Keith A. Russell is president and professor of pastoral theology at American Baptist Seminary of the West in California, and editor-in-chief of The Living Pulpit. This sermon was preached in a seminary chapel at American Baptist Seminary of the West During a trustee meeting in the spring of 2003.

A critical and disturbing question for anyone who is seeking to give leadership in any religious institution in the early days of the twenty-first century is whether there is enough. Is there enough to go around? Can people be fed, clothed and housed? Can medical care be extended to all? Can we provide education and training? With so much poverty and suffering in the world, do we have sufficient resources to meet people’s needs? Are we stuck with deficits? What will the cost of war do to our world and us? Are we in a historical period where only the rich and privileged will survive? 

Luke 9:12-17











The Prayer of Jabez1 Chronicles 4:10