I recently returned from a quick trip to Austin, Texas, for the graduation of a friend from the University of Texas. I attended only a “small” ceremony: one of two held by the School of Natural Sciences in Moody Center, the basketball arena. There were probably about a thousand graduates. Prominently displayed below the giant screen in the center of the arena was this tagline:

What starts here changes the world.

That will preach. I shared it with the men I’m doing Bible study with when I got back. I told them that I firmly believed that what starts here–in this Bible study–changes the world.

We were treated to a living example. The graduation speaker was Dr. James Allison. Here’s part of his bio from the official graduation program:

Jim Allison (B.A. ’69, Ph.D. ’73), the 2018 Nobel laureate for physiology or medicine, is recognized internationally for his foundational discoveries in T cell biology that launched the field of cancer immunotherapy. He has spent a distinguished career studying the regulation of T cell responses and developing powerful strategies for therapy of many cancer types, establishing the field of immune checkpoint blockade therapy for cancer. Work in his lab led to the development of the life-saving cancer drug ipilimumab, the first immune checkpoint blockade therapy approved by the FDA. Ipilimumab has been approved as part of the therapeutic regimen for metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma and lung cancer. Allison’s current work seeks to improve immune checkpoint blockade therapies currently used by clinicians and identify new targets to unleash the immune system to eradicate cancer.

Reread it. The dude, a graduate of the University of Texas, class of 1969 (one year after I graduated from Clemson!), developed a revolutionary cure for cancer! In 1969 he was sitting right where today’s graduates are sitting now, waiting to walk across the stage. 49 years later, he’s accepting the Nobel Prize. Eight years after that, he’s talking to the graduates about his work.

Here are a few snippets from his 10-minute speech:

• I was studying T cells rather than going directly at the cancer cells themselves.
• Something was actually a brake and stopped T cells from working. That was not the expected result. I decided we need to learn how to “disable the brakes” on the T cells.
• Some said it was a career-ending fiasco to keep with this, but science isn’t a democracy, votes don’t matter. Data matters.
• We showed that blocking this led to cures for cancers which were deemed as incurable.
• This wasn’t because someone won an argument. It was because when things weren’t turning out as we expected, we admitted when we were wrong and kept going to find the answers.
• Don’t settle for the first and easy explanation. Persist. Meaningful work often takes longer than you expect.
• Don’t underestimate the ability of determined people to change the future. I know it because I’ve seen it. And just as it says up here, “What starts here changes the world,” you can change the world.
• Think clearly and follow the evidence before you. And when data tells you the world’s not quite what you assumed, have the wisdom to listen and the courage to act.

“The wisdom to listen and the courage to act.” Amen.

I found the experience inspiring. It’s not everyday you’re in the same room with a Nobel laureate who shared wisdom applicable to any endeavor. If what you’re doing isn’t working, “have the wisdom to listen and the courage to act.”

For example, churches all over the world are running the same “Sunday morning play” – a huge emphasis on the Sunday worship service while universally bemoaning a lack of disciples among their members. It’s like trying to teach someone to play piano by taking them to concerts. Paul told (pastor) Timothy what to do:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

Jesus, also, was clear – “teaching them to observe…”

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28.18 – 20, ESV)

PS You can read Dr. Allison’s (very technical) Nobel Prize acceptance speech for detail of his work. Here’s a less technical article from Time Magazine.

PPS Here’s an inspiring early success story:

In 2006, when Allison was at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, he met the first patient treated with a drug derived from his research, who was part of the early studies on the therapy. Sharon Belvin was diagnosed with late stage melanoma at age 22 and was told she shouldn’t plan to start a family or expect to have many more years to live. After receiving the drug, Belvin’s doctors were surprised to see her tumors disappear. Allison was brought to tears after hearing her story, and nearly 20 years later, Belvin now has her own family and stays in touch with him. “I talked to her a couple of weeks ago,” he says. “She’s fine and her kid’s about to go to college.”

A final word: in the spiritual realm, there is only one thing that changes the world. Stay tuned.