
On September 13, 2008 a dear friend of mine, Jim Spinks, Sr., went to be with the Lord. I had the privilege of sharing some thoughts at his memorial, which you can download and listen to.
Thirty-eight years ago, in 1970, I was sixteen years old and had known Christ for only a year and a half. I was part of Powell Valley Covenant Church. And Jim Spinks, who I barely knew, asked me to do something I’d never done.
He asked me to preach God’s Word. And the unfortunate group that had to hear me were at a rescue mission in downtown Portland. The piano player was Cal Hess. Jim and Cal and I drove down together in the same car. I was nervous. Knowing I was preaching, I’m sure they were nervous.
Jim introduced me. He knew those men by name. He cared about them. And he cared about me enough to ask me to share God’s Word with them. This was before helping street people was cool. His love for those men was a model to me.
In the year before Good Shepherd Community Church began, I had the privilege of leading two Bible studies Jim was part of. One was in Philippians, at Carl and Hilma Ekstrom’s house.The other was with a small group of men at Cliff and Jean Vorm’s home, where we studied A. W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy. Norm was there, and Jim Spinks and Marion Smith and others of the original leaders of Good Shepherd, which would begin six months later.
As a young pastor at Good Shepherd (I was 22 when the church began), I never felt Jim disregarded me because I was so young. Not that we always agreed.
When I preached a sermon about how my dad was a tavern owner and that I felt some taverns showed more love to people than some churches did, Jim took me aside and kindly explained why perhaps I could have said that differently. But I never felt he held it against me.Over the years Jim often talked to me about people he was sharing Christ with: guys at the mission, guys in jail, his high school students, fellow teachers, neighbors, people he met.
He would tell me about them and ask advice about how to answer their questions and what book to give them. He was always writing down the names of books, and he would go buy them and give them to people. He was sharing Christ with a Jehovah’s Witness and in the early days of the Internet, I printed out dozens of pages, and he thought that was amazing.
When I think of Jim, one word that comes to mind is faithful. So when I was asked to choose a passage to read I chose Matthew 25:14-23, the Parable of the Talents:
Jesus said, “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
"The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries.