As you know, each of the speakers for this year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference in Phoenix, AZ was nominated by someone. I asked each speaker’s nominator to answer a few questions about the person they nominated, and we have been posting their responses here at SBC Voices over the last few months.
John Onwuchekwa is one of the speakers for the conference. He will be preaching Sunday evening from Philippians 1:12-26. John is the pastor of a church plant in Atlanta, GA called Cornerstone Church. He was nominated by Mark Dever. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Mark Dever about John, and I want to share some of the highlights of that conversation with you.
Capitol Hill Baptist Church, where Mark Dever pastors, does a number of things to equip pastors. One of those things is the 9 Marks weekender where they host around 100 pastors, seminarians, and church leaders for a full-on immersion in the life and inner workings of CHBC. It was through one of these weekender conferences that Mark first got to know John. Their friendship continued to grow from there. CHBC also has a pastoral internship program where they receive 6 interns for a five or six month period of intense discipleship and training in pastoral ministry. John was able to participate in that internship program several years ago at an important time in his life and ministry.
When asked why he nominated John to speak at the Pastors’ Conference, Mark said that in addition to him meeting the criteria of being the pastor of a smaller membership church, “John preaches the Bible really, really well.” Mark’s confidence in John’s preaching ability is demonstrated in the fact that he has had John speak on several occasions at 9 Marks conferences. John is even scheduled to speak at a pre-conference in Phoenix June 9-10.
Mark’s respect for John and thankfulness for what the Lord has done in John’s life was evident in our conversation. Mark described John as a delightful person. He spoke of John’s commitment to the Word and desire to faithfully shepherd God’s people. We are excited to have John speaking at this year’s SBC Pastors’ Conference.
If you have not yet made plans to be in Phoenix for the conference, do so now. It promises to be a great time as we gather to hear from God through His Word. If you aren’t able to make it to the conference, be sure to catch the livestream beginning Sunday evening.
