Praying for a four-star general may happen among Anabaptist pastors seeking to share Jesus’ peace in a warring world. Becoming friends with a military commander is another matter. But it is just this kind of “matter” that matters to John C. Murray, pastor at Hesston (Kan.) Mennonite Church. Befriending and serving those who come from different cultures and backgrounds is the pathway Murray walks to follow Jesus.

That pathway has led to some surprising bends in the road and has widened his horizons. It has taken him from a rural Indiana boyhood and pastorates in Indiana and Kansas to the skyscrapers of New York City. That’s where each summer he attends the annual gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations, a well-established think tank consisting of people from many faith communities and walks of life who study foreign policy issues and address global problems.

The pathway has taken him to Chiluvuru, India, where he helped to found Menno-Clinic, India. It was developed through a vision instigated by Dr. Subbarao and Olga Yarlagadda—former Indian Hindus—and Emma Mennonite Church in Topeka, Ind., when Murray pastored there. The ministry provides medical, dental and eye clinics and expresses Christ’s love to all through presence, service and proclamation. Some Muslims and Hindus have become Christians as a result.

The path has taken Murray into cyberspace, where he corresponded by email with two men who are now

friends. One is Sadi Othman, an Arabic-speaking Hesston College grad and former adviser to Gen. David Petraeus. And the other is Petraeus himself, the former commander of the allied forces during the Iraq War, 2007-2008.

That the path has led him to all these places is not due to his own footwork or an exceptional skill in “map reading,” he said during a January 2015 interview. It is all a gift.

“It is a gift that I need to be a good steward of, rather than refuse to engage with it because of insecurities I may have in the process,” he said. “I didn’t set out to do any of these things. But I am grateful God invited me into them.”

The new vistas he’s explored created a humbling awareness that all people are beloved children of God who are also created in God’s image. “Humility invites me not to deny these two things,” he said. “But just because I am created in the image of God doesn’t mean that God is in my image. It is dangerous to believe that my truth is the whole truth or that my image of God reflects the entire image of God.”

Bringing the world home to the Kansas prairies

Murray’s first exploration began at Emma Mennonite, where he preached a sermon titled “Reinvesting in the Kingdom of God.” That message inspired the congregation to help establish Menno-Clinic, dedicated in 2002.

Since he came to Hesston Mennonite in 1999, Murray has gone into several unknown territories. Othman, who had visited Hesston Mennonite, connected Murray to Petraeus, who was the likely instigator of Murray’s being invited in 2007 to participate in the Council on Foreign Relations.

At each of these junctures, Murray has developed ongoing friendships across cultures and faiths. At the summer gathering in New York, he has conversations with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, NGO executives, scientists, educators and government and military officials. As a friend, he has prayed for and received prayers from Petraeus. They have also met in person.

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