Ray Bakke is an unlikely urban evangelist. He grew up in an area of Washington state that was so rural that he missed as much as a month of school every year because snow or floods blocked the roads. Asked to describe life with his three siblings and his Norwegian-immigrant parents, Bakke quotes comedian Dick Gregory: "We was broke but not po'." In 1956, at age 18, Bakke moved to Chicago to attend the Moody Bible Institute. After graduating in 1959, he returned to the Pacific Northwest for six years, serving as an assistant pastor at Baptist churches in Seattle. He moved back to Chicago in 1965 -- for good. "I realized that something was going on in cities, not only here but around the world," he says. "I began to study what I call the world-class city: a city that has more than 1 million people and that is internationally significant. Back in 1965, there were 140 such cities. There are now about 400."

To Bakke, those numbers help define a global agenda. "The real challenge facing the world is not geographic distance but cultural distance," he argues. "I think of Jackson, Mississippi as a father to Chicago, because a million and a half black people from Mississippi came here. Poland is our mother, because 840,000 Poles came to Chicago -- 100,000 more Poles than San Francisco has people. We have all kinds of cultures in our cities. How are we going to live together and work together?"

Bakke argues that what applies to cities applies to companies as well. "Today the most common language spoken in my brother's company is Russian," he says. "Only 8% of the people in his company speak English."

This shifting landscape is exciting to Bakke, as is the progress that he's made over the past two decades. But making change is hard work, whether you're struggling to transform a company or to improve life in a city. How does Bakke maintain his commitment to change while avoiding burnout -- a hazard for all change agents?

First, he surrounds himself with colleagues who share his ideals. The Chicago Network -- a support group of local church leaders that has been meeting for 26 years -- is a major force behind Bakke's drive. "These are people who would die for me, just as I would for them," he says. "We've held each other up, and we've been accountable to each other. We've taught together, traveled together, read books together. This is the secret for me: I don't have to do anything to feel loved or to feel accepted in this city. Knowing that takes the pressure off."

Bakke also draws energy from history. "Back in the seventh and eighth centuries," he says, "there were monks who took their monasteries into the toughest sections of Europe. They didn't have outside funding, and they worked within the ambiguities of their situation. They inspire me."

Another way that Bakke prevents burnout is by accepting his own limitations. He has spent a great deal of his life on the road -- traveling up to 200 days a year. But he recently paused to assess the rigors of his schedule, and decided to cut back on traveling and to focus on mentoring. For Bakke, cutting back still means traveling to the four continents -- Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia -- where his ministry students live, so he can teach them on their own turf. He also calls his far-flung students to New York City for whirlwind seminars: Rather than holing up in a classroom, Bakke and his students immerse themselves in the life of the city's five boroughs, visiting them one after the other. "We look at models all day long, from morning until night," he says. For example, they've observed the Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, a coalition of 60 churches that has used its $114 million budget to build more than 1,400 housing units. "After examining the models, I lead students in reflection," Bakke says. "What's the program? Who is the audience? How do they fund it? Are the principles transferable? It is absolutely exhausting -- and very exciting."

What's Fast

Ray Bakke is a professor, a pastor, and an activist dedicated to improving life in cities worldwide. His insights into making change are as relevant to companies as they are to cities.

Look for solutions, not for problems. "Stop looking at the city as if it were just a problem -- with poor, locked-out people. That's seeing only the victim. See the city as an R&D unit. I've done consultations in more than 200 cities. When people in those cities ask for help, I say, 'Most of what you need to know is already in your city.' I bring together the best models of urban ministry, and we all teach each other what we're learning."

People don't make change -- networks do. "I used to go to conferences where we'd hear famous experts tell us how to do things. That model brought people together, but the audience was passive. What we do is to get people together, connect needs with resources, and build the bridges that make change happen. We link people to each other and turn them into associates. We walk alongside them, encourage and mentor them, and, if possible, secure grants for them."