John Piper pleads with fellow pastors to abandon the the secularisation of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.

Pastors are being sidetracked by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is the not the mentality of the pastor. Why? Because it is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. It has nothing to do with the essence and heart of ministry.

The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake. There is no such thing as professional childlikeness, professional tender - heartedness and professional panting after God.

Brothers we are not professionals, we are aliens and and exiles in this world. Our citizenship is in heaven and you cannot professionalize the love for his appearing without killing it - and it is being killed.

The world sets the agenda of the professional man. God sets the agenda of the spiritual man. The only similarity between the two is that someone else is writing an agenda for you.

Senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota, John Piper is the author of many books and a respected conference speaker. He holds degrees from Wheaton College, Fuller Seminary and the University of Munich (Doctor of Theology). He is married to Noel and they have four sons and a daughter.