I recently took a class with Mike Slaughter, the lead pastor at Ginghamsburg UMC. He’s basically a rockstar United Methodist, which means you either love him or you hate him. I wasn’t sure which I would feel. I have to admit, spending a week at Ginghamsburg challenged me in a lot of ways and inspired me in a lot of other ways. I have never met so many passionate, humble, caring people—many of whom serve with no pay. And it takes a special leader to create an environment of this kind of service. I could write an entire paper on what I learned from that class, but that brings me to my real point: why Mike Slaughter is legit.
I actually did write a paper for the class, and I included in the paper a long list of strategic action steps for the following the year. They were a variety of ministry-related objectives. I had 8 of them in total.
Then I got my paper back from Mike Slaughter (which I got an A on, by the way). But one of the comments that stood out the most was the 9th action step he added to my list. And that’s why he is legit.
Don’t let ministry be your mistress.
Joe Graves 