You Jus’ Like Us

He spent part of Christmas in heaven. At the conclusion of my Interim Pastorate in an East Texas town, Frank said to me, “Bro. Dan, I didn’t think I was gonna like havin’ a Seminary Professor for an Interim Pastor, but you know what? You just like us.” To this day, several Interim Pastorates later, it is one of my most treasured compliments. There is a sense in which leadership needs distance between leader and led, but there is a far greater sense in which, if you can’t be like ‘em, you can’t lead ‘em. In reality there was a world of difference between Frank and I – educationally, socio-ecconomically, politically, personally – but somehow we had enough in common, for him to pay me a great compliment. I wonder how Frank liked heaven upon arrival. First impressions often change, but I suspect one of these days, Frank will walk up to Jesus and say, “You know what Lord, you just like me.” In that moment, he will be both correct and incorrect. It is that tension, between difference and likeness that makes for effective leadership and followship. Perhaps the most unique man in the New Testament (other than Jesus) said it this way: “I have become all things to all men’ (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Join me this week in praying for the following global concerns:
• Pray for Lori in Mali who is suffering from possible Malaria.
• Pray for Steve & Miranda and Keith & Cindy as both couples return to Macau in January after a stateside assignment.
• Pray for Kathy in Sydney, Australia. Last week she had an episode of dizziness with excessive heart rate.
• Pray for Gary as he provides ongoing theological and leadership training in the Debrecen area of Eastern Hungary.