Larry McCracken died last week. He was the General Director from 1982 until the year 2000 of the North West Conservative Baptist Association which Jefferson Baptist is part of. He was one of three different men who mentored me in the early years of my ministry. He had a major part in my passion to reach the lost and see our church grow. Every time I saw him he would give me a new book to read, recommend a Church Growth Seminar, and ask me what new thing we were doing to reach people with the gospel. We have done a seminar at JBC for 20-plus years and it was Larry who encouraged me to start that.

I would send him a copy of my goals every year and I was always blessed by his response to them. I often went out to lunch with him to get advice on some pastoral problem I was facing. Almost always he would call me a week later and ask me how I was doing with the problem and if I was doing what he advised me to do, and if I said “not yet” he would ask me why not.

As I reminisced today about conversations with Larry I was reminded again how so many different people were used by God to shape me into who I am and were the reason that God has used me to accomplish for Him the things that I have.