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| Jim Reapsome |
Jim Reapsome went to be with Jesus on June 26, 2017. The
idea of Jim and Jesus walking together brings a smile to my face. In his book, 10 Minutes a Day with Jesus, Jim shared
his personal desire and his desire for each of his readers so well when he
said, “Ultimately, my prayer is not only that you will love Jesus more
wholeheartedly, but also that your life will reflect his values and
commitments. God’s purpose for all of Christ’s followers is that they will
become like him.”
That was Jim’s heart. And out of that heart of surrender to
God, Jim developed a deep love and passion for being on mission. As a
journalist, that passion came out through a life-time of words. In the book, Innovation in Mission, that Jim and I
co-edited, he said it well, “Christianity is humanity’s greatest and most noble
cause, and it too has a mandate…The mandate of a Christian is to recognize
God’s glory and then to obediently use personal talents to make him known to
others. Missions is no more and no less.”
Jim embodied this commitment to “use personal talents.” He
crafted the English language into prose that walked the dusty roads of reality,
inspired soaring vision, and searched the heart. Whether he was serving the
Army, the Garland Daily News, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, The Sunday
School Times, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, World Pulse, Christianity Today,
Zondervan, David C. Cook, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School or the countless boards
to which he gave his time, Jim called believers to know Jesus and respond to
His calling on their lives. And he had that role in my life.
While Jim was teaching at Trinity, my mom took one of his
classes. She loved it so much that she encouraged me to connect with Jim. I did
and the result was a semester-long self-study course in Jim’s living room
learning how to write. He taught me to find the powerful stories, to hone every
word and to make those words count for the Kingdom. I would drive to Jim’s home
in a leafy, tree-lined neighborhood in Wheaton, Illinois each week for our
afternoon sessions. We would lean into his dining room table wrestling over writing
concepts and troublesome sentences. He helped me learn to craft complex ideas
into clear thinking; which produced clear writing.
Jim went on to be a close friend, a mentor and a constant door-opener.
We shared many laughs and times of personal encouragement. He gave me my first
opportunity to publish an article. He worked with me to secure my first book
contract that he co-edited with me. Jim not only taught me how to write, he
opened up the world of professional writing to me.
But that was who he was. He was a man of action. And his
passion for seeing people grow to be who God made them to be caused him to
invest in others. I remember the many meetings we had at a local diner in
Wheaton as we worked on the Innovation in
Mission book. Each session was an opportunity to move the project forward,
but more importantly he was helping me move forward.
I can’t imagine moving forward in mission without Jim’s words
of wisdom. So it’s a good thing Jim spent all his time pointing me and others to
Jesus. Jim’s influence on my life did not leave me more tied to him, but
instead more dependent on my Savior and His call on my life.
So let’s pause to thank God for Jim, pray for his family and
then get on with the work. As a man of action, I know Jim would be very
disappointed if we got distracted, even for a moment, from God’s mission in
this world.
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