Hi, I'm Joni, and today I'm interviewing my friend, Dan’l Markham.
Joni: Welcome, Dan’l.
Dan’l: It’s so great to be here at the IDC and see all these old friends and make new friends too.
Joni: You and I have worked together for a long time. You were here at the Joni and Friends field office. You helped lead our field teams, encouraging them to reach out to churches across the U.S. to also embrace special needs families. But Dan’l what really motivated you? What made you get up in the morning and say This is important; this is worth my time; this is what I'm called to do!
Dan’l: Well first Joni it goes all the way back to my mother who was an RN in a rural county in Washington State and she just had a passion for people who needed help. She was a nurse. She would take her spare time and go out and help people and I would be marching behind her with my stout little legs as fast as I could and then when I was born again back in the early 70’s I had a clear sense of calling both to be a pastor for evangelism and ministry to the marginalized. It has always been in my heart.
Joni: Well I’ve heard you say that the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 14 to go out, find the disabled, the poor, the lame and the blind and bring them in. You call that “the lost mandate”. What do you mean by that?
Dan’l: The “lost mandate” because this text in Luke as one begins to delve into it and minister to churches around the country you realize that it’s a mandate from Jesus to go out and compel the poor and disabled to come into God’s house that God’s house might be full…
Joni: That’s a command. He’s telling us to do it.
Dan’l: That’s a command. It’s a mandate! It’s like “get going” because there is plenty of work to be done, in fact it’s the most passionate call to evangelism in the New Testament in my mind, because it says that God is angry and He says compel them, literally grab onto them, and bring them into my house that my house might be full.
Joni: And you call it a “lost mandate” because so many of us in our churches across the U.S. and around the world just are missing it, aren’t we?
Dan’l: Yes.
Joni: But there is an incredible blessing attached to that lost mandate. Do you want to talk about that?
Dan’l: Well, the blessing is realizing the purpose and the heart of God and then as we minister the purpose in the heart of God to reach out to the marginalized – there are 1 billion people in the world affected by disability – and Mathew 25 tells us very clearly that as we touch these people we are actually touching the heart of Christ. And you know as we have done Family Retreats together and been involved in other types of disability ministry you really experience the presence, the grace working of Christ in a very, very special way that you just can’t shake. It’s something you almost become addicted to.
Joni: Absolutely! When you are around people who are weak or vulnerable or impaired or at risk, medically fragile and you see them grab onto the grace of God it’s inspiring. You just can’t help but capture the joy. I think that’s the blessing you were talking about. Well Dan’l I see you have a book here by us “The Lost Mandate” written by you. “Christ’s Command Revealed” is the subtitle and I had the honor of writing the forward. Thank you.
Dan’l: Oh, Joni, thank you so much for writing the forward. It means so much to me and it will mean so much to the readers and the families who just desperately need ministry.
Joni: I’m so glad I could do this. And Nick Vujicic he contributed, right?
Dan’l: Yes, he has a vignette between each chapter that sort of accentuates the key points, the nuggets in each chapter of the book.
Joni: Well thank you Dan’l and friend listening if you want to dig deeper into the meaning behind Luke chapter 14, then I really do recommend Dan’l’s book “The Lost Mandate – Christ’s Command Revealed”. You can go to Amazon.com for more details. Dan’l I know you are working with Nick Vujicic now, the young man born without limbs and who travels the world sharing the Gospel. You’re living quite the adventure! Thank you Dan’l for joining us, and for revealing a important and a lost command by our savior Jesus Christ.
Dan’l: Thank you, Joni.
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