CHANGE THE WORLD

Luke 22:26
Those who are the greatest
should take the lowest rank,
and the leader
should be like a servant.



Translator Doug Meland and his wife worked as missionaries to a village of Brazil’s Fulnio Indians. At the outset, the Fulnio received the Melands negatively and insultingly called Doug, “The White Man.” They had experienced other white men before that had burned down their homes and stolen their land. Nevertheless, the Melands stayed focused, learned the Fulnio language and began to help the villagers with medicines and new techniques. When the Fulnio began to see that the Melands had only good intentions, they began calling Doug, “The Respectable White Man.” The Melands even began adapting to the local customs of the people, and when that happened Doug became “The White Indian.” One day Doug was spotted washing the dirty, blood caked foot of an injured Fulnio boy and the villagers said, “Whoever heard of a white man washing an Indian’s foot?” From that day on, whenever Doug would go into a Fulnio home, he would be announced with, “Here comes the man God sent us.” Because the Melands chose to serve first, the people of a remote part of the world were changed. Servants really can change the world. If you serve with a true servants heart, you too can change the world.