Serve by Design

During forty-five years of fulltime active ministry, I planned and/or participated in numerous “guy events” that involved lay and clergy training, inspiration, and fellowship. In an effort to anchor these occasions in some of the memories of my readers, I will list just a sample of the settings, The camp-times would include Riverbend (Glen Rose, TX), Trinity Pines (Trinity, TX), Lake Sallateeska (Pinckneyville, IL) and Emmanuel (Astoria, IL). There were other retreat settings that included a ranch house First Baptist owned (Houston, TX), the Lady of the Snows Catholic facility (Belleville, IL), and the Assemblies’ Lake Williamson (Carlinville, IL). Truthfully, the additional places and occasions were too numerous to list! Image credit: depositphotos.com I have so many special memories where my relationship with friends and church leaders was deepened through guy-gatherings that often involved evening fish fries, cooking breakfasts over a modest cook-stove, and sleeping (or trying to!) ...

I recently attended a regional equipping conference for men, titled "Iron Sharpens Iron". Ministers and laity were present. During the opening session, Dan Hyun, a church planter specialist and founding pastor of the Village Church in Baltimore, Maryland spoke about success. Hyun believes that success is measured by what comes behind us, our legacy. Therefore, he made this compelling appeal to join in the endeavor of mentoring the next generation of Christian leaders by simply saying, “Be who you needed when you were young!” Teaching and Mentoring Image credit: depositphotos.com Hyun’s comment about the lasting legacy of mentoring the next generation resonates with me. I have been committed to mentoring relationships for more than 20 years now. I didn’t plan on being a mentor when I was younger, but in my maturing, middle adult years, some of my younger peers started introducing me as their mentor. It sounded surreal at first and certainly made me feel older, but I could see ...