30 years ago today I preached my first sermon at Memorial Baptist Church which is now  @CATCtx, the church where I serve as Lead Pastor. I was a high school senior who felt called to vocational ministry. The sermon was NOT good and yet God blessed it.

Since then, I have grown as a preacher but still feel like I have so far to go. Here are some things with which I would encourage young pastors and preachers:

Pursue God not platforms. Seriously, your voice is just not that weighty right now. 20 years from now it might be. But, if you don't pursue God now and cultivate a life of humble prayer and attentiveness to God, you won't have much to say or have a place to say it.

Surround yourself with people who love you enough to tell you that you're an idiot and need to be quiet. If you only surround yourself with people that admire you or fear you, you will stunt your growth and end up an illustration in someone's message at a pastor's conference.

God establishes your role and reach in the Kingdom. Don't despise that, but be faithful in it. You will fail to be faithful in the field God has placed you if you are always lusting for fields beyond it.

There is a cumulative effect to preaching. Don't overestimate what one fantastic sermon can do, and don't underestimate what 50 faithful sermons can do. God can use average sermons to slowly shape a congregation, even while at times gracing it with quantum leaps.

Rejoice in other's blessings. Many young ministers want God to do a great work, but won't be content unless God does that work through them. Cultivate the kind of heart that would rejoice should God move in historical ways and your only part in it was the hidden work of prayer.

Read the bible to know God and not to find sermons. God is pleased to raise up preachers whose hearts have been battered and blessed by his word. He loves to serve up his word by the hands of those who have been most nourished by it.

Above all, let your sermons be fueled by prayer and full of Christ. If you proclaim HIM in all your sermons, it will please God to use you all your days.