April 27, 2025
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Jeff Iorg, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, addressed two sessions of the Missouri Baptist Convention's Resound Conference on Feb. 6 at Concord Baptist Church.
His first message was titled “Leading Major Change,” which referenced much of the content in his book, Leading Major Change in Your Ministry. His humble and sincere spirit made the session all the more compelling as he encouraged everyone in the room to prayerfully seek the kind of change God wanted for their ministries.
Iorg reminded church leaders that “leading change” comes with a cost for the people in their churches who are being called to make changes. But this change can still be worth the cost. In fact, while most change is “incremental,” sometimes ministry leaders must call for major change.
“Real change means real change. Sometimes a patch won’t do,” Iorg said. He added that major change requires whatever new structures, policies, procedures, and budgets are needed to successfully implement that change.
Walking through principles from the Book of Acts, he examined how the early church walked through major change. The earliest Christians led major change by prioritizing prayer and God’s purposes in the world, Iorg said. God also led the early church, more prosaically, through processes and meetings, as when they named a replacement for Judas Iscariot in Acts 1 and resolved various problems in Acts 6 and 15. Finally, as seen in Acts, “God speaks through people.”
Iorg’s closing message, “Leading with Tenacity,” explored the concept of endurance in the Christian’s walk. New Testament passages spoke of the essential nature of endurance, and Iorg shared wisdom about how to attain and keep the biblical quality.
Endurance, Iorg said, grows out of regular and meaningful Bible reading, and it is a Christian virtue – often listed in Scripture alongside more obvious virtues like righteousness, faith, love, and gentleness (See, for example, 1 Tim 6:11). Endurance also builds character and hope, teaching Christians lessons they’ll never learn any other way.
“Endurance is a matter of prayer for each other,” Iorg said. “As you go out today, pray for people to endure in their faith. Ask God, for yourself, that you will have endurance, and ask God that others will endure.”
More than 200 people attended the conference. In addition to Iorg’s two sessions, there were breakout sessions by topic and a second set by zone, a catered lunch, and multiple information and book tables for attendees to peruse.
The first round of breakout sessions included 11 topics from which to choose. From discipleship to leadership development to kids ministry and how to reach Gen Z and Alpha, there was something for everyone. There was also a breakout session titled Pursuit of Persistence for the women in attendance.
Breakout sessions after lunch were lunch were led by volunteer Resound leaders called Zone Catalysts, and attendees were grouped by region. Zone Catalysts encouraged pastors to assess the health of their churches by focusing on healthy church targets. Meanwhile, a second session was held specifically geared toward women, titled “From Burnout to Blessing.”
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This story first appeared in The Pathway.
