How You Can Experience the Adventure of Giving


Experiencing the Adventure


Vonette and I are more excited about our Lord and the privilege of serving Him now than when we made a very special commitment to put Him first in our lives nearly forty years ago. By the spring of 1951, while I was in my senior year at Fuller Theological Seminary, a deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, and directing my business interests, we had become increasingly aware that living for Christ and serving Him was our major goal in life. So we decided to sign a contract with our Lord Jesus Christ in which we yielded our lives and all our material possessions to Him, including the giving of our finances.

As a result, today Vonette and I personally own very little of this world's goods. We are missionaries for our Lord, and like every other staff member with Campus Crusade, we trust God to provide our financial needs each day through godly people whom He impresses to invest in us and our ministry for Him. Although we seldom have more than enough to meet our needs for a few days or weeks at a time, we have always enjoyed the blessings of God which He promised to all who trust and obey Him. We would rather trust Him for all of our needs than all of the financial institutions of the world combined.

Right now, Vonette and I are embarking on one of the most exciting adventures in giving of our lives. It all started in 1946 when I heard Dr. Oswald Smith challenge approximately one thousand college students and young singles at a Forrest Home student conference to commit their lives to helping fulfill the Great Commission. He asked each of us to place our name on a country and claim it for our Lord through prayer and finances as God would lead - if necessary, even to give our lives to help reach that country for Christ. I put my name on the Soviet Union and began praying for God to do a great and mighty work in that country.

When Vonette and I were married, she joined me in praying for the Soviet Union. In recent years we and our staff have ministered to the Soviet people with fantastic results, helping to train thousands of pastors and laymen in various republics of the Soviet Union.

A few months ago, a Christian leader from the Soviet Union visited our headquarters and asked us to start a New Life Training Center in Moscow. Through a series of circumstances sometime later, the thought flashed through my mind: Could God work through me by using my retirement pension to help establish such a training center? My years of praying for the Soviet people and several visits to their county had given me a special love and burden for them. By starting a New Life Training Center with the proceeds of my pension, I could have a rare opportunity to help reach many thousands of them for our dear Lord Jesus Christ!

I had no idea how much my pension totaled, but the cost of launching one discipleship training center would be $50,000 for the first year. Joyfully, I considered the prospect.

First, though, I had to discuss my idea with Vonette. After thoroughly listening to what I thought God was leading us to do and asking a few pertinent questions expressing her concerns, she responded enthusiastically. We prayed and agreed to trust the Lord to provide for our older years.

I checked to find our how much money had accumulated in my pension fund. To our amazement, I had almost the exact amount needed to fund the training center for the first year. Joy and excitement still floods my heart today as I share this story with you. The very thought that God could use my retirement pension to help introduce many thousands of people to Christ overwhelms me. Our present plans are to start the New Life Training Center at Moscow University. I cannot thank God enough for the privilege of making this contribution of my time, talents and treasure to help fulfill the Great Commission.

Have you made your commitment to help fulfill the Great Commission in our generation? He reserves a special blessing for those who give generously of their time, talents and treasure to His word.

It is not likely that God will lead you to give your retirement funds for the cause of Christ. He wants to be original with each of us. Vonette and I have simply responded to his particular call on our lives. But for maximum blessing and fruitfulness of the glory of God, you will want to obey His will and leading as you follow His plan for your life.

I urge you to develop a personal strategy for giving that will enable you to invest wisely and significantly in the kingdom of God and thus increase your fruitfulness for Christ. Acknowledge God as the source and owner of your possessions, and be ready to give an account of your stewardship to Him. Offer your gifts to the Lord Jesus as an act of praise and worship. Put God first in your giving, and manage your time, talents and treasure to bring maximum glory to His name by laying up an abundance of treasures in heaven. In so doing, you too will experience the wonderful adventure of living and giving by faith.

Remember, How You Can Experience the Adventure of Giving is a transferable concept. You can master it by reading it six times; then pass it on to others as our Lord commands us in Matthew 28:20, "Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you." The apostle Paul encouraged us to do the same: "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2).