Well, we're really, really excited that you've decided to stay with us for this part for our

Q&A time.

Hearing some reflections on 33 years of ministry from Pastor John.

And I just wanted to start off with something pretty basic.

I'll do sort of the first part of the Q&A and then we're going to open it up to the floor as we move toward the end of it.

The first thing, Pastor John, first thanks again for being here. It means a lot to us in terms of the legitimacy

you help to bring to what we're doing.

So thank you for being here.

What are the three priorities you would say of us guys,

pastoring churches, most of which, if not all,

will never reach sort of the size and scope of Bethlehem.

But what would be the three sort of priorities of 33 years of

the ministry that you would say, focus on these three things

for a faithful ministry.

Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That's number one, love your neighbors yourself, be number two,

and love your Bible. But let me flesh that out. I really think if you don't love what you're seeing in your Bible day in and day out you

probably aren't going to survive or you'll become a CEO and manage an organization.

And therefore, my plea is ask God

to cause you to see wonderful things in His word every day that stun you, make

you love to come back to the book every day and then operate out of that being stunned.

The people by and large are just making it from one day to the next and they're, I don't think people go to church mainly to to see a sharp cool

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