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BE YOURSELF I'm not sure why, but younger preachers frequently ask me for advice about various matters. For what it's worth, my best advice for younger preachers is only two words: BE YOURSELF. Don't be your old carnal self, but be the man that God wants YOU to be instead of trying to be someone else. You already know to pray and read the Bible, so I'll advise you to do something that you might not be doing: BE YOURSELF. For the first few years of our ministry, I tried to be what others thought I should be, and I found nothing but frustration. I learned very quickly that the brethren will drive you nuts and work you to death, if you let them. If I met five new preachers, two or three of them would offer unsolicited advice on how I should run my ministry. None of their ideas ever worked, no matter how much I prayed or how hard I tried. Whether it worked for THEM or not is irrelevant; it didn't work for ME, because they aren't ME, and I'm not them. Through the years I have had a very short list of preacher friends because I get tired of listening to everyone's useless advice and eventually learning of how most of them have cut some corners that I'm not going to cut. My greatest freedom came when Christ washed my sins away. My second greatest freedom came when I realized that God doesn't expect me to be anyone's copycat, robot or slave. I am a saved believer in Christ, and I have the Holy Spirit sealed in me just as much as any preacher on the planet. I do anything that I believe God wants me to do, and I seldom ask anyone what they think about it. Sometimes I make mistakes, but I learn from them and move on. Usually, I just have a lot of fun enjoying my God-given freedom without trying to meet the expectations of others. I feel very good about what we have been able to accomplish through the years, and I feel even better about it when I remember that we did it OUR way without trying to please others. I wouldn't trade that peace and joy for anything. So my advice is BE YOURSELF. Put on your blinders and run your own race. Stay close to God through Bible study and prayer, but BE YOURSELF and see what God does with you. Now, the the scary part is that being yourself is harder than being a copycat. Being yourself takes courage and personal responsibility. You can't blame others for your mistakes anymore, so you'll have to grow and learn. Many people don't want that responsibility, so they just copy others and play a lot of make believe. But there's no way to let YOUR light shine by doing that. God made you with your own distinct abilities and personality. Let YOUR light shine and see what he does with you. You'll probably be surprised.