Saving Preachers
By J. T. Pugh

“And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! lb11 it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph” (II Samuel 1:17-20).

Such was the sadness and the sorrow that David felt when he heard that Saul and Jonathan had been slain. David could have rejoiced. The death of Saul would have been construed to his advantage. Yet looking at the high place which Saul occupied in Israel, David’s heart was broken. The honor of Israel’s throne had been insulted. David was sorely grieved. I fear that we do not always share this type of concern for the spiritual leaders and giants of the church who fall.

I shall never forget the clutching hands of a minister reaching across the dark seat of a car in the late hours of the night. His sobs, groans, and tearful confession stay with me to this day. I can still feel the steely grip of his fingers on my forearm. He had just admitted to me that he was a homosexual.

The image of a face wet with tears turned to me in despair I shall not forget. It was the face of a very successful preacher. His statement rings in my ear, “Someone should shoot me between the eyes with a 30-30 rifle I have sinned against my family, my church, and my God!’ He had committed adultery one time with a woman in his church.

I shall not forget the dead look in a preacher’s eyes. Greed had eaten the spiritual life out of his soul. His mind was filled with figures and with schemes for making money. He no longer had the victory, the anointing, or God’s blessings.

As much as we hate to admit it, preachers do go down and sometimes for the full count of ten! Some preachers have gone down in defeat but have survived to serve faithfully again. However, we must admit that the percentage is not high.

Even though boxing is a brutal sport, it seems to have an attraction to many who watch it. Many people love to see the champion go down to the count of ten. As strange as it may seem, there are people who delight to see God’s preachers go down and out. Since preachers go down in every age and perhaps will continue to do so until Christ returns, we need to look soberly at the picture without the air of a self-righteous Pharisee. It would be better for us to think about ways of saving them. The fall of a preacher may be his own fault, or he may be the innocent victim caught in a web that has been prepared for him by others. The multitudes ignore the cause when they see the fall of the preacher. There are ministerial Levites, we are sorry to say, who pass by on the other side when they find a fellow preacher beaten and robbed and left half dead by the legions of hell. It seems that we almost believe that having been a minister forfeits a man’s rights to be given even the good Samaritan’s treatment when he is down. If we care to save a preacher or if we feel he is worth saving, what are some of the methods that could be employed to this end?

We Save A Preacher By Objective Licensing

It is very easy for a man to make his way before a district board with a signed license already placed. This is true because many pastors are reticent to refuse to sign a man’s license. If he is aggressive at all, he has access to the presbyter. He can talk to him about securing an application. Of course, prior to this, he evidently has spoken to his pastor about preaching. The pastor definitely is at fault if he does not feel that the man should enter into the ministry and yet does not tell him so. A grave disservice has been done to any man if he receives encouragement from the pastor or anyone else relative to preaching when a spiritual discernment and intelligent observation would cause one to conclude that he is not a good candidate for the ministry

Up to this point the district board carries the main responsibility of channeling a ministerial candidate toward licensing and final ordination. It may be good if the entire ministerial fellowship could be appraised of their particular responsibility in halting the flow of candidates into the ministry who perhaps would be much better off elsewhere.

All of us know that many men are moved to a particular consecration and mistake this for a call to the ministry. It is not unusual for men on a district board to sense that a particular person is more than likely not called to the ministry. Obviously, his pastor should have made this particular discerning judgment before the man ever arrived at the district board level. None of us doubt that perhaps we have men in the pulpit today who are not called to preach. It is hard to see how a man who consistently fails and cannot hold the attention of an audience is called of God to destroy churches and frustrate saints. It may be good to confront this particular problem by openness and all honesty. If an arrangement could be made which would enable men who have put themselves out on a limb to withdraw from the ministry in good faith, it may be a service to our overall work.

When a man is not able to generate any enthusiasm in the people which he is leading, it could be that something is missing inside of him. When a man is not sensitive at all to the people and cannot seem to discern whether they are happy or unhappy, perhaps there is something lacking in this man’s calling or ministry. A man occupying a pulpit without a real call to preach places his wife in a most frustrating circumstance. A woman has to be very strong indeed to endure years of futility and failure.

All of this points to the tremendous value of pre-licensing seminars. Particular sessions should be devised which cause each man to very strongly search his heart as to whether he wishes to go through with publicly taking the ministerial posture. Who doubts that men removing themselves from the ministerial application prior to licensing would be one of the most helpful ways to eventually save some traumatic failures.

We Save A Preacher By Not Pushing Him Beyond His Character Development

Indeed preachers are needed if the world goes forward. The apostle said that he who desired the office of a bishop desired a good work (I Timothy 3:1). Titus was instructed in the first chapter, verse five, “ordain elders” in the church. But we notice further instructions that the elders which are ordained were to be certain kind of men (Titus 1:5-9). We find further instructions relative to the character of a preacher in I Timothy 3:1-7. Here is lifted before a powerful profile. It is the profile of a man who has become a man of God through the process of growth. He did this by developing certain characteristics. They are all spelled out in these Scriptures. These characteristics were developed before he was ever ordained as an elder.

You may notice also in this long list that no reference was made at all as to the spiritual gifts that these men must possess. There are a total of twenty qualifications that are listed in these verses of Scripture. Nineteen of them have to do with reputation ethics morality, temperament, habits, spiritual maturity, and psychological maturity. One has to do with the ability to lead his family. The emphasis here is that the first step for a person toward the ministry is indeed becoming a true man of God. It is pointed out here that the first steps for the ministry are for a candidate to mature spiritually and to mature psychologically. A person who does this can add through the years, the skills that he needs for the ministry.

We lose preachers sometimes because we are more impressed by their gifts and their abilities than we are by their character. I, myself, I am sorry to say, have been a party in pushing promising ministers beyond their character base It would be much better for us to act with brotherly concern and compassion in our elevation of a man rather than in the possibility of such a person gaining us a crowd, etc.

We Save Preachers By Giving Brotherly Support When It Is Needed

I remember years ago being a party in sending a very fine young couple into a town in the northeast. They held back nothing. They gave the work everything they had. Sometimes it looked pretty good. At other times things seemed to be most discouraging.

I had not had contact with them for two or three months. I was in a meeting in the northeast which was 300 miles from their location. I was somewhat surprised to see them the first morning in the congregation. They had driven all night to get there. I could see that something was wrong with them. When I shook hands with them, their hands were limp. They admitted at once that they were at the end of their rope. They stated that if they did not get something from this particular meeting they would go back home, pack up, and leave. They hardly worshipped. They did not cry. They were crushed.

However, as the meeting went along on this day, I noticed them weeping. I encouraged them all that I could. I arranged for preachers nearby to go to them and give them a week’s meeting, providing their own finance, and bringing singers, etc. along with them. We ended up with a total of four weeks of meetings. We also got together some money for them. God blessed them greatly during the process of the conference. They left the conference encouraged with their hands up.

I saw them about three months later. They were so excited about the work of God. People were beginning to receive the Holy Ghost in their mission. If they had not received support at that particular conference and pastors coming along to assist, no doubt this would have been the end for them. One can never tell what a visit, a phone call, or a donated series of meetings will mean to a particular preacher.

When preachers come to us and admit discouragement and failure they usually do so because they trust us. I have dealt with men finding their way into pastoral work who were novices and unskilled. I have very emphatically stated to them, “Please call me before you make any major decisions on anything. Let me be your friend.” As long as they would comply with this, the work would go along well. I have seen, however, such men attempt to strike out on their own without consulting a more mature person. At once they would run into problems.

I have felt, however, that in such instances as this, when the novice preacher turns from me, it could have been my fault. I may have communicated something to him that turned him off. I may have left the impression with him that I was too busy to listen to him. I may have communicated the impression that I didn’t care. I may have also robbed him of self-confidence by implying that he was incompetent, etc. I feel guilty, of course, about situations like that.

There are other situations that I feel good about. Among several I am thinking of right now is that of a young man who was very discouraged with his evangelistic work. His bills had piled up. His back was to the wall. I sensed a great possibility in him. I brought him into the local church. I did not give him an office. He was of such quality and character that in his own words he, “was willing to clean the toilets?’ I saw both he and his wife get a job, pay off their bills, study, be faithful, and launch themselves back into the ministry, healed and confident. I am happy to say that they are among our very finest evangelists today.

I recently listened to a very competent man minister to a large gathering of United Pentecostal Church ministers. He blessed them in a mighty and tremendous way. He had been out of our fellowship and with another group for a number of years. As I listened to him, I marveled with a sick heart at how much we had missed from this man’s ministry over a period of time. We had needed him over the years. Above and beyond that, he had desperately needed us. He was worth saving.

We Save Preachers By Allaying And Curtailing The Negative Forces That Destroy Men

People living in the confines of a certain organizational arrangement act and react upon each other so as to bring or produce a positive force or a negative force. Leadership largely is responsible for the climate that is generated.

In a district there can rise up tremendous storms of jealousy, hate, and ambition. Someone, in time, is going to be victimized by these hateful, howling winds of destruction.

Men are not always destroyed by their own vices or sins. Joseph went down as an innocent victim of the sins of others. This happens quite often to men of God. First, Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. In time the man who went down into slavery at the hands of his brothers rose up again among strangers.

Then Potiphar’s wife invited Joseph to share the bed of adultery with her. When he refused, she grappled with him, but he was able to escape, leaving his coat in her hands.

The question that Joseph had to decide sometimes faces the God-fearing, conscientious preacher:

1. Is it better for a preacher to leave his coat or his character in a woman’s hands?

2. Is it better to share the bed of adultery, and in so doing, save his reputation and escape prison; or flee the bed of adultery at the cost of a ruined reputation and prison walls?

3. If a man must go down one way or the other, is it better to go down guilty or innocent?

4. How much is a man willing to pay to save his character?

In this particular instance Joseph gave his reputation.

There were negative forces that were coming against Joseph. When we as leaders conduct ourselves in such a way that we generate more animosity than we do forgiveness in our particular districts, someone is going to go to the wall. It was not unusual for vigilantes to be formed in some of the pioneer outposts when our country was young. Some of these men were selfish and crooks themselves. Some of them meant well. There were times, however, that they became so enraged and worked up over crime etc. that they were ready to hang someone. This they did at times even when the man was innocent. Frustration and rage was vented on someone.

When negative forces—jealousy, envy, and hate—run rampant in a district, they sometimes demand an execution. Leadership under different arrangements and in a different climate perhaps could work its way through a problem and save a man from a hanging.

I don’t know how long the hate and jealousy existed in Joseph’s house before the younger brother was sold into slavery. I do know that the Scripture teaches us that what is sown will in time be reaped. When non-Christian talk and attitudes continue to exist over a period of time in a district, you can count on an execution sooner or later.

It is impossible to know what the decision of a district board will be under certain circumstances. When men come together, a corporate mind evolves. The tint and tone of this corporate mind is decided by the mix of the various moods that are brought into the board meeting. This is determined by what has happened in the district. This is also determined by what has happened to these individual men just prior to the board meeting.

The decisions of district boards are so emphatic, traumatic, and far-reaching that it might be well that a board would make a study of objective decision making. It is not unusual for a board to immediately take a negative position relative to the particular question which arises.

One of the best approaches toward objective decision making is to simply write down the things which you wish to arrive at in this particular decision. The objectives should be as positive as possible. Then begin to move toward seeing that these positive things are secured. When the body of negotiators work their way through these positive possibilities, they will find that the problem solves itself.

We are very glad that the repeated blows that came against Joseph did not dampen the spirit that lived with him. Joseph was down in the flesh but they could not conquer the right spirit that burned in his heart.

In Potiphar’s house Joseph lost his reputation, but he did not lose his character. A lie may ruin a man’s reputation temporarily, but that lie cannot destroy his character.

Reputation is what people say or think about us, true or false; character is what we actually are before God and in our own hearts.

In the 44 years that I have been preaching, I have observed carefully-laid schemes of destruction laid for a man by his brethren. A preacher can become a victim to scheming groups in a local church. Such groups may circulate petitions or call secret meetings to perfect plans to get the pastor to resign, “for the sake of the church.” These activities sometimes take the pastor completely by surprise. Such schemers sometimes do not have the courage to talk with the pastor face to face, so they try to plan and deliver a knock out blow before the pastor can lift a hand to defend himself. They count much on the element of surprise to rush him on to a speedy defeat.

I have seen the employment of just stubborn resistance to the pastor at every step and on every move. This is carefully designed by schemers in the church to break the pastor or his wife. They may not have enough clout to fire him. They delight, however, to simply torture the pastor and his wife to death, slowly.

I have seen preachers flattened and destroyed spiritually simply because the church went down under them. Most of the time when the church goes down, it is somewhat the fault of the preacher. But this is not always true. Whether it’s true or not the preacher will get the blame for it. I have seen particular areas become depressed. We attempted to begin a work one time in a very depressed area. We thought that we had bought a building at a bargain. Later on we learned to our disappointment that the town was dying. The negative influence of the town was a dark cloud that we constantly had to combat. It is impossible for the church to escape its environment. The moody dark feeling of the city was a part of the church also.

We are our brother’s keeper. Ministers can be saved in many such situations as we have described that are not particularly their fault. Simply letting them know that you understand this and that you care and that you are a friend that will be by their side may mean their salvation.

We Can Save Preachers By Mediation

In II Samuel chapter fourteen the wise woman of Tekoa spoke of two sons that strove together in the field. Since there was no one present to mediate or part them, one was killed. There are times when two brethren may get locked into a situation that they cannot extricate themselves from. Perhaps they long for some kind of solution that they are not able to bring about themselves.

Leadership can know that two brethren are estranged from one another and yet not make any effort to bring them together. There is nothing really in the manual that says that leadership has to mediate between two brethren unless a complaint is brought. When leadership simply turns its head, men can destroy one another.

I heard directly the opposite of this not long ago. I heard of a leader who brought brethren together and spent long hours with them. The end result I understand was positive. This is the way that preachers are saved. Often they are saved from themselves.

 

Of course, we do recognize that the individual characteristics of men cause them to get into fracases with each other.

Moses was referred to as the meekest man on the earth. Yet an unruly temper caused Moses’ downfall. First, he killed an Egyptian unnecessarily and was exiled from his people for 40 years. No doubt Moses was engulfed in sudden flames of anger when he saw the Egyptian abusing one of his countrymen. Surely there must have been another way, but Moses did not take it. It cost him 40 years away from his own countrymen. Long years later in another fit of anger, he broke the tablets of stone containing the commandments and the law.

Finally, in openness against the express command of God, and in anger before the people, he struck the rock with his rod to bring forth water after God had told him to speak to the rock. God counted him out at this point but continued to use him a little longer. There was a penalty which he could not escape from. He was not permitted to lead his people into the Promised Land.

There are men preaching today who would be on the trash pile had it not been for a caring individual who reached out to save them from themselves. There is no doubt that the father-in-law of Moses played a tremendous part in his coming back from the grave disappointment he suffered. We can detect tremendous administrative ability in Jethro through his advice to Moses later on toward organizing the eldership of Israel.

You will remember that Moses made a comeback to full power after the first two falls. In fact his greatest ministry came at the end of his forty year exile as God used him to deliver Israel from Egypt and lead them to the brink of Cannan. He did go down but he did not stay there! Should any other servant of God stay down? We believe that it is not God’s will for people to fall and not rise again, especially if their fall is not of a moral nature. Whether they rise or not depends much on whether a caring hand is extended to help restore their self respect, self worth, and confidence.

There is nothing written into the job description of a District Superintendent or the sectional presbyter that instructs him to be kind to a discouraged brother who may be on the shelf. If a brotherly care is extended it is simply by choice. But the milk of human kindness and the tremendous impulse of God’s love in us should motivate us to saving people. One of the most effective units that could be salvaged in God’s work is a preacher.

We Save Preachers By Minister Oriented Meetings

Some of us who have been in the ministry for some time can remember when there were practically no meetings which were designed specifically to help the preacher. In the last several years, however, we are recognizing more and more that preachers and their wives definitely need to be ministered to. Then there are areas of ministerial responsibility in which our brethren need instruction. Their wives also need instruction in particular areas.

This is the reason why the district ministerial retreats which have sprung up across our fellowship are so beneficial. In these particular retreats we have noticed that input is arranged which serves to help a parsonage relationship. Preachers’ marriages become stressed like anyone else’s. Some districts arrange a ministers meeting each day at the camp. I have noticed that some have it in the early morning time. There are other times also during the day at a camp meeting that such a meeting can be advantageously arranged.

Of course we know that it is impossible to make men productive who have lost the anointing of God in their lives. If a man ceases to pray and aspire to higher heights of spiritual fulfillment, he dies inside. He comes to the pulpit in all of his deadness. The result, of course, is a dead preacher in the pulpit. This obviously produces a dead church. Thus he loses not only the anointing of God but also the second anointing that is so important to the minister. That is the anointing of the people. We observe that David did not receive the full anointing of the people until fifteen years after he had received the anointing of God. Ministers can be encouraged to pray, to aspire spiritually, and to reach the lost, if their district has a healthy growth climate in it. Such a growth climate is brought about by minister oriented meetings.

All of us can acknowledge that the horrible four years of the “advertising on television” issue took a tremendous toll spiritually. It is not an accident that after that, our organization was racked by a number of immoral situations. The truth of the matter perhaps was that preachers backslid during the T.V. issue. It is impossible to castigate, crucify, and continuously talk about your brother without losing out with God. Minister oriented meetings serve to heal breaches if the right content is in them. Preachers must overcome spiritual discrepancies in their personal makeup like anyone else. The Word taught and preached directly to them assists in that.

We have an example of a man in the Bible whose personality caused his downfall. Stubbornness and deliberate disobedience to God sent Jonah down. He ended up in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the ocean. No anger, no jealousy, no lies, no sexual lust caused him to fall. It was just plain stubborn self-will that put him down. There is an unlimited number of ways that a preacher can become non-productive. A man may go down by refusing to serve in the place where God wants him. A man may go down because things just simply do not go his way. This is what happened to Jonah.

Apparently no one knew of his disobedience to the work of God until the ship was about to sink. It was doubtless an accusing conscience that brought Jonah to reveal his personal secret to the crew. Over the side and into the fish he went. The confession and repentance of the preacher in the belly of the fish nauseated the fish to the point that he “burped” up the preacher onto the beach. After this Jonah made his way to Nineveh in obedience to the original plan of God. Few men in world history have been so used of God that they could turn an entire great city to the Lord. This victory came after Jonah had gone down in disgrace and disobedience.

Whatever the cost of ministerial oriented meetings, they are justified. I have heard many preachers say relative to particular seminars, “This particular meeting has turned my life around.”

We Save Preachers By Saving Their Face

One of the rules of good mediation and negotiation is, “Don’t crowd your opponent into a corner.” It is much better to leave an “out” for a brother that you may be negotiating or mediating with. The big point is not winning an argument but winning a soul.

 

Many years ago I was a part of an effort in trying to bring two brethren together. One was a District Superintendent and the other a very conscientious man who had many good things about him. Both of these brethren were very strong-willed and unconsciously apprehensive of their self-image. The entire day of the General Conference was spent in attempting to bring them face to face in mediation. It seemed that this had been accomplished. A meeting place had been arranged. The District Superintendent, I, and another brother appeared at the meeting place. The time for the meeting came and passed. Our brother did not put in his appearance but he did call. When I urged him to put in his appearance he stated, “If I came I would have to come with my hat in my hand.” Perhaps his statement was true or not true. Perhaps he should have come with his hat in his hand. I have thought back on the situation, however, quite often. If there could have been some bending, if possible, in some areas, the entire United Pentecostal Church would have been saved of many, many hurtful things. This was the beginning of another organization altogether. We are not talking about the compromising of principle. We are talking about being sensitive to the position of a brother.

I am sorry to say that there was a particular concept that existed in the early days of Pentecost that a man in the wrong must be broken. It was not unusual to strip a person completely of his self-respect and his dignity and cause him to crawl. When this is done, no good is done. A man’s self-respect is the most important thing to him. If a conclusion of a problem can be so arranged that an individual can go away with some semblance of dignity and self-respect, the brother has been perhaps both saved and restored.

I observe that the self-respect of an individual is usually preserved when we ourselves simply respect the man as an individual. I notice particular instances in the Bible when respect was given to brethren who labored in the gospel. Peter, when he spoke of Paul in his letter, was careful to address, “Brother Paul.” This was the man who according to his own admission had, “withstood Peter to his face because he was to blame.” I cannot help but believe that the way Paul withstood him must have left Peter with some measure of self-respect. He was able to extend such respect back to Paul in later years.

I notice also in the Scripture a particular instance that causes me to cringe. Peter had striven to justify the name of, “Peter.” This was the name that Jesus Himself had given him. It meant, “Rock.” The name that Peter previously held was, “Simon.” Simon meant, “Reed.” The Apostle Peter was acquainted with both of these two connotations. He had seen the reeds in the tidal flats move back and forth according to the wave of the tide. They went with whatever force happened to be bearing upon them at the time. He also had seen the immovable posture of the rocks along the coast. The crashing waves left them unmoved. Jesus had said that this was what he was going to become. Through the long years he strove to make his character rock-like.

At the General Conference in Jerusalem which is described in Acts 15, the half brother of Jesus Christ, who chaired the meeting, put a knife into Peter. This particular act may have been conscious or unconscious. We must notice that Peter had been James’s predecessor. The ex-office holder received a back slap that day. James did it this way, “Simon has said.” I don’t know exactly why he used that name. It had humiliating reflections attached to it.

Whether or not we are sensitive to our brother’s feelings and attempt to shield him from unnecessary hurt depends on how much maturity we have. It is strange sometimes what a position of authority and power does for some men. We who sit in judgment on boards should never lose our basic compassion for people. Here are a few questions we could ask ourselves. They reveal somewhat our inner motivation. They may show whether we are in truth a, “preacher saver,” or not.

1. What do your wife and children think of you?
2. Do people trust you with confidential information?
3. Do your relations grow stronger and deeper with people?
4. Are you gaining more friends?

We Save Preachers By Allowing Them To Be Themselves As Long As It Is Not Damaging To The Unity Of The Body

Preachers are leaders. They lead according to their particular personality. Thus, in the United Pentecostal Church, we have a broad spectrum of individualistic men that are capable, strong-willed, and often efficient.

We have seen some preachers who, on the surface, have quite an abrasive personality. However, they were able to raise up good works and build strong churches. We must admit that there are people in this world who need strong handed leadership. There is a certain mentality of people who need someone else to make most of their decisions for them. However, when such a pastor, who leads in a strong handed way, comes into the democratic process of the ministerial arena, he sometimes offends his brethren.

It takes a while for us to learn to live together at times. Some men do better when they are not in close proximity to others. Obviously we want every one to co-operate in the district whole heartedly. This is an ideal which is not often realized. It is necessary sometimes to simply and realistically acknowledge how much co-operation can be expected from some individuals and adjust our attitude toward it. Most of the time there will be enough good that will flow from this individual that will compensate for some of the areas of disappointment. In most all men there is a basic good underneath an exterior surface. It is the responsibility of leadership to create a climate which brings this good to the surface.

Fear, lying, and cowardice sent Peter down in denying the Lord. This was contrary to Peter’s nature. Basically he was an honest man. Also he was basically a very courageous man. A few hours before his denial he was ready to take on the Roman soldiers and the palace guards, single handed. All at once he found himself doing things all out of keeping with his record and his nature. It was only a few moments but it was enough to send him down. Thousands more have found that it only takes a few minutes of weakness, of hot-headedness, etc. to destroy the works of a lifetime of strength.

You will notice, however, that there is no account of Peter coming before the Christian group to make acknowledgements and ask their forgiveness. It seemed that they had confidence in the basic goodness of this man. So far as the Bible record goes, he did not even ask the Lord to forgive him. However, it is written that he went out and wept bitterly. Jesus Christ did not seek to humiliate him. He just simply said, “You spread the news and be sure to tell Peter also that I have risen from the dead.” He wanted Peter to know that he was especially thought of. He did not put him on probation for a specified period of time. We are not saying that this is not necessary sometimes.

I notice also that he was not excluded from the fellowship of the Christians. They readily accepted his leadership again and God used him as the preacher on the Day of Pentecost only a few weeks after he had denied the Lord. Let us learn from this account of Peter’s falling and rising again. Peter went down in a hurry, but he rose again in a hurry. There are others in the Bible who have stumbled and yet risen again. Among them you will find the illustrious names of Noah, Abraham, and Elijah. Some of these men stumbled because of a particular quirk in their personality. There was a strong basic goodness in all of them.

I believe that we are maturing and growing in Christ to the point that we see the worth of each other more and more. In seeing this worth we are able to make allowances where it does not compromise the holiness principle.

I am sorry to say we still have among us ministerial Levites who pass by on the other side of the road. We are in such a hurry to get to the church service and to perform our particular ministry sometimes that we have no time left to lift up the fallen. However, there are still among us people who are moved by the pulse of Christian kindness who come to the side of that one that is beaten, robbed, and forsaken. Surely God is pleased and surely the angels in heaven rejoice when a preacher is saved.

Article “Saving Preachers” written by J. T. Pugh is taken from an unknown source.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”