A few weeks ago I polled my congregation on who they considered the most influential person in their faith journey. It was supposed to be a forced choice (they only could pick one) but many people wanted to put more than one and I went with it. I got 30 responses and the results were what I expected. Here's the list in descending order. Number of responses out of 30 is indicated in parentheses.
A parent (20)
Pastor (11)
Sunday School teacher (8)
Friend (4)
Grandparent (4)
Television preacher (3)
Spouse (3)
Church camp counselor (2)
1 vote each for: Sister, coworker, aunt & uncle, parachurch ministry, employer, cousin
I anticipated that parents would be the highest. The point of the sermon that morning was that parents play a key role in the faith journey of their children.
Biggest surprises: How highly pastors rated and how low church camp counselors were rated.
This was, of course, an unscientific survey of a very limited sample group. But the responses were consistent with statistics I've read on the subject (otherwise I would not have run the poll to prove my point!).
How about you, my virtual friends? Who has been the most influential person in matters spiritual? Let me know through the comment link below.
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