Races aren't necessarily won by the first runner out of the blocks. Winners are determined at the finish line.

Ministry is also judged not on short bursts but the total impact of a life. As one minister confessed: "I fear lest I end badly." What are the keys to endurance, to breaking the tape after a lifetime of effective ministry?

One pastor who has maintained a vigorous ministry for twenty-three years is Ben Haden. After earning a law degree from Washington & Lee University, owning an independent gasoline distributorship, and serving in the Central Intelligence Agency during the Korean War, Haden became the general manager of a daily newspaper in Kingsport, Tennessee-until he was converted and entered Columbia Theological Seminary at age thirty-four.

At graduation, he became pastor of Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida. In 1966, he was chosen to be speaker on "The Bible Study Hour," a weekly radio program originating in Philadelphia ...