Issue No. 612 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting introduces a must-read book with a BHAG for 2033—and powerful stories about “the power of one.” Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), and click here for more book reviews. Also, read my recent review of The Transformational Leader. Bonus! Read Bill Butterworth’s color commentary in this week’s blog, “Suspicious Minds,” by Elvis Presley, in our toe-tapping feature, Johnny Be Good.
Billy Wilson’s important book, The Power of One, begins with the true story of a World War II conscientious objector who saves soldier’s lives—one at a time. Mel Gibson directed the Oscar-winning movie that tells this young medic’s story. View the trailer for Hacksaw Ridge.
You gotta love a book—with a BHAG—that ignites your heart in the very first paragraph of Chapter 1. The author opens with Hacksaw Ridge, the 2016 Oscar-winning movie directed by Mel Gibson that chronicles the true story of a young medic, Desmond Doss (1919-2006), in the World War II Battle of Okinawa. This loyal American solder, although a Seventh-day Adventist conscientious objector, persuaded the U.S. Army to let him serve as a battlefield medic armed with God and guts, but no rifle. (View the movie trailer. The movie is R-rated due to wartime brutality.)
Ignoring the order to fall back on May 5, 1945 (“Full retreat! Get to the cliff!”), Doss viewed the thousands of wounded men on the battlefield and instead of retreating to safety down a 500-foot cliff, he saved a soldier’s life. Then he prayed, “Lord, help me get one more.” So he rescued one more, and then as Billy Wilson writes, he prayed again:
“’Lord, help me get one more.’
And then again.
And again.
And again.
And again….
‘One more. I’ll risk it all for one more. Even if I die, Lord, help me get one more.’”
Whoa! This is a powerful book and the tribute to Desmond Doss (who was awarded the Medal of Honor and other awards) sets the stage for this faith-based call for unity with a mission, written by the president of Oral Roberts University.
Reaching Every Person on Earth
by Billy Wilson
Note: While Jim Collins popularized the term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), I prefer the term Big HOLY Audacious Goal. And while Billy Wilson doesn’t use either term in his book—trust me—it’s a BHAG!
The author is part of Empowered21, “a relational network that God birthed in 2010 to help shape the future of the Spirit-empowered movement.” Wilson says that the network met in 2013 and asked a bold question: “What is something we can do that is so big, no single denomination or network of ministries can do it by themselves?” And also this: “What will keep us at the table together for a long time?” The answer:
would have an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ
through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit…by Pentecost 2033.”
Yet—get this! A few months after the network had adopted this “big vision,” Billy Wilson attended a Planetshakers Worship Night at a church on the outskirts of Manila in the Philippines. (What a great name for an event! You’d have to go, right?) That evening, he didn’t know a soul at that church where “Filipino teenagers were screaming, yelling, singing, worshiping, and having a blast.” Yet, one of the leaders “took the microphone and stopped the concert” and pointed to Wilson: “Sir, you, there in the red shirt.”
The leader continued, “I’ve never met you. I don’t know who you are or where you are from, but God just told me to speak to you for a minute.” Wilson writes that this leader’s first statement was simply, “God is saying you’re thinking too small.”
Imagine! You’ve just been on holy ground with Christ-followers from around the world—drafting a 2033 vision statement that includes “every person on earth”—and a stranger at a Planetshakers Worship Night in Manila tells you to think bigger! (This reminded me of the classic, Your God Is Too Small: A Guide for Believers and Skeptics Alike, by J.B. Phillips.)
The “everyONE” metaphors in the book are memorable: Hacksaw Ridge, the prodigal son, the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the force and influence of one person.
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven-Life, writes in the foreword: “Just as Jesus explained that the Good Shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep safe to go after the one sheep that is lost, The Power of One explains why and how each of us can do our part in reaching everyone with the Good News that they matter to God, Christ’s died for them, and that He wants them in His family forever!”
I won’t spoil the journey for you, but this short book is both inspiring and convicting. Examples:
• “The Butterfly Effect” across generations: From D.L. Moody’s Sunday school teacher in 1855, to F.B. Meyer, to Wilbur Chapman, to Billy Sunday, to Mordecai Ham in 1934, to a 16-year-old young man, Billy Graham. (Chapter 3 is must-read! View the video.)
• The power of “supernatural synergy” (Jesus sent disciples out two by two.)
• Steve Moore: “The Great Commission is too big for anyone to accomplish alone and too important not to try to do together.” (See The Top Ten Leadership Conversations in the Bible.)
IMAGINE…if at the conclusion of the Russia/Ukraine war (we pray), we would hear of a story similar to Jacob DeShazer (1912-2008), one of the Doolittle Raiders in WW2 that bombed Nagoya, but was captured. Entering the war as an atheist, DeShazer persuaded a Japanese guard to loan him a Bible. He was converted and returned to Japan in 1948 as a missionary. But there’s more!
Japanese Captain Mitsui Fuchida, “who led the first wave of Japanese bombers in the attack on Pearl Harbor, became a Christian in 1950 after reading I Was a Prisoner of Japan, a tract about Jacob DeShazer. They became friends and "in 1959, DeShazer moved to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the same city he had bombed in 1942.” Whew!
Note: Read the 1950 book, The Amazing Story of Sergeant Jacob DeShazer, by C. Hoyt Watson. How ironic! Billy Wilson, president of ORU, inspires us with DeShazer’s story. The full book on DeShazer was written by another college president, C. Hoyt Watson (1888-1969), who led Seattle Pacific College (now SPU) from 1926-1959. (DeShazer attended SPC, which is also my alma mater.)
THERE’S MORE: In 1942, Cameron Townsend (1896-1982) founded Wycliffe Bible Translators, “one of the world’s most significant missionary forces.” Read another powerful example of “The Power of One” in Wilson’s book. Townsend served more than 60 years in Latin America!
In 1934, Townsend launched “Camp Wycliffe,” a linguistic training program named after John Wycliffe, the first translator of the entire Bible into English. Billy Wilson writes that he, too, loves the Christian camping movement. Don’t skip his story in Chapter 5 about bringing baseball bats to a camp in India and the staff’s encounter with a seriously-large rat!
USE ME ANYWAY! I was struck with Wilson’s list of Bible characters that God used “despite their weaknesses and struggles.” They echoed Isaiah’s example, “I’ll go. Send me!”—but due to their imperfections, they responded, “Here am I, use me anyway!”
• “Abraham was too old.”
• “Jeremiah was too young.”
• “Elijah was suicidal.”
• “Joseph had been abused.”
• “Job went bankrupt.”
• “Moses stuttered.”
• “Gideon had low self-esteem.”
• “Samson had a problem with women.”
• “Rahab was a prostitute.”
• “Hosea had an immoral wife.”
• “Peter lacked moral courage under pressure.”
• “And Paul persecuted the church and lived with a thorn in the flesh.”
Hmmm. Maybe God can use us—and our imperfections. Don’t skip Chapter 6, “A New Era of Evangelism” and Wilson’s hopeful view. He’s a cheerleader for biblical unity, but notes, “…while unity is relational in scope, it must be missional in intent.” He adds, “After years of experience convening Christian leaders, I have discovered that relational networks deteriorate unless they have a united mission.”
“Without His presence and the work of the Holy Spirit, our attempts at unity are futile and limited to human ingenuity.” I loved this line: “God’s glory is the rest of the story.” Amen.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Power of One: Reaching Every Person on Earth, by Billy Wilson. And thanks to Paul Palmer who asked the author to send me a review copy.
• Vision Statement: “Our vision over the next 25 years for Ireland is that: The Kingdom of God becomes UNAVOIDABLE in every sphere of Irish life.”
• Mission Statement: “The mission is what EAI will seek to do every day to move closer to the vision: To mobilise evangelicals into engagement with society.” What do you appreciate about the vision statement?
2) Calvinists who read The Power of One might initially discount Billy Wilson’s thoughtful critique of the “TULIP” doctrine. “At times,” Wilson writes, “it has dulled the church’s effectiveness.” Before you push back, maybe follow Charlie Munger’s approach: “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything unless I know the other side’s argument better than they do.” Can you articulate the five key themes in Calvinism's doctrine of salvation in the Bible (pro and con)?
Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 15: Feeble Faith and Flabby Worship
Book #82 of 100: Knowing God
For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #82 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.
Knowing God
by J.I. Packer
Books #82 through #86 spotlight five soul-strengthening books to connect you with the God of the Universe. Here’s Packer: “When you start reading Luther, or Edwards, or Whitefield, though your doctrine may be theirs, you soon find yourself wondering whether you have any acquaintance at all with the mighty God whom they knew so intimately.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Knowing God
• Listen on Libro (10 hours).
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).
Oh, my. Pick any page in this beloved book—and you’ll need to pause and pray. J.I. Packer (1926-2020) writes, “But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack: and that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern people, and modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God.”
Bonus! Listen to this three-minute opening of Chapter 2, “The People Who Know Their God.”
Song #23 of 45: “Suspicious Minds”
Listen to “Suspicious Minds,” by Elvis Presley, Song #23 of 45 in our blog series, Johnny Be Good. Read Bill Butterworth’s color commentary—and his “almost” moment with the King of Rock and Roll! You’ll love it! Reminder: Guest bloggers invited! More info here.
Remembering Pat Clements
Read my tribute to Pat Clements (1945-2024) and the many ways his faithful leadership (and practical tools) served other leaders in the U.S. and globally (including me). I'm so grateful.
FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2024, while space remains, The Barnabas Group/San Diego is hosting John Pearson for his workshop, "The 4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board: How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance." Location: Encinitas, Calif. Register here. ____________________________________
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