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It was at Whitehall Baptist Church that Hopkins received a request from Dr. Jack Kwok, the new SCBO executive director, in the fall of 1996. A position on the SCBO staff had been vacated and Dr. Kwok wanted his help. “Jack Kwok came to me and said, ‘Hey, this position is empty. I have an opportunity to shape it and form it how- ever we want. Help me put together a new job description for this position,’ Hopkins said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘What do you think our state needs most?’” Hopkins says he didn’t have to think about it long be- cause he knew what he needed most in his ministry. “I said, ‘You know, I think we need somebody that can help us with leadership issues.’” So he and Dr. Kwok worked together to develop a job de- scription that focused on leadership with Sunday school and discipleship thrown in as well. The day after the job description was approved by the SCBO Missions Council, Dr. Kwok invited Hopkins to lunch. “If it was still there, I could take you to the Cooker restau- rant on East Main Street and I could take you to the table
if it was still there because it was a traumatic moment for me,” he said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘I’m not telling you that you need to come do this, but I’m telling you, God’s told me to ask you to pray about coming to this position.’” The request stopped Hopkins in his tracks. “I said, ‘Wait a minute! Time out! We developed a position for what I need, not what I can do.’ And he said, ‘Well, you’re willing to learn, aren’t you?’” For the next two months, Hopkins prayed and wrestled with his views about being on a state convention staff. “To be honest with you, and I’ve confessed this to state staff, I didn’t have a very high opinion of state staff,” Hop - kins admitted. “I kind of thought if you couldn’t pastor that’s where they put you and that was my opinion at the time, so I prayed about it. I even had one of those mo- ments where I said, ‘God if this is what you’re doing, what terrible thing have I done?’ But I came to the point that I felt like God said to me, ‘Do you love pastoring more than you love me?’” The question made him stop and think. “I loved pastoring. I thought that’s all I ever really wanted Story continues on the next page...
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