Commentary
By Nell Mohney
Recently, while preparing a speech on leadership, I studied leaders in many areas — education, business, politics, religion, health care, even entertainment. Whatever the profession, the top attributes needed were integrity, competency and a sense of values.
Among the leaders I have known personally, I think of Dr. James Laney, who went from missionary to ambassador. When he graduated from college, he secured a position as an investment banker on Wall Street. Before he could take the job, however, he had to do a tour of duty as special agent in the United States Counter Intelligence Corps in the Korean War. In that cold, faraway land, Laney became acutely aware of another culture.
“I saw a vividness of faith among people who had so little,” he said. “Though my grandfather had been a minister, and I had grown up as an active participant in the church, I suddenly saw the superficiality of my own faith in comparison to the Christians of Korea.”
When he returned home, he skipped Wall Street and returned to Yale, but this time to divinity school, where he received the Bachelor of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. As an ordained Methodist minister, he served as a pastor in Cincinnati before heeding the call of the denomination’s Board of Missions to serve for five years as missionary to Korea. Later, he served as dean of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Seven years after that, he was named president of Emory University.
In 1994, just after being named ambassador to Korea by President Clinton, he preached at First-Centenary United Methodist Church in Chattanooga. In an interview, he said it was among the Koreans, who were so receptive to the Christian gospel, that he became aware of the power of preaching. Once when he conducted Religious Emphasis Week at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, 600 students came to faith in Christ and were baptized.
“Anytime I preach or prepare to preach,” he said, “I am profoundly aware that I am being used. It is not my power but the convincing of one through me. It is an awesome and humbling experience.”
Eager to explore his thinking about morality, I said, “I know you have written widely about morality and ethics. How do you feel about morals in the U.S. today?”
His reply: “Within the past few years, we too often have been ruled by hedonism and immediacy. There has been an erosion of moral values and a loss of awareness of what life is all about.”
“What is life all about, Mr. Ambassador?”
“Its purpose is to fulfill the image of God within us; to have full use of our powers through a grace operative in us that is not our own. Only then can we be free from self-conscious pride and the ‘rat race.’ Only then can we become authentic.”
In the intervening years, Dr. Laney has served as a presidential envoy to Asia, speaking in nations around the world and bringing honor to our country and our God.
Nell Mohney is a Christian author, motivational speaker and seminar leader. She may be reached at nell wmohney@comcast.net.