Someone who shaped my life in my early years of ministry was the late Dr. Howard Hendricks, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.

I just received a brand-new book entitled, The Influential Mentor: How the Life and Legacy of Howard Hendricks Equipped and Inspired a Generation of Leaders by Maina Mwaura (Moody Publishers).

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Dr. Hendricks:

“We cannot impart what we do not possess.”

“A mist in the pulpit is a fog in the pew.”

“You teach what you know, but you reproduce what you are.”

“The mark of spiritual maturity is not how much you understand, but how much you use. In the spiritual realm, the opposite of ignorance is not knowledge but obedience.”

“Every disciple needs three types of relationships in his life. He needs a ‘Paul’ who can mentor him and challenge him. He needs a ‘Barnabas’ who can come alongside and encourage him. And he needs a ‘Timothy,’ someone he can pour his life into.”

“You are able to do many things. But be sure you find the one thing you must do.”

“Eighty-five percent of spirituality is a good night’s sleep.”

“God is not looking for more stars; He’s looking for more servants.”

“You can impress people at a distance, but you can impact them only up close.”

“Experience is not the best teacher; evaluated experience is.”

“Learning is change. If you haven’t changed, you haven’t learned. Just because you can put it on paper or because you can recite it doesn’t mean it’s yours. It’s not yours until you change.”

“Character must always precede communication.”

“It’s the leverage of your life that’s going to make the greatest impact.”

“Scripture wasn’t given to make us smarter sinners, but to make us more like Jesus.”

“Knowledge that is self-discovered is stored in the deepest part of the mind and remains the longest in the memory. There is no jewel more precious than that which you have mined yourself.”

“The two things that will influence your life more than anything else are 1) the people you know and spend time with and 2) the books you read.”

“We cannot take people where we have not been or are unwilling to go ourselves.”

“If you stop learning, you stop leading. Leaders are life-long learners.”