My leaders

I am confident that the Lord is my helper and He will help me be all that I can be and do all that He wants me to do. I have the baton in my hand passed down to me by many special people.

The author calls the church to look back and remember the impact that their leaders have made on them.

”Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.“ Hebrews 13:7-8 .

So I choose to remember some of my leaders:-

David and Jean Hudson – my parents, demonstrating what it is to give everything for the work of God.

Graeme Parkins – my first Pastor who carried an enthusiasm for God that was infectious for me when I was a teenager.

Jim Dick, Keith Warrington, Peter Davies, Neil Hudson (my brother), Malcolm Hathaway, Julian Ward and several others who were lecturers at the Bible College I lived at for 3 years, they taught me how to handle God’s Word.

Brian Grist – my senior when I became a minister in training, he was in Carlisle and I was leading a church plant nearby, in Penrith. He taught me how a Pastor needs to have an equal heart for the lost as well as the found.

Mick Reynolds – my Regional Leader who taught me the importance of reading the Bible as the main book of my life.

David Tinnion – my mentor and friend who lit a fire in my heart to search for God in other cultures of the world.

There are many more leaders I could list.

But these were my leaders who had direct connection with me through large periods of my life to a few years only.

They all spoke the word of God to me. They all walked out their faith in front of me and I have tried to imitate them in many ways throughout my life.

And yet they all had feet of clay. I applaud their strengths and faith but to a person none were perfect.

Do you remember your leaders? Do so.

The author almost reveals that these leaders were not perfect by writing what is now one of the most famously quoted verses of the Bible: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.

How can we receive the help we need to accomplish the tasks before us? It is through Jesus who has not changed. He was, He is and He will always be.

So whether by myself moving on, or their retirement, ill health or death, where they are no longer leading me, Jesus is. Where their influence is not as strong as it was, Jesus hasn’t changed.

I am so grateful that God gave me these leaders and so many more at the right time of my life. But I am more grateful that Jesus has stuck with me through every season, every success and every failure. He just doesn’t go away. He never leaves. He is here with me now and with you as you read this. How wonderful and what such great confidence that brings.

Jesus my leader.