Students will be returning to the Pastor Training Center at Abaana’s Hope on January 12! These 81 students from Uganda, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be studying God’s Word and learning about church leadership, membership, and discipline. Cameron Bell, pastor of Southside Gospel Fellowship in Montgomery, Ala., will be teaching students during the two-week course.
“I’ve always had a desire to go and help train pastors who may not have access to training,” Cameron said.
In August 2023, he traveled with a Four Corners team to Uganda to hold a gospel clarity conference at the refugee camps outside of Adjumani. This was the first time Cameron taught with the help of two translators. What he said was translated by a pastor into one language and the next pastor translated it into Arabic.
“It was powerful to hear all the languages that were spoken that represent tribes of people who will be around the throne worshiping King Jesus,” Cameron said. “It was neat to see people who don’t even speak the same language receive the same gospel teaching and proclamation.”
Cameron grew up in a Christian family and was exposed to the gospel at a young age. He accepted Christ as his savior in middle school and felt the Lord calling him to ministry when he was in college. He attended Auburn University and graduated with a degree in construction management in 2011. As a student, he joined First Baptist Church Opelika and the college ministry there.
“The Lord began to give me ears to hear the preaching of the word in a way that created this desire in me,” he said.
After completing five years of college ministry at FBCO, he did a church planting residency at Strong Tower at Washington Park, which is a church in Montgomery. He also graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2020. The following year, he was sent out to plant Southside Gospel Fellowship.
“Our desire is to seek God and grow a church through conversion where people hear the gospel and respond in repentance and faith. We want to be faithful and sow seeds of the gospel, praying that God would produce fruit and bring people to faith,” Cameron said.
After returning home from the 2023 gospel clarity conference at the refugee camps in Uganda, Cameron felt the desire to do more to reach the unreached tribes. This led him and his church to the opportunity to partner with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Through a Christmas giving campaign, they supported Wycliffe as they translated the pastoral epistles into the Kwamba language, which is spoken in parts of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This year, Cameron will have the opportunity to train and teach pastors at the Living Stones Pastor Training Center.
“From day one, the PTC has been one of the things I’ve been most excited about. Our primary mission is to make disciples, and disciples are best made through faithful churches who have faithful pastors,” he said.
Cameron will be teaching on the topics of church membership, church leadership, and church discipline. He plans to discuss ecclesiology, the study of the church, which he described as crucial knowledge for a pastor.
“Hebrews 13 says that pastors will have to give an account of those He has entrusted into their care, so if they don’t know who those people are, that can be a challenge. We’ll discuss what it means to be a pastor, who can be a pastor, and what a pastor’s primary role and function is. One of the roles of a pastor is to shepherd the sheep and care for the sheep. Sometimes that means having to lovingly confront sin in people’s lives and work towards restoration and healing,” Cameron said.
Please pray for the PTC students this month, that they will have receptive hearts to the teaching of God’s word. Pray that the 81 students will come hungry to learn and that they will leave with a deeper appreciation for the Lord’s design of the church. Please also pray for Pastor Cameron Bell, that he will be able to convey the material and God’s Word clearly. Pray that the Lord will produce more healthy churches with healthy pastors and more disciples of Jesus.
