“My call to the unreached came from another man’s vision.”
In the book of Acts 16: 9, Paul had a vision of a man asking him to come over and help them. In verse 10 we see Luke concluding that though he had not seen the vision that he to felt he had been called by following a man that had the vision. I too followed a man that had a vision of the unreached and felt this was my call to the regions beyond. Cecil Dye was the man that more than any other I want to follow training young men and women getting them to the mission field prepared to give their life if need be for the glory of God.
Today we need leaders like Cecil Dye who not only trained young men but went with them to their death in the hot steamy jungles of Bolivia in 1943, four years before I was born. Younger brother Bob, Dave Bacon, George Hosbach and Eldon Hunter came face to face with the reality of what it cost to reach the unreached with the Gospel message.
Cecil their leader was not blind to the dangers facing them as they hacked their way through the dense jungle floor known as the Green Hell of Bolivia. Listen to the words he penned to his home church back in Saginaw Michigan as he and the team made their way to the field. “I believe some of your boys will witness God’s power in their ministry as few have… not because they are capable, but because, with all their heart, they are seeking God’s best, early in the morning as well as throughout the day. I shall not be surprised if some will share with Stephen a martyr’s crown, for we are going into territory shunned by missionaries because of the treachery of the climate and savages.”
Then the words that penetrated my heart just like the spears penetrated the bodies of these young men so many years ago as they sat together in a little clearing waiting to step into the presence of the Lord. This is a bit long but if you want to really know what moved me into missions read on.
“I don’t believe we care so much whether this expedition is a failure so far as our lives are concerned, but we want God to get the most possible glory from everything that happens… it seems it would be a real testimony to the Lord’s power to make the expedition successful. Then, again, perhaps more Christians at home would become aware of their responsibility to lost men and less concern over the material things of this life if the expedition failed and we lost our lives. Maybe they would pray more for the next group who went out to the same tribe; and maybe there would be more “all out” volunteers so that every tribe would be reached in their generation. I believe the real attitude of every fellow in this group is that they want, at any cost, that which will glorify God the most.”
I was a young man in 1972 reading these words that moved me to action, next year I turn 70 but my heart is to see this job finished in my generation. Come join missionaries that focus on the unreached around the world. Together we will finish the work no matter the cost because we have counted the cost and count Him faithful to be with us even in death and beyond. Jack