Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

Mark Dever

“In a day when we honor megachurch pastors, it is refreshing to read this account of an ordinary pastor—representing the unsung heroes among us who do not aspire to greatness but rather to godliness and faithfulness. This account of Don Carson’s father gives us valuable insight into the life of a man who accepted the challenges of ministry with both integrity and grace, and in the telling of his story we are also treated to a rare insight into the life of a Protestant pastor in French Québec. This book is a powerful reminder that there are no little places if we are faithful to the God who called us. Read it to be blessed, challenged, and instructed in matters that really count.”

Erwin W. Lutzer

“Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor is a deeply edifying and timely book. Faithfulness—not numbers, not ‘success,’ not novelty, not ‘relevance,’ but faithfulness—is the accrediting mark of gospel ministry, and that message comes through loud and clear from introduction to conclusion of this memoir. Reading it brought to mind the powerful words of Anna Waring: ‘content to fill a little space, if Thou be glorified.’ I found the content profoundly evocative and pastorally instructive. In a day and age of celebrity preachers and personality-driven ministries, it is utterly refreshing to be instructed and encouraged by the recounting of unfamous, lifelong, biblical fidelity in gospel labors. Read. Repent. Be encouraged. And then go thou and do likewise.”

Ligon Duncan

“This book is a rare and precious gift from one of evangelicalism’s greatest scholars. It is rare, because given our modern fascination with megachurches and celebrity pastors, we tend to overlook the simple, faithful pastor. It is precious for ordinary pastors like me, because Tom Carson’s life is a biblical and inspiring model for pastoral ministry—ministry that is centered on the gospel, marked by integrity, and faithful to the end. How generous of Don Carson to bequeath his father’s quiet legacy to us all. May every pastor and Christian who reads this book aspire to pass on such an ‘ordinary’ legacy.”

C. J. Mahaney

“How can the application of a Bible-saturated mind (Don’s) to a Bible-saturated life (Tom’s) produce an even more helpful story to encourage pastors? Let the ‘mind’ be carried on a river of love because the ‘life’ is his father’s. Then add a kind of narrative creativity you didn’t know Don Carson had. That’s how.”

John Piper

“Scores of books assure us—ordinary us—that we were meant to be extraordinary or to accomplish extraordinary things for God. Well, thank God, this small book by Don Carson is not one of them. Recounting part of his father’s ordinary life and ministry, and reflecting upon it in his characteristic gospel-centered, lucid way, Don strikes at the heart of what’s wrong with us when we forget that, as servants, we were meant to live ordinarily under the gospel of grace. Read this book. You will be deeply encouraged in your life and ministry. You might also stand corrected about your take on true success. Perhaps you will even end up praying you’ll be deemed as ordinary as Tom Carson was.”

Michel Lemaire

“Those of us ministering in French Canada are proud to point out that Don Carson got his start among us here in Québec. In Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, not only do we get an intimate glimpse of that start, through the life and times of his father and mother, but we also get another facet, another perspective, of the rich history of the Fellowship Baptist movement in Québec. Obedient and faithful men, like Tom Carson, laid the foundation so others could build upon it. Ordinary builders working on an extraordinary building, the dwelling place of God in French-speaking living stones. Gloire à Dieu!”

Terry Cuthbert

“Here is Don Carson’s most personal book, providing us with details about his early years in French Canada. This story about his father, documented from Tom Carson’s personal journals, correspondence, and posthumous testimonies, is a clear demonstration of God’s faithfulness toward a man whose integrity, patience, and deep commitment to French Canadians brought eternal results amidst little fruit, poverty, discouragement. In our twenty-first-century tendency toward glamour, our obsession with numerical growth, and expectancy for quick results, this personal testimony is a healthy reminder of heavenly priorities in the pastorate and Christian ministry.”

Pierre Constant