Henrietta Mears has been called the "mother of Sunday school." Her revolutionary teaching methods (adding lively pictures and implementing grade levels) changed the landscape of Christian education in her day, and her imprimatur remains on today's models for curriculum. But I like to think of her more as the "grandmother" of modern evangelicalism. Her vision for the Christian life inspired a generation of young leaders who, in turn, inspired my generation.

She has the perfect pedigree to be the grandmother of evangelicalism: she accepted Christ consciously, dutifully, and single-mindedly at the age of seven (and never wavered); she sacrificed the (non-Christian) love of her life for the gospel; she had an unquenchable passion for Sunday school; and she wore goofy hats.

But as grandmothers go, she also would have been one who sometimes asserted an opinion where it may not have been solicited; she would have been a source of discomfort to those Christians who could not get to church on time; and she would have raised an eyebrow among those who could not abide her blue dress with butterfly sleeves, red earrings (and bracelet and pin and necklace), bright lipstick, polished nails, and rings on every finger. ("Why not look your best when you go to church on Sunday?") An apostle to the Jesus freaks she was not.

Still, for the historical moment of her rising, big hats with pinwheels and long-legged birds on them served her well. She used to say: "I wear my hats for my college boys, and they love them."

She also used to say: "There is no magic in small plans. When I consider my ministry, I think of the world. Anything less than that would not be worthy of Christ nor of his will for my life." So while inspiring her "college boys" with ...