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Yesterday I got to hang out a few hours with one of my all-time hero’s and mentors - Roy Fish.  Dr. Fish is now 80 years of age.  My first memory of him was when I was around 6 going with my Dad to a conference at First Baptist Dallas where many great and famous preachers preached.  I still remember the message The Valley of Dry Bones and the point of the sermon was that God can raise up the spiritually dead if they turn to him.  I also remember taking him as a seminary student - I took every course I could under him.  I remember going down to the Stock Yards in Fort Worth and watching him smiling kindly and gently passing out tracts - it stunned me.  Here was a man with a PhD telling people about Jesus in a calm and quiet but present way on a street corner.  It was after I graduated that I truly became friends with him.  Not long after I started NorthWood, he came and preached at our church and has been there on other occasions.  A few months ago when we had some Vietnamese diplomats at NorthWood got to introduce him to some “real live communists!”  Roy Fish loves everyone and everyone loves him!  Here are some lessons I continue to learn from an 80 year old mentor:

1.  Stay Open.  My biggest encouragement has come from Roy Fish when I’m thinking about doing “different” what some people would call “crazy” stuff.  But then again he’s had a streak for that too.  He once dressed up like a bum and visited several churches, then he also quietly submarined into the Jesus Movement without people knowing who he was. 

2.  Know your context.  When I talked to him about working with Muslims, communists, and other different kinds of people that aren’t necessarily the norm, he doesn’t just encourage me, he wants to go!  The Gospel doesn’t change, how we present it does.  One thing for certain, whatever context you share, your life has to back it up.  If it doesn’t, your message is not received. 

3.  Trust God.  I was once in a hard spot not knowing what to do, and he gave me a verse to never forget which I’ve carried it with me all these years.  Ps. 75:5-7.  Sometimes he would call me when he’d be serving as an interim pastor and talk to me about the churches and I’d always wonder what it was like to be at one of those places but I came to learn - with God - it’s not where you serve but who you serve that maters in his kingdom. 

4.  Invest in young leaders.  His whole life has been focused in this.  He still has a prayer time with young seminarians. I was never a part of that when I was a student, but knew many who were and he would often talk to me about some of the young guys in his group - he brought one up yesterday wanting to be sure I had connected with him. 

5.  Hang in there for the long haul.  Yesterday he shared with me some health issues he’s having and struggling with.  He told me there was an older lady who worked at a bookstore who loved God that he used to look up to.  When she was 80 she told him, after he was facing some challenging times, “it doesn’t get any easier”.  He told her, “By the time you’re 80 it must seem that life just flies into heaven.”  She said again, “it doesn’t get any easier.”  He told me, “Bob, it doesn’t get any easier.”  That’s true, the more you hear and obey God, its fun and exciting, but it’s also challenging and creates it’s own set of headaches. 

There’s not a man alive that’s impacted more young pastors than Roy Fish - maybe you’ve had him - - - - - what did you learn from him?  Feel free to comment . . . . . .