Today I am teaching in the International Leadership Institute National Conference in Venezuela. It is being held on the campus of Seminario Wesleyano de Venezuela, an institution I was privileged to co-found and now serve as President. The sessions I am teaching are all about Mentoring.
As I reflected on the material this morning again, I remembered and listed some of the critical mentors in my life throughout my life. I will limit this review to those related to my walk with Christ and ministry in the church. There are critical personal mentors who brought me to the faith, who taught me how to be a husband and father, who encouraged me in seeking an education, who taught me how to handle grief and much more. Perhaps that is the subject for a later article. However, today I reflect on the following mentors - special people in my life at special times of my life.
Evangelism: Carl Smithwick. Carl was a member of my home "chapel" church and was distantly related to us. He was also the Chief Jailer of the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. He had a passion for lost people and gave me my first "Sou-winner's New Testament." It was similar in design to Eddie Fox and George Morris' helpful work. He led our church in its meager work of evangelism. But daily he carried on the work of lay ministry and evangelism in his work at the Jail. I was privileged to spend a day with him as he made his rounds to the various wards and cells. Often he would stop to talk to a prisoner and have a prayer. I knelt with him when I was about 12 years old and he led a death-row inmate in the sinner's prayer. I expect to meet that forgiven murderer in Heaven. Carl taught and showed me what it meant to do personal evangelism. There would be many others to come after him: Jimmy Sowder, Ford Philpot, Charles Davis, Grider Denney, Robert Coleman and others, but they all built on the foundation of personal evangelism started by Carl Smithwick.
Preaching: John Ozley. John was my pastor for 14 years - and a lifetime. He came to our church when I was 7 and was there to celebrate my conversion and baptism at 8. He was one of the Campmeeting preachers when I was called to preach at 10. He secured my first invitation to preach a revival. He buried most of my family including my father and son. John was the best evangelical preacher, "Sunday in and Sunday out," I ever heard. He taught me how to preach. He was also the finest Christian I have ever known. He lived the faith with integrity and passion. When I see and hear my son preach I see glimpses of John Ozley whose influence on my preaching has been unintentionally passed on to my son. Any gifts I have for preaching have been greatly enhanced by the mentoring of John Ozley, one of the unsung heroes of the faith.
Pastoring: Clyde Lancaster. My first appointment out of seminary (my third appointment) was to a couple of small churches in Toccoa, Georgia. The pastor of the large county seat Toccoa First UMC was Clyde Lancaster. He was to serve his last years of active ministry at that church. He embraced me as a colleague and friend and mentored me in so many ways. I have often said I learned how to be a pastor from Clyde. That is, he taught me how to do intentional, effective, systematic pastoral care within the congregation and greater community. He was a master dealing with all kinds of people in a variety of circumstances. What made that so meaningful to me is how he brought me into his world of great wisdom, experience, knowledge and influence and freely and lovingly invested himself in me. Not long before he died, I drove to South Georgia where he and Myrtis lived in retirement. I wanted to thank him for his influence in my life. As was typical, he was so humble he acted as if he did not even know what he had done for me. He needed to know and I hope it was a comfort to him in his last days.
Leadership/Vision: Kennon Callahan. I first met Ken Callahan when I entered Candler School of Theology and was enrolled in the Teaching Parish program that he had instituted. It had a major role in my development as a minister of the Gospel. However, I avoided Ken and took none of his courses because I found him to be arrogant and over confident and in my arrogance and over-confidence, I avoided him. But God was at work. A few years after graduating from Seminary I was asked to be a Teaching Parish Supervisor serving as adjunct faculty at Emory University. Dr. Callahan still directed the program and I was thrown into his presence. At first I still found him arrogant and over-confident, and sometimes still do. However, I also found him to be one of the wisest and most trusted advisers in my life. I have often said, "John Ozley taught me to preach, Clyde Lancaster taught me to be a pastor and Ken Callahan taught me to dream - to seek God's vision for my life and ministry." I am eternally grateful for his careful and insightful mentoring in my life and his consistent Christian witness and passion.
Accounting: Keith Utterback. When I moved to Mount Pisgah UMC in 1983, just 6 years out of seminary, I discovered an accounting nightmare in a very small church. The church had 8 checking accounts and the pastor was the primary signatory on 7 of them. The only account handled by the treasurer was the modest payroll account. Additionally, the former pastor destroyed all financial records from the 7 accounts so I had no accounting system in place and the treasurer was not ready or willing to assume more responsibility in addition to the payroll account. I was in a quandary as to what to do. I had never had an accounting course and knew nothing of the subject. Then one Sunday Keith Utterback and his mother "just happened" to visit the church. They were members of another UMC in Atlanta, but had moved into our community. As I got to know Kieth, he made it clear they would continue to attend the other church and visit with us on occasion. That soon changed. But before it did, after his second visit, I asked him if he would help me. He was a retired Certified Public Accountant with vast commercial and church accounting experience. He agreed to come talk to me and look at what we had. He was appalled and embarrassed for the church. However, he was also appalled and embarrassed for me when he realized how little I knew about accounting. He found it incredulous that a UMC pastor could earn a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree and never have a course in basic accounting. So he said, "I will set up your books and help get your records in order on one condition: You give me one hour a week to teach you basic accounting." I agreed and he invested himself in me and the church in ways that proved invaluable in that and every subsequent ministry experience.
Giving Development: Speed Scoates. We needed to raise money to bild anew sanctuary. It was 1985 and I had never been exposed to how to raise money, neither in my home church nor the seminary. So as God directed, we asked a retired pastor DS and former Giving Consultant to work with our church. While I had not known Speed previsously, he became an invaluable and trusted mentor and friend. He also taught me most of what I know about giving development, at least the essential foundations of giving development. One of the imporant things he taught me was the importance of Pastoral Leadership in developing giving in the local church. While Jane and I had been tithers since our marriage (and before) he helped us learn how to give significantly above the tithe and to share that in helpful ways with the congregation. He helped me understand one cannot lead where one is unwilling to go or has gone. I hope in heaven he is retired from his fund raising responsibilities, but I assure you, there are many people there and will be there because of what he taught me.
Next article:
Planning: Don Smith
Little Steps: Bill Groce
Financial Adminitration: Earl McKenzie
Theological Education: Wes Griffin
Singing: Bill Gould.
Prayer: Essie Turner
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