Pastor's Circle - Gill McKee

Gil McKee, Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Tuscaloosa, was on the show today, discussing the recent tornadoes and their impact on Tuscaloosa.


We understand y'all got hit hard by this tornado in Tuscaloosa.

We did, Matt.

About 6,000 homes and businesses destroyed. Of course, the worst statistic is that we had 41 confirmed dead here in Tuscaloosa.

There wasn't a whole lot you could do about it.

That's really true.

All you can do is take cover in a basement or somewhere you think you can be safe.

What are the kinds of things you've been talking to your people about?

Well obviously the questions on people's minds after any crisis is, "why?"

We were fortunate that our church wasn't impacted at all. We had no death and no injuries that we know of.

If you travel around this city and look at all the areas, there's just no way you can believe only 41 people were killed.

God's hand was here, he was protecting folk.

I think we're seeing a revival in our community.

It's a perennial question, but why do bad things happen to good people?

I don't think any of us are immune. We're living in a world that's a sinful place.

Just because we're Christians doesn't mean we're always out of the path of danger or bad things that take place. I think we have to understand that while we're in this world we're not immune to these things, but we go through this with the understanding that God is with us.

The scripture is clear that we're going to face difficulty and persecution.

What I found in my own life, it's during the difficult times that we really grow the most.

If things were always good, I don't think we'd understand our need for God.

What  fresh things are you telling graduates?

We had senior graduation recognition Sunday yesterday for our high school graduates.

One of the things we see here because of the university, I guess. Young people are going to go out and taste the oats, so to speak, they're going to go out and experiment.

Our youth pastor told them that they didn't have to do that.

While it's not particularly fresh, Matt, I think our kids need to hear that you don't have to do all of that.

Over the next four and five years, they're going to make some of the most critical decisions of their entire life. So, how can you make those decisions and not be close to God.

What do I tell a bunch of graduate students about evangelism?

I don't think I can teach you anything about it.

Evangelism is a lifestyle of living Christ in an authentic way day in and day out.