ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
LOVING THE WORD OF GOD Seeking to Encourage Frontline Ministers
“We always bear the marks of the professors who have gone before us, and I proudly bear the marks today of those who poured into me at North Greenville,” he said. “North Greenville taught me to love the word of God and taught me to love the God of the word. They loved me for who I was and invested in me for who I could become.”
Dickard credits his professors at NGU for helping to shape his call to ministry.
It’s been an eventful year for Dr. Daniel Dickard (’12), who used his platform as president of the 2023 SBC Pastors’ Conference to encourage those on the front lines of ministry.
“As pastors, our main task isn’t to prepare a sermon, it’s to prepare a soul,” Dickard said. “The scripture tells us to watch over our own life and doctrine, and we’re so quick to watch over doctrine—and rightfully so—but sometimes we neglect watching over our own soul. Through the exposition of scripture, we want pastors to be encouraged and have their souls nourished.”
Dickard was called to serve as senior pastor of Shandon Baptist Church in Columbia, SC. in February.
“The call to Shandon was not expected,” said Dickard, who had
served as senior pastor at Friendly Avenue Baptist Church for five years. “We were happy with where we were in North Carolina and did not expect this, but we sensed each step of the way that the Lord was in it,” said. “God does not educate us past the point of our obedience, and obedience occurs one day at a time, one moment at a time, and one ministry at a time. We saw the importance of obedience when God began to show us that he had a ministry for us here in South Carolina.”
The author of “Church Together: The Church of We in the Age of Me,” Dickard is a 2012 graduate of North Greenville University, and a two-time graduate (Ph.D. and M.Div.) of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I am one of thousands to whom the professors invested in,” he said. “As I was in Dr. Horn’s Romans class, or Dr. Rankin’s Old Testament class, God was working in me what he would later work out as I minister to others. God called me to preach at the age of 15, and at North Greenville, he grew me in discipleship in ways that I had never been pushed.”
As his ministry continues at Shandon Baptist Church, Dickard he will remain focused on expository preaching, intercessory prayer, and the Great Commission.
“The foundation of ministry is the character of God lived out through us,” he said. “The Christian life is about denying yourself. When our confidences and charisma outpace our character, there surely will be a fallout in ministry. That’s the sad dilemma of our day. People are looking for a spotlight and a platform, but they’re not looking for an altar – and an altar where things die. Ministry is the life of Jesus lived through us for the betterment of others.”❚
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