Having served as a chaplain in two Pennsylvania State psychiatric hospitals for twenty-nine years, I was interested in reading the memoirs of hospital chaplain, Joan Paddock Maxwell’s, Soul Support: Spiritual Encounters at Life’s End. Maxwell chronicles her reminiscences and descriptions of the numerous experiences she faced as a chaplain from 1999 to 2011, in a Washington D.C. hospital. The majority of stories come from the edge of death, as she writes in the context of palliative and hospice care about what she learned in hospital chaplaincy situations. I realize that as I work with the most vulnerable persons in our society—those with mental health issues and struggles, I understood that the accounts she disclosed were an honest depiction of people at life’s end. After she related the personal stories with patients, she did not give answers to the situation but rather, allowed the reader to sit back and consider what and how they would react in the situation. In the structure of the book, the author shares a story and offers a reflection of the experience. Because of my involvement as a chaplain for many years, I then imagined and created my own consideration of the incident. Maxwell notes that she was an agnostic who eventually, through reflection and theological study, became a hospital chaplain. She speaks of God as the Mystery at work, and in that understanding, she relates what she experiences of God through peoples’ lives.

Joan Paddock Maxwell

The vignettes in her book are divided into three levels of understanding. One set of vignettes is under the title of listening. A second group of stories is designated under learning. The third group’s heading is called loving. At the conclusion of the writing is an appendix on surviving a hospital stay and assisting patients who are terminally ill. These three values of listening, learning, and loving are the core characteristics of the work which hospital chaplains serve, in the context of the ministry of presence. In being present with a person in that holy moment, one needs to earnestly listen, learn, and love a human being with the deepest depths of their being.

Maxwell quotes Psalm 88, a lament psalm, as a complaint to God. I believe that was an appropriate psalm to express the feelings of many people in these situations. At one point in the psalm we read,

O Lord, why do you cast me off?

Why do you hide your face from me?

Wretched and close to death from my youth up,

I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.

Reviewed by Cletus Hull

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/soul-support-spiritual-encounters-at-life-s-end.html

Study Bible Series

There has been a growing number of Study Bibles released in the last few years and Dony Donev is reviewing them along with some classic Study Bibles. Dr. Donev will be evaluating each of the Bibles by focusing on subjects such as the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit, free will and the security of the believer, as well as prophecy and eschatology.

John C. Maxwell, ed., Maxwell Leadership Bible, Revised and Updated edition (Thomas Nelson, 2007).

The Maxwell Leadership Bible has drawn lots of attention especially with the publication of John Maxwell’s new bestseller Sometimes You Win—Sometimes You Learn: Life’s Greatest Lessons Are Gained from Our Losses, which deconstructs the winning model of church leadership on a totally different level. We’ve used his study Bible through the years especially in cases of young ministers’ training and mentorship.

Instead of a page by page annotation, the Maxwell Bible setup contains inline articles and discussions on various leadership issues within the text. Over 100 biographical profiles of Biblical leaders and short articles are combined with the philosophy behind two other bestsellers on leadership by the author: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow.

John C. Maxwell

The Maxwell Bible is not oriented to be organized by doctrines. Therefore, there’s not much on eschatology and particularly little regarding either the Rapture or Tribulation. Nevertheless, the lessons from the Seven Churches of Revelation are abundantly annotated and worthy to be read privately or taught in a classroom setting, intended to be taken literary and applied to today’s ecclesial reality.

Joe Maxwell, “Martyred for the Message: We’ve forgotten how much blood was spilled so that we could read God’s Word” Charisma (Sept 2006), pages 38-40, 42-47.

A Thriller or Real Life?

Does this sound like an exciting book or movie? “A small group of radical extremists are publishing a book full of dangerous ideas. National governments and international religious groups search desperately for these peddlers of heresy and rebellion. Despite danger and hardship, the fanatics relentlessly push their version of truth on an unsuspecting world.”

It has often been said that the main difference between real life and fiction is that fiction has to be believable. Who would believe that the Christian church would oppose translating and publishing Scripture? Who would think that William Tyndale would be hunted as a heretic and martyred for making the Bible available in English?

The media elite will say you can’t make a movie or book about Tyndale’s life. The story just isn’t believable. No one would believe this as fiction.

Martyred For The Message

Joe Maxwell’s article recounts the life and times of Bible translators and publishers William Tyndale and John Wycliffe. Their work brought reform and revival to a Christian Church and world that practically ignored Jesus Christ. For their efforts, they were prosecuted and persecuted.

Tyndale’s martyrdom, and the desecration of Wycliffe’s grave, proves the disruptive nature of their work. They insisted, centuries apart, that Christian authority rest in unchanging Scripture, rather than fallible men. This radical theology made them the enemy of those who wear a crown or mitre.

As believers read Scripture for themselves the numerous corrupt practices and doctrinal errors in the Church and governments of their era became obvious. Those who profited from the status quo refused or resisted reform. Cheats and crooks called devout men heretics or traitors, then spilled their blood.

All too often, the blood of saints is a key ingredient in the formula for Bible ink. While salvation is free, the freight is costly. Sometimes that “transportation charge” is murder on the Godly man or woman who delivers Scripture to a lost soul.

Plow Boys As Theologians

Tyndale, who read and wrote 8 languages, was clearly a scholar. His actions mark him as more than just an intellectual. He relentlessly and boldly worked to bring the Bible to the common English man and woman.

The availability of Tyndale’s translation fueled the drive for literacy in general, and Biblical study in particular. An educated populous is more productive but harder to swindle. It is no surprise that 16^th century governments, both secular and ecclesiastical, objected to the availability of inexpensive, easy to read Bibles.

John Maxwell and Jim Dornan, Becoming a Person of Influence: How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 214 pages.

In one of his latest of a growing list of writings, John Maxwell, pastor, conference speaker, and leadership mentor teams up with businessman Jim Dornan to write, Becoming a Person of Influence. This is a book about leadership, and the title bears the heart of what the writers claim leadership is all about: influence.

This book is not directly spiritually oriented or for that matter overtly biblically referenced in its approach to the subject of leadership. Nevertheless the model and ideas presented are generally rooted in Christian concepts. The result is a very practical and positive display of leadership thinking, that combines the personal experience of the authors with a plethora of examples from mostly famous individuals, encasing them in a simple, well-defined strategy for influence.

Maxwell and Dornan established a basic 4-step progressive model for influence consisting of: 1) modeling, 2) motivating, 3) mentoring, and 4) multiplying. Each of the steps involves certain qualities that round out the concept and provide the catalyst for advancement. It is in these qualities that one can see the Christ-character content. In paging through the chapter on faith the most obvious of such character is expressed. Also developed are qualities of integrity, nurture, understanding, and listening, etc. These qualities are then presented through the 4-step model in a specific sequence so as to spell out the acronym INFLUENCER.

One could regard the efforts of the authors as just another in a growing library of books on leadership technique. And while it is that, the practical and easy to remember models and qualities provide a great base by which one can commit the teaching to remembrance. Mixing this in with humor, passion, and the experiences of people we all know of, Becoming a Person of Influence is a valuable tool for everyone from hopeful novice to seasoned leader. It is a useful aid in developing a positive influence in the corporate arena or the everyday home life, and so enable others to be all God intended them to be.

Reviewed by Ronald Messelink