One of my heroes, the late Dr. William Holmes Borders, who was the pastor of Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., for 50 years, asked me on one occasion, "Boy, how many elephants could you get in this room?"

"Oh, perhaps five or six."

Then with a sheepish grin on his face, he asked, "How many ants could you get in this room?"

"Oh, at least a million or two."

Dr. Borders then offered this timeless advice: "Keep a lot of ants in your church." Experience has proven this wise prophet correct.

The gospel writers give us picture after picture of our Lord as he associated intimately with all kinds of people, especially the downtrodden, the destitute, the despondent, the derelict, the dispossessed, the disillusioned, the disfigured, the disinherited and the diseased.

John Wesley spent considerable time in preaching and teaching to the masses. However, somewhere along the way the Methodist movement moved away from the masses and started courting the classes. Hence, we are known as a church for the classes.

I firmly believe that we will receive blessings untold when we follow the example of John Wesley, Mother Teresa, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus and give ourselves to those dear souls who are often overlooked and bypassed.