February 2001
Epilogue
[2002 Edition Note: See note on page 304]
For over ten years now I've wanted to reprint this book, adding a small epilogue telling how the question of gaining or losing the campus actually turned out. I wrote two long "epilogues" [the two preceding chapters] which appeared in 1990 in our bulletin, Mission Frontiers, but much of the detail, which always makes a story more interesting, was left out. Both after the last chapter (#46) and before the things I had written in Mission Frontiers, so many things rushed in upon us that I simply did not have time to finish the story. But it is way past time to tell the rest of the story — the final founding of the U.S. Center for World Mission and the William Carey International University.
Not just here but on the entire global scene much has continued to unfold. When we moved to this campus and began to speak out, only about 5 percent of the world's mission agencies were focusing on the unreached peoples of the world. Today, in 2001, you could almost say the reverse is true: now 95% of the agencies are trying strategically to reach out to unreached peoples.
Since we were founded, some new sending agencies have begun specifically with unreached peoples in mind,
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such as Pioneers and Frontiers, both nearing a thousand missionaries in their work. Another phenomenon, the A.D. 2000 Movement, mushroomed into a major global mobilizing effort and spread even further the need to reach out to the unreached peoples in general. On our own campus several organizations eventually struck out on their own and are now operating out of Colorado Springs. These include Global Mapping, Inc. and the Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse. The Global Adopt-a-People Campaign is still part of the USCWM spun off to the Philippines.
The new sending agencies all stress contextualization as a means of more effective outreach, but it is fascinating and difficult to understand all that that means, especially for Hindus and Muslims. In fact, not only are governments perplexed by what is happening, this is often true for home churches as well. Even as with the Apostle Paul, what may actually be good strategy in the field might be considered heretical theology to those back home. I will explain what I mean further in Book Two. [Ed. note: She wrote twenty chapters of that second book that has not yet been published.]
These last twenty-four years have included for us some unexpected difficulties. I am constantly amazed when comments are made about how difficult it was to have faith that God would bring in the funds to buy the property. Yes, it was difficult. But somehow through all that time I felt that it was in God's hands. If He wanted us to have it, He would simply have to provide.
What has been far more difficult are the power struggles, the accusations, the slander, anger on the part of some individuals, the insistence that once the social security retirement age was reached, everything should be turned over to someone younger whether that person knew the whole vision or how to manage the finances or not. There were times when I wondered if we would survive all this. Then I read about Moses, some of the early Psalms of David, the accusations
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against Paul, and later, what William Carey and Hudson Taylor unjustly endured as well as D.L. Moody. If Satan cannot destroy by one means, he will do his best to do it by another. Interestingly I noticed that such crises seemed to come in clumps, to different mission agencies about the same time. Often new forces succeeding in removing a founder only to see the organization flounder. Sad!
What about the cult? Well, that too has continued to get involved from time to time.
But enough for now. It won't be long before Book 2 will be off the press if my cancer does not move too fast. Let me simply list here the things I will need to detail for you there:
a) How the Last Thousand Dollar Campaign ended: the various crises associated with that and the final night of the celebration.
b) Satan's attacks on leadership and on staff immediately afterward.
c) Loss of staff: most leaving to work overseas, but the cost to us personally.
d) Ill health, cancer, even death among us.
e) New strategies, misunderstood by some staff: unchurched believers, etc.
f) What is the best way to retire?
[2002 Edition note: These words above represent Roberta's last contribution to this story. Chemo, radiation, pain pills and sleeping pills as well as other medications did not allow her much discretionary energies. Her bone-marrow cancer (myeloma) finally pulled her down to the grave eight months later. What she wrote about the intervening years will have to await later publication. Some hints appear in the next three chapters written by her husband.]
