Brothers/Sisters, we are not professionals...

I have been reading John Piper's: Brothers, We are Not Professionals. In this book, Piper calls all pastors/leaders to: "abandon the secularization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry." It is a call that I plan to embrace, and encourage you to do so as well. But that is not the point of this post. In his work, Piper quotes C.H. Spurgeon on the devout prayer warrior Jerome. Spurgeon says:

That was a grand action by Jerome, one of the Roman fathers. He laid aside all the pressing engagements and went to fulfill the call God gave him, viz, to translate the Holy Scriptures. His congregation were larger than many preachers of today, but he said to his people, "Now it is necessary that the Scriptures be translated; you must find another minister: I am bound for the wilderness and shall not return until my task is finished." Away he went and labored and prayed until he produced the Latin Vulgate, which will last as long as the world stands. So we must say to our friends, " I must go away and have time for prayer and solitude." And though we did not write Latin Vulgates, yet our work will be immortal: Glory to God.

I want to encourage you, make time for prayer. It is the only power we have to effect the change of heart in other's lives which we wish to see. It is the only way that we can bring Christlikeness to our own hearts, and to the hearts of those in our congregations. And after all isn't that what people need, and deep inside want? Piper said it this way: Are not our people really yearning to be around a man who has been around God? From my experience, that is just what they are looking for, and just what they deserve in a pastor; a man who has been near God.