Avoid the Disconnect Trap

By Joe McKeever

If you are foolish—and you do not want to be—you will see your spiritual leadership as one thing and the way you live your life in private as something entirely unrelated. In doing so, you will make a grievous mistake.

In his book, See You at the Finish Line, Don Wilton, now pastor of Spartanburg’s First Baptist Church, tells of an incident when he was a professor of preaching at our New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The class was Preaching 101. Don would lecture about preaching, assign books to read and sermons to write, and at some point in the semester, the students each brought a short sermon to the class. Professor Don sat on the back row, listening to each one, making notes, trying to think of ways to correct, stimulate, and motivate these young prophets without overwhelming or devastating them. Not any easy task.