One of my favorite theologians, D. A. Carson, has written a brief biography of his father, Tom Carson. It’s called, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor. In one section, Dr. Carson explains how his mother challenged him with her version of the five15 Challenge:

When I was in my mid-teens and going through a phase when I wanted to pull away from meetings both local and regional because (I pouted) those who attended didn’t have my interested, and they all cared about themselves, and more of the same, my mother, sitting quietly at her treadle sewing machine, quietly quoted two or three proverbs, and then added, “He who would have friends must show himself friendly. At the next meeting, before you go into a sulk, look around for the loneliest person in the room, and go and find out everything you can about that person. Then find the next loneliest person and do it again.”  D. A. Carson, Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, 33.

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