Keys to long-term ministry.
I don't know if this is the way to introduce it
or not, but when to turn in your keys.
Some of us may feel that, some of us may not.
How do we stay a long time at a place?
I've received all sorts of advice from those
who have been in the ministry many years and
I give credit to them this morning, not by
name, but if you hear something that you have
sent to me or said to me, just remember that
it's yours and I just borrowed it because
I've talked to many ministers and written to
them and they have responded.
Some of the advice I've been given on this,
I've learned long-term ministry is very helpful
to Mary and the elder's daughter.
A better one though is to have someone from
another congregation that is not known to
your people to come by and visit and just
mention that they are from the Poole-Pitt
search committee.
All of these things sometimes are helpful in
long-term ministry.
Now we'll get down to the serious business at hand.
I want to begin with 2 Timothy 2, suffer
hardship with me as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No soldier in active service entangles himself
in the affairs of everyday life so that he
may please the one who enlists him as a soldier.
And also if one competes as an athlete, he does
not win the prize unless he competes
according to the rules.
The hard-working farmer ought to be the first
to receive his share of his crops.
Consider what I say for the Lord will give you
understanding in everything.
Soldiers of the cross, a soldier is one who is
concentrated in service, he is disciplined
to obedience, he is conditioned to sacrifice
and he is also very loyal to the one that
he is soldiering for.
The athlete is the man under discipline and
septanile, he is the man that is out there
pressing the iron, walking or running that
extra mile, and he is also the athlete as
the man who observes the rules of the game.
And as we've just closed the Olympics, there's
been controversy or two about some who did
not obey the rules of that game.
The farmer, he must be content with his work
and then to wait, but he also is one who is
prepared to go to work at any hour.
I don't know if you were raised on a farm or
not, but if you ever cut hay and a cloud
came up, what did you do?
You tried to get it in before it got wet.
These are three pictures that the scriptures
give to us of a servant master.
The soldier is upheld by the thought of the
final victory, the athlete is upheld by the
vision of the crown, the husband or the farmer
is upheld by the hope of the harvest.
I want to lay out before you something this
morning and Gordon, if you would pass those
out, this will help me in sharing with the group.
These are these are some of the questions to
determine whether or not I stay or whether
or not I leave.
Is it time to leave?
The outline that you will receive is a little
bit different from the one that you will see
here, but they follow generally the same pattern.
I've been at blank less than seven years, yes
or no, this is yours to keep.
We're not going to take them up.
These are yours to keep.
Have I stayed long enough to be effective in my ministry?
That's the question.
And those that deal with this tell us that is
from five to seven years before we become
effective in a ministry in our local congregation.
Rapid turnover, you see, is not conducive to
congregational growth.
I've heard it quoted two or three different
ways from Brother Gus Nichols and so this
is the way that I want to quote it here.
He said you did not get much fruit from a tree
that is uprooted and replanted every
year or so.
Studies have shown that the most effective work
is done after those first five years
or so.
Now in order to let you know that I know what
I'm talking about, I want to show you this
little graphic.
You can read it as well as I can.
I want you to know that that fellow knows what
he's talking about, whether or not I
know what I'm talking about on these five or
seven year statistics or not.
But this is just one of the things that we have
to deal with as a minister.
You'll understand the mission that I have for
the long term work.
We must know who we are, the direction that
we're heading, understand what God wants me
to do and call me to do in this particular
ministry wherever I am, and as someone has
said, only a commitment that is hammered out
daily in the quiet place alone with God will
survive the internal and external pressures to
abandon the ministry, and that is so true.
Many will identify what you should do and
should not do in ministry.
They'll tell you what their concept is, and as
you talk to different people, you're going
to find that that's the way it is with a whole
bunch of different people.
They all have a different understanding until I
come to grips with where I am and what I
can do and work within those parameters, then I
will not be successful in my ministry.
If I fail to identify personal theology of
ministry, I'll flounder in the sea of competing expectations.
On the other hand, if I identify the ministry
that God has called me to do, then and then
only am I able to do what the Lord wants me to do.
Another thing about this ministry of staying a
long time, it takes time to develop people.
In Colossians 1 and verse 28 and 29, the writer
says, and we proclaim him, admonishing every
man and teaching every man with all wisdom,
that we may present every man complete in Christ.
For this purpose also our labor, striving
according to his power, with mighty works
within me.
This is my work, and I can do it only because
Christ's mighty energy is at work within me.
That's the goal of presenting every man mature,
King James Version says, every man perfect
in Christ, but it takes time.
The Lord isn't through with you yet, and he
isn't through with me, and it takes time for
that spiritual development.
As well as Ephesians 4:11-13, and he gave some
apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and some
teachers for the equipping of the saints,
for the work of the service, to the building up
of the body of Christ, until we all attain
to the ministry and the unity of faith and the
knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature
man, to the measure of the statue which belongs
to the fullness of Christ.
Someone has compared this area of work like we
are coaches.
Tom Landry says that a coach is someone who
makes you do what you don't want to do so
that you can be what you want to be.
Pretty good statement, is it not?
That's what the Lord wants us to be.
And as this overhead tells us, he who expects
nothing is going to be disappointed.
The expectations that you have of yourself and
of your ministry is so vital and important.
Another thing, commitment will keep you from
failing when the going gets tough.
Determine the one that you're going to serve,
God or man.
Remember Matthew 6:24, no man can serve two
masters for he will hate the one and love
the other.
He will cleave to the one, despise the other.
You cannot serve God and mammon.
There are many things that people do for you
and for us.
Well, God loves you and everyone else has a
wonderful plan for your life.
And those of us who have been in ministry for a
long time know that a lot of people
have many expectations of you and what you are
to do in the ministry.
Yes, there are many things that are involved in
those years of service, and I want you
to fill in that blank on that first area there.
I want to also mention something here, a number
of reasons that we should stay.
I need to stay to grow in the new demands that
I'm facing rather than to find an excuse
to cop out.
Brothers, I assume that we're to lay it out on
the line here, to be honest with one another.
And there are some times that it's easier to
run than it is to stand.
And to withstand what brothers and sisters will
give you, and it is not easy.
And everyone that has been at a place a long
time has stood whenever he wanted to run.
Number two, I refuse to be guided by my emotions.
I won't make decisions on Monday morning.
I assume that if there was a moving van at your
house on Sunday night or Monday morning,
that we left a long time ago.
And all be careful about those emotions.
We need to fulfill what 2 Peter 1 tells us of
adding to our faith, virtue, and virtue,
knowledge, and knowledge temperance.
That's our patience right there, that quality
of staying with it.
My family needs love and stability.
It's been one of the privileges that I've had
that our daughters, the only congregation
that the youngest one knows, the one where we
are now.
The older one, she remembers living in the red
brick house just east of the university
church here.
And she remembers learning to ride her bicycle
in the parking lot there on the south side
of Sewell.
But a family needs that stability.
Having people takes time, as I mentioned a
moment ago.
And there's just no way in which we can hurry
that up.
Missionaries need to have a sense of permanence
in their overseeing congregations.
Sometimes we overlook that.
We get so focused on self and my feelings, the
way that I've been heard and all of that
kind of thing, that I forget that there are
other people involved.
And they really need some help, need encouragement.
Number six, the longer I stay, the more I'm
able to serve the church and the community.
I've read somewhere that a minister that stays
at a place for a number of years can do more
in 30 minutes than a new man can in three years.
The support of the elders take time to cultivate.
That is so very, very true.
It takes time to cultivate not only the present
elders, but the elders who are coming in.
Because every time a man is added to the
eldership, it changes the chemistry of that eldership.
It changes the balance and structure of that eldership.
There is no elder at Highland Street that was
an elder when I was hired.
All of these men, as I call it, have been
prayed in to the eldership.
Getting ready to add some more, and we're
praying about that, that they will be just
the men that God appoints for the ministry.
Because it changes the balance and the
structure of the eldership when new men are
added, whether
it be one man or two or three.
And it takes time to cultivate, must spend time
and know why he feels like he does, why
he thinks like he thinks, and why he will not
go along with this because of his personal
convictions, that kind of thing.
It takes time to learn this.
The brethren are generally generous in their
support financially and emotionally.
Notice I said generally, and that is so true.
They are.
And if you need help, go and ask for it.
I must not avoid confession of wrong and ask
for forgiveness, and brothers, that's where
we have to humble ourselves under the mighty
hand of God.
We're not always right.
We may think that we are, but the longer I'm in
ministry, the more I see the wisdom of
the development of time and space.
I make a decision, and it may not be the right one.
And if someone has said, don't worry about
making your right decision, make your decision,
and then make it right, if we can do that,
that's what we're talking about.
And I must remember that I can trust God
always, at all times, in all things.
So those are some of the reasons I should stay.
Do I have a dream for the congregation where I am?
Do I have a vision?
Have I shared that vision and dreamed with
someone else?
I saw in one of these magazines in the rack in
the airplanes, and it was titled, I don't
do this for money, I did this to make a dream happen.
It's a pretty good title for a lesson.
Robert Dale in To Dream Again says, behind
every achievement is a dreamer of great dreams.
Much more than a dreamer is required to bring
it to reality, but the dream must be there first.
Do we have a vision of what we want this
congregation to be that I'm a part of?
Ask yourself this question.
Do I have it?
Do I have it in my mind and in my heart, and
have I shared that dream with someone else?
Has that dream been defined and redefined
within the last three years?
Dreams have to be changed.
I don't understand all that Peter is talking
about as he picked up the prophecy from Joel
next to in verse 17 when he says, and it shall
be in the last days, God says that I will
pour out my spirit upon all mankind, and your
sons and daughters will prophesy, your young
men will see visions, and your old men will
dream dreams.
Number three, I sense my spiritual gifts match
the present needs of the role that I'm responsible
In congregations, especially in the larger
congregations, you get certain roles that
are carved out.
Those of you who are the only minister, you try
to wear all of the hats, and we're going
to speak to that later today.
That's my spiritual gifts.
I don't know if you have taken a spiritual gift
inventory or not, but that's a good thing
to do.
Most of them, I don't agree with many of the
questions because they are so charismatic
that they get carried away, but there are some
good questions in there, so I take these,
every one that comes along that I see
advertised, I send off and get it and take it
and see
where I am.
It's a self-examination, where I am.
Do I have what it takes?
I can't do everything in a congregation, and
especially when the congregation gets larger
and larger, you cannot do that.
It just will not work that way, but we must
remember that he who walks with God always
gets to his destination, and that's what we're
trying to do, brothers.
We're trying to walk with God.
I need to do what I'm gifted to do to the best
of my ability, whatever that is, and
I cannot do everything in a congregation.
There are just no ways.
Too big are too many things or too many
demands, but if my gifts match the roles and is compatible
with the congregation, why should I move?
As Brother Jack Lewis says, you brothers that
want to move from one place to another, you
are just changing your problems.
You know the names of them here.
You just don't know the names of them over
there, and that's pretty well true, is it not?
Next, I sense my philosophy of ministry is
compatible with the congregations that I work
with, and we work together smoothly.
Congregations and groups within a congregation
have different expectations as we talked about.
One considers me or those I was to serve as,
quote, pastors.
They want us to minister to them, to oversee
them, and that kind of thing, and other thinks
that we should be the point men in Evangelistic
outreach, and there are many things that cause
us to be unsettled in our ministry.
I don't know, perhaps this would illustrate
what I'm trying to say here.
Things are a little unsettled here after last
night's elders meeting, dear.
See the time bomb going over here, and here in
the cannon, and the brick, and the arrows
have been shot at him.
Many, many brothers, we've all felt that, have
we not?
Those of us who have been in ministry for a
while, you better believe we have.
We've all felt that tension, and as I said, if
there had been a moving van at the door,
we probably would have taken it.
Number five, my socio-cultured background
relates to most of the congregation, and at
least we have common expectation practices and traditions.
Most of the people, that's right, but now if we
move from one part of the country to
another part, that's where we need to be
careful, brothers.
I read about a brother that lived in Wyoming.
Wyoming is wide open spaces, wears their jeans,
and the boots, and Cowboy hats, and that kind
of thing.
He moved to the West Coast, and they expected
him in a coat and tie, miserable, miserable.
He finally gave it up and says, I'm going back
to where I'm comfortable.
Those of us that were raised on a farm, much
different than those of you that were raised
in the city.
And if my background doesn't fit with the
culture of that congregation, brother, we
got troubles, and it's going to be a very
difficult, difficult road to hold, and you
know that as well as I do.
Number six, as the congregation changes, am I
able to face the unchartered opportunities?
Notice I didn't say problems, brothers, I
don't, that's one word I don't like.
I don't like the word problem because problem
is a negative.
If we look at this situation as an opportunity,
it would just simply mean that I will try
another way.
Opportunity is more positive, whereas problem
is a negative.
And if I would see nothing but problems, I
cannot see any light at the end of the tunnel.
But if I think of opportunities, I read
somewhere that for every case that we present, every
program and so forth, we ought to come up with
at least 15 different ways in which we
can look at this thing.
Well, I've tried that, and I can't come up with
15 every time, but at least we can come
up with two or three different ways of looking
at this situation that will help me to grow.
As we look at this background, oh yes, there's
one other thing I want to do before I go on
to that one, about this pleasing people of
different cultures and dress and so forth.
You know, he who tries to please everybody will
die before his time.
And one part of the country has done different
funerals, much different wakes in one part
of the country.
You go to the funeral home to visit the family
of another, you go to the home of the deceased
and another one, that kind of thing.
Wherever you are, you've got to find the way.
And brothers, this is a tough one right here.
There's no way that we can please the people
all of the time.
As the congregation changes and I'm willing to
face these uncharted areas, like a building
program, do I know how?
Am I the man to lead this congregation in building?
Or does this congregation need a day school?
Am I the one that has the ability and the
vision to do that?
Am I a church planter?
That's the popular word that we use today,
church planting.
Some people aren't, some aren't.
Some of us look at that as church planting as
they're going to take away our members
and we're going to shrink up while they grow.
Church planting is a very specialized area, but
it's a needed area in the ministry.
And then the next here, am I a generalist or a specialist?
Am I what the congregation needs?
Only this can be worked out.
I must tell you on this one, there are some
people that expect so many things of you that
unless you are a very unusual person, you
cannot fulfill all of those.
If there had not been a death of one or two
elders when I first went to Highland Street
many years ago, I would not have stayed.
I could not because the expectation of one or
two men was beyond what I was able to deliver.
Now I don't say that the Lord caused them to
die, but they did.
They did and I'm still there and people ask me
how long I'm going to stay and I tell them
as far as I know from one elder's meeting to
the next because I have no contract with
the church.
If the elders do not want me there, I don't
want to be there, if the congregation doesn't
want me to be there, if the Lord doesn't want
me to be there, he'll show me another way.
And so working within our own abilities, many
are taking specialist roles because the congregation
grows in numbers and we have to, one man cannot
wear so many hats.
He'll give out, he'll wear out, he'll burn out
and you have to decide the areas that
you can serve best and if that pleases the
people, fine.
If it doesn't please the people, I'm sorry, my
commitment first of all is to the Lord.
As I have opportunity to talk to young
ministers especially, this is one thing I
always try
to mention and to bring up, early in your
ministry decide the one that you're going
to serve and as soon as you decide to serve the
Lord, then you'll be happy in your ministry.
But if you try to please these or these or
those, brothers, you're going to be one of
the most frustrated preachers in the world.
And if what I do pleases you, praise the Lord.
If it doesn't, I'm sorry, I've got a commitment
that I made to the Lord and I'm trying to
fulfill that commitment and I don't know how
else to put it other than to express it that way.
And as this congregation changes, am I the
preacher who is a planter or a healer?
Some congregations need healing, long-term struggles.
They need someone who is compassionate and
knows how to minister in a compassionate way.
Some people are peacemakers.
They can go into the war zone and bring peace,
blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus said.
Some preachers are builders, they enjoy the
challenge of getting the money together, the
architect together, the addition or the new
facilities and that kind of thing.
And next, I have credibility and the
congregation is willing to follow my leadership
in major decisions.
Credibility is established, you see, when the
majority of people respect you and love
It's changed from the preacher to my preacher.
You notice it, listen to it.
As I was preparing this and had written down
that statement, it wasn't two days until somebody
came into the office and used this expression,
you're my preacher.
It's just incredible terminology.
Credibility can be lost and once lost, it's
very, very difficult to regain and as all
of you know, brethren have elephant memories of
one's mistakes.
Boy, this bothers me so much as I sit in
elders' meetings and hear, well, so and so did something
or other.
Yes, but that was 15 years ago, but it's still
there, especially as additional
men are looked at for leadership roles in the
congregation, whether it be a ministry
leadership or deacon or an elder, no, we can't
have them because he was this way or that way.
Boy, those memories.
Now I want to deal with something right here, a
note about purity because it fits in with
this credibility thing.
How many men do you know that have been lost to
the ministry because of sexual impurity?
Preachers leaving their wives, wives leaving
the preachers.
All of us know all of those.
It's a very sad thing, is it not?
And he that thinketh he standeth, Takeeth, lest
he fall.
We're all vulnerable and we have to watch and
keep ourselves, keep ourselves.
What about this business of pornography?
You remember what Psalms 101 in verse three
says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
Psalm 101 in verse three, write that down.
1 Thessalonians 4, beginning with verse three
says, for it is God's will that you
be kept pure in person, that you should
practice abstinence from sexual immorality,
that every
man among you should learn to make his own
wife, take his own wife out of pure and honorable
motives, not one of evil passions as the
heathens do who do not know God, that no one would
be wrong and default his brother in this
matter, because the Lord takes vengeance for
all such
things, as we have told you before, and
solemnly warn you, for God does not call you to
a life
of immorality, but to one of personal purity.
Brothers, we need that lesson.
We need to be reminded, because once our
credibility has been lost, it's very, very
difficult to
ever regain.
Hebrews 12:14 says, pursue peace with all men,
and sanctification without which
no one will see the Lord.
Not only will our brothers hold it up, but the
Lord will hold it.
We need to be very careful about this matter of
purity in our own personal lives.
At the second session, I'll talk more about how
we keep ourselves pure, and the way in
which we minister to ourselves, and brothers,
there comes a time whenever there's no one
else to minister to you but yourself.
You remember the story of David, as he and his
warriors went out.
While they were gone, another army came and
took away their wives and their children,
their baggage and everything, and when they
returned to camp, they were just all up in
arms, of course, and they were back to stone, David.
In the 1 Samuel 30:6, the last part of that
verse says that David encouraged
himself and the Lord his God.
Brothers, there are some times that there's
only you, that you can get alone with God,
and I want to spend the second session working
in that area, overcoming.
That's what the Lord wants us to do.
He wants us to be pure.
Now am I willing and able to labor hard with my
brothers and sisters in Christ?
This is one of those areas that's rather hard
for us to visualize, but remember that success
is something like this.
You itches for success must be willing to
scratch for it.
Now that may not be put like you want it put,
but anyway, expectations range from preaching
to visiting new members to walking on water and
raising the dead.
Another thing that is involved in this is that
there are some preachers in the past
that preceded us to this congregation who
worked long hours neglecting family for the
church, standing ready to preach to Mary at a
moment's notice.
And here we come along and our ministry isn't
that same focus.
One of the congregations that we served, the
preacher was an older man and his wife.
Their children were already grown and away.
And they did many things.
She was involved in everything.
When we moved there, our baby was two weeks old.
And they expected the same of my wife as that
of the lady.
And they expected the same of me as that older man.
And we were not that.
And he that is greatest among you will be your servant.
But I look around and I see these other guys
that have this and they dress like that and
they can talk and have golden tongue and they
have the flow of words that they put together
and all of this kind of thing.
I read a statement that I want to share with
you about this.
The writer says, I will speak no ill of another
minister or ministry because I do not know
how God is using the person or in ministry in
other people's lives.
Pretty good, isn't it?
Remember, I'm not responsible for you other
than as brothers and sisters are responsible
for one another.
I'm responsible for God's gifts that he's given
to me.
I'm responsible for mine.
For God's own reasons, he chooses to exalt some
people and not others.
And those who receive attention are not
necessarily better, they're just more visible.
Now, I don't know if you'll ever be invited to
be one of the keynote speakers at the lectureship.
I won't because that's just not my role, not my
cup of tea.
I'm reminded of Colossians 3 and verse 23, that
whatever you do, do it heartily as for
the Lord rather than for men.
Now, brothers, that's what I'm trying to say in this.
When I have this attitude, it knocks the legs
out from under the green-eyed monster.
I'm committed to serve the Lord rather than
measure myself by you or someone else.
And next is my philosophy of ministry,
generally compatible with the congregational needs.
Some leadership styles are very decisive, even
bordering on dictatorial.
Others are easygoing and prefer to roll with
the punches.
I need to be like Sam here, preaches well, he
lives well.
And I also need to remember right here that
there are people who are much like these right here.
Have we ever felt like that, brothers?
I felt like many of mine, my wife has been so
gracious that she didn't do this.
When I ran across that, I just had to share
that one with you, brothers, because that
says so much, does it not?
Were there not people like your sermon or not?
Most of us in our leadership styles, though,
are doing our best, the blending of, sometimes
we have to be very forthright, the other times
we back off and be very, very gentle.
That's what we're talking about here.
And only you can answer that, is my leadership
style blends with the congregation, it may
be an indication that I am in the right place.
And I want to mention something else here that,
if I didn't lose my overhead on it,
I want to mention advantages of long-term ministry.
You get to know people on a personal level,
that's one advantage.
You get to see them at their best, at their worst.
And the contrary is also true, they get to see
you at your best and at your worst.
Now, brothers, we may be ministers, but we all
have those moments, do we not?
Congregations get to know your family, they see
how you raise your children, how your
children turn out, end of quote.
You set a model example.
Number three, often a teacher sees a child for
a year or two and then the child moves
on, but we ministers see that child in the time
that they're born, visit them in the
hospital, have prayer with the family, dedicate
that child to the Lord.
We see that child grow up, we baptize them, if
we stay there long enough, we'll probably
perform the wedding ceremony, if we stay there
long enough, we'll probably get to visit that
hospital again for that birth of that
grandchild, yes.
That's what I'm talking about.
Teacher just has the child a short period of
time, ministers for a long time.
See a coach has just a year or so with the
athlete, then the athlete moves on.
But we ministers have a long time with people.
Policeman sees a few people as does a
counselor, but the minister enjoys years of interpersonal
These relationships continue even after the
minister of people have moved away.
A lady called a week before last from Alabama
and gave me her name.
She said, we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.
I just want to call you and to thank you for
doing the ceremony.
I don't remember those folks at all.
I have racked my brain, I have tried my best
and they were married over at the Christian
Student Center, Jesse, Washington, and I did
not, I cannot remember them at all.
But she just out of the blue called me.
And that was one of the things that was a real,
real joy.
I don't generally save letters, but for some
reason I saved this one from a number of years
ago and I want to share just a little bit of it
with you.
Several years ago on a gray, dim, cold, damp
Sunday morning, we began our drive to service
while stopped for a red light, I commented to
Al Jean that it was a yucky, ugly day.
When you made the opening remarks, your
comments were, good morning folks, this is the day
the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad
in it.
Larry, every morning since that, when it is
cold or damp and gray, dreary and whenever
I step outside, I always think of you, your
comments, and I'm grateful I have the day.
Sometimes we make a rather small remark and it
makes a rather strong impression on someone else.
That morning I realized that I had so much to
be thankful for, whenever it rains, I always
think of you.
So I don't know if that's good or bad to think
of as it rains, but you know, that's,
you never know how you're impressing people and
that is one of the comments I generally
make when I make announcements of Psalm 118 and
verse, what is it, 24, this is the day.
Let me share another one with you.
You've been a great help to me over the past
year and I just want to say thank you.
Last year was one of the most trying for me.
I was often sad and discouraged, but you always
said something that would pick me up.
You're a wonderful role model for us.
I really appreciate your coming to Kirby Pines.
I always look forward to that Sunday.
I know you carry a very heavy load, but you
find time to help us.
Thank you for the years and I admire you and
respect you for being the person that you are.
That comes from long-term ministry, folks, and
those warm fuzzies or whatever you want
to call these that I've just shared with you do
not come from being there a couple of years.
It comes from being there a long time.
We get some other kind of leathers also, but
I'm not going to share those with you.
Now in closing, I want to close with this,
staying in spite of, one, when we're tempted
to move for all of the wrong reasons.
Blue Monday, an intolerable business or elders
meeting, brothers, that is not the time.
And the only way in which I know to put it is
that we practice 1 Peter 5 and verse 6.
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God
that he will exalt you in due time.
And brothers, we must learn to humble ourselves.
I have been blessed by knowing some of the
great people in the kingdom.
Brother E.H.
Thomas, one of them, taught his last class at
Highland Street at 92 and died when he
was 96 years old.
Great spiritual, wonderful man, a mentor.
He had been through the wars.
He had many things that were said and done to
him in his ministry, but he decided to
serve the Lord, and he chose to hang in there.
In spite of what brothers had done to him and
to his family.
And one of the sad parts of that is that it
affected the two older children in his family
more than it did the younger in the family.
And those two older girls are just not with the Lord.
And here was a spiritual giant that he humbled
himself and God used him until he was 92 years old.
And I never will forget, as I would go by his
house and visit on Mondays, as I went
to the hospital and stopped by his house and we
would talk shop, he wanted to know what
happened and that kind of thing at the
services, he wasn't able to attend anymore.
He had palsy.
And as you know, somebody that has palsy, you
can't hold them, they're going to shake.
And so we would stand in the living room,
brother E.H., sister E.H., and myself, we'd
hold hands and we'd all shake together and we'd
pray together, you know.
We'd pray together.
And I never will forget, one of the things
brother E.H. said, when I said amen, he said,
bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all
of his benefits.
That was just an issue of his life, it just
poured out of him, Psalm 103.
That was just such a part of his life that that
was his response that he made.
I've been blessed by knowing Joe Cannon.
I don't know if you know Joe or not, but praise
the Lord, there's none other like him to him.
We don't need another one, but thank the Lord
for him.
He's a man of tremendous energy and faith, over
50 years as a missionary.
In fact, he leaves tomorrow to go to retire to
Okinawa to mission work.
He's been a great blessing, encouraging, and he
has helped me so much with this thing,
when we attempted to move for all of the wrong
reasons, come back, are we serving the Lord.
The second thing I want to mention, when it
does not seem the churches will ever grow
numerically, we get very discouraged, do we not?
Here's where that green-eyed monster comes
back, and we see others that are growing.
Why can't we?
What's happening?
Is it my preaching?
Is it my leadership?
What is it?
Number three, what about your irregular person?
That's Joyce Landau's expression, your
irregular person.
Do not ever ask God for patience, because guess
who he will give you?
He'll give you that irregular person, that
person that just turns the hair up on the
back of your neck when you hear their name or
see them.
I don't know if you have anybody like that, but
if you do, you'll understand what I'm
talking about.
How do we handle that?
Well, I want to mention just one thing here,
and I'll come back to it in the second session, 11:00.
That's 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 18, and
everything give thanks.
Oh Lord, how in the world can I thank you for
this person?
But the Lord said to do it, and it's my job to
do it, and then the Lord's job to change
my heart and attitude or change that person's,
maybe change both of us, to make us at least compatible.
You see?
And everything give thanks, for this is God's
will for you in Christ Jesus.
We hurt others, others have hurt us, and we
struggle with this, but I've never had anybody
to treat me like they treated my Lord.
I've never been spit on.
I've never been slapped other than by my
parents, you know, in discipline, that kind of thing.
I've never, I've never been, my clothes
stripped off of me.
They took Jesus, they took his clothes away
from him, that left him naked, folks.
And it's amazing in Hebrews 12, who for the joy
that was before him, endured the cross
despising the shame.
They've never treated me like that.
And so who am I to hold a grudge or not hold a grudge?
Another thing, greener pastures elsewhere,
we're offered more money, seldom is a larger
salary to be taken as a call from God.
Maybe from the wife, maybe from our creditors,
but seldom as a call from God.
And I know that sometimes the brothers will not
help us financially as they should, and
if we leave, they find out they've got to pay
the next guy what they should have been
paying me anyway.
And I know that it's hard to take, but
remember, we're serving the Lord.
That's what I wanted to share with you this morning.
Now if you have a question or so that I might
share with you, I'd be glad to do that.
I have, oh yes, there is one other thing here
that I want to be sure and show you.
I don't know how this fits in, but when I saw
this, I just had to put it in as a part
of what I wanted to do today.
Yes, Doris, just a few, over for dinner, for
church, you know, about 20 minutes, is that
How many is a few?
Oh, maybe a couple of dozen, so is that okay,
Doris, honey, are you still there?
When I saw that, it had to be because my friend
Doris Vance, if there was any person that
would ever say yes to all of that, it would be Doris.
But now we've treated our wives that way, have
we not, at some point or another?
Most of us have at least once, but after that
one time, we may not have done it anymore.
So, I want to show you this parable, that if
you're unhappy where you are, maybe it
will help.
Yeah, I think you can see it.
Once upon a time, there was an unconforming
sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter.
The weather turned too cold that he reluctantly
started to fly south.
In a short time, ice began to form on his wings
and he fell to the earth in a barnyard,
almost frozen.
A cow passed by and dropped manure on the
little sparrow.
The sparrow thought this was the end, but the
manure warmed him and defrosted his wings.
Warm and happy, able to breathe, he started to sing.
Just then a large cat came by and hearing the
chirping, investigated the sound.
The cat cleared away the manure, found the
chirping sparrow, and promptly ate him.
Now, what's the moral to the story?
One, everyone who drops manure on you is not
necessarily your enemy.
That's one.
Everyone who gets you out of manure is not
necessarily your friend, and if you're warm
and happy in a pile of manure, keep your mouth shut.
I thought you would enjoy and appreciate that,
and brothers, that really fits in with what
we're talking about, doesn't it?
If you're warm and happy, keep your mouth shut,
and that is, oh yeah, before I close,
I won't mention that while I think about it.
Sometimes we think we have to answer every question.
We think we have to minister to every person's
question they've ever come up with.
Brothers, they're not one of us that's that smart.
I don't think we are, and if I judge you, I'm sorry.
I don't think you can answer all of the
questions that brothers and sisters will throw
at you,
because they will ask you some of the strangest
things, and you hadn't studied that in 20 years.
Then you struggle with what in the world am I
going to say?
And then what you say may be the wrong thing,
and you are in a mess, and sometimes it's
just the best to keep your mouth shut.
I don't know.
Confession is one of the things, and I'll talk
about that, and I hope that you'll be
back at the 11:00 hour, because folks, what I
said at the 11:00 hour is going
to be the heart of ministry, because it deals
with what you as a motivator.
Who motivates the motivator?
Who helps you in your spiritual quest?
How are you helped in that spiritual quest?
And we'll try to answer some of those questions.
Is there a question that you have that I might
respond to now?
Yes, yes.
You'll run the first part of that back by now.
I would just say this.
If I were a betting man, I bet you'll limit a
hole in a doughnut, that we are very careful
about what we say to one another, and that
every brother in here and one sister would
hold a different point of view on some things,
you know, and that we're not all going to
agree on that, and you're welcome.
Let me say it like this.
In our staff meeting at Highland Street, we
agreed to disagree sometimes, and I tell them
that, fellas, you have every right in the world
to be wrong.
They don't know what to do with that one, you
know, so they've got to where they laid
that on me first, you know, when we do have a
disagreement among ourselves.
But this is where we have to love one another
enough to not only confront one another, but
to accept that, as St. Peter says, Paul said
some things that are awful hard to understand.
And there's some questions that I just don't
know the answer to, that I don't understand
everything about it. Yes?
What about if a person is going through a
burnout period, and you should ask this kind
of question, is there time for me to leave, is
there time for me to go?
I mean, to stay.
What recommendations do you give to people who
are going through this period of time
with this burnout?
I'll spend a lot of time on that in our next
session as to the way in which we handle that
burnout and the way in which we keep ourselves
regenerated as ministers.
What we do, the time that we have alone with
God and His Word.
And so I'm going to answer that at the next session.
I thank you very much for being here this morning.
It's time for us to go.
And if the fellows that came in late would like
an outline of those ten points that I
made as a time to leave, you're welcome to pick
these up.
Thank you very much for being here.