We can come back tonight to offer a short wrap up to what began yesterday.  Maybe none of this matters to most people but it does to me.  I am not sure that it shouldn't matter to the average believer also.  The normal believer who attends the typical church may not be aware of some of the tension that occurs behind the scenes.  We can even let our vision or opinion of church leaders become confused by the issues of fame or fortune.  We all tend to have favorite preachers or leaders but are these ideas based on the right reasons?  I may not have all of the answers but it is good enough should you think about it.

It all started last night watching a well known speaker preaching at a church led by a former classmate.  While my journey went through all of the tasks of education not every person gets into that.  Most everything studied over the years is priceless to me.  There were a few times when that was tested but I wouldn't trade my years of classroom time for anything.  Now we live in a day where many of the best known of preachers have actually very little theological training.  That does not include everyone but it still happens.  It also does not mean that academics are the sole measure of a ministry.  How do you weigh a ministry?

I once was young with the imagination that my journey could lead to large congregations someday.  That never happened.  Most of my years were spent trying to aid churches with one set of problems or the other.  My salary will never be so large that lavish vacations or summer homes will be an option.  You should know that is fine by me.  I know that each congregation served came out better in the end that at the beginning.  Maybe it was close sometimes but that is my belief.  Nobody ever read my books since none were written.  That is as much my choice as anything else.  You cannot find me on television or the radio.  So does that really mean that a ministry like mine falls short?  What do the hundreds or thousands of ministers who are in the same category reply when asked about success? 

We said that Jesus surrounded Himself with twelve imperfect followers.  None of those guys gave any inclination of having their act together.  He did draw large crowds at one point of His life but then ran them off by laying down the challenge of discipleship.  You really have to think through envy, jealousy and pride when asking yourself the hard questions here.  I am not sure my responses are still free of those sins.  But hold onto one truth in all of this.  We are all very human with a tendency to rationalize our existence.  Even the most popular of writers and preachers can fall prey to those subtle sins.  So can I.  Being on the alert for that ugliness is a requirement to remain anywhere near holy.  Do I wish my ministry was enormous with all of the bells and whistles?  You wonder what that is like but I believe that isn't my goal.  Would I like to be on television and such?  I see my face every morning so that isn't an option.  The real question is what do we do with what we have while we can do it?  Jesus had a word for that.  He called it being faithful.  We can miss that quality in our search to be significant.  That happens whether our congregation is 20,000 or 20.  It can happen to any of us.

Maybe there is more to be said still but let us stop there.  Let's think about it and pray much.

Bro. Trey