A Story Behind this Barnabas Letter from September 12, 1995

I am reposting a Barnabas Letter that I wrote over thirty years ago.  Recently when I was trying to track down some Bible study notes, I found a treasure.  It was a three-ring binder that was full of letters that I had written to others and that had been written to me.  A long time ago, we used to write letters to each other and frankly I do miss some of those days.  I can remember the first prominent minister that I wrote a letter to.  It was to T.F. Tenney, the long-time district superintendent of Louisiana.  I had heard him preach in 1994 at our UPCI General Conference and in that message, he had mentioned that he wrote letters to young preachers and so I wrote to him one after I got back home.  I found that letter along with several others that he had written to me that had the Louisiana district letterhead on it. Two of those letters were personal letters and five others were ones that he had written to other young men. 

In all those letters, the ones from what I might call were prominent ministers were Anthony Mangun and Kenneth Haney.  In fact, the ones that Brother Mangun sent to me, I copied and carried them around in my Bible for years as points on encouragement for me.  The most letters came from two other ministers—Tim Kelley and Kevin Burgess—who at the time were very close to me.  When I saw those letters the other day, the old sentimental soul that I am had wistful tears to well up in my eyes (and soul) when I was reading them.  I do miss the days when we used to write personal letters long before email and text messages turned us into superficial communicators.  When you are willing to sit down and write a letter to someone and put it in an envelope and stamp it and send it, you have done something incredible.  You have moved into a separate stratosphere when you handwrite a letter with a fountain pen on paper and send it. 

What you find below is the letter that I wrote when I started writing the Barnabas Letters in March, 1994.  I started with eight ministers, and it was sent by the postal service.  But in 1995 around the spring, I found out about email through AOL (America On-Line) when we had dial-up and I began “spamming” my Barnabas Letters.  I cannot remember now how I accumulated those email addresses but somehow, I managed to do so.  That is the story that will follow this posting sometime next week.  So, what you read below is the completely unedited letter from September 12, 1995.  I read through it again and started to take out some of it but decided against it.  This letter got me in BIG trouble.  I laugh at it now but back then it wasn’t a laughing matter.  Lastly, forgive me of some of the snarkiness that appears at the beginning and ending of the letter.    

Thanks for reading. . .

Philip Harrelson       

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September 12, 1995

Dear Brother on the Way,

I know that this letter is late, but so is yours.  I should have gotten this thing written and mailed off about two weeks ago.  However, there have been some pressing things that I have needed to take care of.  This letter has become a pressing need that I do not want to put off any longer.

What is character?  The demands of ministry call for the highest caliber of character that we can muster.  Contemplate the following Scriptures that Paul wrote to Timothy:

1 Timothy 4:12-16  -- “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”    “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”    “ Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.”    “ Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”  “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

Locked up in the context of this passage are the foundations of character.  It is in these particular verses that we find what a man of God is to pursue in the classroom of life.  Three aspects of the ministry are laid out by Paul: godly character (what a man should be), biblical knowledge (what a man should know), and ministry skills (what a man should be able to do).  All of these aspects will make up godly character.

Godly Character

Give me a man of God—one man,

Whose faith is master of his mind

And I will right all wrongs

And bless the name of all mankind.

Give me a man of God—one man,

Whose tongue is touched with heaven’s fire,

And I will flame the darkest hearts

With high resolve and clean desire.

Give me a man of God—one man,

One mighty prophet of the Lord,

And I will give you peace on earth,

Bought with a prayer and not a sword.

Give me a man of God—one man,

True to the vision that he sees,

And I will build your broken shrines

And bring the nations to their knees.

Before any man, regardless of his pulpit gifts or other talents, can be a true man of God, there must be an elevation of his character.  Character to a minister equates to godliness. An abundance of biblical knowledge or the dexterity of ministry skills are not the true tests of ministry (although these areas should be cultivated).  The true test of ministry is godliness (See l Timothy 3 and Titus 1).  Godliness is the first and foremost training regions of my personal ministry.  To fail in this area is to compromise the high and holy calling that has been so graciously laid on all of our lives.

Let me tell you what a godly man will do.  The muscles of the true spiritual leader will respond to the impulses of the Spirit of God, who then uncovers the treasures of the Word, which ignites the fires of passion, and sharpens the eye of visionary leadership.  That is the ministry that I desire.  I cannot help to reiterate what Paul told Timothy, “Do these things and not only will you save yourself but also those who hear you” (Paraphrase l Timothy 4:16).

Robert Murray McCheyne, an old Scottish minister, gave the following at the ordination of a young pastor:

Do not forget the culture of the inner man—I mean the heart.  How diligently the calvary officer keeps his sabre clean and sharp; every stain he rubs off with the greatest care.  Remember you are God’s sword, His instrument—I trust a chosen vessel unto Him to bear His name.  In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success.  It is not the great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus Christ.  A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.  (Italics Mine)

Moral and spiritual failure does not just happen overnight.  It happens gradually because the culture of the inner man becomes contaminated.  I had to take a microbiology class when I was in RN school.  In that particular class, we were given a small strain of bacteria to “grow” on a petri dish.  We “planted” the germs and each day would check the progress of growth.  The first two or three days there was essentially nothing that the naked eye could see on the growth media, however by the fourth day, the bacteria seemed to take off in its growth.  Soon visible to the naked eye.  The whole time it had been visible under the lens of a microscope, but nothing could be seen by merely looking without a microscope, but the bacteria was still there.  There may be things that are not visible to the eyes of others, but God is not fooled.

The closing verse of Judges 15 and the beginning verse of Judges 16 gives some insight into the life of Samson.  The conclusion of 15 states that he judged Israel for twenty years.  In 16:1, he went to Gaza to see a harlot.  The growth of the failure started long before Samson ever consummated the sin.  It took twenty long years for him to fail.  What is twenty-years to the devil versus eternity?  He will try to plant things in your life now that really will not be much of a hindrance, but time will win out.  We all must stand the test of time.  I am convinced that perhaps the greatest thing that we must endure is not trials and tribulation but the test of time.

That is why right now, I must begin to develop some ramifications in my life that will cause godly character to anchor my own ministry.  The same thing is also true for your ministry.  There are some regions of hazard that if the enemy can plant the seed of failure in, all he has to do is to step back and watch it grow.  Failure may not come tomorrow or the next day, but it will if those things are not constantly being dug up and weeded out. 

Consider the following that are listed as Risk Factors.  This came from a 1991 survey of pastors by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth:

Ø            90% of pastors work more than 46 hours per week.

Ø            80% believed that pastoral ministry affected their families negatively.

Ø            33% said that being in the ministry was an outright hazard to their family.

Ø            75% reported a significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.

Ø            50% felt unable to meet the requirements of the job.

Ø            90% felt that they were inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.

Ø            70% say they have a lower self-esteem now than when they started out.

Ø            40% reported a conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.

Ø            37% confessed to having been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church.

Ø            70% do not have someone whom they considered as a close friend.

For these above risk factors, I must develop godliness in my life and ministry just as you must also.  Risk factors make one more prone to failure, and they must be eliminated if possible.  The cultivation of Christian character qualities and ministry skills that are essential for godly living, for leadership in ministry, and for effective service to others requires special attention.  Often times we become discouraged when our ministries perhaps are not developing as fast as we think that they should, but Rome was not built in a day either.  It takes time to build godly character, and we should never give up on incorporating such an attitude into our lives.  Take a look at these following spheres for developing Christ-like character in our ministries:

Ø            1.  Moral Life (l Timothy 3:2-3)

At the ground level of godly character in all areas of life is the matter of morality.  Through the rigors of strong discipline and repetitious practice in the gymnasium of life, the leader must train his senses to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).

Ø            2.  Home Life (l Timothy 3:4-5)

A would-be minister must pursue most vigorously a high morality in the home.  He must take great care to cultivate a continually growing relationship with his wife, to build big cisterns and dig deep wells.  Just because you are at home never means that you can let the proverbial “hair” down. 

Ø            3.  Maturity (l Timothy 3:6)

Maturity is not a gift that we are born with.  It is learned over a period of time, by applying the principles of the Word of God when walking through the valleys and shadows of life.

Ø            4.  Reputation (l Timothy 3:7-8)

While learning maturity in the school of life, a man will earn a reputation through the pursuit of a godly moral life, home life, and maturity.

Again, never look on the down side, don’t be discouraged about the seeds that the enemy would attempt to put in our lives.  With the help of God, we will see revival in our lives and in our churches.  Remember: A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.  In conclusion (finally), I am strongly recommending two books to you: Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry by John MacArthur (Word) and Pastors At Risk by H.B. London and Neil Wiseman (Victor).  Some of the stuff in this letter was influenced by the reading of these books.  Another book that I ran across and is an average book:  Twelve Essential Skills for Great Preaching by Wayne McDill (Broadman and Holman).  My apologies for being so lengthy this time.  To help you keep up the fight pull out the first letter that I sent (if you still have it) and put Swindoll’s ministry check list in front of you and live up to the standard. 

Wherever you are: Pray on, preach on, fight on, and never give up.  We are on the way!!!! 

Another Brother on the Way,

Philip Harrelson

P.S.  -- Please be advised that as of September 28, my cool address stamp will be wrong.  I am moving to the following address:  ___ ________ _______

I hope to have another cool address stamp fixed by that time.  Please send all correspondence to that address after the mentioned date.  I am not really expecting any but just in case. . . You fellows must really struggle with your sermon notes because I am beginning to wonder if any of you know how to write.  I have gotten four letters from some of you. (John Boone, Ted Wagner, Gilbert Salinas, Tim Pate).  That was just on the lighter side, I enjoy writing.  I am enclosing an updated list of fellows who get this letter.  Make it your own prayer list.  You pray for me and I’ll pray for you.  We all need it!!!