A good friend of mine, JR Briggs (lead pastor and cultural cultivator of The Renew Community), shared some words that Eugene Peterson wrote. JR and I serve on the board of Ecclesia together and he rapidly has become someone that I respect and whose company I enjoy. He grew up in the Charlottesville VA area, which has created some tension as I attended Va. Tech, he also is a pipe-smoker which I personally consider an unnecessary ostentation and labor intensive. Beyond that, he is a good guy. 
Eugene Peterson shared these words that we can always deconstruct based on local church practice, or theological nuance. But I don’t think that is the point. I think the point is that we just hear them and be humbled by them.
“The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered
before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities one of the sinners is called pastor and is given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God.”
-Eugene Peterson
“Jim, you have written a wonderful book! I am very, very proud of you!”
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