Growing Fruit

Mangoes at entrance

In Ghana fruit trees are everywhere. Mature mango, plantain and paw paw (papaya) trees are abundant at Solid Rock Baptist Bible College. They line the entrance road, snuggle up to the buildings and grow in neat rows in the area reserved for future growth. Fruit trees are wonderful things. They were among the things God gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They give food year by year in abundance. They require little maintenance compared to garden crops. They do require more work to plant than a garden crop, then you need to wait a few years before they mature and start to yield an abundance of fruit. In the end the fruit tree gives the greatest yield for effort invested.

PawPaw at construction site

Solid Rock Baptist Bible College is in the business of growing spiritual fruit trees as well. The college trains men to be pastors. The faculty grounds them in the Bible. They help them acquire practical experience through ministering in the campus church and with experienced pastors in other cities and towns. The faculty are all men with active ministries so they are current in the issues and battles of the day. These students go forth and yield their fruit in their season, year after year.

I recently had the privilege of teaching a module at Solid Rock Baptist Bible College. I taught 15 men on the subject of the Pastor’s Family Life. These men were mostly pastors, many more experienced in the ministry than I am. The class featured lots of discussion, some of it spirited. While I did not plant the fruit trees, I had the opportunity to fertilize them so they would be more fruitful. I had the opportunity to inoculate them against sins that could have ended their ministries. I labored in the orchard that is Solid Rock Baptist Bible College in the knowledge that God would use His Word in His servants to build His Church in Ghana, and that more abundantly.