1 Timothy 1:11 According to
the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. 12
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me
into the ministry; 13 Who was
before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I
obtained mercy, because I
did it ignorantly in unbelief.
14 And the grace of
our Lord was exceeding
abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This
is a faithful saying, and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am
chief. 16 Howbeit
for this cause I obtained
mercy…
Today, August 28, 2015, marks 37 years since I loaded all
my worldly goods into my beige ’73 Nova and headed from SW Colorado to San
Dimas, CA, where you get the “most on the coast.”
37
years ago today, I sat in the gym of Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College,
filling out my class schedule. Rhonda Shook, of the Singing Shook Family, kindly introduced me to
Pastor Tom McCrary of Riverside’s Faith Baptist Church.
Pastor Tom needed a good music director and door knocker
to hire full time - $50 a week. In me, he found a fair music director and the
world’s worst door knocker. We shook hands and struck a deal and I got my first
full time ministry position.
Where does the time go? How many times have I beat out
4/4 time since then? How many solos, duets, trios, quartettes, ensemble and
choir numbers have I sung? How many have groaned at my preacher jokes? My
goodness, almost 10 thousand messages thus far:
1750
Sunday school lessons
2600
Sermons
4375
Bible College classes taught
1050 Bible Studies
9775
Messages
Before I left home, my dad had these words for me
concerning ministry: “It’ll never last!”
Oh,
how many times those words, that challenge, kept me going when I was looking for
a towel to knot and toss.
I
praise God on high for calling me, placing me and keeping me in ministry all
these years. There is no better life, no higher calling, no greater reward than
ministry. I am the least of His servants.
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