My Pastor

By Becky Hunter

“For almost 40 years, I have been married to and inspired by a good, good man. That man is also my pastor. I love that!

For years I have done something that has opened the door of my heart to hear from God, through this man, as I sit in a worship service—I have taken notes. Maybe you, too, do this when you are listening to your husband or maybe you don’t. Certainly not a rule that you have to or even an expectation that you should, but I can attest to the multiple blessings of writing down sermon highlights. There is a personal blessing when I revisit them, my husband is blessed when he knows I cared enough to write down what he said, and members of the congregation are blessed when they know I think what he says is worth writing down.

There are so many incredible and varied facets of vocational ministry. All are valuable. My very favorite part of Joel’s ministry is his preaching. I always look forward to hearing what he has to say about a passage of Scripture or a biblical principle that he has spent much time praying over and studying.

I have a long list of my favorite “Joel quotes” from notes I’ve taken when he preaches. Trying to decide on only ten of them to highlight here was fun because no matter what ten I chose, I knew they were going to be ones that inspire me! So I picked these:

·      “Faith is an adventure with Christ in which our love for Him exceeds all other loves.”
·      “Don’t just build environments, be an environment.”
·      “The privilege of power is becoming connected.”
·      “The objective of a journey is not just to go someplace else, it is to become someone else.”
·      “You’re not just a descendant, you’re an ancestor.”
·      “Be brave enough to go out into the world as a blessing – not as a dominating force, but as a blessing.”
·      “What we are going through could be just as much about the future as about the past or the present.”
·      “Individuality is an expression of the image of God; individualism is a reflection of the image of Satan.”
·      “The better we know God, the better we’ll know ourselves, and the less likely we’ll be to confuse the     two.”
·      “The impact of a church should be measured in how many it sends, not how many it seats.”
I love my pastor!! I pray that you love yours!!
As you enter your worship service each weekend, join me in praying for pastors’ wives around the world. I promise you that many of us are praying for you!

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the PASTORS and teachers.” - Ephesians 4:11 (NLT) - emphasis added