Over the months to come, I will post some of the notes I’ve taken from Dr. Rogers through the years from personal times with him and conferences I’ve had the privilege to be in under his leadership.  He was a “bigger-than-life” Christian to so many of us.  He wrote a recommendation for me in my first church plant in Franklin, Tennessee that will be a lifetime-keeper.  All of his personal letters to me I still have.  He was a model leader, preacher, and family man. I remember as a 27 year-old pastor, driving up to Memphis with my good pastor friends John Cross, Larry Wilson, and Terry Fields to spend an afternoon with this Christian legend.  We were all eager to hear from him and we were not disappointed.  We all asked him many questions that day, but one answer that has stuck out to me all these years was this: “Men, lead with an iron fist, but always wear a velvet glove.”  I’ve never forgotten that sentence.  He invited us to share a meal in his personal dining room that night and our lives were never the same!  Through the years, I would see him at events, conferences, or even in the elevator, and I would always re-introduce myself.  I never wanted him to be put in an awkward position of having to remember so many names around the world.  He always responded so graciously, “I know who you are.”   I’ll never forget the last time I talked to him and saw him outside a hotel at the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.  He had just been diagnosed with cancer and I felt compelled to ask him, “Dr. Rogers, are you discouraged at all?”  He said, “I plan on beating this thing.”  He did, but not according to our earthly hope, but to a heavenly promotion.  He beat the cancer, for sure, right on into the presence of The Almighty.  Toward the end of his life, Dr. Rogers invited 50 pastors to Memphis to attend his inaugural “Pastor Training Institute” conference and I was blessed to be a part of it.  Many of the quotes you’ll read over the coming days will be from that conference.  This up-close and personal gathering would be one of his last.  His inspiration and motivation lives on in my life as we begin a new chapter planting a new church.  Thank you, Dr. Rogers, for the memories!