August - September 1977
Mail Time
Every day now the stack of mail was getting larger. And every day, almost every letter that came carried a check. Some days, the total was $1,000, or $5,000, $10,000, or even $20,000. Two missionary families gave $10,000 apiece. David Bliss, our volunteer from Gordon Theological Seminary in Boston, sold an antique car he had treasured in order to help.
The school closest to us geographically, however, was a secular school. Our second daughter, Becky, was a student there, as had been her father, uncle and cousin before her. She and Bob Coleman, who had recently graduated from there and was now volunteering with us, were leaders in the Caltech Christian Fellowship, with 70 students the largest student organization at Caltech. And through their influence, several years before, Ralph had been asked to teach "The History of the Expansion of Christianity" there one semester.
The result of all this was that through the years we have enjoyed the help and expertise of these brilliant scientifically trained students from Caltech. Typical of students, they were usually close to penniless, yet determined to help. In those days before our first major payment, one, later to become an outstanding scientist, sent us a check for $3,136.47. Ralph
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asked him why it was such an odd amount. He answered, simply, "That's what was in my savings account." Another Cal tech student, lacking money, sold his stereo in order to help. Then he made a minor mistake. He simply turned over to us the check he got for his stereo. And we, naturally, sent a receipt to the one who had signed the check when he bought the stereo, a fellow Caltech student who had nothing but scorn for our entire dream. For a while he was unwillingly on our mailing list, receiving everything we sent out.
So, the money came in, first in trickles, then in an avalanche as our due date grew near. Clearly the Lord was answering our prayers. But would we have enough soon enough?
Ralph was so busy with everything going on that he couldn't follow in detail the amount of each check that came in, nor the types of people who were giving. But he was greatly encouraged that instead of a few very large gifts, we were getting hundreds of $50 and $100 gifts from people of modest means. To him, this meant that Christians at the grass roots were with us.
And they were. We had gifts from Nazarenes, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Lutherans, independent church people, people in the Midwest, in the Northeast, in the South, in the Northwest, in the Southwest . . . we still do not know from how many different places. The only explanation is that God prepared the hearts of His people all over the country, in all walks of life and from all churches to reach out in answer to His concern for those we were trying to reach.
Some people read about us in newspapers, in articles that were slanted against us, and sent in money because they recognized the spiritual battle we were facing. A man 3,000 miles away, not a Christian, wrote to us because of unpleasant contact he had had with Summit.
Our receptionist had one of the most exciting jobs. She
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was the one who opened and sorted the letters and answered the concerned inquiries by phone. So many calls came in that we had to install five additional lines. Our staff staggered their work hours so that the phones would be covered from 6 A.M. until 10 P.M. daily. Even Saturdays and Sundays during the last few weeks we had someone take calls so that people praying for us could find out how things were going.
Even so, the money we received was not nearly enough, and time was running short!
