Summer 1986

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After a year of parish ministry, most pastors are ready for a vacation; after a decade, a sabbatical looks grand. After a lifetime in churches, many are ready for a good, long rest.

Robert Boyd Manger is ready for more.

Half a century after ordination, Bob Manger-Presbyterian pastor, seminary professor, author of My Heart: Christ's Home, and elder-statesman of the church-still enjoys ministry. Young ministers seek his counsel and many older pastors model their ministry after his.

What has kept the twinkle in his eye and the devotion in his heart? LEADERSHIP contributing editor Don Bubna interviewed Manger to find out.

What led you into the ministry?

I never had a clear call into the ministry. It was more being confronted by the reality of the one in whom I believed.

Although I was raised in the church by godly parents, it didn't seem to take with me. It wasn't until late in college, after a summer as a deck hand billeted in a freighter's forecastle with hardened old salts, that I realized there must be more to life than living for animal appetites and creature comforts.

At a Mount Hermon youth conference I opened my heart to Christ. But I didn't know beans about the gospel and got into drinking with fraternity buddies. Finally during a summer on grounds crew at Mount Hermon, the thought hit me: Do I really believe Christ is alive? And is he Lord? If so, I'd be stupid if I didn't take him seriously. So I began to.

After a year at Moody Bible Institute, Bob transferred to Princeton Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1936. His first call was to the South Hollywood Presbyterian Church, a neighborhood church on the border of Los Angeles and Hollywood. He remained there nine years.

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