Interview with Pastor Mitch Pridgen

Coffee with a Calvinist Introduction and FIRE Conference Preview

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. This is a daily conversation about scripture, culture, and media from a Reformed perspective. Get your Bible and coffee ready and prepare to engage today's topic.

Here's your host, Pastor Keith Foskey.

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about something called FIRE. FIRE is the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals.

It is a group that our church, Sovereign Grace Family Church, became a part of about seven or eight years ago. I don't remember exactly when the date was, but ever since then, it has created a group of friendships with me and other pastors in the Reformed faith around the United States, One of those pastors is a man by the name of Mitch Pridgen, the pastor of Crosswalk Church in Daytona.

Pastor Mitch, how are you? It's good to be with you, Keith. Thank you. I'm so thankful that you're here and I'm thankful to get to talk to you because you are hosting this year's Southeast Regional Conference for FIRE.

The FIRE is a group that's all around the world, but primarily in the United States. Am I right? That's correct. In the United States, we break it down by region because it's hard for us all to visit the national conference every year, and we do have a national conference.

We have national conference. We also have missionaries that are serving in various countries who are FIRE members. Usually they are affiliated with churches stateside, but there are some individual missionaries worldwide that have FIRE membership as well.

Awesome. Awesome. So these regional ones allow for us to get together with guys close to us, and this year it's you and I who are close. You're in Daytona. I'm in Jacksonville. We have brother Donnie Martin.

Where's Donnie? He is from Hartsfield, Tennessee. Okay. So that's still Southeast. And then we have Dean Olive from Northeast Alabama. We have John Kratz and David Mead from Pompeo. I think I'm going to view him tomorrow.

Yep. Looking forward to it. But they're in just, I think, Southeast of Atlanta, and that's in the Southeast region as well. Yep. Absolutely. And we also have some guys here who are not FIRE members. These are the guys we're hoping will come along beside us, see what we're doing, and want to be a part of what we're doing.

The Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals and Reformed Baptist Identity

I've been really blessed by this group, haven't you? This has been one of the greatest fellowships. We've been members of FIRE since, actually, we began to look into FIRE in 2011 because we were looking for fellowship with like-minded brothers in regards to our holding to the souls of the Reformation, doctrines of grace.

And quite frankly, Keith, there just wasn't that many around. And so when we became acquainted with FIRE, we visited a regional at Donnie Martin's church. And the rest is history. And I think I'm correct in saying this, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Most of us are Baptistic in our Reformed theology. That's correct. Absolutely. Yeah, because that's where a lot of people say, well, there's a lot of Reformed churches. You got this Presbyterian church here, this Anglican church here, whatever, depending on their particular flavor of Reformed.

Within the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals, we don't call ourselves Reformed Baptists, but a lot of us are. We're Baptistic, and we are Reformed. And in fact, that's the way we often identify ourselves at Sovereign Grace.

People say, are you Reformed Baptists? We say, well, yes, we're Reformed, and we're Baptistic. But Reformed Baptists typically would be somebody who is strict 1689. That's typically Reformed Baptists, like the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches.

So FIRE kind of allows for, not everybody in FIRE is a 1689 church. Right. That's exactly right. Do you guys hold to the 1689? We do, yes. Okay, you do. And like our church, we would hold the 1689 along with the 1644 as an important document.

But we wouldn't say that that is our absolute confession. We have our own statement of faith. And the beautiful thing about FIRE is that we have brothers that are just like that. I mean, those differences of opinions on those particular things are not, in fact, the motto of FIRE basically is on essentials unity, on non-essentials charity.

And so there are some things that we deem essential, that our fellowship is built upon. And then there are other things, while we don't dismiss them as being unimportant, they're not salvific essentials, and therefore we can fellowship with one another and share.

Primarily our unity is around our understanding of the doctrines of grace and our Reformed theology. The five solas, the five points of the doctrines of grace, those things we would all share. And of course, the essentials of the faith, the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture.

These are things I think we would all share. And like you said, it's a wonderful fellowship. I've had such a great time getting to know Dean over the years. Dean Olive is like a, he's a wonderful man and like a father in the faith, he's such a blessing.

I think a father is a good way to describe him. There's such wisdom and his deep wisdom with him. Just a very personable, wonderful man. You'll interview him, I think. Absolutely. I'm going to try. And let me tell you, but at the same time, there is a depth of theology and a depth of conviction and character to Dean that is beyond value.

And I look forward to hearing him tomorrow. And while that came up, I want to mention something. This is going to go live at 630 on October the 6th. That's when this show is going to go live, 630 a .m., which means if you're listening to this show when it goes live, you have the opportunity to watch some of the conference that'll be available tomorrow.

I'm preaching at nine. Right. Dean is preaching at 1030. At 1030. Tomorrow night, Donnie Martin is teaching. Brother Donnie Martin. So if you are interested in fire, especially if you're a pastor out there and you've been trying to find a fellowship of men who are like-minded and you're Reformed, I mean, you're listening to Coffee with a Calvinist, you better be Reformed.

All joking aside, if you're looking for a fellowship, these guys are great and you'll have an opportunity if you want to tune in and they can go to the Facebook page, right? Exactly. How do you get there?

Well, you can go to crosswalkdaytonabeach .org. And you can link right straight from there. There'll be various links from our Facebook, well, not Facebook, that's actually our church website, crosswalkdaytonabeach .org.

And on that website page, when you open it up, there will be ways to link to the conference immediately. Excellent. Now, brother, I see you're holding your Bible open. You wanted to share something with us?

No, I just had it ready because I knew you were going to ask me some questions. Well, I do want to ask you a couple of things because this is the first time some of our listeners will be hearing about you, and especially if there's anyone in Daytona who might be interested or looking for, because we have listeners all over, it's interesting how God is using the program.

And if there's anybody in the Daytona area who is interested in looking for a church, I cannot tell you how much I love Pastor Mitch. And we have become such good friends. Thank you, brother. Not only is he a great pastor, but he's also a scuba diver.

So he's a very athletic man, much more athletic than me. I wouldn't know, but your karate is pretty athletic. But brother, how did you come to know the Lord? How old were you? And how did that happen?

Pastor Mitch Pridgen's Conversion and Call to Ministry

Well, I'm going to try to abbreviate a very long story. I was raised basically in a non-Christian home. My mom and my dad, even though they were great parents, were not believers. My mom may have professed some type of belief, but my dad not.

And so the only Christian influence I had growing up was my grandmother. And I think my parents saw my grandmother as a means to get us out of the house on Sundays so they could have some time. And she was the one that took us to church.

And so from the time I was seven years old until the time I was 14 years old, I was in church with her because I was made to go to church. When I turned 14, my dad kind of pulled me aside and said, you're at an age now where you need to make these decisions for yourself.

And if you don't want to go anymore, you don't have to. Well, so you take an unregenerate 14 year old and you tell them they don't have to get up anymore on Sunday morning and you know where that's going to go.

Yes, sir. So that was at 14 years old. And from 14 until, I'm trying to figure out exactly, from 14 till 25 years old, so 11 years, wandering without Christ, lost. I was a science major in college. If you're a science major in college, you're about the furthest thing you can possibly be from anywhere.

Yeah, that's going to support faith and encourage faith. In fact, we oftentimes made light and jokes of things of faith. So that's where I was as a young adult. And then my wife and I got married in 77.

We had been high school sweethearts that separated for our years of college away from each other, got back together and got married. She had been raised in church and United Methodist Church all her life.

And so she did make a profession of faith. But she didn't live it any more than any of the rest of us did for that matter. And then out of nowhere, other than the absolute sovereignty of God, and this is where it really ties in here, I decided in order to enjoy a lunch at my grandmother and my mother's house, and I surprised my grandmother one Sunday morning and show up at church and sit with her.

And that Sunday morning, January of 1979, was the morning that my life changed. Literally, I walked in that church, spiritually dead, looking forward to a free lunch. And two hours later, you got a meal, I walked out a totally regenerate person.

Wow. And how that happened, brother, has everything to do with what we're talking about as far as our reformed faith is that there was, I don't even remember exactly what was being preached, but I do know that my soul was immediately arrested sovereignly by God.

I saw, I don't say see in the sense of a spiritual vision or some ethereal experience, but I became keenly aware of the absolute holiness of God and simultaneously became immediately aware of how miserably wicked I was.

Wow. And I only knew one thing to do. And I did exactly what the scripture I later learned would tell me to do. And I said, God, without you, Lord Jesus, please help me. Hmm. Wow. And that morning in January, it was the first Sunday morning in 1979.

Hmm. How long after that did you know God wanted you to preach? That was 79. Really, I was I was busy about I was still diving, doing some things. All I really desired to do from the beginning was to just serve a pastor, be an active person, be a churchman, be involved in the church.

And from time to time, I would I would get those hints by way of conviction that it was to be more than that. And to be quite honest, brother, I I simply just would have nothing to do with it. And I remember I was listening at that time.

We had cassette tapes. I tell you how long ago that was. I remember cassettes. And I was I was listening. I was listening to a pastor preach on a cassette tape. And he said something again, sovereignly directed, he said, there may be someone listening to me preach this more this message this morning.

And, you know, God is calling you to full time pastoral ministry and you're running. And Keith, I I hit the eject button on the cassette tape and threw it on the floor of the car. And I said, God, anything but this.

And it was another year of absolute misery. Until finally I was at a camp meeting. And I just I was so miserable and I went just I hit my knees and I said, God, whatever whatever you want me to do, I'll do it.

And I said I looked at my wife. She was sitting there beside me in the camp meeting. And I got up off my knees and I looked at her with tears in my eyes. I said, Terry, I've got to do what God's called me to do.

I have to prepare myself for the ministry. And she looked at me and she said, I'm glad you're finally going to obey God. I mean, I've known this for a long time. Wow. Well, brother, that is that is an awesome, awesome testimony.

How how what year was that? You said I was seventy nine. That was my salvation was seventy nine. That was nineteen eighty three. OK, so it's about three or four years later, four years later. And when when did you start here at Crosswalk?

Did you plant this church? I planted Crosswalk Church. Actually, I the particular denomination that I was a part of at that particular time, which was totally a Wesleyan Armenian, Armenian theological based organization.

And that's I went back to went back to college. I'd already had college, but I went back for two years of pastoral ministry training in theology to get to get another degree in pastoral ministry and Bible.

And so I did that in nineteen eighty four, finished that program in nineteen eighty six with another degree. Nice. And then began to pastor in nineteen eighty five. In March of nineteen eighty five, I stepped for the first time into a pulpit outside of Athens, Georgia.

And so I've been pastoring since nineteen eighty five. This is my thirty fifth year. Well, in nineteen eighty five, I was five. Well, so I am thankful that God has used you all these years. That that makes that thirty thirty five years.

Thirty five years. Yeah. But Crosswalk Church was actually planted 17 years ago. Two thousand and three. Nice. I was serving as a co-pastor with another ministry here near Daytona up in Ormond Beach, and I had been there for I served there for five years.

I just moved to Daytona a few years earlier to do ministry. And they actually abandoned the gospel. They embraced at that time the Willow Creek community, secret sensitive. Yep. I know. Yep. And literally abandoned the gospel.

The Gospel, Regeneration, and the Call to Trust Christ

Wow. Hmm. Well, I'm sorry to hear that, but we we are thankful that God continues to use you, though, continue to move you out. Well, brother, I am very thankful that you've shared your testimony with us today, shared how you became a pastor and shared how this church came to came to be.

And again, I cannot stress to you enough, if you're in the Daytona area, if I were here and I weren't a pastor, I'd be here. I say that about your church as well. I absolutely love this church. I love it.

We got to be here in August when I was on my vacation. We got to come and worship here. Their worship team is just incredible. They got a flute player. The Lord has blessed us with wonderful. They've got singers who are it's like being among the angels.

So I mean, I really honestly and I say that in all sincerity. It's a wonderful church. Well, brother, as we close the program, when any time I have a pastor on, I ask that pastor, if you if you were in an elevator with somebody and you had two minutes to share the gospel, we're going to close the program.

I'm going to ask you to share. And you've already shared your testimony. So just if somebody is listening and they don't know Jesus, how would you what would you say to them? Well, my conversation usually begins by asking them, have they given any consideration to spiritual matters in regards to eternity and their their eternal destination and sharing with them that every single person, regardless of who you are, are born spiritually dead?

Yeah. Amen. That's that's what I see. You're open to Ephesians. Born spiritually. And the only the only hope for remedying that situation is not merely moral transformation or changes. It's it's literally the necessity of a new life, which can only happen by looking and trusting in Jesus Christ, looking to and trusting Jesus Christ.

So I would I would I would exhort them to give serious consideration to their eternal destiny and to trust Christ, which is the only hope for their salvation. Amen. Well, Brother Mitch, I want to thank you again for being with us today.

Thank you for hosting this conference. And again, if you're one of our listeners today, you have something to listen to all day long. We got the conference that will be going live stream and you can find that live stream at Crosswalk Daytona dot Crosswalk Daytona Beach dot org dot org.

OK. And again, if you are in Daytona and looking for a church, Pastor Mitch would love to have you. If you're in Jacksonville looking for a church, Sovereign Grace. That's right. Sovereign Grace Family Church would love to have you this coming Lord's Day.

We have service 930 Sunday School and 1030 worship. Thank you again for listening to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I have been your Calvinist. May God bless you.

Closing Appeal and Gospel Reminder

Thank you for listening to today's episode of Coffee with a Calvinist. If you enjoyed the program, please take a moment to subscribe and provide us feedback. We'd love to hear your comments and questions and may even engage with them in a future episode.

As you go about your day, remember this. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. All who come to him in repentance and faith will find him to be a perfect savior. He is the way, the truth and the life. And no one comes to the father except through him.

May God be with you.