Linda Vista Second Baptist Church: reaching the lost

Linda Vista Second Baptist Church

• Contact: 2706 Korink Ave, San Diego 858-277-4008 www.lvsbc.com
• Membership: 97 (pre-covid: 200-300)
• Pastor: Norris Jarmon
• Age: 64
• Born: Pine Bluff, AK
• Formation: Andersonville Theological Seminary, Camilla, GA
• Years Ordained: 12

San Diego Reader: How long do you spend preparing your sermon?

Pastor Norris Jarmon: My sermons tend to be topical. But I can’t give you an exact time it takes me to put a sermon together. I am constantly in prayer because I only believe in saying what God has led me to say. I pray constantly for God to lead, guide and direct me. He always gives me something to preach on, and I work on my sermons until God says, “OK.” There have been times that I have worked all week preparing a message and then on Sunday morning something is going on where I believe God is leading me in a different way. I had that occasion while we were doing church from house during the covid time when the church was closed and we were online. I had prepared my message Sunday morning and there was another word that was in me. I felt a bit confused but knew that God is not the author of confusion. Maybe I should be speaking on something else, I thought. I went into prayer, of course, and getting myself ready for the day to set up to have the service. This word was placed in me and I said, “OK, Lord, if this is you telling me what to do, then I need to you to give me something”… I didn’t have a week to prepare for that sermon; it was something that happened within an hour of that Sunday morning. I believe it was a very good service and a lot of good feedback from people.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PJ: Reach the lost, teach the saved and love one another the way Christ loves us. When I say, “Reach the lost,” I don’t mean the lost that like us, but the lost, period. The people who need to know about Jesus Christ. Whether they join this church or not, that doesn’t matter; we only want to make sure they know of Jesus Christ. That matters to us more than anything—that people have a relationship with Jesus Christ and come to know him as lord and savior of their lives. Once you start a relationship with Jesus Christ, he will direct you in the direction you need to go—wherever you find a good fit.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PJ: I like to say it like this: “Smoking or non-smoking?” You’re going to be either smoking or non-smoking, hell or heaven. But I do believe that everyone has an opportunity to go to heaven. It doesn’t matter what you have done or what you’re doing; what matters is whether you received Jesus Christ as the lord and savior of your life. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God, they will spend eternity in heaven with him. If you believe in him, no matter what, you will spend eternity with him in heaven. If you don’t, you go to the smoking section. But we need to remember as well that if you have the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ even in your last breath, that counts.