Knowing the SHEPHERD

Most of you already know that I "LOVE" my job with the Sunset International Translation Center. I work with some amazing people, many of whom I have never met, because we communicate through email rather than face to face interactions. I coordinate our Sunset Translation work with Christian translators and editors who live all over the world. Many of these people are fairly new converts who live and work in areas of the world vastly different from my safe little community of Lubbock, Texas. Their love for the Lost and their devotion to God’s Word is a daily inspiration to me. These people truly sacrifice beyond their means just to be involved in the work they do.

Translation is just a "piece" of my job here at Sunset. I am also privileged to be able to edit our Sunset Bible Study Library series which consists of a book-style format of the spoken word from our Sunset Residential classes. Sunset is blessed to have an amazing faculty who also sacrifices to be personally involved in training whole men and women to preach the whole Gospel to the whole world wholly to please God.

Right now I am editing a soon to be published book by Truman Scott called "Spiritual Living For Minister." For those of you from the Sunset School of Preaching days, this is the material we covered in our Minister’s Spiritual Life classes when Truman was teaching here in Lubbock. Truman shares his insights into Spirituality and the passionate process that is involved in becoming a person who willingly allows God to actively intervene in his life. That intervention can only come through following Jesus to a personal Calvary and then allowing HIM to plant the seed of eternity deep within. The process involves being lead by His Spirit to an every changing spiritual plane that can be described as "higher ground." There must be a passionate, purposeful, spiritual quest to become intimate with the Father before a person can be dynamically used by God. Our Father created each one of us to seek HIM and desires that all men become not only holy, but also whole people in His service. As His ministers we need to be able to adequately cope in our own lives and evangelistically become involved in the lives of people around us. We need to be openly expressive, sensitive, caring, and hopeful people, who are unselfish, confident, forgiving, and disciplined ambassadors for God.

Look for Truman’s book in our Extension School inventory coming in 2009. Here is an excerpt from his chapter on Knowing the Shepherd. I think it will make you want to read the whole book.

"Anxiety is man’s number one slave master. The doubt, fear, loneliness, and guilt that anxiety infuses in man’s every thought blinds man from seeing that there is a God who cares and can provide strength and deliverance. Psalm 23 is the most eloquent declaration that there is SOMEONE who cares and is able and ready to intervene in every threat that faces man."