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Friday, March 29, 2024

New WBBC pastor urges people to show love for others 

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By Chris Russell

Contributing Writer

Pastor John McIntyre is a Cape Fear farm boy who loves the countryside, hunting, fishing, writing and music, and recently took about 18 members of Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church skiing to Beech Mountain near Boone, North Carolina. Foremost, he loves to demonstrate and explain Christ’s love to others.

“My mantra is much like Paul’s… ‘follow me as I follow Christ,’” McIntyre said.

On Dec. 6, Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church named McIntyre its senior pastor. Pastor McIntyre, who goes by the nickname “J Mac,” has a ministry which has spanned 20 years in churches in the Wilmington area, including most recently at the River Church in Leland.

McIntyre said he believes there are three main purposes for the church:  to worship God, love people, and make disciples. He wants the church to be a place where lives are changed by Christ.

“I want people to love God first, and love other people as he has loved us.  I want to help folks live that out, not just learn for themselves, but to go and love others,” he said.

One way to live out the church message is to be mission focused. McIntyre explained that his ministry has been to develop partnerships in planting pastors all over the world.

“In June we are taking a group to Moldova, the poorest country in eastern Europe.  We will go and minister primarily to pastors, to encourage them. We will have a two-week camp for pastors and reach non-believing families too. Then another full week will be a camp for students,” he said. “I believe strongly that indigenous people need to do the bulk of the work. And my job as a pastor from the states is just to encourage those pastors and lay leaders to do what they have been called to do.”

McIntyre described the need for a camp with the youth in Moldova.

“There are a lot of children without families.  They are trying their best, the country is, to close their national orphanages, but in the process it leaves a lot of children without support,” he explained. “With the economy the way it is there, the working class travel to other parts of Europe to make money and leave the children behind, it is really an epidemic. Trafficking is a major issue there.”

Music is also a central part of his ministry. McIntyre, who plays the trumpet, has a music education bachelor’s degree from Campbell University and shares that talent with middle school students. He teaches worship band at Myrtle Grove Christian School during the week.

“That is my connection now to the community at large in leading worship,” he said. “I’m investing in students now as they learn to lead worship.”

Previously, McIntyre was the worship and youth pastor for 13 years with Southside Baptist in Wilmington. In 2010 he planted River Church in Leland with friends through the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

One other way McIntyre said that he and his wife of 23 years, Kim, live out their Christian faith is by adopting two children.

“We have a charge and challenge as believers to invest in the lives of other people and to live a life before others that will draw them into relationship with Christ, “ he said. “We wanted to give that some more meat, so we chose to foster and then adopt.”

McIntyre noted that the congregation of Wrightsville Beach Baptist is a mix of people from all over the region. A show of hands at a recent Wednesday night study showed only about one-fourth of those in attendance live on the island.

The church welcomes worshippers to two services. McIntyre said the message is a life application centered on God’s grace. The 9 a.m. has more traditional elements to the service with a combination of hymns and contemporary music, and the 11:10 a.m. service is more “band driven” contemporary music.

McIntyre said he is looking forward to joining in with other island churches to participate in the sunrise Easter morning beach front service, this year on March 27. Wrightsville Beach Baptist also has special Palm Sunday services planned that he was equally enthusiastic about.

He also invites readers to see his blog at jmacthefisher.com “It’s just a place I toss some thoughts out for the world,” he said.

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