Call to Commitment

There was one book that made it to our family bookshelf from my grandfather's library. It was "A Call to Commitment", witten in 1963 by Elizabeth O'Connor. It was a first in a series of books telling a storied history of one of the most remarkable Christian communities I have ever known. Other books were to follow: Journey Inward, Journey Outward, The New Community.   

In the summer of 1976, when I was 20, a group of people from my high school youth group at the First Baptist Church in Owensboro, Ky. began talking about Call to Commitment. I remembered seeing this on the bookshelf in our family room, and took it up and began to read a story that was to become a story around which I would gather with many people in the future, including a couple of visits to observe and dialogue with these people in the flesh.

I just received a paperback copy I had ordered to replace the hardback I mentioned above.  When I moved to Nashville 5 years ago,  I lost track of the copy I had loaned out to a person in a group I had been meeting with around the "Servanty Leadership Group" model.   We actually called the group "Servant Leadership",  where we explored the structures and disciplines and concepts of misson group, calling,  and gifts invenetory that has been the character and power of the Church of the Saviour's "format".  The hardback copy I had was passed around from one person I loaned it to,  to another,  and 3 or 4 times until I had lost track of who had it.   When the time came for me to move to Nashville in the spring of 1997,  I had forgotten about this and a few other books in my library that were "making the rounds".  I hope to locate that copy someday,  or come across another hardback copy somehow.  For now,  the paperback copy will at least provide me with a way to re-read,  make references,  and serve as a way to keep me feeling "connected" to the "web of resources" and history of this extaordinary people. 

My set of articles about COS on my old website 

© Copyright 2003 Dale Lature. Last update: 9/23/2003; 3:36:07 PM.