The vocation of pastor has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans.

The Bible makes it clear that every time that there is a story of faith, it is completely original. God's creative genius is endless.

I believe God takes the things in our lives - family, background, education - and uses them as part of his calling. It might not be to become a pastor. But I don't think God wastes anything.

Christians don't simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus' name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.

There are no experts in the company of Jesus. We are all beginners, necessarily followers, because we don’t know where we are going.

Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.

I cannot fail to call the congregation to worship God, to listen to his Word, to offer themselves to God.