An estimated 500 Alabama Baptist churches are currently without a pastor, with fewer and fewer candidates to consider. A new initiative, Calling Out the Called Alabama, hopes to encourage more people to respond to God’s call to ministry and to help them develop as future leaders.

Kevin Blackwell spoke on behalf of the Calling Out the Called Alabama launch team during the Nov. 12 afternoon session of the 2024 Alabama Baptist State Convention at Eastern Shore Baptist Church in Daphne.

Blackwell, disciple-making/teaching pastor at The Station Church in Bessemer, is part of a team of Alabama Baptist leaders who have been working on the new initiative under the leadership of Alabama Baptist State Convention President Craig Carlisle, director of missions for Etowah Baptist Association.

Blackwell hopes the new strategy will be a “game changer for our churches,” many of which are congregations that average less than 75 in worship and are seeking bivocational pastors.

“There is a growing number of open ministerial positions, particularly bivocational [ones], and a diminishing number of people responding to a call to ministry,” Blackwell said.

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.