Do you work with humble servants?

by Doug Nichols

Let me share two stories of servant leadership:

ACTION USA Director, Rex Lee Carlaw, had just returned from several weeks of ministry in Latin America. He was, of course, tired from many meetings, travel, and now was faced with a huge backlog of mission correspondence with many items needing his attention. However, a friend of his was in need as his elderly father needed assistance going through security at the Seattle airport. Rex received special permission from the airlines to aid this elderly gentleman, so he took off an entire morning to help this man through the check-in for his flight, baggage, security, and on to the plane.

I thought later, “What a tremendous example! This is the kind of friend I would like to be.” Even with a heavy work load, much to accomplish, people to see and telephone, and team members to care for, Rex still took time off to help a friend in need.

I share office space with Nelson Reed, ACTION’s International Director. Most of the time, we are not in the office at the same time because of our various ministries and travels, so this “office sharing” works quite well for us. When we are in the office at the same time and he has a meeting or receives a private phone call, it is quite easy for me to work elsewhere in the building, even the store room, as I dictate correspondence through a voice recorder. I do not use a computer well, so my assistants type my correspondence from recorded mini cassettes onto a computer. However, it is not as easy for Nelson to leave the office as he does his own correspondence on his computer.

Something happened recently that displayed once again what a humble man Nelson is. He told me he would be leaving the office around 3 PM for several appointments, and I would be able to work in the office alone, so at 3 PM I was ready to do some dictation, and Nelson left. After about one hour, I came out of the office and saw Nelson at another small desk working on his notebook computer. He had remembered he had several other things to do which he had not taken care of. I thought, “Here is our International Director moving to a small work station outside his office to work on international matters not wanting to disturb me and my work.” What a humble servant to inconvenience himself not wanting to bother another brother’s work in ministry!

You may say these are very simple incidents. If they are, then why don’t many of us do simple things like these more often? They are wonderful examples to follow.