This is My Spiritual Covering!

This is My Spiritual Covering! There is a widening trend of young preachers who are seeking to find what they perceive as a good spiritual covering! That covering is usually an older preacher that is considered to be successful. It is good for one to be accountable to an older more experienced preacher, yet God doesn’t sanction much of the covenant rings, and pastors’ association trinkets nonsense that is going on! Your covering is worth sowing into, but having to pay monthly for your covering that will only send you a quarterly letter is foolish! I said it! Covering for pay without relationship is foolish, and only benefits the one that is being paid to cover!

I am not against the many great benefits of preachers coming together to network, to bounce ideas off of each other, and to sharpen their “mental and spiritual knives”! One should never doubt the power of associations, networking, relationships, and the interchanging of positive ideas and concepts. I am not against Pastors’ Conferences, or Pastors’ Associations. Yet, I do feel we have gotten a tad bit off of the right path with this spiritual covering piece.

It is thought by many preachers that by obtaining the right covering, one’s ministry would burst at the seams overnight. I will submit to you, that there are many great ministries whose modes and ministries are worth emulating. However; God doesn’t want us to descend into being the big preacher’s Memphis Boy, or the big preacher’s Atlanta Boy! Let’s stop some of this! If you are preaching in North Dakota, how could a guy in Atlanta, Georgia that you see once a year at a Pastors’ Conference truly be your spiritual covering? Would it be better to find a man in your own area whose works you already know personally?

I am reminded of the Scripture in St. Matthew Chapter 23 verse 15 where these words are recorded-Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Maybe many preachers should keep this scripture in mind before traveling seven states over to find one’s spiritual covering , who many are counting on to be their spiritual rabbit’s foot to take one’s ministry from one level to the next! God sends the increase! If we looked to him half as much as we look at the preachers on TV, where would all of our ministries be?

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