NICK EICHER, HOST: Right this moment is Monday, April seventeenth. Good morning! That is The World and The whole lot in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.
MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Usually, we’d be introducing the WORLD Historical past E book round this time, however at this time we now have one thing a bit completely different.
This weekend the missionary group Operation Mobilization introduced that its founder George Verwer died Friday night time. WORLD’s Paul Butler first heard Verwer communicate at a missions convention when he was a school pupil within the 1980’s. Right here he’s now with this remembrance of the missionary pioneer.
GEORGE VERWER: Seven the reason why it’s best to go. And the primary purpose—write it down—the necessity is so overwhelming.
PAUL BUTLER, REPORTER: For greater than 50 years, when George Verwer spoke, individuals paid consideration. And if he mentioned to write down one thing down, properly, that’s precisely what you probably did.
VERWER: We may simply go on and on providing you with the names of individuals teams the place the church doesn’t but exist. If that doesn’t transfer your missionary coronary heart, it’s worthwhile to simply repent!
George Verwer usually wore a jacket emblazoned with the map of the world to remind individuals to hope for—and to go to—the ends of the earth. Generally he additionally introduced alongside an enormous inflatable globe, like when he spoke at Lansdowne Church in 2013:
VERWER: We dwell in wonderful days. For 150 years, and particularly the final 50 or 60, the best harvest of individuals to Jesus than the world has ever identified. Extra have come to Jesus statistically within the final 150 than within the earlier 1850.
George Verwer got here to Christ at a Jack Wyrtzen evangelistic assembly in 1953.
BILLY GRAHAM: One of the vital wonderful issues in all of the universe is that God loves us.
The 16-year previous Verwer listened intently as Billy Graham gave the gospel at New York’s Madison Sq. Backyard.
Verwer returned to his highschool and started handing out copies of the Gospel of John. Inside a 12 months practically 200 of his fellow college students professed religion in Christ.
From then on Verwer was at all times handing out literature and speaking to individuals about their want for Christ.
After graduating from Moody Bible Institute in 1960, Verwer and his spouse moved to Spain. They have been there to study Russian with hopes of reaching the USSR with the gospel. On one Bible smuggling journey to Moscow, Verwer was arrested as a spy and kicked in a foreign country: making it inconceivable to return. Verwer retold the story many instances jokingly calling himself “God’s Bungler” as a substitute of “God’s Smuggler.”
However out of that ministry failure Verwer found his life work: “to mobilize the church” in reaching the world for Christ. He was an early pioneer in short-term missions: dedicated to equipping on a regular basis Christians for worldwide evangelism and discipleship. He based Operation Mobilization in 1961.
PETER MEAD: He is at all times form of pushing. What can we attempt that would work?
Peter Mead is a second technology OM missionary. His father spent a summer season in Europe with Verwer in 1962. Peter adopted in his footsteps 1996 at 20 years previous.
MEAD: And so he is acquired an entire legacy of form of embarrassing moments and humorous tales however truly within the midst of that form of chaos, the impression that he is had has been completely huge I believe within the Christian world.
Mead is only one of a whole lot of short-term missionaries who went on to start out his personal ministry after rubbing shoulders with George Verwer.
MEAD: Numerous the legacy that he has is the mobilizing of individuals into ministry and into missions then to go on to do different issues. There have been so many organizations began out of OM.
However Verwer by no means let his affect and notoriety go to his head. In keeping with Mead, one of the vital issues about Verwer’s ministry was his transparency…he wrote a ebook titled: Messiology the place he spoke overtly about his struggles with lust, a fast mood, and difficulties with kindness and beauty.
MEAD: He knew who he was. He knew he nothing particular in himself, however he needed to assist others take into consideration God’s grace and take into consideration the goodness of the gospel, and acknowledge that we do not have to be good for God to make use of us and bless us within the midst of that. That degree of actuality goes to be missed.
Verwer’s driving ardour was for individuals to get to know Jesus—for as soon as people had a dynamic relationship with Christ, Verwer believed missions would logically comply with.
Verwer stepped down from main OM in 2013, however even into his 80s he barely slowed down. Till earlier this 12 months when he spent 10 days within the hospital and his well being by no means totally recovered.
On April eighth, he posted what he knew was to be his final video weblog to Fb:
VERWER: I pray when individuals consider me, they’re going to bear in mind the eagerness to see everybody on this planet have the chance to listen to or learn the gospel. However there are a whole lot and a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of folks that haven’t but been reached. Be steadfast, unmovable. At all times abounding within the work of the Lord.
Six days later, on April 14th, missionary pioneer George Verwer died at age 84.
Throughout a 1987 coaching session with OM short-term missionaries, Verwer gave a chat on seven the reason why individuals ought to go…it’s an attraction he gave 1000’s of instances over his life and one which continues even after his demise:
VERWER: That day alongside the ocean of Galilee and mentioned to these extraordinary males: ‘comply with me and I am going to make you fishers of males.’ And instantly they left their nets and so they adopted him. What about you? As you hear his voice, what about you?
I’m Paul Butler.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This textual content is probably not in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could range. The authoritative file of WORLD Radio programming is the audio file.
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