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Christian Leadership by Maxie Dunnam

Speaking to God for the people, Speaking to the people for God

When this book was published in 2019, Maxie D. Dunnam was eighty-four years old and still active in ministry, serving as Minister at Large at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He answered the call to preach when he was seventeen and preached all his life. As he put it, “I still feel I’m doing what I was created to do.”

Dunnam provides a “life-giving truth”: verbalizing something gives it a reality that is not there until the word is spoken.

He explained that at seventeen, the notion of preparing to become a preacher had tumbled around in his mind for months. Then, when he could think of nothing else for several weeks, he told his pastor, “I think I’m being called to preach.” As Dunnam recalled, his pastor had a wry, telling smile, but his smile that day was more telling than it could have ever been before. “I know,” he said, “I’ve just been waiting for you to acknowledge it.” Those words gave solid substance to Dunnam’s struggle; and when his pastor asked, “Are you going to answer?”

Dunnam responded, “I said yes, my calling became real.”

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It’s the Last Words That Reveal the Most

Consider Winston Churchill’s wit – “I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.”

Or Leonardo da Vinci’s perfectionism – “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.”

Or General James Sedgewick’s pride as he ignored the pleas from his soldiers not to climb a parapet during the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War – “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist…”

Or Amelia Earheart’s courage when she wrote her last letter to her husband – “Please know that I am quite aware of the hazards. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.”

If you could hear the last words from the wisest man who ever lived, would that peak your interest? What would he say is the key to a life well lived?

It’s the last words that reveal the most.

Click here to hear The Preacher start his final speech (from Ecclesiastes 12:9-11)