THE BACK PAGE
Mark Galli
July 1, 1990
With this issue, we introduce a new approach to The Back Page. A variety of contributors will offer slices of life in ministry that reflect the essential nature of the task. We welcome your contributions. It was at a West Coast pastors conference where I first met a Puritan, a seemingly joyful one at that. His name was Eugene Peterson. I studied Puritans in college and had been thoroughly impressed They were vibrant, God-driven people who forsook family and familiar surroundings to embark across the threatening Atlantic to establish "a city set on a hill," a Christian society that all the world would admire and emulate. Weary of compromises the church had made through the centuries, they longed to see it purified. Despite popular misconceptions, they were characterized less by a studied dreariness than by a steady passion for Christ and his church. I observed this same passion when Eugene spoke at the conference. The first thing I noticed was Eugene himself, thin as a man on a diet of locusts and honey. He hunches slightly, like he's always pressing forward, and his weathered face, framed by beard and receding hairline, is set with steel eyes. When he smiles, which he does a lot, his entire face joins in chorus and shows that this man knows joy. In short, he looks like a pushover for a common mugger, but he's a man you shouldn't hear preach the Word unless you're wearing a bullet-proof vest. The first morning of the conference, he opened fire. He didn't raise his voice or pound the lectern. In fact, he read from a manuscript, and, yes, grinned a lot. But as he spoke on the Book of Jonah, he castigated pastoral striving for Tarshish, the superficial longing for ecclesiastical success (see page 38). His white-hot standards obliterated ...
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