i am no different from you (searching), maybe just a little bit farther along

E. Stanley Ott

My whole ministry has centered around the “with-me” principle of Mark 3:14 “And Jesus appointed twelve to be WITH him” - those of whom Jesus said, “I have called you FRIENDS!” John 15:15. I can imagine what Jesus would say to profs and others who contend a pastor’s “real” friends should be outside the congregation. Indeed, “real” ministry offers the potential of real friendships. Some people don’t want to be friends of course and others make friendship at any depth virtually impossible, yet my dearest friends in three states come from the congregations I served and in which they participated.