When Henry Sanders started thinking about the ways churches could have an impact on the Madison-area community, a couple of things came to mind, he told a crowd Saturday at the Goodman Center for the formal launch of Selfless Ambition.
One was a verse from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4) The name of the project played off the words “selfish ambition” by calling for “selfless ambition.
Then Sanders started visiting different churches, talking to a variety of church folk. One surprise for him: “There’s a lot of politics in the church body…There’s such a divide it actually breaks my heart. When I know Jesus, that’s not what I know.”
From the same event: Leaders Focus on Challenges for Madison
Editor’s Note: These two stories by Phil Haslanger come from the same event, a meeting this weekend at the Goodman Community Center that brought together about 100 leaders from the Madison faith community, including pastors of some of Madison’s largest evangelical churches. On the panel (pictured above, left to right): Zach Brandon, president of the Madison Chamber of Commerce; Noble Wray, former Madison police chief; Jennifer Cheatham, Madison School Superintendent; Maurice Cheeks, Madison alderman; and Michael Johnson, president of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. The concerns of the new Selfless Ambition movement are very similar to the concerns that brought madisonchristians.com into existence about a dozen years ago. Speaking to those assembled, organizer Henry Sanders said, “If we decided to transform this city, we could do it.”