Men of God Part 6

It has been nearly a year since I've wrote a "Men of God" post. Lately I have had my fellow local pastor's on my mind. Thanks to the internet we are able to listen to nearly every preacher or pastor that we would like to hear. There are many pastors in Knoxville that have their sermons online and I listen to them almost every week. I'm going to introduce you to three local pastors that really bless me and I also call them my friends.

Pastor of Cedar Bluff Baptist Church, James Burke. I actually got acquainted with Bro. Jamie through Facebook but have met him personally a few times at different events. I began listening to his sermons on Sermon Audio a couple of years ago and tremendously enjoy hearing him preach. He preaches with a lot of compassion in his sermons and is not ashamed to laugh, cry, sing, or shout out while preaching. Speaking of singing, Bro. Jamie has a tremendous singing voice and will really bless your heart with a song. There are several great sermons by Bro. Jamie that I know you would enjoy but I was really blessed by one that he just preached this past Sunday titled, "Is God's Grace Sufficient?"

Pastor of Walridge Baptist Church, Toby Webber. I first knew of Bro. Toby when I was being considered for the open pastor position at Walridge. I'm thankful that the Lord works in the ways that He does because Walridge called Bro. Toby as pastor instead of me and just a few months later I was called at Highland Baptist where I pastor. Bro. Toby has always been one to reach out to others to encourage them. He did that to me once by bringing me a helpful booklet by Charles Spurgeon that greatly blessed me. I have heard Bro. Toby preach many times and had him come out as a guest speaker at one of our men's Coffee and Christ meetings. Bro. Toby is a very knowledgeable preacher and tackles a lot of in-depth Scripture and expounds upon it with great fervency.  I enjoy all of Bro. Toby's sermons but one that I really enjoy is one titled, "Except Ye Repent."

Pastor of Valley View Baptist Church, Justin Pratt. Bro. Justin was called to Valley View after their long time pastor, Dewey Cooper retired. God sent the perfect pastor for that congregation as Bro. Justin has maintained the integrity of that church and has allowed God to greatly use him to expand and grow in a time when most churches are shrinking. Bro. Justin has always been very gracious to me and other local pastors and has always been a great encouragement. He is relentless in his pursuit to minister in every capacity that God can use him and has his hand on the pulse of the times we are living in and often preaches on subjects that some preachers avoid. You will enjoy all of Bro. Justin's sermons but I would like to encourage you to listen to one he preached just this past June titled, "What Would Jesus Do?"

These are not the only three local Pastors that I feel this way about and I will blog about them later on. With this being Pastor Appreciation month, I truly hope you let your local Church Pastor know ho much you love and appreciate him. You can read all of my "Men of God" blog posts by clicking on this link: Men Of God