Words by Scott McCullar | Image by Al Blanton
Priester’s Pecans are pretty special. Whether visiting their store and headquarters in Fort Deposit, Alabama or ordering online, you quickly discover their pecans and pecan-based products are good. I mean, really good. They do pecan products well.
Sampling the smorgasbord of pecans in Fort Deposit brings me great enjoyment. There are salty pecans, sweet pecans, salty and sweet pecans, chocolate covered pecans, praline pecans, and pecan rolls, as well as many other pecan related products that bless your tastebuds. Founded by L.C. Preister over eighty years ago, this company has focused, excelled, and dedicated themselves to pecans.
The truth is I don’t go to Priester’s to buy furniture. I don’t go to Priester’s to get a hamburger or a steak. I don’t go to Priester’s to enjoy bowling. I go for the pecans because pecans is what they do.
Perhaps the church can learn a thing or two from Priester’s. The church doesn’t serve pecans, obviously. We are not in the pecan industry. But we are in the Gospel ministry. The church should know the Gospel like Priester’s knows pecans. The Church should be the absolute experts on everything Gospel-related. We should know every aspect of the Good News of Jesus that can be discovered and known by a Christian.
The Church should know the Bible backwards and forwards. We should have a Spirit-led desire to be Bible-focused. The Biblical Text must be preached from pulpits and taught in classrooms by those called of God to do so. We should intimately know the person and life of Jesus. We should know all about his birth and his ministry that is revealed in Scripture. We must specialize in the true story of the Passion of Jesus. We ought to be the world’s experts on His resurrection. We should be filled with the Holy Spirit and dedicated to prayer. We need to have a detailed working knowledge on how to talk about, share, and live out the Gospel.
Friends, if we know the Gospel deep in our hearts, we can minister to the world more effectively. We can reveal the Gospel through preaching and teaching in our churches. We can share the Gospel through personal evangelism in our relationships. We can tell about Jesus and serve Him through a mission trip experience. We can make disciples who, in turn, go out and make more disciples. We can have the opportunity to impact our coworkers and customers alike with what the Gospel of Jesus has done in our lives. We can present the Gospel through working with incredible ministries like the Mission of Hope in Dora and the Pregnancy Test and Resource Center in Jasper.
Like different flavors of pecans, there can be different modes of ministry that allow people to digest the Good News.
But we must be committed to the Gospel. It must be our main and full focus. To make an impact on our culture, it must be the primary substance and flavor of all we do.
As we examine the ministries, events, and programs of our churches, what good are they if they are not Gospel centered? Jesus was clear. We are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Like Priester’s is focused on pecans, the church is to be focused on the Gospel. The Gospel must flavor all we do and be the epicenter of what we do. We should properly prepare, serve, and share the Gospel. And friends, if we get the Gospel right, people will be able to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). WL
