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commitment at all. Notice that Mark's departure came at the same time that Barnabas passed the torch to Paul. John Mark left at the very point of the leadership transition. Paul took over the leadership and John Mark left. Is it possible that Paul, in his first tentative steps as a leader, was somewhat clumsy and made mistakes? We don't know. But just when Paul took over, John Mark left. That may be a clue. I believe Barnabas rejoiced over this turn of events because it gave him another opportunity to do the work that he loved so well. You must understand, while Paul and Silas traveled to city after city preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, Luke was with them and wrote down their travels. Consequently, we know all the places that Paul and Silas traveled. But Barnabas took Mark and sailed out into unknown places. He and Mark preached to Gentiles. Barnabas taught great numbers of people. But he also taught John Mark. Just as he did with Saul, Barnabas taught John Mark how to take the Scriptures and preach to people who had never heard the Gospel before. John Mark slowly learned the lessons he failed to learn for his first exam. The years went by and the Holy Spirit of God did a work in the life of young John Mark until he was ready to count for Jesus Christ. We know this is true because the last words that Paul ever wrote, the last paragraph of his life, tell us so. We read these words in 2 Timothy 4:9-11: "Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my m1mstry." At this point, you might say, "Wait a minute, Paul; you are the one who fired John Mark; you are the one who said he was useless; you are the one who wouldn't put him on the team because he had flunked the test." I think Paul would reply something like this: "That was then, this is now. Now he is useful to me in my ministry. I am sitting here alone in jail and these may be the last days of my life." The Spirit of God has told him the man who was once useless is now useful in ministry and useful to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do you suppose that happened? I suppose it (continued on page 13) Torch 9