Terry Virgo on the Vital Need for ALL Ephesians 4 Ministries

"The Lord Jesus ascended on high and gave gifts to men. He appointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. If the church is to arrive at full maturity, become a functioning body and fulfil its glorious destiny, it must derive the benefit that comes from embracing all of these promised ministries. Without them we inevitably fail to benefit from all that was in God’s heart in making provision of them".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Leaders - Motivating Mission" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

Terry Virgo on Apostles Laying Foundations

"Clearly the planting of churches was foundational to the task of world mission, and apostles played a very significant part in that process. They presented a clear body of doctrine centred in the coming of Christ, his life, death, resurrection and ascension, and the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which led to the formation of an international people of God".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Churches - Motivating Missions" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

Terry Virgo on the Myth that Apostles Must Write Scripture

"The frequently held view that apostles functioned only in the first century and that their primary task was the writing of the New Testament Scriptures. Of the original Twelve only three made any contribution to the New Testament while Luke, who was never regarded as an apostle, wrote more of the New Testament than any other.

While the stance that apostles were essentially Scripture-writers has been maintained the vital work of an apostle as described in the New Testament has been almost entirely overlooked. Paul writing to the Corinthian church said that as a wise master builder he had laid a foundation in that particular church. As an apostle he had a task which was related to the formation of local churches".

Terry Virgo - "Fathering Leaders - Motivating Mission" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 21st 2011

John Piper on D A Carson

"I go out of my way to listen to Don Carson any chance I get so one reason (it's not the decisive reason) is that he is an amazing person. He is a scholar of the first rank. He is a pastoral scholar with a love for the Church. He is an evangelist who does what he calls "missions" at universities where he is arguing for the cause of Christ and leading people out of their unbelief. He is reformed and loves the sovereignity of God and the doctrines of grace. He is a family man and - although I don't have a lot of personal experience of this - he can do just about anything evidently!

He can build things with his hands so I admire men like that. There aren't many of them around. He is clear and he is articulate. He says things and you understand when he says them. But the decisive thing for the conference was that he lost his dad too. His dad ran a church in Canada and I knew he wanted to publish a book about his dad just like I want to write something about my dad".

John Piper - "Why Did You Invite Don Carson?" - 2008 Pastors Conference - Desiring God website - downloaded 1st February 2008.

Rob Rufus on True Spiritual Fathers

"Spiritual fathers need to be a mentor. They need to be ahead of you in the faith. There comes a point when a father reaches a point when he can’t teach you anymore because the son becomes an adult. However you always will value that father and honour him as such. The son then needs to become a father. You should never have anyone trying to correct you who are jealous of you, who want to control you or who resent you and don’t like you. The only people you need correcting you are those who you know love you unconditionally. Many Christians are fragile, frightened and scared to be honest because they have been let down, rebuked, disciplined by people who didn’t really love them and were jealous of them".

“Face to Face Intimacy with God” – Rob Rufus – Hong Kong – 5th Aug 07