Quiet Hints, Chapter 4–"Which Door?”

Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 4, “Which Door?”

“It is well for a man not to be too heavily weighted with theories at the beginning of his career.”

“A man ought to preach not where he wants to preach but where he can preach.”

“But suppose a field is hard, shall a young man take it ? Why not ? All fields when known at first hand are hard.”

“The easy fields of which we sometimes read exist only in the imagination.”

“If a man is afraid of fields which are hard never let him think of becoming a minister.”

“Woe to the minister who is looking for an easy job! There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

“And as for the church being small, that is nothing against it. It is ’the glory of a small church that it can grow.”

“What greater privilege could a young man ask than that of taking a little church and by a process of nurture carried on through patient years causing that church through the blessing of God to develop until it becomes the crown of the community, the center of wide regions whose people look to it for impulse and guidance?"

“It is not becoming in young men fresh from school to be over particular about either geography or finance.”

“A man who will not preach at all unless some church puts into his palm the precise sum which he thinks his preaching worth ought to be left to die with all his sermons in him.”

“Men who are worthy of the Christian pulpit will get into it though they climb to it over obstacles high as the Alps, and over Himalayas of disappointment.”

Visitor Comments:

January 25, 2010, 6:55 AM Patrick Sullivan says:
British / Australian . Retired Pastor. Hospital Chaplain. Creator and Webmaster of www.jesuschristonly.com	Hi Ray.... Mr Charles E. Jefferson. Quiet Hints for preachers sounds like a chapter in a Marine Drill sergeants manual. No room for any wimps or powder puff candidates when it cames to the ministry with Charles. I think that along side a few men who had shaped up to Charles standards, you could storm the gates of hell. Good challenging ministry Ray. Thanks. Pat
January 25, 2010, 7:00 AM Ray Pritchard says:
	You know, it might be too much to take except for this. Jefferson himself successfully pastored a major New York church for 30+ years. That’s reason enough to hear him out. Then as now pastoring in the city is no easy task and to do it for decades is rare indeed. And that’s one reason I think he is worth listening to. I certainly think we need this sort of stouthearted faith among our pastors today.
January 25, 2010, 9:48 PM Patrick Sullivan says:
British / Australian . Retired Pastor. Hospital Chaplain. Creator and Webmaster of www.jesuschristonly.com	Ray. Amen and Amen
January 25, 2010, 10:02 PM Patrick Sullivan says:
British / Australian . Retired Pastor. Hospital Chaplain. Creator and Webmaster of www.jesuschristonly.com	Ray : A quote from 100 years ago. “They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease.....Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, and death are the allurements that act on the heart of a man. Kindle the inner genial life of him, you have a flame that burns up all lower considerations,and the like..... Not by flattering our appetites—no, by awakening the heroic that slumbers in every heart can any religion gain followers. - Thomas Carlyle ( quoted in “The Hero in thy Soul"- A.J.Gossip)
January 25, 2010, 10:07 PM Ray Pritchard says:
	Love that quote from Carlyle. So true and I wish it could be tattooed on the souls of all our pastors. People want to be challenged, not coddled. They want to take up their cross if only someone will show them how and then lead the way.