By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
RUSTON, La. (LBM) – Pastors must deal with personal pain so they will not move to the point of disconnection, Northeast and Morehouse Baptist Associational Missions Strategist Steven Kelly said during a time of testimony for the 2024 Louisiana Baptist Evangelism Conference, Jan. 23.
Kelly shared about how God helped him through the pain of dealing with the Aug. 21, 2018, death of his newborn grandson, Elijah Kelly.
Elijah weighed four pounds, 13 ounces when he was born, June 6, 2018. Two days later, the doctors diagnosed him with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare condition that left the newborn with only three of four chambers of his heart working properly.
In the ensuing months, the baby endured open-heart surgery, brain bleeding, kidney dialysis and countless injections at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.
On the day Elijah died, Kelly was attending a conference. He received a call that he needed to come to the hospital and arrived in time to spend four hours with family members in Elijah’s room before he passed.
Kelly said he did not become angry with God, but that he did have to deal with great pain — a pain that he has ministered to many times in others as a pastor.
“We talk about leaving sin, reaching people for Jesus and reaching the next generation, but lots of times in churches we don’t talk about people’s pain,” he said. “We’ve got churches full of people that love Jesus but many of them are disappointed in Jesus. Many of them are discouraged in Jesus because they were not able to get over pain.
“What does the pastor do when the miracle doesn’t last?” he continued. “Jesus is still Lord when the miracle doesn’t last. The Gospel is still the Gospel when the miracle doesn’t last. The calling is still the calling when the miracle doesn’t last. When you’re disappointed, God is still on the throne.”
