June 15, 1977
Bethlehem's Star
Summer had come! Already! It seemed like only days since we had received the option. At last we could list on our letterhead an impressive list of well-known people who had agreed to be our consultants. With our gradually increasing staff, most short-term volunteers, we had at last been able to prepare a few promotional materials. Things were looking up, yet it was distressing to see how few days remained before our first major payment was due.
In all those previous months of uncertainty, there was one little flickering star in the north which God had sent to cheer us. The previous December, at InterVarsity's Student Missionary Conference in Urbana, Illinois, Ralph and I had met a persistent, mission-minded veterinarian from Portland. Dr. Gene Davis had insisted on our coming the following April to speak at his church, Bethlehem Baptist in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The time there had been refreshing for us and, I think, a shock for the church.
In his sermon Ralph had suggested that this small but rapidly growing church of only 100 giving units become an example to other churches by pledging $100,000 to the founding budget of the Center. I gasped when I heard him. These people didn't really know us. And most of them, we
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had been told, were young Christians, basically unacquainted with the world of missions. Dr. Gene Davis was the unusual ingredient, however.
Toward the middle of June, while we were racing to design a publicity brochure, send out letters, get our non-profit status from the government, and do everything we could to attract public attention, Gene called up and said, "I'm coming down with our pastor and three other men. We want to see the campus and decide about giving the $100,000 you asked for."
Ralph swallowed fast, then said, "That's really wonderful! We'll be ready."
They came, looked all around, talked long hours with us and left the next morning. Before going, Fred Lawrence, the pastor, said, "Brothers, we must pray about this. What Ralph is asking is far more than we can humanly do. But we have a big God. It is not too big for Him. Let us pray now, and then go on our way, and trust the Lord to show us what He wants us to do."
It was a precious time of prayer, ending with a pledge from all present to pray for fifteen minutes a day that the Lord would give us this campus.
Several days later we heard from Gene again. "All the way home," he said, "we talked about that 100,000. We've prayed a lot about it and have decided the Lord wants us to raise it, even if we have to mortgage our church property. The Lord will make this a blessing to us, we feel sure."
Our staff was walking on air when we heard the news. It was almost July, and all together we had only $25,000 toward the $850,000 due the first of October. That pledge was only a pledge, but as far as we were concerned, it was a bright ray of light in a very dark sky.
We had little time, even to rejoice. There was simply too much to do. And in a few days our campus would be inundated with people who had come to a conference we didn't want to see, to worship a god we didn't know.
