Some people will threaten to leave the church if they don’t get what they want and intentionally create a wave of destruction in their departure that takes the pastors months to mop up. Some people will complain that the pastors never share their weaknesses, yet those very people when upset with the pastor will use his revealed weaknesses against him when given the opportunity. Some will complain that the pastors never reach out to them and then when the pastor reaches out, they will accuse him of badgering them. Some will want the all the details of leadership decisions and then accuse the pastors of gossiping when they share anything. Some will tell the pastors they need to delegate more, yet they feel slighted when their situation is delegated to another. And possibly most difficult of all, some people will show great zeal for the Lord, encourage the pastor’s heart and monopolize much of his time, and then walk away, but not before stabbing him in the back and breaking his heart.
Randy Smith

George Mueller

George Mueller

George Mueller
1805-1898
Christian philanthropist. George Mueller was born and raised in Prussia and lived a life of sin and crime even while studying for the ministry of the State Church. He was converted at a prayer meeting in a private home and from that time on his life was changed. He moved to England and there sought acceptance by the London Missionary Society as a missionary to the Orient. Upon being rejected, he began to preach and to minister wherever the Lord opened the door.

This led him to Bristol, where, in 1834, he founded the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. One year later, he opened his first orphans’ home for 26 girls with no financial assistance. By 1870 he had built five orphans’ homes, and by prayer and faith in God was feeding 2100 orphans daily. He solicited no one and told only the Lord of the daily needs. Only born again Christians were accepted for service in the Institution, and their care of the orphans was spiritual as well as material. Many of the children were won to Christ each year.

The Scriptural Knowledge Institution also was instrumental in sending missionaries, Bibles, and Gospel literature around the world. The various schools operated by the Institution matriculated over 121,000 students with thousands of them receiving Christ while there. The Institution distributed almost 300,000 Bibles in many different languages. In addition to one and one-half million New Testaments, 163 missionaries were sent out and/or supported, and over 111,000,000 tracts were distributed. In all, God poured out in response to the faith and prayers of George Mueller in a period of 63 years over $7,500,000.00, which he wisely and prayerfully distributed in the spreading of the Gospel.

Mueller read the Bible through over 200 times, half of that on his knees, where he claimed the promise, “Open wide thy mouth, and I will fill it.” He spent his last 17 years touring the world, telling of the blessing of a life of faith. He died at the age of 93, leaving an estate valued at less than one thousand dollars, for he had given back to the Institute almost one-half million dollars of the personal gifts he had received during 70 years of ministry.