Hearty Hardy

Today, pastor Hardy Estes got the thrill and scare of his life. He preached the annual convention sermon at the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Hardy serves as pastor of the Marlow Baptist Church in Pitkin, Louisiana. You are forgiven if you don't know where that is. In fact, Hardy stated that it is located exactly "Four miles from the nearest cold coke." He preached on being good soldier of Jesus Christ. He also preached with good homespun humor filled with references to fishing and being from a very tiny "community."

This year, bucking the custom of having some rather well known preacher preach the annual message, our convention chose Bro. Estes. I say it with love- you don't get much more country than Hardy. This man has a heart as big as our state- and it shows. His preaching to Louisiana Baptists was probably one of the biggest thrills of his life. He admitted that he was scared to death. Imagine standing in front of a crowd of Baptists and trying to tell them anything. Especially preachers!

After admitting that he was standing in tall weeds, Hardy proceeded to share his heart with us. And that's what his message was- from his heart. I've heard many preachers stand to share "what God has laid on my heart," but never have I heard a message with more heart. Hardy is certainly a "hearty" preacher. He had the crowd laughing one moment and feeling convicted about not being a good soldier of Jesus Christ in another. I'll take his pathos over the well polished preachers, as I've aspired to be, who can conjugate Greek verbs with lexical precision but lack any real passion.

If I sound a bit gushing, Hardy is a friend of mine. I saw him a distance away after he preached and hollered at him. As soon as I came up to him, he gave me a bear hug that almost swept me off my feet. That's him- all heart. When I complimented him on his new looking sport coat, he noted that he got it for $35 on special at J.C. Penney. No pretentions with Bro. Estes!

I might also hasten to add that Hardy has been a student of mine in seminary extension classes. In fact, he took my "Introduction To Preaching" class. I would say that I taught him everything he knows. But I can't. I didn't teach him to preach from his heart. That can't be taught. But it can be shown and seen.

I saw it today in a country preacher from Pitkin, Louisiana.

Well done, my brother!