Pastor: Learn From Other Pastors

I have three earned degrees from very respected academic institutions. I am so grateful for my time in those centers of academia. They helped me reach heights I would have never been able to reach without my experiencing them.

Yet, my greatest lessons about local church ministry have come from other pastors. This is not an indictment on academic preparation, but it is an elevation of the value that pastors can bring other pastors. Are you a pastor that learns from other pastors?

Let me tell you about a fellow-pastor that can teach all of us a few things about life, ministry, and Gospel advancement globally.

Let Me Tell You A Story

This pastor and I met while we were in college. Our friendship grew through our pursuit of an additional two degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our common heart for the Lord, a love for the Word, and a passion to see revival and to expand the Gospel globally is what deepened our bond not only as fellow-pastors, but close friends.

Last Thursday after my time with God, an urgency came upon me to get on a flight to go see my friend. I cleared my calendar, booked the flight, and rushed to the airport. I spent the afternoon with this fellow-pastor and close friend. He was in the final hours of his life, dying from the horrible disease called pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Keith Thomas (pictured left) had lived with this disease for six years. Only four percent of those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live one year from their diagnosis. The grace and healing power of God performed such a miracle with Keith that the doctors at M.D. Anderson were blown away with the quantity and quality of his life. Then, at his sixth year, things began to change and continue to change dramatically.

Last Saturday morning, just before 5 a.m., I received a text message requesting that I Face-Time with Keith. He could not respond, in fact he had become unresponsive, but at that moment he was responding with his eyebrows. I talked to him about how God was preparing him and how the Lord was ready for him to come home. I quoted several Scriptures to him and prayed over him via Face-Time. I told him I loved him and would see him soon. From that moment, he moved into a state of calm and peace until just before his death at 9:20 p.m. that evening. On Thursday afternoon, April 11, I will conduct Keith’s memorial service.

Will You Learn From This Pastor?

I am reminded of what Hebrews11:4 writes about the life of Abel and his faith. It says, “Though he died, he still speaks.” The testimony of Abel speaks to us about faith, even to this day.

Though Dr. Keith Thomas has died, he still speaks. How does his life speak to us as Pastors? Keith teaches us about:

*The Word of God: Keith loved to read, study, preach, and teach the Word of God. He was a Bible preacher. Even during the last month of his life, he walked to the pulpit slowly, sat in a chair, struggling at times, and he taught the people the Word of God. Keith learned from another pastor his love of preaching the Word of God. Keith was caught up in and feasted on the preaching of God’s Word by one of his dynamic mentors, Dr. Adrian Rogers. Keith was a pastor that learned from another pastor.

*Evangelism: Keith was a passionate personal evangelist as well as a pastor who preached with a heart on fire for evangelizing those without Christ. Keith was mentored by a passionate soul-winning pastor by the name of Dr. Darrell Robinson. Keith learned evangelism from another pastor.

*Global Missions: Keith loved doing all that he could to reach the world for Christ. God united his heart with a seminary in Oradea, Romania, that equips Romanian pastors and ministers. In fact, the “Dr. Keith Thomas Chair of Faith and Prayer” will be established at Emanuel University in Oradea, Romania. Dr. Paul Negrut of Emanuel University, helped Keith develop this fire for equipping pastors to fulfill the Great Commission in Romania and beyond.

*Faith: Keith was a man of great faith. Yes, I saw him discouraged and at times overwhelmed with something going on at one of his pastorates. At the same time, I saw him always prevail with deep faith. His living faith oozed from his life as he walked through the journey of having pancreatic cancer. He had promises from God’s Word and he stood on those promises continually.

Through the life and ministry of a godly man and revivalist named Manley Beasley, Keith learned so much about walking by faith. With tears streaming down his face this past December, Keith shared with me that sometimes the pain was so intense that he buried his head in a pillow saying God’s promises again, and again, and again. Yes, Keith was a man of faith.

*Suffering: The last decade of Keith’s life was filled with suffering. It seemed like he went from one fire into the next. God was getting him ready for the fire of his life: living with pancreatic cancer. The suffering continued and even converged at several points of time. Yet, his faith lived! He had a special joy of the Lord through his journey and a confident peace that God was going to see him through. It was men like Manley Beasley and Ron Dunn, along with others that walked in suffering, that taught Keith how to suffer. By the time Keith was diagnosed, those two men were already in heaven, but the lessons they taught him helped him to live through suffering. Keith told me during a visit I made to him on December 13, 2012, these words: “I ask God to help me to suffer well in the journey.”

*Death: I don’t know who taught Keith how to die, but maybe this is his greatest lesson he teaches us today. One of his mentees, Scott Crawford, who served with Keith in both West Palm Beach and Mobile, texted me the other day and he wrote: “Keith has taught me many things and now he has taught me how to die.” What a statement. Yes, Keith taught us how to die.

He never stopped living life, believing God, and going forward. He believed God was going to heal him even in the end. So did I. Oh yes, God did heal him on Saturday, April 6, 2013, at 9:20 p.m.

If You Could Do One Thing Better, What Would It Be?

This is a question I asked Keith on that December day in Texas. When I asked Keith if he could do one thing over again and do it better, he responded after thinking for a minute. He said, “I would decompress more for the sake of perspective.” He went on to elaborate how pastors get so busy with life and ministry that we need to decompress more for the sake of perspective. Cancer taught Keith perspective.

The Best For Last

At the end of last year, Keith was informed by the medical team at M.D. Anderson that they could do nothing else for him. Keith’s wife, Karen, informed me that he was going down quickly. I asked her if I needed to come before Christmas. She informed me, yes, you should. Prior to talking with Karen, Keith had informed me of the grim news that his life would probably soon be over unless God did a mighty miracle. In that call, he asked me to do his Memorial Service.

After my conversation with Karen in December, I called some friends and we met in Houston, and showed up at Keith’s home, unknowing to him. It was a grand reunion with Keith and Karen, Ken Whitten, Ted Traylor, Jeana and me. Towards the end of the afternoon soon before we would have to depart, rocking in his chair, he took us all to school. It was so profound, I started taking notes with my phone. God was in the room.

At one holy and special moment, I asked him, “Keith, when you think about dying and what it will be like, what do you think about the most?” Keith responded, “Not a day goes by that I do not think about what it will be like to stand before the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.” We were all arrested, gripped with Holy Spirit conviction. He went on to say, “I have asked myself, what if it is not real? I determined, it has been worth the journey anyway.” From there, after a few more moments of conversation, we gathered around him, praying and asking God to heal him.

Pastor, Are You Learning From Other Pastors?

I hope today you have learned from my friend, Dr. Keith Thomas. Do not live your ministry on an island by yourself. Do not withdraw from fellowship when you are walking through tough times. Your truest friend will walk into your life when others walk out of your life. I pray that none of us will ever encounter some of the trials and suffering that Keith experienced.

Whether or not we suffer these same trials, this we know after today: “Though he died, he still speaks.”  Lord, may I live a life that is so dynamic and profound that when I am dead, I will still speak!

Pastor, Learn From Other Pastors,

Ronnie Floyd