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Remembering Dan Harrison
by Karon Morton
May 20, 2003
Karon was the Operations Director for Urbana 84-2000, and was Associate Director of Missions from 1991 to 1996. She worked with Dan for ten years. Karon is currently Vice-President and Chief Administrative Officer for InterVarsity.
"Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly…." "What!?"
I'm not sure where the quote came from, but it was quoted to me one day by Dan Harrison, my supervisor at the time. It's a "get out there and get it going" kind of comment that, as a visionary, he liked. I, however, as an Operations Manager, was aghast! I think he enjoyed rousing that emotion in me. He liked pushing people toward the edge of their comfort zone and seeing what God would do.
And by the way, Dan also did like things done well, and he was a hard worker. But he did not want to play into a cultural norm of waiting to have everything lined up perfectly before something moved forward.
Dan liked motivating people to get going in their walk with Christ and in their commitment to mission. And he especially loved motivating college students and recent grads. He believed that they make excellent missionaries, because their passion is strong and they are willing to take risks. He believed the Lord has gifted them to make remarkable contributions to the world of mission.
Dan liked to tell people that some of the best mission work he had seen was accomplished by people in their 20's.
Dan also liked encouraging women to use their God-given gifts, skills, and abilities. The Lord used the intelligent, articulate, and talented members of his immediate family - wife Shelby and daughters Paula, Melody, Tonya and Holly - to shape his thinking about the role of women in mission. Many women in InterVarsity have benefited from Dan's encouragement to use their leadership gifts in leadership roles.
Ethnic minority leadership in world mission was also important to Dan, and he worked consistently at networking with various ethnic communities to build trust and encourage their participation in Urbana.
To those of us intimately involved with the event, successfully completing an Urbana Convention alone seemed a testimony to God's faithfulness. But afterward Dan would meet with us to savor what God had done in the lives of those who attended as he would read unsolicited comments that were written to him. He was intentional about remembering God's work and faithfulness in our midst.
Now we pause with thankfulness, and remember with intention the record of God's work and faithfulness in and through the life Dan Harrison.
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