Main Story
Sunukjian: I went into seminary believing in the Bible. I came out of seminary willing to die for the Bible. In terms of the authority, it is God’s word, and since then my life has just been wrapped around understanding it, trying to obey it, and giving it to others. So I look back on my seminary time as a very intensifying focus of that commitment of my life. And then, Ray Stedman. I interned for a summer at Peninsula Bible Church when I was a student, and there was freedom toward ministry there, a willingness to fail and not take it too seriously; there was an ability to hit the contemporary culture. It was just a refreshing time, and it just sort of gave a cast to my ministry of, “Hey, this is God’s good work and let’s do it, and if we miss something and we fail, then the Lord taught us one way we don’t want to do it.” So that was a good spirit to pick up.
Edwards: What has been helpful to me in my development since leaving seminary has been ministry itself. I have found that when I’m consumed with accomplishing something for God, and I struggle and fail and find myself at the end of my resources, that has proven to be an excellent catalyst for skill development, spiritual development, for everything. That has really been an ongoing catalyst. An individual who has helped me significantly through that has been Haddon Robinson. He was gracious enough to work with me and be my mentor, not only in learning the skill of preaching, but as time went on, in the skill of living and ministering as well.
TenElshof: First of all, my husband has been my greatest empowerer. He has wanted me to become everything God has built into me, so he has really empowered me. My seminary experience, both at Fuller and at Talbot, brought into my life key people who mentor different parts of my life. I think Rex has really mentored the ministry part of my life. The ministry led me to pastors who really mentored my spiritual life and my growth with the Lord. The vision that God gave me for Hilltop has just strengthened my faith in how God works and has helped me to trust Him so much more for all of what I feel I can’t do myself. So one mentor has built on another. I would say that ministry itself and people and connections with people have just been incredible in where I am today.
Boersma: When I came to Talbot in 1970, I had been drifting spiritually, the last couple of years of college. Coming to Talbot really confronted me with that, and I would have to say that being here for the four years it took me to get my degree really turned my life around, and God used it in a way that helped me get back and stay on the path.
I also think of people. Dr. Glenn O’Neil, who was the chair of practical theology back then, showed me what grace was all about and was a wonderful example of a man with a big heart. I called him many times when I started pastoring, “Hey doc, I’m in trouble”…this was about a monthly call. [laughter] And he was always there to listen, and I could picture him leaning back, hearing the creaking sounds of that old chair and this big hearty laugh coming out of him, and then he’d tell me a story…
And one last thing about my seminary time: Greek. Greek taught me discipline; Greek taught me to sit down every day and study. I had been a crammer in high school and college, and I would’ve done it in seminary if I could have gotten away with it but I couldn’t. And that really prepared me for the weekly discipline and grind of preparing three sermons a week: Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. There was no other way. I applaud Greek if for no other reason than the discipline I learned.
Johnson: I also think of mentors. I think of Norm Wright, and of Larry Crabb more recently, and others who have had an impact on my life. I think probably the most profound impact, though, has been my wife and then my kids, and that has really pushed my passion for marriage and family ministry. The experiences of going overseas, particularly the first time when I went to Communist Russia and saw God use me in ways that I could never have imagined before, and use what I have written and done in ways that were just beyond imagination—those were profound in shaping me.
Sundoulos: The life of the church staff person is so busy with so many competing demands on time and on resources. What advice would you give our readers with respect to staying current with developments in your field? Secondly, what advice would you give them about remaining faithful for the long-haul?
Edwards: I would say, don’t live in guilt about trying to keep up with everything, because you can’t. When you’re in ministry, discover how God has made you, what is your primary area of giftedness, and develop that. If it’s preaching, concentrate on preaching; if it’s evangelism, then give yourself to that. But do what God has specifically called you to do and keep up in that field. If God blesses the ministry, he will bring others around you who will have specialties that will make up for those other areas. But if you try to do it all, I think you’ll have a weight on your back that you’ll never be able to get out from under.
Sunukjian: I think one essential thing for being in it for a long haul is to have a weekly sabbath, a day of rest. And that means have nothing to do with your income-earning activities on that day, and for us in ministry have nothing to do with the church. I don’t even read Christian magazines on my day off. I just totally disengage from the work of ministry, and that day of rest does what it was designed to do: it refreshes, it recreates. God himself lays that principle out from creation, and it’s one of the “Big Ten,” it’s right up there with adultery, and so keeping it is what sustains us over the decades in ministry.
McIntosh: From a practical perspective, I would agree with Kent: there is no way in the world to keep up with everything today in any field, there’s too much publication going on, whether it’s magazines, journals, internet, books. Some of my students call me from time to time and ask, from my perspective, what are the top five books they should be reading? I think that’s something our alumni can do. Find an expert in your field and ask them maybe every year or two, what are the five or ten books you should be reading, and let them direct you so that you’re only reading what is good and what’s going to be helpful.
As far as remaining faithful for the long haul, as well as the Sabbath, I think it is important to read your Bible every day devotionally—not just for just sermon preparation—and pray every day. When I talk to the pastors I see in ministry that fall from overwork or moral issues or burnout, I discover that they have not maintained a regular reading of the Bible and a regular prayer time; they have dropped that because of the busyness of life and ministry and demands on their time. I think that’s a crucial issue because if you can read for input and pray, it gives you a mini-sabbath everyday. And it helps you be refreshed for that day.
Johnson: If I can hitchhike on what Gary was just saying, I think a lot of what burns people out has to do with a focus on performance, and if a person is focused as much on being as on doing, then he or she will find the resources, the books, the other resources, and people, and the parts of Scripture that deal with being.