I got to know Professor Bonk closely when I spent a Sabbatical leave at the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), New Haven, Connecticut, USA from August 2012 to May 2013. I stayed in an OMSC residence. Jon showed special interest in me that baffled me. At the welcome event on the grounds of the OMSC in August 2012, he introduced me to the other residents and staff of the OMSC as a scholar he had known for some time. He mentioned my ministry with African Independent Churches and the Good News Theological Seminary. His high-profile introduction and testimonies about me gave me a new perspective of myself. In fact, his testimony boosted my scholarly image at a time when I was having a serious crisis of low self-image as a result of being disdained as an AIC scholar. In addition, he regularly called me to his office to discuss issues related to the DACB project and asked my views about it. On such occasions, I mused, “What has this man seen in me that he seeks my perspective?”
Thomas Oduro (Thu,) studied this question.