There’s an old Southern saying that if you find a turtle on top of a fencepost, you can be fairly sure he didn’t get there by himself.
None of us is an island, and our accomplishments are rarely the result of isolation. I am thankful that Preaching magazine is now in its 31st year of publication, and I recognize that whatever we have been able to do in service to pastors and the church has been the team effort of a remarkable band of supporters and encouragers.
We began in 1985 with a team of 25 contributing editors. A few of those have already gone to be with the Lord, including Gardner C. Taylor, who died on Easter Sunday of 2015. One of those original contributing editors, Bill Self passed away last week after a battle with ALS.
Bill not only wrote for Preaching and was the subject of one of our interviews, but he also spoke frequently in the early years of our National Conference on Preaching and hosted the second NCP at his Atlanta church in 1990. In fact, Bill already had plans to resign from the church but delayed announcing his resignation until after the conference to be sure everything went smoothly!
I am thankful for those pastors and church leaders such as Bill who have helped this ministry serve those who proclaim the Word. Maybe today is a good time for us to take a moment and thank someone who has been used by God to help us along the way. Who do you plan to thank?
Blessings!
Michael Duduit
MDuduit@SalemPublishing.com
www.MichaelDuduit.com
Follow on Twitter @MichaelDuduit