Thoughts from 40 years of Ministry

I am transitioning from being the founding and senior pastor at a church for 40 years to

being available for a wider ministry. I have a love for pastors and a burden for the church. Today, many churches teach the inherent goodness of man, the power of positive thinking, and the virtue of being open-minded to all religions. We have drifted away from the true gospel. 

The Apostle Paul writes “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe and keep on believing, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)

Paul was not ashamed to identify with Jesus. His life had been transformed when he met Jesus. His mindset, his attitude, his lifestyle, and his life purpose all changed when he was saved. 

I remember how God worked in my life drawing me to himself. At my university, there was an evangelist standing on the library steps every afternoon preaching the gospel. My friends and I would make fun of him; often I would stop and listen. Then a friend of mine got saved. I asked him what happened. He said I can’t explain it but if you come with me to church, you will figure it out. 

So I went to church and heard some preaching. The pastor’s hair was gray and he said open your Bibles to the Book of Genesis. I figured he was at the end of the book, so I opened up to Revelation. It was the first time I had ever opened a Bible, the first time I had ever heard a sermon. The pastor’s daughter, Debbie, and I had just met. She gave me C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity and I read it cover to cover.

The sermons of her father, Lewis’s writing, my friend’s life, and Debbie’s belief in the gospel were speaking to me. For the first time in my life, I became acutely aware of my sin. I wasn’t as comfortable doing what I had been doing, talking about what I had been talking about. I was coming under conviction. I realized for the first time my sin had offended a holy God. The things I hung on the wall, the music I listened to, and the places I went to were offensive to God. 

I remember the first time I heard the gospel. The preacher was an older man who looked like a pilgrim. He had a gray beard and wore a three-piece suit in 95-degree heat. If he said it once, he said it 75 times the Lord “has spaken to me that one of you is going to be saved.” I said to Debbie, “he is murdering the King’s English, shouldn’t he be saying the Lord has spoken to me? What does it mean to be saved?” 

On that day the journey began. It was about 45 years ago. I have seen many come into the kingdom and their lives profoundly changed by the gospel. It has been my joy to proclaim the gospel for over 4 decades.

The fire in my soul has not been put out.

The gospel contains the most accurate analysis of the human condition and God’s solution to the problem. The gospel has the power to save, forgive, heal, and transform.