“If an experienced pastor had 10 minutes to exhort 200 of the next generation of ministers what would you say to them? That was the charge for R. Albert Mohler Jr., Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan and C.J. Mahaney”

(Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of four responses to this question.)

Ministers need intimate friends with whom they can be together for the Gospel, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told attendees of T4G Late Night.

Mohler and fellow T4G hosts Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan and C.J. Mahaney have built the conference around the premise of their personal friendship and brotherhood in the Gospel and Mohler hopes it will be exemplary.

Mohler and Dever are both Southern Baptists, Mahaney is a Reformed charismatic and Duncan is a Presbyterian, yet, as Mohler points out, they are deeply invested in each other’s lives and ministries because of their kinship in the Gospel.

Mohler said all pastors must develop such intimate relationships with like-minded men as a means of perseverance in the faith and the ministry.

“You are not going to do this so faithfully alone,” Mohler said. “I would not be where I am, but for these friends. And these friends have invested so deeply in my life and we know each other’s ministries inside and out. We are committed to giving ourselves to each other’s ministries.

“You want to make certain that an early stage in your ministry, no later than right now, you get some friends in the Gospel with whom you are going to spend the rest of your life in ministry and become together unashamed of the Gospel, together absolutely committed to the Gospel and committed to each other because we desperately need that.”

One of the most crucial aspects of such Gospel friendships is the accountability they provide, Mohler said. Friends who love you and love the Gospel, he said, will make sure every aspect of your life conforms to the biblical standard, which is an important part of keeping a minister from falling into sin or discouragement.

“You want the kind of friends who are going to care whether you are faithful or not,” he said. “They are going to care whether you are faithful in your time in the Word or not. They are going to care about whether you are faithful in your marriage or not. They are going to care whether you are faithful as a father or not. They are going to care whether you are reading and growing.

“They are going to care, lest you bomb out in ministry. And there are far too many who morally, or simply through fatigue, bomb out. And I’ll tell you, if you do this alone, the likelihood of that just grow exponentially higher.”

The Gospel unifies and builds strong fiber into relationships like nothing else can, Mohler said. Evangelicals often stand together against things like abortion and same-sex marriage, rightly so, but nothing brings Christians together like the Gospel of Christ. It should serve as the tie that binds friends who may differ on other, less central, doctrinal issues such as church polity or the ordinances, Mohler said.

Mohler also encouraged attendees to fight together for the proclamation and preservation of the pure, biblical Gospel. Many so-called gospels have arisen in the postmodern culture, Mohler said, but only the Gospel of Christ is the genuine article and faithful ministers must stand together for it.

“Sometimes we are drawn together because we are against something, but nothing draws us together like it does when we are for something and that is the Gospel,” Mohler said, “and not just any gospel, not just some gospel, but the Gospel. And I hope, with all my heart that you have friends such as I have who will share passions such as those that have drawn us together.”

Ministers should build relationships with and mentor teens and college-aged men in the Gospel for teens, Mohler said.

“I hope in the future that when you think of being together for the Gospel, you will think of the generation behind you because there are some 16 and 17 year old kids who are just catching fire for the Gospel and they would make a huge difference if you would invest your lives in them,” he said.

“There are some 19, 20 and 21 year olds who are in that college age, where giant decisions are being made where just a little bit of mentoring would be powerful like dynamite in their lives. There are some folks around you right now who need to be with you at Together for the Gospel. Let’s seek to be unashamed of the Gospel, let’s seek to leave no one for the Gospel behind.”

This article first appeared on the Southern Seminary’s official news portal and is used with permission. Source: http://news.sbts.edu/