The Tragic Beginnings of World Vision

Reflections on the Life of the Founder Bob Pierce

World Vision is the world’s largest Christian relief organization, serving over 100,000,000 of the world’s neediest in over 100 countries. But few know the heroic, yet tragic life of the founder Bob Pierce, who also founded Samaritan’s Purse. In 2005, Bob’s daughter, Marilee Pierce Dunker, wrote a revealing biography Man of Vision sharing a side of her father that few knew. Though no one recommended this book to me, it found its way into my hands. I’d like to share a summary of the story with you, arranged both chronologically and topically.

Many times, we put well-known Christian leaders on a pedestal, not knowing just how human, how ordinary, and how just like you and me they are. So much can be learned, both good and bad, from Bob Pierce’s incredible life.

Spiritual Warfare

From the very beginning, Satan was trying to take Bob and Lorraine out before they could get a good footing. Marilee commented:

“I strongly believe that the foundation of hell tremble every time a man and woman of God commit themselves to one another. The ministry potential of a couple yielded to the will of God is a threat Satan can’t afford to ignore. In my parents’ case, he was determined to defeat the troops before they had a chance to get on the battlefield. And he almost succeeded.” (p. 31)

Bob’s Family Life

Bob met Lorraine Johnson after preaching at her church in 1936. They fell in love and married. Early in their marriage, Lorraine followed Bob all over the place as an itinerant preacher. They struggled financially. Eventually, Bob got a job at a church, but he wasn’t happy because he wasn’t allowed to do as much as he wanted. Bob also worked at a Christian radio station with Lorraine’s dad, but they had an argument and Bob quit.

Bob was under a lot of stress so two months after the birth of his first daughter, he decided to move away to San Diego to get a job, with no return date. Week by week came and went. Lorraine felt abandoned. To her, she felt as if Bob walked out on the family. Then just when Lorraine thought Bob was coming home she received a letter from Bob saying that he was divorcing her. Lorraine broke down in tears. Here’s what happened the next time Lorraine saw Bob in the lawyer’s office.

“The first few minutes of the meeting were understandably stiff and uncomfortable. Finally Mother found the courage to crouch by Daddy’s chair, forcing him to look at her.

‘Just tell me one thing. Do you love me?’

Daddy’s answer was unhesitating. ‘Yes.’

‘That’s all I need to know. We’ll make it.’

‘You don’t understand. I’ve changed. I don’t believe the way you do anymore,’ Daddy said in obvious anguish.

Taking his hands in hers, Mama said, ‘Then I’ll just have to have enough faith for the both of us.’ (p. 51)

Lorraine saved their marriage with her faith in God. But being married to Bob Pierce would take a tremendous toll on her in the years to come. Marilee commented:

“My parents’ communication had broken down, and suddenly two people who had shared the deepest intimacy had nothing to say to each other.” (p. 91)

Bob was hardly ever home again, serving the needs of the poor all over the world. He “was gone an average of ten months each year, a statistic that would vary only slightly during the next fifteen years…  Letters were poor substitutes for the sound of her husband’s voice or the feel of his arms holding her close.” (p. 104)

Bob missed just about every important day with his family. Marilee commented,

“Never was Daddy’s absence felt more keenly than on those special days families love to celebrate together. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Holidays. Daddy tried to be home on these days, but sometimes it just wasn’t possible.

Thanksgiving, 1956, found Daddy in Beirut, Lebanon. We were all disappointed. It just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Daddy there to carve the turkey. But, more importantly to my mother, it meant he would not be home to celebrate their twentieth anniversary.” (p. 131)

Bob never felt like he abandoned his family. Marilee commented:

“How many times I heard Daddy quote Luke 14:26, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children… he cannot be my disciple.’ Daddy understood that Scripture to mean that he was obliged to put his ministry and the needs of the world before his own family. He used to say, ‘I’ve made an agreement with God that I’ll take care of His helpless little lambs overseas if He’ll take care of mine at home.’ It surely sounded sensible enough, and Daddy sincerely believed it was right. Unfortunately, future events would prove that this was Daddy’s agreement, not God’s.” (p. 136-137)

Bob’s Daughter Committed Suicide

Years later, one of Bob’s daughters, Sharon, married a non-Christian, was divorced, became depressed, and eventually committed suicide. Part of it had to do with not having her father around. Here is what Sharon wrote in her journal:

“I know Mom loves me. But some things a woman just can’t give- one being the comfort of a man, yes, a father even, when he puts his arms around you and says everything will be O.K.” (p. 180)

Marilee commented concerning Sharon:

“Her overwhelming need for love and approval from the men in her life and her need to feel useful and significant drove Sharon deeper and deeper into the pit of despair. Her whole life had been spent like that little girl of long ago, earnestly waving her hand with a desperate desire to be acknowledged, but somehow always being overwhelmed in the crowd.” (p. 181)

Bob’s Failing Health

Bob’s packed schedule stressed him out to a point of exhaustion. He started receiving medical help, including mind-altering drugs that changed his personality. He became irritable and blew up at any little thing. Marilee commented:

“It was such a paradox to see the same man who gave so lovingly explode over the most unexpected things.’ Daddy’s unpredictable moods had always caused us to step lightly; we were never certain what might set him off.” (p. 166)

“I cannot tell you all that my father must have felt during those days. He would express raging anger one minute and a flippant ‘I don’t care’ attitude the next. Sometimes he would appear strong and in control. During those times he would talk enthusiastically about continuing his work on a smaller scale without the complications of a large office, which inevitably depersonalized things and, to his way of thinking, made the rules more important than the people. Mother would take heart, thinking that perhaps this was God’s way of slowing Daddy down, of taking him back to the basic essentials that would allow him to continue ministering without killing himself.

But then he would crumble before our eyes, retreating into a world of incredible pain and anguish beyond comfort or reason. He was like a mother bereft of her only child, or a king exiled from an empire of his own making. He mourned his loss with angry bellows and stormy silences, and we all watched with growing concern as his inward turmoil began to manifest itself in uncontrollable shaking and choking spells.” (p. 170)

Eventually, Bob not seeing eye to eye with his board, resigned from World Vision on poor terms. Part of reason why he stepped down was because he wasn’t able to control his emotions and felt like everyone was against him.

Separation

Eventually, Bob was fed up with life. He didn’t want to hear from his wife how she and their kids needed him around so he filed for separation from her. This devastated Lorraine. She started asking,

“How can Bob not love me? I’ve never done anything to him-betrayed him, forsaken him. I bore his children, waited over twenty years for him, and when he could finally be with me, he doesn’t want me. And he has nothing left.” (p. 187)

Lorraine felt completely alone in her struggle to keep her marriage.

“It seems that I am standing alone in my resistance against this breakup of my marriage. The few I have sought counsel from have not pointed to the Word, just to our human circumstances. Where are God’s people who will stand with me in resistance against this evil?” (p. 202)

Marilee commented:

“Mother never recovered from the fact that Daddy took her to court. She accepted Sharon’s death because she had no choice… Legal separation was something Mama never accepted.” (p. 199)

The separation seemed to free Bob up quite a bit, which he was happy about. Marilee commented:

“For Daddy, on the other hand, the separation seemed to take an enormous burden off his shoulders. Now he had only to provide those things prescribed by law, and he was free to pop in and out of our lives as he saw fit.” (p. 200)

Reconciliation

Eventually, Bob was dying from leukemia. He called his family together who he was estranged from one last time. They met together and made up as best as possible. The healing over pain and disappointment began. Four days later, Bob died.

What I Learned

• It’s very important to be there for your spouse and kids.
• If I can’t manage my family well (somewhat subjective) I don’t have any business in getting involved in other things.
• God can use a person to accomplish great things despite his flaws.
• Children have a great need for positive father figure.
• Don’t speak when you are angry. You’ll probably regret it later.
• Bring your emotions under control.

How Jesus Shared the Gospel

Natural Ways of Reaching People for the Kingdom

It’s interesting to note that the way Jesus shared the gospel was quite different than the way we normally do it here in the West. The gospel of the evangelical culture is often relegated to a few points and shared before forming a trusting relationship. In other words, we bomb people with the gospel regardless of whether they are open or if the situation warrants it.

I’m not saying that we should never say anything about the gospel the first time we meet someone. No. There may be a divine appointment or a situation that would warrant it, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. Imagine how you would feel if a Hindu came up to you and started telling you about Krishna, Shiva, and Ganesha (Hindu deities). This social no-no often ends up hurting the relationship and pushes people even farther from God.

I embarrassingly admit that I’ve done this one time too many. In college I remember telling a friend how he should come to my Christian campus group. Every time I saw him I invited him. Eventually, he was really ticked at me for “pushing” religious stuff at him and told me off. I lost that relationship. He never talked to me again even until today. That was the only way I knew how to share the gospel then.

In the evangelical culture, there are popular ways of sharing the gospel. These include giving away tracts, sharing the Four Spiritual Laws, inviting someone to an evangelistic meeting[1] or something equivalent. Do these methods work? Rarely. Are they effective? No.

I mean, how many people do you know came to Christ through a Four Spiritual Laws tract? Or through an evangelistic crusade (who still follows Christ today)? Sure, you may know a couple here and there. Now, how many people have been turned off from God because you gave them a tract or invited them to the church function? Probably a lot more.

The vast majority of people who come to Christ come through relationships. Imagine how many more people would come to Christ if we removed roadblocks to their coming to faith. Imagine how many more would come if our relationships with non-believers were natural and not forced or awkward.

When we share the gospel it is often canned, rehearsed, and unnatural. Instead of bringing people closer to God, we end up pushing people away. What’s interesting is that the gospel that Jesus shared was never canned, never rehearsed, and never unnatural. That’s not to say that he was successful in all his attempts to win people.

There was a beautiful fluidity in the way Jesus did it. What came out of his mouth depended on the situation. He never talked to any two people in the same way. For example, he didn’t talk to the prostitute the same way he talked to the Pharisees… And a lot times he barely said anything at all and they[2] would still get it! Go figure, huh?

Let’s look at the story of the woman at the well (John 4). Perhaps we can gain a few pointers.

⁶… Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 ⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" ⁸(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

 ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

 ¹⁰Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

 ¹¹"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

 ¹³Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

 ¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

 ¹⁶He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."

 ¹⁷"I have no husband," she replied.

   Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

 ¹⁹"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

 ²¹Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

 ²⁵The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

 ²⁶Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

If you look at this story, you will notice the following observations:

• Jesus didn’t start off the conversation offering his advice
• Jesus started the conversation by asking for something, namely some water.
• Jesus associated with a Samaritan even though Jews didn’t have dealings with Samaritans
• Jesus played on words and offered the woman water that quenches forever
• Jesus never accused the woman of sin (at least not directly)
• Jesus had a word of knowledge that she has had five husbands, which opened up the conversation
• Jesus took advantage of a teachable moment and told her that He was the one her people were looking for

Jesus interwove the gospel as he saw fit. He blended it in with the water analogy. He wasn’t socially intrusive. He piqued the woman’s interest and engaged with her on her level. This story shows us how important it is to relate the gospel to people in a way that hits home for them.

The gospel was not a one-size-fits-all. Jesus didn’t say the same ole thing to everybody. Relating the gospel appropriately to individuals, families, and communities will require thinking, praying, and creativity, things we might not be used to doing. In the end, if we really want people to know Christ we need to go the extra mile and work hard at how we convey the gospel to each unique situation we encounter. Pray and ask God for the specific key to unlock that person’s heart.

Revolutionary Parenting

By George Barna

A Book Review

“I have become convinced that the spiritual war occurring in individual lives is pretty much won or lost by the age of thirteen. What parents do with their youngsters prior to the teen years is of paramount importance to the Kingdom of God on earth.”

George Barna (Revolutionary Parenting, p. xxi-xxii)

 
I recommend this book to you! If you’re a parent, you need to get this. If you’re not a parent, these ideas will still be valuable in discipling and mentoring people to spiritual maturity.

Can there be anything more important in shaping future generations than parenting? Hordes of research shows that one common theme behind people with criminal records is a lack of parental figures. Imagine the impact of God-fearing parenting would have to these lives!

Much of our values, practice, and beliefs today can be traced back to how we were parented in our childhood. That’s what makes parenting such an important factor in how generations are shaped.

Barna has researched and tracked the common themes of good parenting through interviewing thousands of parents and their children, some of them now adults. Unlike many parenting books, this one is done from the perspective of research as opposed to someone writing about what worked on his kids. The information on these pages are invaluable and will give you a big heads up on raising children who fear God.

What is the Problem?

There is a crisis in American parenting. Effective parenting is failing, even amongst Christians. Many Christian parents have the wrong standard for what makes good parents. We think that just because our kids are getting good grades in school, not using drugs, not in gangs, and are overall nice kids, then we’re doing great as parents.

Unfortunately, God’s standards are different. He expects us to deeply love Him and people and live in obedience to His commands. As long as we measure parenting by our standards, we will be blind to the situation at hand and unable to play a key role in shaping future generations.

Most parents do not think that it’s their job to raise kids. We think that it’s the school’s job, or the teacher’s job, or the church’s job, or the youth ministry’s job. The Bible says that parenting is the parents’ job and no one else’s. This doesn’t mean that other people can’t play a role. But the onus of responsibility falls on the parents.

Seeing parenting as a primary responsibility will affect how you spend your time, what you do, and what you say. This might sound obvious, but for some of us it is not. If you want to raise children to love God and people, you need to do that yourself. If obedience to God is not evident in your life, how can you expect anything more from your children?

Here are some disturbing statistics regarding children from Christian homes between the ages of eight to twelve:

• 19% of them feel that they have a responsibility to evangelize their peers.
• 46% state that their faith in very important I their lives.
• 28% of them dismiss the idea of Satan’s existence
• 60% live for things other than God with all their hearts
• 42% don’t believe that God rules the universe

Here are some common threads between parents who raised godly children:

• They demonstrated their real life priorities by what was on their calendars, how they spent money, what they were passionate about…
• They make sacrifices in order to make parenting a priority. This may include not being able to work out at the gym as much as you might like, cutting back on social activities and commitments outside of the home…
• They spend anywhere from 90-120 minutes in dialogue on a typical day with their children.
• Spiritual discussions and life are a natural part of the family.
• They do not push their children into things they are not ready for.
• The single most important focus for parents was to impart noble character.
• They enforce limits on their children (i.e. curfew).
• They were able to control their anger and frustrations.
• They explain to their children why they ask what they ask of their children.
• They teach an absolute truth.
• They love their children unconditionally (even when their children really tick them off).
• They surround their children with positive role models.
• They protect their children from burnout (i.e. kids weren’t involve in every single thing at school). 
• They know how their children were spending time, who their friends were, what mass media they were watching... They see their roles as safeguarding their children’s minds and development.
• They did not try to get their kids to make them look good (i.e. pushed them into the best colleges so that they can look successful).
• Their children always view them as the ones in charge.
• They instill in their children the need to serve those less fortunate through modeling.
• They teach their children to think independently based on core principles.
• Prayer is central to their family.

Take Home Points

• Your impact on your children’s lives is proportional to the depth of the relationship you have fostered with them (p. 19). In other words, the better the relationship you have with someone the more you can speak into that person’s life.
• You must wholeheartedly embrace the outcomes you are pushing the child to achieve (p. 20). In other words, if you’re excited about God, your child will also be. If you are not, he probably won’t either.
• Impact is derived by coaching “in the moment” (p. 20). In other words, there are key times in your child’s life where he will be receptive to hearing you out on certain things. Take advantage of them (i.e. Share a story of loving your enemies just after he gets beaten up by thugs at school).
• In order to spend more time with your children, you may want to consider being less career-driven. You may want to consider having a single income so that one of the parents can be devoted full time to parenting.
• Parenting must be unique to each child since each child has different needs, room for improvement, temperament, strengths, and weaknesses.

How’s Your Relationship with God?

A Personal Reflection

I am fortunate to have a few friends who ask me, “So how’s your relationship with God?” To be quite honest, sometimes I don’t like it when they ask. It makes me feel uncomfortable. Why? Well, for one I don’t know how to answer it. Then at times, it’s because I don’t want to be that vulnerable. I don’t want people to know how I’m doing. I want to hide. I’m afraid that if I shared something someone didn’t expect or want to hear, it might make him feel uncomfortable or even discouraged.

But probably more than any other reason I don’t want to answer this question is because I’m afraid that I will be judged as less than spiritual or godly if I gave an honest answer. Then again, who am I kidding? Who am I trying to impress?

When people ask me I get the feeling that they are hoping that I would say something positive like, “God is awesome” or “Me and God are doing good” or something like that. But the truth is that I might not feel like God is awesome. This is not to say that God isn’t awesome. It’s just that I might not be feeling that He is for whatever reason.

Recently, a friend was sharing about his spiritual life. He said that his relationship with God was pretty much, same ole- same ole. Meaning, he was struggling with lust, pride, worry, and so forth. Normal human stuff. He didn’t describe his relationship with God as awesome, but I’m sure he would have wanted to. He wanted more of God in his life, but sin weighed him down. I find that I relate with him and others who struggle in their relationship with God more than those who don’t seem to.

Sometimes it can be frustrating. Year in and year out, I desire to be more obedient to God, yet it doesn’t seem like I’m making spiritual progress compared to the year before. But then again, how would you measure obedience since it is somewhat subjective?

 I have some charismatic friends. Their relationship with God is almost always on cloud nine. God is always doing some “crazy” things. God is always showing up. God is always so awesome. Sometimes I wish that I could say that about my relationship with God. At other times, I wonder if they are delusionally positive. But perhaps for them things are always that good. Who knows?

On the flip side, I have some Baptist (or conservative evangelical) friends, who don’t subscribe to signs, wonders, miracles, and the power of the Holy Ghost. They would say that their relationship with God is going “good” or “fine” or “OK”. And they’re happy where they are at. Sometimes I think to myself, “Dang guys. You’ve got to seek God more. Beg and cry out to God. Don’t be so passive!”

So I find that I live in a world between the Baptists and the Charismatics… if there is such a world. Everyone’s relationship with God is different. No, God is the same, but how we relate to God is so different. So many factors affect our experience of God. These might include your upbringing, how much pain and suffering you’ve encountered, who your friends are, who your parents are, social influences, where you grow up, your culture, and a whole host of other things.

For example, sometimes I hear these awesome stories of people who have been miraculously delivered from drugs or alcohol and they really understand the power of God breaking their addictions. That must give them a unique experience of God. I can’t relate to that though. I’ve never used drugs. And alcohol is repulsive to my tongue. My relationship with God is different than theirs.

I find that the most inspiring testimonies are from those who have kinda been to hell in life and back. Maybe they were abused as a child. Maybe they were rejected by a loved one. Maybe they got in trouble with the law. You know, something like that. I wish I had an awesome testimony like that, but I don’t.

In the end, everyone’s relationship with God is going to be different and that’s OK. God allows us to relate to Him the way He made us to. And if we seek Him with all our hearts, we bless Him.

So is there value is asking and being asked, “How’s your relationship with God?” Absolutely. It forces us and others to think about the most important relationship of all and what we can do to seek Him more.

What It Takes to Be a Shepherd

Principles from Ezekiel 34

The last few days I’ve had the rare opportunity of learning from David Watson, who has planted 100,000 churches leading to 5,000,000 coming to Christ. He didn’t necessarily plant each church or led each person to Christ, but rather they were the results of him leading and mentoring a handful to Christ, who led and mentored a handful to Christ, who led and mentored a handful to Christ and so on.

Well, one of the assignments was to look for shepherding principles from Ezekiel 34. Here is a list of them.  If God has called you to be a shepherd, can you say these things describe you?

A shepherd:

1)      Prophesies against self-centered shepherds of people (v. 2)

2)      Takes care of the flock (v. 2)

3)      Strengthens the weak (v.4)

4)      Heals the sick (v. 4)

5)      Binds the injured (v. 4)

6)      Brings back the strays (v. 4)

7)      Searches for the lost (v. 4)

8)      Does not rule harshly or brutally (v.4)

9)      Rescues his sheep (v. 12)

10)   Brings them out of the nations (v. 13)

11)   Gathers them from the countries (v. 13)

12)   Brings them into their own land (v. 13)

13)   Pastures them on the mountains (v. 13)

14)   Leads them to good grazing land where they can eat (v. 14)

15)   Tends the sheep (v. 15)

16)   Has them lie down (v. 15)

17)   Destroys the sleek and strong (v. 16)

18)   Shepherds with justice (v. 16)

Now read Psalm 23. Doesn’t it make you appreciate your Shepherd that much more?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.