Welcome back to my interview with Bill Kittrell, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church of Knoxville (TN). Read part one of the interview here and part two here.
Bill, what single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your leadership?
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. (John Piper)
Only the humble can see evidence of grace in those in need of correction. (C.J.)
“Am I now seeking the favor of God or of men? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)
Christians need the gospel every day after their conversion. (Jerry Bridges)
Where in ministry are you most regularly tempted to discouragement?
The leadership of my pastoral team. Though they are the finest men I know—and their wives are wonderful wives and mothers—I often feel I do not serve them effectively and fail to provide the kind of leadership and care I think they should receive.
Do you exercise? If so, what do you do? If not, why not? (Please be specific.)
Yes. Usually 5 days a week. Three times per week I do 50 minutes on my elliptical machine. Twice per week I do a perfect pushup routine / Navy SEAL total body workout. I also have a road bike I ride when the weather is nice.
Keep in mind that I am the best athlete in Sovereign Grace Ministries (besides Mickey Connolly, who is too old to do much now).
For readers not familiar with Sovereign Grace, this answer is a form of taunting me, and not intended to encourage Mickey. Truth be told, both Bill and Mickey are envious of my athletic ability. Please pray for these men, that they be content with their own measure of gifting and rejoice with those who are more gifted.
Currently, what sport do you like to play and/or watch?
I play golf more than anything and b-ball when I can.
I watch all things that are Big and Orange, i.e., the University of Tennessee / Knoxville (with one exception I won’t mention). I especially like football and men’s b-ball. I also like NCAA football and b-ball in general, the NFL, and major championship golf, or any tournament where my man Phil Mickelson is playing.
What do you do for leisure?
Like all good disciples I fish (John 21:3) and (more importantly) I fly fish. This is how Norman Maclean begins his book, A River Runs Through It:
In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ’s disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.
If you were not in ministry, what occupational path would you have chosen?
I received a degree in Forestry because I would have liked to have been a naturalist in a national park, etc., explaining God’s wonderful creation to guys like C.J., who couldn’t tell the difference between a ponderosa pine and a mule deer.
Laugh out loud funny (and sadly true). Thanks for the interview, my friend.