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Early Years

I was privileged to grow up in a Christian home in the South. My mother had begun to pray for her children even before they were born. And her primary prayer was for their salvation. Probably every day for the first sixteen years of my life, that prayer was lifted before the Lord on my behalf. Those prayers, I believe, were the single-most important human factor in my conversion.

Probably the term that was often applied to me in my childhood was "good boy". I performed well academically. I took initiative in student leadership. Avoiding the "negative influences", I spent my time with the "right crowd". Perhaps indicative of this, my parents never had to put me under a curfew. They never needed to. I simply came in always at a reasonable hour.

But the "good boy" was a bad boy. And it took him until his 16th year to discover this. For some reason, neither the bad news nor the Good News had sunken in until that point. Certainly my mother had shared the Gospel with me in those earlier years. And possibly I had heard it in some services. But at age 16, it seemed something brand new.

Conversion

During the summer of 1966, my mother asked me to read the book, Walks Through John's Gospel by Erling Olsen. (Interestingly, it was almost ten years later while looking on a bronze plaque outside the Dallas Seminary Chafer Chapel that I discovered that Mr. Olsen was a Dallas board member in the fifties.)

By the time I reached the John 3:16 portion of the book, I realized two critical facts. First, I was a sinner, separated from God and under his condemnation. And second, Christ had died as my substitute. Then I learned that the only reasonable and necessary response was to open my heart to Him through faith. So I knelt by the sofa, prayed and put my faith in Christ. The circumstances were largely without emotion--during and after. But Christ had forgiven my sins and invaded my life.

Several results became my immediate experience. For one, there was peace in my heart. For another, there was the direction in my life that I had never before had. I began to grow some time thereafter (overcoming the disadvantage of having no human follow-up) and to involve myself in ministry even in those teenage years.

College

It was at Clemson University and through a deep involvement with Campus Crusade for Christ that God confirmed to me that I must go into vocational Christian service. I knew that I simply would not be happy doing anything else. But four years of study at Dallas Seminary helped crystallize that conviction as God gave me a heart for 3 things for which I never had a heart before: the church, the pastorate and missions.

Pastorate

Consequently, I ministered for 10 years as the pastor of Grace Bible Church, Gadsden, AL. We as a church made missions a major part of our ministry. But even as early as seminary, I was relatively sure that God would one day lead me to the mission field. The specific direction for that came after two of the top leaders at BEE, Vienna, challenged me to move into communist Romania in 1987. During a period of some six months of prayer and seeking God's hand, He confirmed very clearly and from His Word that I should go as a vocational missionary to Romania.

Confirmation

I was in my 10th year as pastor. BEE had issued the challenge for me to move into Romania and to begin to train pastors clandestinely. If I did not go, there was no one else who would go. That one reason may have been why I did not discard their outlandish invitation and never think about it again. There were (and are) plenty of pastors in America, in fact, more pastors than churches. But if I did not go to Romania, no one else would go. I was the entire list. I wrestled with this decision as with no other decision in my life. "God, do You want me to go to Romania?" I used every means of guidance I knew: evaluation, prayer, meditation, seeking godly counsel from mature Christians, circumstances, need . . . But at the end of 5 months, I still did not know whether to go or to stay. Finally, I took a trip to experience Romania firsthand. Still I did not know. Time was dragging on. The church was left in the awkward position of not knowing if its pastor were staying or leaving. A decision had to be made. But it was too important to make the wrong decision. It had to be God's decision. I prayed even more earnestly.

Early one morning, meditating consecutively through the Gospel of John, I came to John 21:1-14 and its message, "If you depend on God to minister to others, you can depend on God to minister to you." I had studied it and preached it before. But then I did a double take. I couldn't believe my eyes. What had been my greatest fears as I contemplated going to Romania? …their notorious lack of heat in the buildings, their lack of good food, and the fact that I would be going in absolutely alone without family or teammate. But what had Christ provided for the disciples that morning beside the sea after they had obeyed His instructions for catching fish? …a fire to warm them, breakfast to feed them, a circle of fellowship for their soul needs. With tears in my eyes, I said, "Lord, You did it then. You can do it again. I am going to Romania." I did …and He did. Never in all my years in Romania have I gone lacking for warmth, for food or for fellowship.

Family: Meda

Most people had given up on the prospect of me ever getting married. But obviously, God had not. In 1997 Meda Laz ăr accepted my proposal and became my bride. Born and raised in Cluj, Romania, Meda was the daughter of a convinced atheist father. He underwent a Pauline conversion in 1980 and became as committed to Christ as he had been to atheism. As with the head of the household, so went the rest of the household. Meda was ten years old when she met Christ.

She completed her nursing degree in 1995 and thereafter worked as nurse in the Cluj cardiovascular hospital, the main heart center in Transilvania. Throughout the 1990s she was active in the “Children’s Friend” ministry to handicapped boys.

Lauren & Savannah

Our family has since grown to four. Lauren entered 3½ years ago, Savannah one year ago. Incidentally, Meda’s family only produces girls. She is one of 3 sisters, no brothers. Those three sisters now have a total of 6 children, all girls. But I would not trade our two for boys of any number or nature. Lauren is already making great strides in becoming bilingual. So feel free to speak with her in English or Romanian. Before long she will undoubtedly be correcting both her father’s Romanian and her mother’s English. She is a high-energy type who loves broccoli, music, visiting grandparents, and Veggie Tales. Savannah survived a first summer during which she refused to take virtually all liquids. But she has been “normal” and healthy ever since. Savannah loves yogurt, crawling through the chairs under our dining table, and music, but most of all she loves Lauren.