Let Me Illustrate

To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime. —Erich Fromm; cited in Matthew Erickson, The Pastor as Gardener, 173

The standard of the exploiter is efficiency; the standard of the nurturer is care. The exploiter's goal is money, profit; the nurturer's goal is health—his land's health, his own, his family's, his community's, his country's. —Wendell Berry; cited in Matthew Erickson, The Pastor as Gardener, 134-135

If I am going to stay true to my vocation as a pastor, I can't let the 'market' determine what I do. I will find ways to pray with and for people and teach them to pray. . . . I'm not going to wait to be asked. I am a pastor. —Eugene Peterson; cited in Matthew Erickson, The Pastor as Gardener, 69

It is a mercy to have a faithful friend that loveth you entirely . . . to whom you may open your mind and communicate your affairs. . . . And it is a mercy to have so near a friend to be a helper to your soul and . . . to stir up in you the grace of God. —Richard Baxter; cited in Dave Harvey, The Clay Pot Conspiracy, 154

It is amazing how consistently the stories of even the most complex institutions come down to their trustees, the ones who, at their best, bear the institution's pain and brokenness, forgive it, and serve it. It is amazing how consistently the fate of institutions hinges on a few people, and their own personal character, how much even one person can tip the balance toward devastating injustice or toward redeeming abundance. And it is amazing how often the most trustworthy trustees are those who have personally experienced the worst that idolatry and injustice can do. —Andy Crouch; cited in Dave Harvey, The Clay Pot Conspiracy, 87-88

Risk is the cost of making decisions without the luxury of omniscience. —Dave Harvey, The Clay Pot Conspiracy, 26

https://www.9marks.org/article/is-this-young-person-ready-to-be-baptized-clarifying-questions-and-considerations-for-churches/