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| Submitted: Wednesday, August 1, 2007; 7:30 a.m. print this page ● feedback ● main ALSBOM site |
Partnership is a key word in the vocabulary of the business
world and in the life of the church as well as in denominational
endeavors. Everyone seems to be in agreement that working in
partnership or as a team is the best way to be effective in
life.
The difficulty is relating to each other in healthy ways so as
to create and maintain a partnership that succeeds.
Author Mark Perry has written about one of the best partnership
stories of the 20th century in a book entitled Partners in
Command. Perry describes in refreshing detail the
partnership between Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall
and Commanding General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II
and the years following the cataclysmic conflict. Arguably, this
historic partnership created the framework for a winning
strategy between the U.S. and its allies.
Marshall was a military prophet who foresaw the coming of the
Second World War and did all he could to prepare for it. He kept
a famous "black book" with the names of emerging young officers
whom he felt would be future leaders. Near the top of the list
was Dwight D. Eisenhower. There were other notable names, such
as the flamboyant George Patton, but Eisenhower was chosen top
field commander because he could work with all kinds of people.
At first, General Marshall was the mentor and advisor to "Ike"
but as the war in Europe moved forward, Eisenhower became the
primary leader who had to take the risks and make the momentous
decisions such as the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. Ike was
the decision-maker and the diplomat. By this time, Marshall was
the supporter and encourager, who ran interference for
Eisenhower in Washington with the President and at the Pentagon.
Mark Perry infers that this was the partnership that won the war
against Hitler. In my mind, he does so most convincingly.
General Marshall's credo was: "Never fight unless you have to,
never fight alone, and never fight for long." He instilled this
philosophy in the hearts and minds of his younger commanders. He
had no better student than Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ike knew that
democracies had to fight wars differently than dictatorships.
His skill as a commander of unified forces is evidence of the
Marshall mentoring.
Partners in Command is essentially a dual biographical
work, but it is also a treatise on leadership. There are many
lessons to be learned from people who forged effective
partnerships at critical times in their lives. For believers, we
are "partners in the Gospel" as Paul wrote to the Philippian
Christians (Phil.1:5). That is the best of all partnerships, and
it makes an eternal difference for the world in which we live.
There is a true sense in which we are partners in the sharing of
the Gospel, seeking to liberate people from the throes of sin
and its consequences. Like General Marshall in World War II, the
apostle Paul challenges us "to never fight alone." We need each
other.
For Christians, we are "partners in a command" but partners in
THE cause.
