Friday, June 12, 2009

We Do Not Preach for Money


A selection from a letter by Rev. Daniel Baker to his close friend, Rev. John S. Galloway, pastor in Springfield, Ohio, about an invitation to leave his pastorate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for a ministry in Texas. He mentions that he was having some difficulties in his present situation because his salary was not paid promptly. Baker did shortly thereafter move to Texas and had a very fruitful ministry there. The letter was written July 15, 1839.

In an interview with Dr. John Breckinridge, some time since, he expressed a desire that I should go to Texas. He was pleased to say he thought I could do much good there; that I might organize a hundred churches, &c. What do you think of the scheme? My brother, I am in many respects pleasantly situated here, but my field of usefulness is not as large as I could wish it, and I am kept in a very unpleasant state on account of my salary not being promptly paid. We do not preach for money, and yet without it we cannot support our families, nor pay our debts.

Making Many Glad: The Life and Labours of Daniel Baker, by William M. Baker, first published in 1858, reprinted by the Banner of Truth, 2000, pp. 218-19.

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