Pastor's Circle - Dr. Gil McKee, First Baptist/Tuscaloosa

Dr. Gil McKee is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa.  

Your mission statement uses the words "Magnify, Multiply, Mature, Ministry." Can you flesh out how that works out for me?
Magnify:

We think it all begins with our love for God and our worship.

Worship comes in a lot of different ways...of course we worship corporately, but we also encourage our people to worship in every way during the week.

I think when we see worship as our response to God, and the relationship He wants there, everything we do becomes an act of worship.

Whether that's our job and to those we work with, the way we parent our children, whatever we might do if we're responding to the Lord and his love for us...that's worship.

Multiply:

It's our way of responding to the Great Commission.

It's our desire here to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, and then to teach them to disciple and teach others, so ultimately the kingdom is multiplied.

Jesus said love your enemy, too.  I think we've been given a command from the Lord that there's nobody outside our circle. I think we just need to reach out to everyone.

Mature:

We're still trying to grow in this ministry ourselves, but our efforts are still built on relationships.

We encourage small groups and accountability groups in the church so they can continue to grow. To give people opportunities to dialogue and talk, to learn what it means to become Christlike, to serve in the community.

That's a process that doesn't just happen in 1-2-3. It takes some time.

I think most of the pastors I talk with all have the same frustration concerning discipleship. I think that constant evaluation is something most churches are involved with.

Have there been changes in your church in the years you've been there?

I've been in ministry now for about 30 years, and the changes that have taken place in the pew have been phenomenal.

In peoples attitudes, their schedules, their time, the changes that are taking place are almost overwhelming at times.

Ministry:

It has a lot of facets for us. It begins where we teach our people right here about what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

There are a number of ministries that our people are involved in, and for us, missions is a huge part of that, whether it's right here or internationally. We send about 7 or 8 international missions teams out every year.

Currently we're building a refugee camp in Nigeria, and a group of high school and college students will be in Honduras in a couple weeks.

What is the difference between a church that ministers and one that doesn't?

Basically, when the people catch the vision of rolling up theirs sleeves and changing people's lives.  To take your own time, your own resources and use your own hands to be that hands and feet of Christ, it's just an experience like no other. And I think it's like a snowball affect.

I think sometimes people are afraid, not just to go to Africa, but even to go across the street.   But just to get people to get their feet wet, it builds faith.