There was a man in a congregation I pastored several years ago who was honest and sincere, and he meant well. His motives were pure, but his actions were wrong. I didn’t want to “butt heads” with him, but the buck had to stop somewhere. The title on my door, the last time I checked it, still read “Pastor.” I had to make a decision. I said, “I am sorry.” Of course his feelings were a little hurt. I did all I could, but there seemed to be a continual cross there. I said, “Lord, how can I patch this up? What can I do?”

The Lord began to deal with me. He said, “Be a servant.” God then gave me a unique challenge to do just that. I began to try to be obedient to that voice of the Lord. I thought I had been a servant. I must admit I was rebuffed, until He dealt with me about serving my brother. Then the concept of servanthood began to be more real in my life. I was waiting in an airport one day when I asked one of the shoe-shine men, “How much money do you make?” He just smiled and wouldn’t answer. I’m not a math major, but it takes about 10 minutes to get your shoes shined. I often have to wait in line to get mine done, so let’s say six shoe-shines per hour times $5 per shine and you’ve got a man making $30 per hour.

At the time, there was only one shoe-shine place in the whole city where we lived. I mentioned an idea to some of the teenagers in the church. “Let me tell you about a way you can make some serious money. I’ll even help you.” They were all ears until they heard what they had to do to make all that money. One kid’s reply summed it up: “I’m not shining shoes.”

That is when the Lord whispered to me. He said, “Would you, Tommy?”

I said, “Sure.”

Then God reminded me about the man whose feelings were hurt earlier. The Lord said, “Then shine his shoes.” It took some doing.

The next Sunday, I came to church and brought my shoe-shine kit. In the process of preaching, l called that gentleman up in front of the whole congregation and asked him to sit there while I preached. My message was on foot washing; my text from John 13. I “contemporized” foot washing to shoe shining. While I preached, I shined his shoes. I took off my coat, tucked in my tie and shined his shoes while I preached. He and I both knew what was going on even though the congregation at large did not.

As I shined his shoes, I began to weep; he began to weep. The Holy Spirit moved as the spirit of a servant was exemplified. The spirit of antagonism was broken. People began to line up to shine each other’s shoes. They pulled out handkerchiefs to wipe off each other’s shoes. Hot tears trickled onto dirty shoes. A spirit of unity came over our church. Great revival ensued.

Tenney, Tommy. God’s Dream Team. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1999, p. 73-74.