REMEMBERING MY MENTOR!

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

REMEMBERING MY MENTOR!

Ps 145:4

4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

2 Tim 2:1-3

1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

           Shelby Mayo was my pastor when I was a confused and troubled teen. I gave him many sleepless nights. He gave me a pattern for ministry and showed me what it was like to be a selfless pastor.

           He helped me to recognize and define my calling and is the reason I love missionaries. I remember one Sunday afternoon in his home. He and his wife had unfolded a map of the world on their living room floor and were looking at the many remote and obscure places that needed the gospel. Later he would resign his church and wear himself out in Indonesia.

           I preached at a “Watch Night” service on New Year’s Eve 1967. On the morrow it would be 1968 and I would drive the cold and lonely highways to Bible College. I was so frightened!

           Sensing my fear, Brother Mayo took me into the baptistry side room to pray with me before I spoke on “Consider the Lilies.” He showed me his big black Bible and asked me to call out a scripture. He then placed his thumb on the exact spot where the pages fell open to that very verse. I was amazed! How did he do that? He said to me: “Learn to do that!” Become so familiar with your Bible that you can do that too. I felt doomed.

           I phoned Pastor Mayo just before he died to tell him that I had actually become a preacher and that I had been preaching for over 40 years. He was amazed, as I now am, and said that he had had serious doubts about my future but was pleased to hear from me. He was gritty, honest, tough and tender. I look forward to seeing him again.

           If you are a confused and troubled Christian then pay attention to your Pastor. He will pour confidence into you and compare you to Billy Graham. He will sing your praises while hiding serious doubts about your future. Feast on that praise and encouragement.

           I hope, one day, to receive a call from some dubious youth who will tell me that I had a significant influence in his character and maturity. I will have finished my course.

Ps 71:18

18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.