Milestones

Over the next several days I will be observing several significant events in my life and ministry. It was twenty-six years ago today that I preached my first sermon as pastor at the First Baptist Church in Flippin, Arkansas. I was fresh out of seminary beginning my first and as it turned out only pastorate. A comparatively few in the ministry have the privilege of spending their entire ministry in one church. It has been an incredible blessing from God to be able to spend my ministry focusing on shepherding one "flock" through the journey that our Lord has laid out for us as a church. I've had the joy of marrying couples that were mere children when I became their pastor. I could go on and on, but let me just say that God has been very good to me.
Tomorrow I will be traveling to India where I will be engaged in teaching pastors for the next two weeks. This will be my fifth time to be a part of this ministry where men are trained to plant churches and seek to bring the gospel to this country of 1.2 billion people.
On Monday I will observe the 29th anniversary of when I surrendered to God's call to the ministry. I will be eternally grateful to the three pastor's who had a great influence in my life. It was Dennis Hochgraber who was pastoring a little church in Arlington, Texas who led me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. It was Ron Herrod who was my pastor in Kenner, Louisiana where I grew to have an incredible love for the word of God, and who became my model of how to faithfully preach that inspired word. It was Oscar Golden in Benton, Arkansas who demonstrated to me how a pastor loves his people. To the extent that I have had any success in the ministry, I owe it to these men who showed what ministry truly is all about.