My primary targets: Paul Tripp, Bruce Ware, and John Piper. I got two out of three and bonus chats with Kempton Turner and David Michael.
Kempton Turner
Mr. Turner is the pastor of young adult (senior high) discipleship at Bethlehem Baptism Church. I caught him after all the other seminar attendees spoke with him and left the room. He was generous with his time, spoke with me at length, then put his hand on my shoulder and prayed for me and my family. Great guy. Here was his answer*:
It's most important to be a godly man in your life and marriage. This filters down into your parenting and your pastoral ministry. The example you set is far more important than the actions you perform.
Mr. Michael is an elder and pastor for parenting and family discipleship at Bethlehem. With a stomach full of prepackaged turkey sandwich, I grabbed him during lunch one day. He was nice, if a little distracted by all the people swarming around chomping on prepackaged turkey sandwiches. He asked a lot of questions about my church and family before answering. Here's what he said:
The challenge will be (nearly) insurmountable so long as you're the solo pastor at the church. Moving toward multiple elders and/or staff will help.
Bruce Ware
Mr. Ware is a mega-educated theologian, author, and professor at SBTS. We became best friends at the conference, staying at the same hotel, eating breakfast together, and playing marco polo around the pool.
Lies. But we actually did stay at the same hotel and eat breakfast together one morning. I had a great conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Ware over eggs and bacon. They were wonderful and humored my questions for quite a while.
Here's what he said:
- Sacrifice to be home with your family as much as possible (he would do much of his office work at night after his family went to bed, sacrificing sleep).
- Road trip vacations are great to bring the family closer together and provide a lot of natural teaching time with the kids.
- Be in constant prayer.
- Be consistent with mealtime family devotions, even if they are very brief and simple.
Mrs. Ware said this:
- She experienced severe depression after the birth of their second child and needed Bruce to be home a lot.
- As a wife, she really appreciated his sacrifices on her behalf.
Paul Tripp
I found Paul Tripp standing behind a grey shrub. I first caught a glimpse of him as I wondered lost in the back hallways of the mega church hosting the conference. He seemed to be lost as well, but I didn't get to speak with him. Then I stood awkwardly by a table where he and another guy were talking for several minutes waiting my turn (which never came). So I gave up. But on the way home, I spotted him strolling leisurely in the airport. So I pounced!
He was surprisingly down-to-earth and approachable. We walked and talked until we reached his terminal and here's what he said:
- Don't try to get ahead of God in your ministry.
- Be patient.
- He won't call you to do something that conflicts with another calling he's placed on your life.
- Don't expect to complete everything you think needs to take place in your ministry - just be faithful each day.
- RELAX - most ministers he knows have family trouble because they expect too much to happen in their ministries too quickly.
- He gave an example: several years ago he did youth ministry at a church. He left feeling like he completed almost nothing he wanted to; but then watched as the next guy came in and built beautifully on the foundation he had laid.
*These answers are from memory and notes I took. They are paraphrased and not exact quotes. Hope I remembered right! If you're one of the above guys, please correct me. I'm sure when Paul Tripp wakes up in the morning, he roles out of his mustache and checks my blog before doing anything else.
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