I've gotten all kinds of great ministry advice, but for my life in ministry, the best advice I was ever given, came on the very first day of that summer internship in Doug Newhouse's office. He sat me down and asked what resources I had accumulated in my first year at Bible college. Looking back, my answer was comical. My mom had bought me a new Bible, a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and an Unger's Bible Dictionary to take with me to school. That was it. That was pretty much all I had. Doug looked at me and said, "Brett, ministry is probably one of the hardest things you'll ever try to do in your life. I know you love Jesus, and you have a heart to help people, but that's not enough. You need the right tools. You need resources. One of the best thing you can do to be successful in ministry is to gather great resources."

Looking back on my life, I see how fortunate I was to attend a church that was healthy and thriving, and was prepared to develop a young man like me. The youth pastor, Doug Newhouse, and the pastor, L.D. Campbell, poured into me, and inspired me to go into ministry. After my first year of Bible college, they offered me an internship at the church. I would have the opportunity to follow them around and ask questions. I leaped at the chance to be around these two giants of my faith.

I have had the privilege of working with some very fine men and women in ministry. I've had many conversations with pastors and ministry leaders who encouraged me and taught me so much. I've gotten all kinds of great ministry advice, but for my life in ministry, the best advice I was ever given, came on the very first day of that summer internship in Doug Newhouse's office. He sat me down and asked what resources I had accumulated in my first year at Bible college. Looking back, my answer was comical. My mom had bought me a new Bible, a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, and an Unger's Bible Dictionary to take with me to school. That was it. That was pretty much all I had. Doug looked at me and said, "Brett, ministry is probably one of the hardest things you'll ever try to do in your life. I know you love Jesus, and you have a heart to help people, but that's not enough. You need the right tools. You need resources. One of the best thing you can do to be successful in ministry is to gather great resources."

Throughout that summer, Doug and L.D. would share with me so many resources. L.D. taught me about some of his favorite pastors and teachers, men like John R.W. Stott, D.L. Moody, Dr. Stephen Olford, Charles Swindoll, and Warren Wiersbe just to name a few. Both men showed me their collection of commentaries and books. They explained to me how often I would be teaching and trying to come up with content for some talk or sermon, and how men like these (this was a different era and there weren't many resources from women at the time), could help inspire and teach me what to say and how to say it. Doug got out a list of addresses to different churches across the United States and he told me he wanted me to write to each one that week, and ask to be placed on their mailing list so that I might receive their weekly newsletter. I discovered there was a lot to learn from the article that many of the pastors would include in their newsletter. Chuck Swindoll's newsletter came every week, and with it, his weekly article. It proved to be filled with useful teaching nuggets. L.D. showed me how I could subscribe and receive sermon tapes of the preachers I liked. He taught me to collect sermon outlines, and quotes and illustrations. He taught me how to read books that would help me to teach and preach.

I know that content creation comes naturally to some. I marvel at the ability of men and women I’ve been around, for whom content seemed to be a gift. For me the content part has always been challenging, but the speaking part came easy. For me, resources are essential. I've learned that people in ministry use a plethora of resources, and what works for some is a waste of time for others. Over the years, I have become a resource hound. Like every pastor, my study is full of books, commentaries, sermons and papers.   

It isn't my goal as a pastor to be famous. I certainly didn't get into this gig for the money or to climb my way up some ladder of recognition. I went into ministry because I love Jesus, and I wanted to win as many people as I could to His Kingdom. Any man who is good with his hands will tell you that a job is made easier when you have the right tools. I figured out pretty early that the best way for me to accomplish my mission was to grab a ministry toolbox and stuff it with the best tools I could find. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve had a full, rich, blessed ministry life, and Doug’s advice to me on the first day of that internship has proven to be one of the big reasons why, and the best ministry advice I’ve ever been given..