Touching the Hem of Jesus' Garment at the Deep South Pastors & Leaders Conference

Story by Margot Bass
Photos by Tom Price, September 2019

Above: Pancho Juarez, senior pastor of The Ark Montebello, CA, leads attendees in prayer during an afterglow at the Deep South Conference.

Approximately 400 men and women who gathered at the Deep South Pastors and Leaders Conference in September 2019 were able to “touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, to receive healing and help from the Lord,” according to Sandy Adams, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Stone Mountain, GA. The theme, Pivotal Moments With God, came as his planning team remembered times when God met people right where they were, transforming their lives. “We thought perhaps we would be graced to have some pivotal moments with God ourselves. And God met us here, as He is always faithful to do.”

Above: Ronnie Breen, senior pastor of Horizon Christian Fellowship in Harrisonburg, VA, shares about his church during the conference.

Above: Leaders and their spouses listen as pastors are given one minute to describe what God is doing in their fellowships.

Joel Dover, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Newnan, GA, has been attending for the past six years. It was at his first conference that he felt God calling him “mightily and clearly to plant a church,” he shared. Before that, he had been a pastor in a denominational church; he found that he “loved the Calvary approach to ministry.” Joel had been leading a small home Bible study—that group became the core of CC Newnan just months after the 2014 conference. He now teaches at Calvary Chapel University, an online school. Joel enjoys meeting with other Deep South Calvary Chapel pastors. He believes that church ministry in the Deep South, the ‘Bible Belt,’ is different than in other parts of the country. “There’s so much religious family tradition here, so much cultural Christianity, that often redemption through Jesus gets lost. It’s refreshing to be together with a group of guys who are just teaching the Bible and trying to break through cultural Christianity with the power of the Gospel to make valid, genuine disciples.”

Above: During a panel discussion of senior pastors, Pancho Juarez (right) brings everyone to laughter.

Above: CC Stone Mountain Pastor Sandy Adams (left) prays with a man.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17

Above: Attendees pray for others in a special moment.

The upcoming 2020 conference will be September 7-9 at CC Stone Mountain.

Above: A team from CC Stone Mountain, GA, leads worship.

Calvary Chapel Stone Mountain
calvarycsm.com

Above: Pastor Tyler Warner of CC Trussville, AL, offers a word of knowledge.

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