Simply Serve
Clarence Ray Dowell was ninety-three. He was not a relative of mine, but I drove more than 250 miles to attend his funeral. Why? Because he was the personification of the servant Jesus taught us to be. In his more than 60 years of ministry, he served nine churches---all of them small and some of which he founded himself. Twice he served as a Director of Missions, and each time he placed his church membership in one of the smallest churches so he could be more helpful to them.
It was this Director of Missions role that introduced me to Brother Dowell. I followed in his footsteps 40 years later, and people still remembered him with great pride. When he retired, he might easily have assumed he had earned a rest. Instead, he asked the local missionary to point him to the smallest church. It turns out the smallest church did not meet regularly, so he joined the second smallest church. Sometimes ministers have difficulty adjusting to being “just a church member.” Brother Dowell did not have this problem. His pastor said, “He was one of my best supporters. Though he could have been my father, he called me, ‘Pastor.’” When health problems prevented his supply preaching, he served in the most thankless place of all---the local jail.
Jesus taught us that most of us want the prestigious places, but the greatest among us are those who serve. (Matthew 23:11) Brother Dowell probably could have had the prestigious places, but he chose simply to serve. In God’s eyes, that made him great. May God teach us how to serve like Clarence Dowell.
