Courtesy HLGU
Hannibal, Mo. | “Some of you all are sitting there wondering what happened to homeboy’s arms… It wasn’t a bear, it wasn’t a shark…”
“This is how God fearfully and wonderfully made me,” said evangelist Daniel Ritchie using humor to diffuse any anxiety felt by the students gathered for chapel at Hannibal-LaGrange University. “Whatever you all do with your hands, I do with my feet,” he said.
He was speaking during the university’s Grow Week in September to encourage spiritual growth within the campus community.
“My struggle was never physical,” he said. “My struggle was never figuring out how to do things with my feet. My struggle was feeling like I’m not enough.”
Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas this year said Ritchie is plenty. Ritchie was elected to serve a one-year term as First Vice President. He and his wife, Heather, live in Raleigh, N.C., with their two children where they attend The Summit Church, pastored by former SBC President JD Greear.
In an interview with the Illinois Baptist, Ritchie described his role “as a connector” and “primarily serving as a backup if needed” to the president who does “most of the decision making.” Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., is currently serving his second term in that position.
According to Ritchie, his is a “low maintenance” role where “I can just be eyes and ears to listen to the needs in our Southern Baptist Convention.”
Ritchie said he has no immediate plans to run for higher office. He had conversations with Greear who “laid out just the weight of the position of the president in the convention. I think it certainly opened my eyes to see, maybe I don’t want to climb that mountain anytime soon.”
So far there haven’t been many surprises. “I’m the ‘break glass in case of emergency’ guy,” he said. “I’m here to keep the continuity of just who we are as a convention, but I really don’t need to do that much beyond that, beyond praying for Pastor Clint.”
Finding your place
Ritchie served as a student pastor for 13 years, finding a place that made the most of his abilities. Finding a place in the world is one of his regular themes.
Ritchie encourages young people who feel called into missions or ministry to seize every leadership opportunity available to them. “Some local churches offer internships to young folks that allow you to get a peek into what ministry is like,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie urges churches to actively identify, equip, and call out future leaders to fulfill the Great Commission, whether in vocational ministry or marketplace roles.
“If any of my kids felt called to the ministry,” Ritchie said of his years in student ministry, “I would find ways to plug them in, whether that was as a ministry intern somewhere within our church or just in leadership roles.” This gave the students “a taste of what ministry is like to apply their talents and a more robust understanding beyond just what they saw from the pews.”
Ritchie has traveled telling his story for seven years now. He began to feel an even greater “heart for lost people to know Jesus as their King” and made the transition from pastor to evangelist.
At age 41 he’s one of the youngest evangelists in the SBC and warns of a looming shortage due to retirements. “The guys that are at least around my age, I could count them on one foot.”
Back at the HLGU chapel service, after reading from 1 Corinthians 15:8-11, he told the students, “Paul is saying, I don’t find my worthiness in what people say about me. All that matters is the grace of God that has made me.”
He emphasized, “You all, don’t fall into the trap that our world says that you have to attain a certain level of success for your life to matter and for you to have a legacy that lasts.”
Daniel Ritchie told his life story in his book, “My Affliction for His Glory.” The chapel messages are posted on HLGU’s YouTube Channel, youtube.com/@hlguofficial.