Joseph McRae Mellichamp, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Management Science
The University of Alabama
“The trouble with Christianity is that most Christians are on the take.”
I heard a speaker say this at a conference in Colorado years ago. He was a street-wise businessman from New York. When asked to explain his remark, he said, “In my experience, too many Christians are only in interested in what Christianity can do for them, and not enough Christians are interested in what they can do for the cause of Christ in the world.”
It Isn’t Meeting My Needs
Recently a professor remarked that he was no longer attending our weekly meeting of the Christian Faculty Forum at Georgia Tech because “The Forum just isn’t meeting my needs.”
I thought, how can someone be so far off the mark? Our purpose is not to be a little huddle in which we are focused inwardly on our own needs, but a visionary group which is focused outwardly on the needs of students and colleagues who are facing a Godless eternity apart from Jesus. Our Faculty Forum celebrated its 10th anniversary at Tech last year. Some highlights:
1999. Instrumental in planning the satellite broadcast of the William Lane Craig vs. Peter Adkins debate: 50 U.S. campuses with an estimated audience over 25,000 people.
2000. First annual “How to Make Tenure” workshop conducted.
2003. Copy of the Tenure booklet mailed to every new professor every year.
2004. Six Tech professors and four Faculty Commons staff members in Poland for a week presenting 50 technical and ministry talks in 25 academic and technical institutions in seven cities to a combined audience of 4,000 people!
We Often Lose Sight
Any of us who has been involved with the group for any length of time at all has had numerous opportunities to participate with the group in having a profound impact on many lives. So how is it possible that a Christian professor at Tech could remark that “the group isn’t meeting my needs?” Here’s how: when we take our eyes off Jesus and get them on ourselves and our own concerns and interests, we often lose sight of that to which He has called us.
In John 21:1-19, John tells us that after the crucifixion he, Peter, and five other disciples returned to Galilee. I believe Peter was tired—tired of being involved, tired of ministry. He just wanted to be left alone to do his own thing. So he had gone back to his old habits and his old haunts to lick his wounds and to nurse his bruised ego after his betrayal of Jesus.
After breakfast together, Jesus drew Peter aside and asked him a simple question which changed Peter’s life. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” I believe “these” here refers to the occupation and implements of fishing which were all about them. Jesus was asking Peter if he loved Him more than his occupation—more than the boats, the nets, and the thrill of a large catch of fish. Peter answered, “Yes.” To which Jesus replied, “Tend My lambs.”
Time On The Seashore
The fact that Peter answered the call of Jesus in such a magnificent way is testimony to the transforming power of the person of Jesus. Peter spent time on the seashore fellowshipping with Jesus and the other disciples. These moments together with Jesus and his fellow disciples renewed Peter’s vision. He went from Galilee to the world and is still exerting an influence for Jesus nearly 2,000 years later.
What about you? Do you love Jesus more than the books, more than the lectures, more than the thrill of landing a big research contract? If your answer is “yes,” Jesus is calling you to be a giver. He wants to involve you in reaching students and colleagues with His story and impacting your university and your discipline for His Kingdom. Jesus understood the difference between givers and takers. In Mark 10:45, He tells us, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
I know of no better way to become a giver than to roll up our sleeves and join together with our Christian colleagues in ministering to our campuses and our disciplines in Jesus’ name.
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(c) 2008 Joseph McRae Mellichamp Used by permission of Faculty Commons