A Guide for the Aspiring.

My pastor purchased this book for a young man in our church and gave me a copy as well, and boy, what a gift it was! I ate it up quickly and am only now taking the opportunity to review it.

This 9Marks production shares in 27 short chapters a lifetime of advice for any man aspiring to be an elder (pastor, bishop, etc.). And that word “aspire” is key.

The very first chapter of the book, “Say ‘I Aspire’, Not ‘I’m Called”, sets the stage for all that follows and (quite honestly) ought to be required reading in every seminary. The gist of Jamieson’s chapter is that, as one considers God’s will for his life, he ought to begin pursuing now the requirements for the role he hopes to someday have: aspiring towards the qualifications and giftedness required for such a role.

It’s presumptuous for a man to say “I’m called to be a pastor,” because it suggests that he’s both qualified and prepared to be pastor and that God approves, even if none of these presumptions are true. As Jamieson writes, “Saying so does not make it so.” (21) He concludes by writing in several paragraphs how aspiring is more biblical, more humble, more accurate, more fruitful, and more freeing (28-30). It’s an amazing chapter. If you read nothing else from the book, read this.

The remainder of the book is a buffet of advice to men, young and old, who crave to serve the Lord better in some way. And I would argue that, since the qualifications of an elder (i.e. 1Tim 3) are the same qualities that should characterize every child of God, this book is profitable for any man to read! The following is just a small smattering of many of the highlights I made in my copy.

• Pursue godliness. Pursue godliness more than you pursue position or publicity or prestige. Pursue godliness more than you pursue the pulpit. Pursue godliness more than you pursue others’ recognition of your godliness. Pursue godliness when no one is looking and no one cares.  Pursue godliness when it seems like godliness is not getting you where you want to go…If you are not godly out of the spotlight, you will never be godly in it. (53)
  
• The better you intake, the better your output. To overflow, you must first fill up. You have got to get your thoughts from somewhere, and there are far better sources than the few inches between your ears. You are what you read. As the eighteenth-century philosopher and theologian Johann Georg Hamann put it, “The true genius knows only his dependence and weakness and the limits of his gifts. (99)
  
• A good book is the best insurance policy against wasted time. (103)
  
• Like church members, children have eagle eyes for inconsistency and hypocrisy. Like church members, children are far more likely to do what you do that what you say. As James Baldwin wrote, ‘Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. (125)
  
• Baptism binds one into many, and the Lord’s Supper makes many one (see Acts 2:38-41 and 1Cor 10:16-17). Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the visible, public means by which God’s people are marked off from the world. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper draw a line around the church, and thereby draw a line between the church and the world. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper turn a crowd of Christians into a church. They compact a church into a defined shape, a shape called church membership. (130)
  
• Most of preparing to pastor happens outside of seminary. (137)
  
• So much of ministry is caught rather than taught. (139)

If you’re looking a “self-help book” for ministry, you needn’t look any farther from this. Concise. Practical. Biblical. This book is well worth the read.

©2022 E.T.