Give Thanks for Our Spiritual Directors

I encourage you to give thanks to God for the disciple makers, the mentors, the spiritual directors or coaches He has brought into your lives through the years. They often go unrecognized. As I ponder the men and women in my life who have provided spiritual direction, I am filled with gratitude. Here are some of the many who have impacted my life:

• My pastors as I was growing up
  • Rev. Gene Bartmas—under whose ministry I received Christ at the age of 6
  • Rev. George Jones—great Bible teacher under whom I received the call to ministry at the age of 12
  • Rev. Jerry McCauley—who baptized me and gave me the first opportunities to preach at the age of 17
• Mentors who have gone on to their reward in heaven
  • Rev. Roland Gray—my first “senior” mentor in his 70s and I at age 20—like a grandfather in the faith.
  • Rev. Cal McCarter—Baptist chaplain in Vietnam, then Methodist pastor and missionary who brought maturity and stability to my life and ministry—His son became a Senator & US Ambassador to Kenya
  • Dr. Keith Bailey—my mentor periodically throughout Alliance ministry—especially mentored me in Alliance theology & heritage, healing and spiritual warfare ministry
  • Dr. K. Neill Foster—mentored me in writing and publishing and launched my writing career
  • Dr. Charles (Chuck) Farah—professor and pastor who sought me out to mentor me intensively for 2 years—challenged me spiritually and intellectually
• Other mentors through the years
  • Dr. Ron MacDonald—my lifelong mentor through the years (often infrequent and from a distance, since he was a missionary to South Africa)—the mentor who knows me best and tells it like it is.   
  • Dr. John Ellenberger—seasoned missionary and professor—mentored me in inner healing, truth encounter and power encounter deliverance ministry
  • Rev. Jim Garrett—Greek scholar and pastor who got me deep studying the Word and the New Testament church and challenged me spiritually and intellectually
  • Dr. Mark Searing—as District Supt mentored me in leadership
  • Darlene and Dale Kipling—Like Priscilla and Aquila mentored me and other leaders; led a prayer group that prayed me through cancer—Darlene, who worked with Kathryn Kuhlman bus ministries in Canada, prophesied over me that I was an apostle of the Higher Life
  • Rev Jon Rich—as District Supt mentored me in leadership, esp revitalizing & merging churches.
  • Rev. Dick Jenks—my father’s pastor who gave me wise counsel for caring for my father and his affairs in his waning years.
  • Rev. Dick LaFountain—friend, retired, and mentor with wise counsel
  • Rev Bob & MaryK Petty—as district leaders, then as Dist Supt—they mentored me in spiritual formation and tough transitions
  • Dr. Tim McKitrick and Dr James Barber—who have, as friends and colleagues, prayed me through cancer and other difficult life situations, and have mentored me in founding and directing Paul King Ministries and serving as members of the board.

And thanks to so many others who have impacted my life through the years.

^“For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, by having served and by still serving the saints.”—Hebrews 6:10, NASB