1+1: Small stone, big ripple + Emotionally Healthy Discipleship

Here’s one leadership idea and one resource I’ve found beneficial this week:

1 idea: Small stone, big ripple

Unless you’re a New Englander who was shopping for rugs in the 1850s, you probably don’t know the name Edward Kimball. Kimball was a Bostonian businessman in the mid-1800s who sold carpet during the week and taught Sunday School at Mount Vernon Congregational Church on the weekends. He was not a business mogul however, so few of us recognize his name today.

One of the young men in Kimball’s Sunday school class was Dwight. Dwight was a restless boy: he lost his father at age four, dropped out of school after fifth grade, and hated his small-town farm life. As a teenager, he moved to Boston to try and improve his life trajectory and convinced his uncle Samuel to give him a job at his shoe store. Uncle Sam hesitantly agreed on one condition: he had to attend church with him at Mount Vernon. He knew Dwight was likely to get in trouble, and he hoped the positive influence of church would curb his mischievous tendencies. That’s how he ended up in Edward Kimball’s Sunday School class.

One day, Kimball felt compelled to share the Gospel directly with Dwight, so he decided to go visit Samuel’s shoe store and talk to him there. But as he approached the store, he hesitated. This is going to be awkward, he thought. The other boys working there will probably tease Dwight if I talk to him. Maybe this is a bad idea.

Kimball paced outside the store as he debated what to do. Finally, he decided to dash in and get it over with. He found Dwight in the stockroom and shared what he thought was a very weak message—just something about how God loved him and wanted Dwight to love him in return. But to his surprise, the Gospel resonated with Dwight. Despite being around church for much of his life, he’d never heard this message before. In that moment, Dwight decided to follow Jesus.

That shoe store stockboy turned out to be D.L. Moody. Moody would go on to travel all over the world sharing the Gospel with thousands. This boy with a fifth-grade education would also start the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishing, impacting millions more.

Edward Kimball was a small stone by historical standards—yet his tiny act of faithfulness made a tremendous ripple. And his impact did not end there.

Years later when Moody was preaching, a pastor named Frederick B. Meyer was in attendance, and he was inspired to go on his own nationwide preaching ministry. During one of Meyer’s rallies, a college student named J. Wilbur Chapman heard him and accepted Christ. He went out and began to share the Gospel, and he employed a young baseball player named Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday ended up being the greatest evangelist of his generation, going on crusades all around the country.

One of Billy Sunday's evangelistic crusades was held in Charlotte, North Carolina. Afterward, a group of enthusiastic businessmen wanted to do more outreach in the area and asked another evangelist named Mordecai Ham to come and preach. During one of Ham's revival meetings, a young farm boy known to locals as Billy Frank gave his life to Christ. Today, we know Billy Frank by his given name, Billy Graham. And Graham has shared the Gospel directly with more people than anyone else in history.

You may never know the full impact of the choices you make today. That’s why faithfulness to your values and priorities is a better measure of success than short-term wins.

Remember, small stones can make big ripples.

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• What are the commitments you want to be faithful to no matter what?

• When does your focus on short-term “success” get in the way?

• What would need to change for you to be more faithful?

1 resource: Emotionally Healthy Discipleship

One of my top-five books of the last five years is Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Pete Scazzero. Scazzero argues that faithfulness, not success, is the mark of the genuine disciple of Jesus--an invaluable insight as I was preparing to introduce Humbler Leadership to the world.

If you want to know what whole-hearted pursuit of Christianity looks like--one that doesn't just change your beliefs but your values and emotional intelligence as well--then this book is a must-read.

PS: Was that a bump?