ONMISSION
PREACHING the WORD LOVING the PEOPLE
&
by B R I A N V O S
W
e met at a local small-town restaurant. The elderly gentleman sitting across the table had called and invited me to lunch. I was two months away from beginning my journey of pastoral ministry. He was two years away from completing his. A recent seminary graduate, I was full of energy, overly confident, and naïve. A nearly retired pastor, he was deliberate, humble, and wise. It was the summer of 1997. In two months I would be taking my candidacy and ordination exams to enter pastoral ministry. In two years he would be preaching his final sermon and making his last pastoral visits, retiring from a ministry begun in 1959. The words he spoke to me that day were simple, yet profound: “Preach the Word and love the people.” After nearly 40 years in pastoral ministry, this was the counsel he wanted me to remember. As I approach 25 years in pastoral ministry, I believe this was some of the best counsel I ever received. Though I have neither preached God’s Word perfectly, nor loved God’s people perfectly, it remains the aim of my ministry to preach the Word and to love the people. As I think upon the advice of that seasoned pastor and how God worked through him to prepare me for pastoring, I realize how many other pastors God has used, and continues to use, to shape and mold me for ministry. I want to recount some of them here, not to tell my life story, but to give thanks to God for the ways in which He has shepherded me through the ministry of pastors. Before studying at Westminster Seminary California, God shaped and molded me through several pastors. Chief among them was my pastor for the first 22 years of my life. I was privileged to sit under the faithful ministry of one pastor who preached the Word Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day and loved the people year after year. His was a long pastorate of faithful preaching and compassionate shepherding. In many ways he was the embodiment of what it means to preach the Word and love the people. Every year I am in the ministry I appreciate his pastor’s heart more, and how much God used him to prepare me for ministry. In my college years, God graciously used the college chaplain, an or16
dained pastor, to show me the humility and love of Christ. As he led me and several other students through a close reading of Calvin’s Institutes, he exhibited a Christ-like spirit, exemplifying what it means to walk before the face of God. As I began to enjoy biblical studies during my college years, God brought three other pastors into my life who encouraged me to attend WSC. One of those pastors, a WSC board member, took time to encourage me and pray with me about seminary. Another one of those pastors, the president of WSC at the time, met with me and talked with me about WSC. The other pastor was a WSC alumnus whom I heard preach. He proclaimed Christ so sweetly and passionately, I remember thinking to myself, “If that’s how WSC teaches you to preach, then that’s where I need to go!” I am grateful for the pastors God placed in my life during my college years as He prepared me for gospel ministry. After graduating from college and getting married, my wife and I moved to Escondido to attend WSC. The very first Sunday we were in Escondido, the pastor preached on the Providence of God (a message we desperately needed as we had just moved half way across the country, leaving family and friends, to begin our seminary years in California). We were blessed to sit under his faithful ministry for the next three years. Every Sunday was such an encouragement, as I was reminded that what I was studying in seminary was not merely academic, but the very Word of Life. Early in my seminary studies, I began to sense a call to Gospel ministry. In college the truths of Reformed doctrine captured my mind. In seminary the Gospel warmed my heart. I thank God that the men under whom I studied in seminary were not only professors, but pastors as well. I’ll not forget the first time I exhorted in a large church, where several seminary professors attended. One of them had the wisdom and UPDATE | SPRING2022
