Only the Weak Survive: Gospel Treasure in Earthen Vessels

What makes a minister of the Gospel successful? How would you picture a successful Christian pastor? What does he look like? What image comes to mind as I ask that question? Conventional wisdom in the evangelical subculture seems would seem to paint the following picture in response to that question. A successful pastor is an attractive, well-built, well-dressed, well-groomed young man, who is an excellent communicator. He exudes charisma; people are just drawn to him and love to follow after him. He's an inspiring vision-caster who really knows how to hone the power of words to motivate his followers. Because of this, his church numbers in the thousands. He has a far-reaching multi-media ministry that is brimming with the utmost professionalism. He's written a number of books and always has several book deals waiting in the wings; he's invited to speak at all the major evangelical conferences; and he probably has a blog on The Gospel Coalition website. His beautiful wife loves him, his adorable, saved kids love him, his local church loves him, and the church-at-large loves him. He is the picture of ministerial success.

And what about the successful Christian minister who's not a pastor? What does he look like? After all, as we've been saying for a while now, it's not just pastors who are called to ministry. All of us who have been made partakers of the New Covenant are ministers of that New Covenant. So what does success look like for the New Covenant minister—for the church member who is eager to be involved in ministry as a layperson?