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Those two questions have always engendered controversy. Early critics labeled the magazine "Christianity Yesterday." More recent critics lament its perceived seduction by modernity. Others emphatically demand CT hit harder-at Clinton or Gingrich, at feminism or chauvinism, at homosexuals or homophobes. Yet most readers express strong appreciation for objective reporting, nuances, dialogue, theological bedrock.

I write this as we prepare for our June CTi board meeting. Russ Esty will not be with us-he was "promoted to glory" several weeks ago.

As I think about what CT ought to be, it strikes me that leaders like Russ personify its mission. They bring our mandate to life: establishing a biblical world-view, making the gospel credible, encouraging evangelism.

Russ was simply saturated with Scripture, and he would quote it—often with a twinkle in his eye—at the most opportune times. Integrated with his wide reading, it shaped all his thinking—and gave him resources to face crushing reversals in business and family health. It gave him the pluck in his last year, despite being nearly blind from an eye operation and weak from cancer surgery, to brave New York and Chicago airports to chair our executive committee and speak to our staff.

This summer completes my twentieth year with CT, and during that time, seven board members have joined "the great cloud of witnesses." Each embodied our mission in his own way.

Harold Ockenga, chairman of CTi for its first 25 years, embodied CT's intellectual and theological mission. The first president of Fuller Theological Seminary and later of Gordon-Conwell, he combined scholarship with ministry, serving also as pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church. And his work as NAE's first president reflects CT's desire to serve as a unifying force for evangelicals.

Ockenga thought broadly and conceptually, with a refreshing practicality. He was affirming, patient, visionary, with a godly pragmatism. And the engine of it all was his spiritual life.

We once asked him how he got everything done, decade after decade. He answered that the secret was his prayer list, which he kept for 41 years. "I have everything on that list. When I go over it, I'm reminded by the Lord if I haven't tried to solve a problem … if I have enemies I am praying for, something may come to my mind that I can do about that."

In Ockenga we see a blend of scholarly intensity—his depth of reading was legendary—theological orthodoxy, and driving spiritual passion. CT's mission in a nutshell.

Duncan Brown was equally committed, but a very different personality. I first met him in the spring of 1975 when he pulled up beside me in a snappy convertible at the Pittsburgh airport, and I thought, This handsome, wealthy man does not have to do this sort of volunteer work. Like his wealthy peers, he could feed his own pleasures-and later he would tell me of rich friends who did just that and found misery instead of pleasure. Duncan poured himself out for the gospel, for "those without hope in the world." As the Salvation Army's top lay leader, he showed tremendous compassion for the poor. He also cared deeply for pastors and was influential in our launching of Leadership journal.

Maxey Jarman, who built from Jarman Shoes the giant Genesco Corporation, faithfully taught his Sunday-school class decade after decade, always ready to do his duty, whatever the personal cost. In 1974 in Switzerland, he signed the Lausanne Covenant with its commitment to a simple lifestyle, so he promptly started driving a very small automobile. When CT was struggling in the late 1970s, he was always willing to jump on a plane to come tackle a problem.

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July 17 1995, Vol. 39, No. 8