- Jim Elliot,
Just read that today, on January 8, 1956, Jim Elliot and his four missionary friends were killed by five Auca Indians of Ecuador as they were trying to bring the gospel to the tribe.
Four young wives lost husbands and nine children lost their fathers. Elisabeth Elliot wrote that the world called it a nightmare of tragedy. Then she added, “The world did not recognize the truth of the second clause in Jim Elliot’s credo:
On this day in 1985, the Chicago Bears released the famous “Super Bowl Shuffle,” a memorable song about their hopes of winning the NFL championship. The song proved to be true as the Bears would roll through the playoffs, culminating in a 46-10 victory over New England in Super Bowl XX. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
GALLERY: Rare Photos of the 1985 Bears
The first Super Bowl that I really remember thanks to the Bears Super Bowl Shuffle video. Still don’t like the Bears.
In I Am A Follower, Leonard Sweet *re-defines” what leadership in the Church should be and challenges the Church to listen to the Spirit of God over the business/leadership principles.
Read it. It’s easy to love the spirit of a book when you feel like the author is putting words to what you’ve been feeling. Unlike Sweet though, I have yet to thoroughly formalize what those thoughts are. The premise of I Am A Follower asks the question: “Is this what Christ called the Church to be?” without crossing over to an all out criticism of the Church which is very popular these days.
While challenging and thought provoking I found myself wanting some concrete examples of this new followership. Ironically I know that somewhat defeats the purpose of Sweet is saying in “join the dance of the Spirit…let the Spirit draw us in.” I know this type of book can be tough to swallow in our modern day interpretaion of how we do church and leadership. Sweet is calling the Church to pay attention and look again to Scripture to what it really means to follow Christ.
Unfortuntately I know some will want to throw out the entire premise of the book because they are married to their leadership principles. I would suggest every “leader” and every “follower” read I Am A Follower and allow the Spirit to lead you into some new areas of fruitfulness, no matter what you may think of this new/ancient paradigm.
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