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Thomas F. Fischer, M.Div., M.S.A., Editor

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Lessons From My Mentor*
Insights From Ministry Health Subscribers, et. al.
Compiled and Edited by Thomas F. Fischer, MH Editor

Number 33

Advice to the preacher: "Feed the sheep; not the giraffes."
Wayne Dobratz

"The most important thing a pastor can have is churchmanship. Always be a churchman."
Eldor Meyer

"You don't get a well-fed church from serving fast food."
Bill Hybels

"You reap what you sow...so sow carefully."
Paraphrased from St. Paul

"One day in the church office, I told my mentor about how when I was alone I ran around praising God when the Lord was filling me up with a message. But, by the time it came for me to preach, all of that fire seemed to go out, because I would stand and preach without all of that shouting I was doing while I was receiving the message. 'Well, you see,' my mentor said, 'That's because He was just getting you ready to preach what He had to give you.'"
L. Dowell ldowell@erols.com

"Success is getting up one more time than you are knocked down."
Starke Farrell

"You don't have to win every battle, just win the war."
Raymond Rohlfs

"Pastors—don’t be so religious! Religion is for people who wish to avoid going to hell. Spirituality is for people who have been there."
Abraham J. Twerski

 

"Just make it simple, pastor."
Phil Schneider

"When a counseling relationship is too enjoyable, get out of it immediately."
Erwin Kostizen

"To get results, you loosen the reins. The first time you try it, it will scare the h_ll out of you."
Robert Waterman (From The Renewal Factor, p. 88)

"When others hurt, cry...but only with one eye."
Buddhist Proverb

"Nothing endures like change"
Heraclitus (500 BC)

"I once had a pastor who I sat under during college tell me that 'the purpose of ministry is to bring people from where they are to where God wants them to be.'"
Derek derekwil@apk.net

"What will be will be good."
Patricia VanSteenhouse

"'It is in the role of peacemaker that the lawyer has the greatest opportunity.' If that is the lawyers greatest role, it goes double for the man of God. Indeed, is it not in the role of peacemaker that the pastor has an even greater opportunity?" (Isaiah 52:7)
Thomas Fischer (Based on a quote by Abraham Lincoln from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library)

"A hero is just an ordinary person placed in extraordinary circumstances."
Robert Waterman

"Sometimes you got to eat crow."
Paul Burow

"Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate the people of God at every opportunity, in every way possible."
Erwin Kostizen

"When in doubt, don't."
Thomas Fischer

"When on the peaks of life, change your direction; when in the valleys, change yourself. Changing directions in the valley is almost always a mistake."
Robert Schuler

"Don't be scared of anyone God chooses.  Teach men to walk in the counsel of God and to learn the voice of God by going forward.  Look for God everywhere.  Look for His hand stopping one thing and opening doors for another.  Try every door.  Don't pursue anything at all if no one has a heart for it.  Allow any sincere disciple you have in your midst to have freedom to offer help from what they feel God is showing them, and allow God to judge it, then act on God's judgment, either continuing in that direction or backing off."
Paul Pavao

"In God's ministry there is no such thing as loss...only very mysterious--and sometimes painful-ways to realize delayed gains."
Thomas Fischer

"The race is not to the strong, the swift, or the beautiful; it is for those who can persevere."
John Maxwell

"Always be Faithful, faithful, faithful."
Rev. Ralph Fischer (MH Editor's Father)

"I regret my words more than my silences."
Anonymous

"Don't let the sun go down on your anger...twice. Sometimes people need longer than just until sundown to cool off."
Speed Leas' commentary of Ephesians 4:26

"Only one Person could say, 'It is finished' and have it done perfectly."
Marilyn Beyer

"The most important thing that matters in a leader is character. Almost everything else can be taught."
Thomas Fischer

"A pastor is a chaplain to those who were at the church prior to his coming; to those who came after him he is their pastor."
Lyle Schaller

"Shoot the guy who shoots the messenger."
Ryder Executives

New hireling to a Bank CEO:

"How did you get so wise?"
"By experience," my son.
"How does one get experience?" the hireling continued.
"By making mistakes."
Wayne Pohl

"Leaders lead."
Warren Arndt

*Sources for each quote indicated may be those from whom the
quotation was first heard or the source of the submission.
The Editor

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