I can do is to see Perryville second Baptist and Marshall first Baptist be healthy churches.

That's the greatest thing for the kingdom of God even the greatest thing that we could do. To help out Southern Baptists in America would be what we can do in our local churches because healthy churches is the only thing.

The only the only hope of the SPC is that is that individual churches become more healthy? Convention is not going to fix churches. Churches would fix the convention that being said so. You were talking about Mexico.

And so if 2018 is is the last time we had a rural church podcast. Then that would have been just after the fall after we made our first trip to Utah so me and some other pastors made a vision trip or a fact-finding scouting trip to Utah and I've been on other mission trips.

I've been to Honduras and I've been to other places here in the United States and things and and thankful for all the opportunities the Lord has ever given me to minister and to serve and to preach the gospel and To different people groups, but there is something about the way that the Lord knits a person's heart to a people group and and I would say the Lord really knit my heart to it's a religious people group, but to wanting to share the gospel with those who have been trapped in the false gospel of.

The.

Church of the Latter-day Saints so The Lord really did that even in that first trip to to Utah when Me and some other pastors went out there and since then we didn't get to go in 2020. But we went in 2019 and we went in 2021 in 2022.

And so we've made three trips where we took teams out there and worked local churches and missions. To to help the ministry there the first year we went we worked in Morgan, Utah and Which is the most Mormon County in all of Utah and we worked with church plant there the last two years we worked in West Haven, which is a kind of outskirts or kind of a In the Ogden area and we've worked with a church called Sojourn Church great reformed Baptist church plant there and so if you're in the Ogden area and you're looking for a church They're at Quest Academy there in West Haven, Utah.

But worked with them and all I would want to say about this year is you know It's easy for us to come back from a mission trip and say it was great. We had so much fun. This was the hardest mission trip I've ever been on.

We just had more trouble. And we joked at the beginning about losing our bags. We did. We stayed in Denver, Colorado on our way out there. And we did get our our van was broken into and a bunch of us had our stuff stolen but not even that this trip just Seemed like there were a lot of barriers and a lot of hardships and look we weren't like Paul.

We weren't being beaten or shipwrecked or anything like that. We had not resisted to the point of shedding blood. So I don't want to make it out like we're these these tragic martyrs because we were not.

But it was more difficult and the reason why I want to share that is I want to simply say this. That what I've experienced is the faithfulness of God. It's easy to point to God's faithfulness when we are well it's easy to point to God's faithfulness when a trip goes great and you're excited and everything was perfect and maybe you've seen a.

Lot of.

Tangible results, but you know over these last few years. I've I've really been Seen the faithfulness of the Lord in times of hardship. We we've mentioned kovat a couple of times. I had coveted into 2020 and was it was pretty sick double pneumonia and one of the things I thought about while I was was probably at the sickest point was The Lord is faithful.

He was faithful not when I was well. But when I was sick, and then now after a difficult mission trip, I'm ready to go to Utah again. Because I want to see the gospel Expand there. I want to continue to bless our brothers and sisters at Sojourn Church and And be a part of what God's doing there among that local church.

And so I Just want to remember that the Lord is faithful. And so I think that frees us To say the Lord's going to take care of his kingdom. I Just want to be faithful where I am at Marshall first Baptist where I am working with brothers and sisters.

That we can partner with and we can trust the Lord With what he's going to do with the whole kingdom because he is faithful. Amen, amen. Well just a couple minutes left. Our game plan is to record once a week if we Will try to get something new out every week some some weeks we might not we might share a sermon that either Eddie or I preached or maybe a sermon that we just really liked and we hope that we hope that you guys enjoy and just enjoy the conversation and Sometimes we might hit hot-button issues that are going on and sometimes we'll just really be focusing on on things going on in our own Local churches so rural church podcast 2 .0.

You got anything left Eddie, man. It's just great to great to be back on doing the rural church podcast again. And of course enjoy having conversations with you brother. Amen, y 'all catch us next week on the rural church podcast.