DEVOTIONAL by Dave Korb
  
To begin I must share an anecdote. In last month’s devotional about “Jesus and the Towel,” I concluded with a story about my father. After I had submitted the piece to Suzanne for editing, I changed my mind and decided to replace that story with one by Jimmy Carter, which I’ve used below. Suzanne read my revision and encouraged me to keep the original story. I decided to listen to her advice, commenting that now at least I’d have my illustration in place for the following month, and all I’d need to do would be find a passage of Scripture to go along with it. Suzanne then asked me if that’s the way I teach students in my homiletics classes to build their sermons! :) No comment!

Given the leanings of my thoughts lately (and still convinced of the worth of the reserved story) I’ve decided I’m not yet done with the passage from last time, in which Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. I’d like to illustrate this event in the life of Christ with the story but also with a book.

The book is Jesus on Leadership, by C. Gene Wilkes, a great tome on biblical leadership principles. Pastor Wilkes writes, “After seeking to understand the elements of Jesus’ leadership style, I sought out timeless principles that described how Jesus led and that could be applied to my needs as a leader among God’s people. Here are seven observations I discovered that describe how Jesus led as a servant: (1) Jesus humbled himself and allowed God to exalt him. (2) Jesus followed his Father’s will rather than sought a position. (3) Jesus defined greatness as being a servant and being first as becoming a slave. (4) Jesus risked serving others because he trusted that he was God’s Son. (5) Jesus left his place at the head table to serve the needs of others. (6) Jesus shared responsibility and authority with those he called to lead. (7) Jesus built a team to carry out a worldwide vision.”

Which of the seven speaks to your heart? Number 5 gets me right between the eyes. I know the draw of the head table. I love to sit at the head table. I love to hear that I am a person of value, and the head table says that to me. I know too well the pull of “head table mentality.” But we all know that what we need is a leader who will leave the head table to serve in the kitchen. We need a leader who will put aside his or her personal agenda and respond to the cries of the group. We must be those who push aside head table mentality, leaving the place of so-called honor, to reside at the place of real honor with those on the main floor. We cannot allow the head table to replace the towel and wash basin as the symbol of how God has called us to serve.

The story comes from Jimmy Carter’s book An Hour Before Daylight. Carter writes, “In the frequent and sometimes extended absence of my mother, who was nursing, and my father, who was busy during the day with his varied farming and business pursuits…my childhood world was really shaped by black women. …Of all the people who lived near us on the farm, Rachel Clark was the most remarkable and made the most significant and lasting impact on me. …Rachel was the one who taught me how to fish in the creeks that drained our land, and on our long walks together, sometimes as much as five miles from our home, she would tell me about the flora and fauna around us and let me know that God expected us to take good care of His creation. Much more than my parents, she talked to me about the religious and moral values that shaped a person’s life, and I listened to her with acute attention. Without seeming to preach, she taught me how I should behave.”

I wonder if Rachel had any idea she was shaping a president. I wonder if she knew when she talked to this young lad about Jesus that she was talking to one who would someday sit in the Oval Office. Do you think she knew? Of course she didn’t—but she did know that he was white and she was black. She did know that she was getting the short end of the stick, and that she was not being treated fairly by this boy’s “kind.” However, she also knew Jesus, and it is evident in her actions that her knowledge of Jesus won out because she did not allow this other stuff to keep her from serving in the way she could—reaching out to the one who was placed right in her path.

As Pastor Wilkes advocates in Jesus on Leadership, we need to bring back the towel and the wash basin. Writes Wilkes, “We who lead often overlook that the true place of Christlike leadership is out in the crowd rather than up at the head table.”

STRATEGIC MINISTRY AMONG CHURCHES
Recently you should all have received an e-mail with a note from Bruce Swanson and an attached document entitled “Strategic Ministry Among Churches.” (If you had trouble downloading or viewing the attachment, it can be found on our website here.) This booklet was put together in response to feedback from missionaries at RC 2005, who expressed their interest in connecting with churches through strategic ministry. The ideas listed came from the area directors as well as International Ministry, churches, and your fellow missionaries. The length and breadth of this project is meant not to overwhelm you, but instead to offer a well of concrete and creative ways to add value to and build relationship with the local church.

We recently came across a list of missions trends compiled by David Mays of ACMC that seems to underscore the necessary move toward this kind of relationship between the missionary and the local church. Allow us to share some of the observations Mays has made:
 

Missions the way IT USED TO BE Missionaries... - are called to a geographical location - speak in churches and people automatically give $$$ - send out prayer letters - are heroes on a pedestal The Church... - is loyal to the mission agency - doesn't ask too many questions - is satisfied with a once-every-four- years visit - frequently allows a missionary a Sunday service to preach The People... - give $$$ out of duty, obligation, and loyalty - have a strong missions tradition - believe missions is "over there"

Missions the way IT IS Missionaries... - are called to a strategic ministry or people group - build relationships and people join their team - send e-mail, voice mail, digital pix, videos - are equal fellow-members of the local body The Church... - is loyal to its own purposes - desires strong accountability - wants large participation during home service - rarely gives a missionary a Sunday service to preach The People... - give $$$ out of impact, results, and relationships - have little or no specific missions tradition - believe missions is everywhere

Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions
by Peter Kreeft © 1990 Servant Publications 218 pages
Reviewed by David Korb

If you’ve been audience to my book reviews for some time, you’ve probably gathered that Dr. Peter Kreeft is one of my favorite authors. A professor of philosophy at Boston College, a believer, and a deep thinker about the issues facing our times, in this volume he cuts to the heart of our responsibility to make choices, examining how these choices should be made and our duty to choose well. This book was written in 1990, but is just as relevant today as it was when I first read it a decade ago. Kreeft tackles questions like, Are there any moral absolutes? Can you live a good life without living a Godly life? and If you can be moral without believing in God, why believe?

Dallas Willard remarks of this book, “In Making Choices, [Kreeft] describes why we find decision-making so difficult and living with our choices even harder. With perpetrating wisdom, good humor, and common sense, Peter Kreeft draws a map through the everyday jungle of moral choices, one simple enough for the believer and convincing enough for the skeptic.”

J.I. Packer adds, “This book clears a straight road through the thorny jungle of skewed modern thinking about the way to live, and so with the easy brilliance, impish insight, and searching simplicity that have become Peter Kreeft’s special trademarks.”

Dr. Kreeft writes with Biblical clarity and wisdom seasoned and fired by the Bostonian and academic cultures in which he lives. In reading Making Choices you will experience his passion for the truth and his willingness to ask and address the hard questions. This book is worth your time.

In the Likeness of God
by Dr. Paul Brand & Philip Yancey © 2004 Zondervan 552 pages
Reviewed by Suzanne Johnson

Published in tribute a year after Dr. Paul Brand’s death, In the Likeness of God combines the volumes Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and In His Image, both co-authored with Philip Yancey in the 1980s. Dr. Brand was a world-renowned and beloved hand surgeon and leprosy specialist; it is estimated his research on pain has helped prevent tens of thousands of amputations to date.

Drawing from a vast well of medical knowledge and experience, Brand here expounds in captivating yet understandable detail the intricacies of things such as cells, skin, blood, and pain, enlightening the reader to the depths and richness of the spiritual metaphors contained in the human body.

An excerpt from the section on skin and love shown through touch: “Touch can be secondhand, both in the human body and in the church. Touch corpuscles are located deep inside my skin, and the activities on the surface can indeed reverberate through other cells, conveying the sense of touch. I give to India through medical workers at the leprosy hospital there. They apply my love in person, and I expect from them a sensitive report on the results of that love. It is my responsibility to enter into their work by learning about them, reading their reports, and praying for them. As I pray for those cells on the front lines, I sense their pain and struggle. We can all keep contact with members of the Body overseas and use them as our own personal touch corpuscles.”

Another excerpt, this from the section on the Spirit and listening: “I like to imagine myself as one cell in such a body, for analogously that is the position of every Christian in the Body of Christ. I must admit, sometimes I chafe at being one cell. I might prefer being a whole body, or another kind of cell with a more significant role in Christ’s Body. But gradually I have learned to view myself as a very minor part of a great enterprise that will only work if directed by the Spirit of God, not by me or any other conjunction of human leaders.”

Each topic section—4 in Fearfully and Wonderfully Made and 5 in In His Image—can be read in one sitting and appreciated on its own. Taking in the whole of the two volumes together, however, will prompt the reader to a full and awe-filled understanding of what it really means to be “the Body of Christ.”