Doug Nichols was a volunteer with Operation Mobilization and was in the clean-up crew of the training and conference in London in late 1966. As he was sweeping the front steps of the conference center at 12:30 AM, he saw an elderly man approaching, who asked if the OM conference was happening there. Dressed up simply, with a small bag, Doug thought he was an old-time OM volunteer and was attending the conference. Doug offered to find a place for him to sleep, and knowing he did not have dinner, arranged for the same. Doug writes: “As he ate, we began to fellowship. I asked where he was from. He said he and his wife had been working in a ministry mainly to hippies and travelers in Switzerland for several years. It was wonderful to talk with him and hear about his work and those who had come to Christ. When he finished eating, we turned in for the night.” He slept on the floor along with 50 other new recruits besides Doug.
Trouble: The next day morning Doug was in trouble. “Don’t you know who that man is on the floor next to you?” they asked. “It is Dr. Francis Schaeffer, the speaker for the conference!” Doug did not know that there would be a speaker and there was a room for him.
Model to imitate: Doug reminiscences: “I thought about this occasion many times—this gracious, kind, humble man of God sleeping on the floor with OM recruits! This was the kind of man I wanted to be. Of course, I will never attain the intellect, knowledge, or wisdom of Francis Schaeffer. But I can reach out to younger people and minister to them in Christ’s name by living a life of humility.”
Model of the Lord: Paul exhorts believers to have the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ who incarnated becoming a man, setting aside the throne and glory, emptied Himself, humbled Himself, and obeyed the Father, to the point of death on the cross. (Philippians 2:5-9)
Do I have the humility like the Lord?