RUSSELL SPRINGS, Ky. — When Christian Naylor told his church that he was prepared to lead a class to train men about preaching, little did he realize how soon that class would pay kingdom dividends.

Naylor, pastor of Russell Springs First Baptist Church, said nine men completed a six-week training course in September, and already several of those men have stepped in to fill pulpits in the Russell County Baptist Association.

The men went through the training that utilized the “Practical Preaching Handbook” developed by the Kentucky Baptist Convention (KBC). A $1,000 scholarship provided by KBC helped provide supplies and other associated costs connected to the training.

Naylor said he was in a church revitalization meeting at KBC when he heard about the scholarship opportunity for churches to host training sessions.

“The Holy Spirit said, ‘I want you to consider this,’” Naylor said. “I didn’t think I had that many guys interested in it, but would it be worth it for Him? I started talking to guys at church and asked if they were interested in learning how to preach.”

Naylor told them the class was a way for them to “learn about preaching to see what it was like.”

Several of the men are Sunday school teachers, and while some may not preach, “they learned a lot from it.”

After covering the basic aspects of preaching, several men have stepped up and already have preaching assignments.

“God has opened up some incredible doors,” Naylor said. “We have three churches in our association who need pulpit supply, and guys from this class are filling the pulpit. One preached his first sermon [Oct. 20] at Welfare Baptist Church. We have three guys preaching at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Russell Springs while the pastor is out because of surgery. We had one who preached two weeks ago at Welfare Baptist Church and another preaching at Indian Hills Baptist Church, which is our church plant. We have men scattered everywhere.”

During the association’s annual meeting, Naylor — serving as moderator — asked if any churches needed supply preachers. Right after that, two churches responded, resulting in six preaching opportunities.

“It has been a blessing,” Naylor said, adding that after a church service recently, he had a man tell him he felt he has been called to preach. Naylor said he would start another class if two more men show an interest.

“If it wasn’t for the KBC scholarship, this wouldn’t have happened,” Naylor said. “I wanted to do something like it, but the scholarship motivated me.”

The scholarship money enabled “each of the men to walk away with commentaries and study Bibles — that was what the majority of the money went to,” Naylor said. “Each man got to pick out the commentary and study Bible of his choice. They are already using them like crazy.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared at Kentucky Today. Chip Hutcheson serves as Kentucky Today’s content editor.)