Dear Pastor,

I just wanted to send you a quick note of encouragement and say thanks. My wife and I have been attending your church for some time now, and we are very pleased to enjoy the teaching of both yourself and the Sunday school teachers. The consistent quality of your preaching clearly demonstrates your commitment to clarity, practicality, and balance.

I especially appreciate the fact that you consistently and lovingly gently challenge us to make practical and real changes in our walk with God, and you are not afraid to ask us to honestly evaluate our priorities in light of the challenging value system presented in the Bible.

As an encouragement, I want to ask you to please continue your current level of teaching, and persist like a patient farmer. Solid, consistent biblical teaching will provide the rich soil in which all of the other ministries of the church can take root.

At first, it will result in people being willing, even proud to bring friends and neighbors to church because the pulpit lacks some of the obvious faults of many churches, namely egoism, hype, unbalanced and incomplete teaching, guilt and fear-manipulation, lack of practical application, and fanaticism. Next, members will begin to mature, and start to seek positions in existing ministries. Lastly, mature members will create and lead ministries and make your job change into one of developing leaders! I am sure you have seen this process going on for some time already here at our church.

With this last point in mind, I myself am seeking for ways to become equipped as a lay leader, and perhaps one day enjoy the work of full time biblical teaching / worship ministry, whether as a pastor/teacher, or as the leader of a para-church ministry. This points up the issue that we may need structures to train our future leaders - that should not be left to seminaries alone, but to local churches (in my humble opinion).

Again, let me encourage you to continue to prepare your messages with intellectual rigor, so that you can preach with power from your heart rather than having to refer too often to notes, (which I hardly ever see you use). We are praying for you so that you preach the gospel with anointing, and with fearlessness proclamation, for in it the power of God is revealed. We both believe that you already show evidence of doing all of these things.

On a personal note, I am a reader and a thinker, and somewhat demanding when it comes to listening to teachers. I was very impressed by your recent mention of some known biblical scholors and their comments and teachings since many Christians are not familiar with some talented teachers out of our very own denomination. This gave some wonderful fresh insites and perspectives. Some preachers I have encountered are intellectually limited, and haven't really displayed much theological depth or breadth in their teachings or conversations. I appreciate your studying other useful disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, and sociology.

While I understand that we all have limited time and must focus on our priorities, I am thankful that you read outside of the often narrow rubric of contemporary denominational Christianity, and are, motivated by your own questions and personal interests, have become well read and share those valuable gems with us.

Please know that the many programs that you have for all the different age groups: Mature Adults, Middle age, Young Couples and our teens and childrens departments are wonderful too.

Further, it is a blessing to see a staff that works so well together. That is obviously because of your leadership and care for our leaders too. Thank you for caring so much for our community with all it's deversities.

Thank you again for your hard work, and may God give you the continued faith and strength to continue to excel as we all enjoy the fruits of your labors.