I vividly recall two conversations with pastors shortly after I surrendered to pastoral ministry in the late-1990s. The conversations were pivotal because in them I was exposed to two divergent approaches to ministry, and the Lord used them to convince me that I must saturate my mind with Scripture.<\/p>\n
In one conversation I asked a longtime pastor how many times he\u2019d read the Bible in its entirety from Genesis to Revelation. \u201cNever, but I hope to someday,\u201d\u009d he replied. I was stunned. I thought, \u201cThen how do you know what you believe?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Soon after I encountered another longtime shepherd of God\u2019s sheep, a man who retired a few years ago as pastor of my home church in Georgia. I posed the same question, but got a very different answer: \u201cI try to read through the Bible every year. After all, I\u2019ve given my life to teaching and preaching God\u2019s Word, so I had better know it to the highest degree a man can know it.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n