Friday, March 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of my public setting apart for the gospel ministry -my ordination. I decided to take the time to write this post in celebration of all that God has done to teach me his ways. Here are a few lessons I am learning on the way:
There is no substitute for personal fellowship with God.I have learned that I can fill my calendar with business. Conferences, classes, lunches, fellowships. The business that pastors face cannot detract from what is most important – time spent with God through reading Holy Scripture and prayer.
The burden of preaching always remains the same. Dr. Charles Stanley first gave me this nugget at my ordination. Here was a seasoned pastor of 50 years at the time who told me that he still feels the burden of preaching. 10 years into my preaching I can testify that it hasn’t gotten any easier. I pray I never feel like I can “wing it.”
Pursue holiness. 2 Timothy 2:21 proves true. Active steps must be taken to avoid the failings that are prone to so many. I constantly keep in my mind my wife and children, my mom and dad, my grandparents, my brother and his wife, and so many others that I would disappoint if I had a moral failure. The reason I keep them close to my mind is because I know that I am accountable for how I remind them of the beauty of Christ. I don’t want anything in my life or ministry to deflect from the loveliness of Christ.
Cultivate a genuine concern for people. The picture that Christ has placed before us of himself is a shepherd who cares for his sheep, who lays down his life for the sheep. I don’t want to be a hireling pursuing my own ambitions, instead I want to genuinely have concern for the people God has entrusted me with. Visitation is a discipline but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be delightful. It becomes delightful when you genuinely care about those you visit.
Be available for people.There are boundaries that must be kept but the boundaries should never be so restrictive that you are unavailable. When I met Charles Stanley for the first time, he made me feel like I was the only one in the room (I wasn’t). I try to do the same by giving someone who has chosen to meet with me my undivided attention. This means that I am looking them in the eye, taking the time to engage them with listening, and not looking around at who is next in line.
Have thick skin and a soft heart. This is a lesson learned from reading Howard Hendricks. Be quick to forgive and forget. People will disappoint you. Your calling is to remember the cross of Christ. Don’t burn bridges. Don’t compromise truth.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Charles Stanley has a quote on his desk from Hudson Taylor. “Bear not a single care thyself, one is too much for thee; the work is mine and mind alone; Thy work - to rest in me.”
Rely on the strength that God provides. There are some days that I have thought about quitting. Some days I don’t feel like studying. Some Sunday’s I don’t feel like preaching. Use these moments to drive you to a deeper prayer life. After you have prayed and confessed your “I-don’t-feel-like-it”, express thanks to the Lord for providing strength, get off your knees, and get to work!
Learn to love the discipline of study.Seminary was the beginning of my learning. I am committed to being a lifelong learner because I want to be all that I can be for Christ and for the people he has entrusted to my care.
Enjoy wrestling with texts. My former paratrooper, drill Sargent, Vietnam Veteran Daddy told me that if I train on the hills the flats would be easy. In 10 years of full-time ministry I can count the number of times I have retaught a sermon on one hand. Some days would have been easy to reteach an old text, or to avoid a difficult text, but I have found the greatest opportunity to grow when taking on a new challenge by wrestling with a difficult or unfamiliar text.
Let the text guide the sermon not the sermon the text. Have a high view of Scripture. Don’t use the passage as an excuse to preach, instead preach the text.
God will give you what you need right in time. The process of preparation is almost miraculous. The distance from where I start to what comes before the congregation is an incredible length that can only be overcome by angels’ wings. God is faithful in the sermon preparation process. I have always been given what I need when I need it. God has never been late and what he has given has never been less than what I need. These moments of illumination directly relate to my passion in the pulpit and encourage more vigorous study.
Never sacrifice your family on the altar of ministry. The greatest beneficiaries of my ministry should be my wife and children. I don’t want to pursue a dream if that dream means leaving them behind or making less of them.
Remember you are an under-shepherd preparing people for the Chief Shepherd. Ministry can never be about me. Count Zinzendorf’s words ring in my ear: Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.
Samples of growth through the years:
Unity Baptist in Newnan Georgia around the year 2006.
2011 at my first pastorate, Sorrell’s Grove Baptist Church, Morrisville, NC.
This sermon was preached at Oxford Baptist of Oxford, Georgia in 2017.
A sermon while serving as an associate pastor in Newnan, GA, 2018.
Upon the news of Dr. Stanley’s death, I revisited this post and published the latest sermon from FBC Starkville. MS, 2023.
Dr Stanley presenting the certificate of ordination.
A moment memorialized by my parents who presented me with a framed copy to serve as perpetual reminder.