he John R. Trinkle Center on the Hillsborough Community College Campus Saturday, Jan. 16, to worship as part of a seminar.
The men gathered from various churches across Plant City to be part of the Fifth Sunday Fellowship’s Men’s Breakfast and Mass Choir. The theme of the seminar was “Time to Man Up.”
Pastor Carl McKay, of St. Luke’s Independent Church, spearheaded the event. He was involved in a similar seminar in 2010 and still keeps in touch with some of the people that he met. Since then, McKay has wanted to bring a similar event to Plant City and to revive it once every quarter.
“I got to meet other men from different cities in Florida from faith,” McKay said. “The great thing I got out of that was men loving God. And not only talking it, but living it.”
The goal of this past seminar and upcoming seminars are to encourage men to live the word of God in everything they do.
“It’s not just preach and teach, but live the Gospel,” McKay said. “What that means is each man must be accountable for his own actions.”
St. Luke’s Independent Church has a small congregation of about 25 members. McKay has noticed that at his church and others, women typically outnumber men. He hopes that the seminars will encourage more men to follow their faith and get involved in their church community.
To garner support from the community, McKay reached out to other pastors of small congregations in the area. Eventually, McKay teamed up with four pastors: Reggie Rivers, of Plant City Christian Center, Don Myles, of Hope 2 U Ministry, Lloyd McDonald, of Anointed Life Ministry and Ricky Coronado, of La Red Ministries.
“We are a very strong, close group,” McKay said. “There is so much love in that group.”
The decision to host a seminar grew out of the bonds the churches made with one another. On months that had a fifth Sunday, a congregation would host one of the pastors within the group, allowing members of the congregation to worship together.
“(It’s) not preaching as a denomination,” McKay said. “It’s reaching out to people, all races and denominations.”
The Jan. 16 seminar had all five pastors from Fifth Sunday Fellowship present, along with Dr. Jimmy Webster, who is in charge of the Fifth Sunday Male Choir.
“He really inspired us,” McKay said. “There’s something special about Dr. Webster. He’s full of ideas. We were grateful to have him come aboard with us.”
For $20, seminar attendees enjoyed a sermon by Coronado, a performance by the men’s mass choir and a buffet breakfast provided by Lakeland’s Hallback’s Bar and Grill. At the next seminar, McKay hopes to have attendees from other churches throughout the Tampa Bay area.
“I believe after this, we’ll have people coming from those different directions,” he said.
The next seminar will be held in the year’s next quarter.
Contact Emily Topper at etopper@plantcityobserver.com.
IF YOU GO
The dates for the next men’s fellowship seminar has not yet been determined, but will be held in the next quarter. For questions, call Pastor Carl McKay, St. Luke’s Independent Church at (813) 546-8501.