Life-Giving Choices by Lucinda Secrest McDowell

Author:Lucinda Secrest McDowell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Hope Publishers
Published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Day 33

Choose Deep

My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

—Colossians 2:6–7 The Message

Is your influence on others deep or wide?

Today’s culture extols the wide reach. For people in my profession, worth is measured by how many followers we have on social media and how many people come to speaking events or purchase books. Megachurches are often considered more significant than small country chapels.

The time and investment it takes to go deep in another person’s life—to have that kind of influence—is not so easily measured for the masses.

Leighton Ford was once a young man with incredible gifts of preaching and ministry, and so it was not at all surprising when he became a popular pastor, evangelist, and author. Married to Billy Graham’s sister, Jean, he partnered with other twentieth-century Christian leaders and had a wide influence through large crusades.

I was privileged that my very first job out of seminary was on the editorial staff of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, which Leighton also directed. I observed firsthand a man of devout faith and integrity. He and Jean were an encouragement to me when I was just getting started, trying to figure out God’s call on my life (and now in their eighties, they continue to be gracious). Leighton’s passion was for raising up leaders all around the world for kingdom work. And he did it well.

In the ensuing years I spent my ordinary days raising four children, serving with my husband in ministry, and writing articles and books. Leighton, meanwhile, buried his young adult son Sandy and began to reevaluate his own life. He released his responsibilities of the Lausanne Committee to others and decided to follow the nudge of the Holy Spirit in stepping out of the limelight and quietly investing in young men and women through spiritual mentoring.

In the midst of his own suffering, Leighton sensed God’s clarification on what was most important—not conventional success but work done quietly and without fanfare. He chose deep.

One of those young men he discipled reflected recently:

Even though Leighton’s new ministry was humble and obscure compared with his rock-star stadium evangelist status with the Billy Graham team, his original vision to make a difference in people’s lives has been fulfilled in a beautiful and unexpected way. Over the decades Leighton has continued to walk with a small number of people in a deeper way as “an artist of the soul and a friend on the journey.” And over time, the ripple effect of one dedicated life has been felt around the world, across generations, and into eternity. . . . His influence is deep and wide. And he is now at home in his own skin, truly content with his life and calling.

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