I am reminded of a lighthouse resembling an iron skeleton that once stood far out at sea about eight miles east of Boston, Massachusetts. Its name was the Minot’s Ledge. The keepers inside this lighthouse always trembled when a stormy tempest swept their way and swayed their seventy-five foot home.

In Psalm 133:1, King David wrote, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” God desires His children to dwell together in peace and unity. How accurate are the famous lines, “To live above with saints we love, that will be glory. To live below, with the saints we know, that’s a different story.”

One of the most satisfying moments in ministry is when we see men and boys called of the Lord to serve full-time. It is wonderful when a man of God has a, “son in the ministry.” In truth it is the natural order of things.

A legacy of faithfulness is the accumulation of an entire life, and I know that I’m still a work in progress. But I am thankful for faithful men who have invested in me, and I would like to share what they have handed to me.

We often speak of waiting on God to do certain things in our lives. Yet, there are times when God is waiting on us to do certain things. He wants us to:

What a missionary does with his time while traveling full-time on deputation will greatly depend on his family situation, but using that time wisely as a good steward is absolutely necessary. Here are some pointers that my family found helpful to use our time wisely, and yet enjoy the journey when we were on deputation:

Have you ever heard a teacher make a statement like, “I don’t teach math, I teach students.” This is an interesting statement and this manner of thinking should impact each of us who are teachers. Regardless of what we are teaching, we must keep in mind that our focus ought to be the students, not the subject matter.

As a child, I remember people saying there are two things you should not discuss: religion and politics. I suppose people thought these were private matters and only led to arguing and disagreement when discussed. But if you truly believe something, shouldn’t you express it to others? Wouldn’t you want everyone to embrace what you believe is the truth?

After preaching several times a week for almost forty years, I am not sure I could honestly say that very many of those thousands of messages were completely pure in motive. Far too many times, (especially, although not exclusively, as a young man) my motive was to impress the listeners with my eloquence, humor, or knowledge.

Largely through the planning and organization of one of my staff members, we recently developed a more comprehensive, five-part discipleship approach. We put the picture of each new family with whom we are working on a piece of paper and are able to track from that one sheet of paper in these five areas: