Tim Keller knew me. We’d never met. I’d never even heard him speak in person. But Keller, the author and founding Pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian, “got” me.
His teaching resonated with my spiritual and intellectual longings like some other pastors. Yet, this career pastor with orthodox beliefs and traditional worship preferences went far beyond that. He resonated with my tech industry-infused career as a lender. He was a theologian and philosopher that seemed to understand my life as a mid-level deal guy from a regional office flying in coach.
He passed away last Friday of pancreatic cancer. I grieve his passing and will miss his ministry.
Some of you share that grief. Others have not heard of Keller. This edition of Bruised Camels is for both. I’m certain that Keller hoped his death would point others to Jesus. I hope the same for this short reflection.
Journey On,
~Mark
Mark King
Mark@BruisedCamels.com | LinkedIn
Business | Leadership
My Pastor on Monday Morning
Early in my career, I participated in a panel discussion for Christian college students interested in careers in social justice. I had previously worked for an international non-profit, a microfinance pioneer, thus the invitation. But the power of investment to change lives and communities had captured me. I’d gotten my MBA and started working at a mission-driven community bank in Chicago.
I could not hide my enthusiasm for lending and the world of business. Then the moderator opened the floor for Q&A. Nobody asked me a single question. No one approached me afterward. The hosting professor politely thanked me but did not invite me back.
Loneliness and confusion filled my commute the following morning. Should I have stayed in the non-profit world? Why didn’t people see what I saw? Business can contribute directly to expanding the Kingdom. It’s so much more than an ATM for churches and non-profits.
Over time, I found groups of businesspeople and mentors that understood, that felt the same way I did—and do. Occasional sermons and books about finding your calling also helped me see that I wasn’t alone. I didn’t know it, but I was a tiny part of a quiet movement striving to make “faith and work” a thing.
Keller’s thinking and teaching helped drive that movement forward. Keller affirmed our calling to work of all kinds through his book, Every Good Endeavor, the work of Redeemer Church’s Center for Faith and Work, and countless messages and articles. He affirmed my calling to venture capital and lending. My calling to a city. My calling to my colleagues.
Matt Cook of the Center for Healthy Churches said about Keller:
“His stuff on vocation is very good. He thought long and hard about how to engage an urban context confessionally and was highly successful. He didn’t create a movement that is tied to him, but he cast seeds out widely that will grow in lots of places.”
Keller’s seeds took root and grew in Chicago. So much so that I received an invitation to another panel discussion about 20 years after that first discouraging one. Things had changed. The panel was part of a college class dedicated to Christian students pursuing business and entrepreneurship as a calling. Lots of questions. Lots of energy. Their energy overflowed into my commute and work for many days afterward.
Evangelicalism evolved theologically and culturally between those two panel discussions. Keller’s contribution to that evolution cannot be understated. I’m forever grateful and hope that I can help nurture the seeds he planted in some small way.
Business | Leadership
What Will Our Obituaries Say?
One technique for “beginning with the end in mind” is writing your own eulogy. Reading various reflections on Tim Keller’s life prompted me to revisit this exercise.
Two themes emerged that I think Bruised Camels should consider including in a self-authored eulogy: being a person of integrity and being winsome by blending empathy with orthodoxy.
Integrity
“He was the same person with the one [individual] as he was from the pulpit.” – Mary Lewis, Instagram Story 5/19/23
Mary Lewis, a former neighbor of mine, attended Redeemer when she lived in New York. She recounted visiting Redeemer many years after moving to Chicago. Between services, Keller greeted her like a long-lost friend. Many pastors would do the same. But Mary had a friend with her, a friend with lots of questions about Jesus and church. Mary says, “he spent 15 minutes explaining the gospel to her and answering any questions that she had about faith, all before preaching the next service.”
As business leaders, we stand on bully pulpits of all sizes facing the dichotomy of public and private personas. Like Keller, we should live so that people experience one person, not two.
Winsomeness
Many have described Keller’s winsome personality. To be winsome, he blended superhero levels of empathy with tenacious orthodoxy. He excelled at meeting people where they were; yet he went far beyond the cliché. He showed people they could connect their unique identities with who they could be in a relationship with Jesus.
Jake Meador in a Mere Orthodoxy article describes Keller as “orthodox yet modern” like John Stott, J.I. Packer, and Billy Graham. “Tim’s ministry calls us [to] hold tight to Jesus, to the Word of God, to the Gospel. And then throw open the doors of the church and take that Word into the streets.” Meador continues:
“Susannah Black Roberts…told me that what Tim did for New Yorkers is he made it possible for people who loved New York, who loved the pink light of a setting sun reflected off the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan, who loved going to the theatre and the MOMA and Central Park and all the rest, he made it possible for people like that to imagine themselves being Christian. In the mind of many New Yorkers, Susannah said, “evangelical Christians” were people who drove SUVs and lived in McMansions in the suburbs and shopped at Hobby Lobby. None of that was bad, to be clear. It was just very much not them. They didn’t know how to disentangle “being a Christian” from being all those other things. And then Tim showed them how.” – Jake Meador, MereOrthodoxy.com 5/19/23
Substitute “businesspeople” for “New Yorkers.” That’s what I believe we’re called to. Tomorrow, go to work and show the golf crazy sales rep, the reclusive IT nerd, the exhausted single mom accountant, the bright-eyed intern, and everybody else in your work sphere that they can be a Christian just the way they are.
Tim Keller, 1950-2023 – Well done good and faithful servant.
The Kitchen Drawer
More on Tim Keller
These two tributes put Keller’s work in its larger context:
- “Tim Keller was a really nice guy, but that wasn’t enough for everyone”
BaptistNews.com - “In Memoriam: Timothy Keller”
MereOthodoxy.com
Redeemer Church’s Center for Faith and Work has some great resources and programs.
