I’m grateful the Lord has given me a couple of spiritual fathers. As I have grown in the pastorate, and as I have faced myriad dangers, toils, and snares that come with local church ministry, these men—church historian Tom Nettles and veteran pastor/TGC Council member Harry Reeder in particular—have been invaluable gifts from the Lord to help me to persevere on the front lines of the pastorate.

Throughout church history, some of the greatest leaders had spiritual fathers who helped them mature into the noteworthy figures they eventually became. Timothy had the apostle Paul. Luther had von Staupitz, Calvin had Bucer. John Ryland Jr. had John Newton. R. C. Sproul had John Gerstner.

I believe it is critical for young or new pastors to build strong, intimate relationships with men who are older and bear the battle scars of walking with Jesus and serving God’s people for decades. Yes, it’s important to read good books and have dead mentors (Calvin, Bunyan, Spurgeon, and Lloyd-Jones still speak to me regularly through their written works). But there’s no substitute for having regular access to a living, breathing father who can speak wisdom into your life, who has liberty to correct you when you err doctrinally or ethically, whose life and doctrine illustrates beautifully God’s marvelous grace.

In this new article, church planter Bill Riedel tells his own story of the profit that can accrue from sitting at the feet of a spiritual and ministerial mentor.