Life-changing Mentors and Unlikely Friendships

Last updated on: May 18, 2012 at 9:44 pm by Carl Gregg

Life-changing Mentors and Unlikely Friendships 2012-05-18T21:44:22-04:00 Carl Gregg

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(Ted Kluck and Dallas Jahncke, Dallas and the Spitfire: An Old Car, an Ex-Con, and an Unlikely Friendship, Bethany House Publishers, 2012, 184 pages.)

This book review is a sponsored post that is part of the Roundtable at the Patheos Book Club.

In this Information Age, most of us are saturated with an overabundance of raw data, but opportunities for deep, healthy formation are sometimes rare. And in this Networked Age, many of us are also constantly connected to the Internet, but opportunities for longterm, face-to-face friendships are sometimes few and far between. Moving against these cultural trends, in Dallas and the Spitfire we hear the story of a transformative friendship:

Ted is a thirty-four-year-old father of two who’s been going to church his whole life. Dallas is a twenty-one-year-old former cocaine addict with a prison record. When they agree to meet regularly for ‘discipleship,’ they know that chatting once a week in a coffee shop just won’t cut it. Restoring an old Triumph Spitfire is more their style.

Kluck and Jahncke have indeed written a book about discipleship, the practice of a novice spiritually apprenticing a mentor. And at its best this book echoes themes from Bonhoeffer’s classic text The Cost of Discipleship such as that advancing in the spiritual life often requires significant discipline, focus, and commitment.

This book is also a strong example of the practice of testimony, which is sometimes neglected in progressive Christian circles. We need to hear one another’s stories. And our life stories provide an opportunity to do not abstract theology, but “biography as theology” — that is, theology based on our direct firsthand experience, as opposed to theology based merely on what others claim is true.

And, at its best, this book takes personal experience seriously as a criterion of authority. For example, Dallas’ Christian college prohibits him from attending Alcoholic’s Anonymous meetings because “they’re not biblical” (139). But Ted and Dallas know from their firsthand experience of witnessing AA meetings change lives that a theology that denies the legitimacy of AA is a bankrupt theology.

But despite the strengths of this book, I could ultimately only recommend it to Calvinist-leaning evangelicals or fundamentalists. There is an explicit disdain for “latte-sipping types” like myself who have had many wonderful meetings in coffee shops (14), although I mostly prefer my coffee black. In general, this book is steeped in the hyper-masculinity cult of preachers such as Mark Driscoll and John Piper, whose sermons are held up as models in a few different places in the book. And predestinarianism is reflected in lines such as “the Lord plucked Dallas. In His sovereignty He chose my friend for glory” (101). I’m already on record against John Piper’s theology that God controls tornados, and let me go on record as agreeing with my fellow Patheos blogger Tony Jones about “Mark Driscoll’s House of Cards.” Accordingly, my personal experience would make me less likely to recommend this particular book and more likely to recommend Robert Pirsig’s classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Nevertheless, as I prepare to graduate on Saturday with my Doctor of Ministry degree, I am reminded of how deeply grateful I am for the many friendships that have brought me to this point, particularly my seminary mentor and Doktorvator The Rev. Dr. Stephen Sprinkle. In that spirit, I celebrate Dallas’ sobriety, and his “unlikely friendship” with his mentor Ted.

If you have a story of spiritual mentors or friendships that have changed you life, I invite you to share these stories in the comments section.

Visit the Book Club website for more free resources related to this book.

The Rev. Carl Gregg is a trained spiritual director, a D.Min. candidate at San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the pastor of Broadview Church in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland. Follow him on Facebook (facebook.com/carlgregg) and Twitter (@carlgregg).

Book Reviews

Previous Post

May 13, 2012

Noah’s Flood: Climate Change Then & Now

Next Post

May 18, 2012 “Your Daughters Shall Prophecy”: Fulfilling the Promise of Pentecost, Abolishing the Laity, and Ordaining Women

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Anti-Racism Archaeology Atheism Baptism Best of the Year List Book Reviews Buddhism Catholicism Christian Education Church and State Church Planting Climate Change Conscientious Objection to War Creation Spirituality Death Penalty Didache Disability Rights Discernment Easter Ecology Emergent Church Movement Empire-Critical Ethics Evolution Feminist Theology Film Reviews Gandhi Gospel of Mark Gun Control Hinduism Immigration Reform Interfaith Islam JFK Judaism Jungian Spirituality Lectionary Commentary Lent Letters to the Editor LGBT Marriage MLK Multiculturalism Mysticism Nonviolent Activism Occupy Paganism (Earth-centered Religions) Parables Paul Pluralism Politics Process Theology Quantum Physics Requiescat In Pace Seminary and Divinity School Sermon Series Retrospective Sermons Spiritual Direction Spiritual Practices Stewardship (Fundraising) The Book of J The Wheel of the Year (Paganism) Theoblogger Challenge Triathlon Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism Worship Resources Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2026 May 2026 March 2026 November 2025 October 2025 August 2025 February 2025 December 2024 October 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 August 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 August 2009 July 2009 May 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How did Jesus provide for the temple tax?

Select your answer to see how you score.

He multiplied bread Found in a tree He borrowed from Judas A coin in a fish's mouth