speed matters

as a part of my d.min project/dissertation i have been attempting to make contact with some rather large names within the CHRISTian ministerial world. i figure if i need to have other people involved in my work i might as well “shoot for the moon” with those i try to involve. right now i have plenty of time so there is no need for me to settle for adequate. i’ve been attempting to make contact with with several rather impressive experts within the field of homiletics and thus far i’ve run into two very different responses.

  • i wrote one pretty well know professor asking if he would consider being my faculty mentor. this is a rather large request. i knew i was asking a good bit of this guy. it would probably be too much and i was quite sure the answer would be “no.” still without asking i would never know for sure. so i emailed every email address i could find. these included his nobts email address, the church email address where he now pastors, several organizational email addresses for the organization he has started for spreading discipleship material, and even his old personal email address (at one time he did a few youth ministry things for me and thus i had what at least once was his personal email address). i emailed him a lot. in fact, i worried that i might be becoming a bit of a stalker – like my mom. 🙂 after 6 weeks i finally got my answer, which was the “no” that i thought i would probably receive. i just thought it would be faster than 6 weeks.

 

  • the opposite respond happened with dr. john stott’s organization. dr. stott’s writing, especially “between two worlds,” have had a strong influence on me and the way in which i preach. dr. stott is 90 years old and in pretty bad health so i was fairly sure that he wouldn’t be able to be a part of my project/dissertation but once again if you don’t ask you don’t know. so i email every organizational email address that i could find on his ministry’s website describing my project and specifically what i am asking dr. stott to consider. it took 25 minutes for the church relations director of john stott ministries to respond to my first email. unfortunately the answer was that due to his health dr. stott would not be able to participate in my d.min project. i wrote her back saying that i had assumed as much but i was still very grateful for their fast response. 24 minutes later the president of john stott ministries emailed me saying that my project topic sounds like something that fits the mission of the langham preaching program that john stott ministries encourages. he therefore recommended a colleague of dr. stott’s that might be of help. i was amazed. so i started to write this blog post to brag on them. while i was writing it i received another email from the president of john stott ministries with a connection to another individual that he thought might be of help. amazing.  true servants.

two very different responses. i hope i usually respond like those that dr. stott has around him. they are incredible.

One Reply to “speed matters”

  1. The responses you received from Dr. Stott's ministry are so cool. I was impressed by the preliminary project proposal you sent me, and I am really looking forward to reading your final presentation. I'm hoping mine will take off soon (if I can ever get someone to respond to my request for a faculty mentor).

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