Modern Wisdom
Sunday we kicked off our series teaching through the book of Proverbs, “Sacred Wisdom for a Secular Age.” For this week’s letter I’m going to recycle something I wrote over twenty years ago, sharing wisdom I gained from a mentor in ministry, Dennis Rainey, who at the time was the President of FamilyLife, the marriage and family ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru).
What’s interesting for me as I read back over this article is to see how these statements have similarities to the Proverbs, in particular the way they are often exaggerated to make a point (like, “never assume anything…” Isn’t that an assumption?)
I wrote this after transitioning out of the role as his personal ministry assistant. This week I will share half the original article, next week the rest.
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Wisdom from Dennis Rainey Written July of 2004
Working directly with Dennis Rainey was a diverse experience, full of opportunities to learn about leadership and gain wisdom. After moving into a new role, I spent some time reflecting on the wisdom-laced sayings I often heard from Dennis. This letter is a collection of the best of those sayings.
“When the facts are gathered, the decision will jump out at you.” One of the practical skills Dennis modeled was how to make decisions. He made it clear that you can’t make good decisions without the relevant facts. There were many times I wanted to take a decision to him before gathering all the facts. It didn’t take long to learn that I should first ask myself “have I gathered all the available facts? Is there anything else Dennis would want to know about this decision?”
One of the last projects Dennis assigned me was to plan the dedication of FamilyLife’s new headquarters. When we first met to talk about my ideas for the program, he said, “go find out what other people have done when they dedicated buildings. Find out what worked and what didn’t.” So I spent some time meeting with the head of Little Rock’s Chamber of Commerce (who dedicate buildings all over the city) and interviewing other ministries that had recently dedicated buildings. Their feedback gave me the facts I needed to plan FamilyLife’s dedication in a way that would give God the most glory.
During World War II, Britain’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill said, “Give me facts! I can’t make decisions based on feeling – I need more facts!” He understood the importance of making decisions based on the reality of what you are facing. Before Churchill’s appointment as Prime Minister, Britain’s government had largely ignored the facts of Germany’s increasing military power. Churchill was determined not to make the same mistake.
Gathering facts is critical to decision making, but there is a first step. Peter Drucker says, “You don’t start with facts, rather you start with opinions and then gather facts to verify your opinions.” If the facts reveal that your opinions were wrong then you must be willing to accept that, but you have to start somewhere. You have an assumption, so go ahead and test it with facts, but don’t assume you are right until you have facts to prove it.
“Never assume anything.” Dennis repeated this phrase more than all the others. There was one especially memorable moment that seared this concept in my brain. During my first week on the job, I was told about a time when Dennis & Barbara were to take a trip to Greenville, South Carolina. Somehow the information about their destination got mixed up and the flights were booked for Greenville, North Carolina. Not until they arrived at the hotel after midnight did they realize they were in the wrong state. Thankfully, this happened before I was around, because I could have easily made the same mistake. That story served as a strong reminder to never assume anything. [2025 reflections: of course we all have.]
“Deadlines create definition.” Any time Dennis assigned a task, it came with a deadline. My everyday activities were based on the pressure of those deadlines. J. Hudson Taylor said, “It matters not how great the pressure is, but where the pressure lies.” Setting deadlines was one of the best things Dennis could have done because I was forced to decide daily what was important and worth the time. Someone else has said, “stress is a bad thing, but pressure is good.” Pressure forces us to prioritize and pursue the most urgent task. Dennis understood the importance of putting the right amount of pressure in the right place to encourage the desired results.
“Life is full of temptations disguised as small choices.” One of my responsibilities while working with Dennis was to help manage his ministry expenses. Whenever he traveled he would come back with personal and ministry expenses that had to be separated and reconciled. On every trip there were opportunities for him to call a personal expense a ministry expense and keep some of that money for himself. He could have done that and no one else would have known, but as far as I could tell, he never did.
He recognized that every small decision is a temptation to fudge on your values. When you have taken one small step away from doing the right thing – then it is easier to take a larger step towards sin when the opportunity presents itself. It’s important to remain faithful in the little things and you will also be faithful with much.
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Take some time to think about how these concepts apply to your life. How would you apply them to your family or your work? Do you need to gather more facts on a big financial decision you are about to make? Maybe you’ve been assuming too much about your relationship with your spouse. Or maybe you need to apologize to one of your children for a mistake you made. Pick one of these leadership principles and try applying it to your family this week.
Also if you want a daily drip of wisdom through the Proverbs, pick up a copy of Tim & Kathy Keller’s daily devotional book. I referenced it Sunday when discussing the meaning of key words in Proverbs 1:1-6 and will likely reference it often throughout this series. And as you read the Proverbs, pray that God would increase your wisdom and the wisdom of Valley View as we seek to take the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the South End of Louisville!
Photo by Jessica Mangano on Unsplash