The testimonies of the deeper Christian life contained in V. Raymond Edman’s They Found the Secret: 20 Transformed Lives that Reveal a Touch of Eternity are as challenging as they are inspirational. I was deeply moved by each story. There are so many, many familiar names included in this book. The familiarity of these names speaks for itself. They are familiar because the individuals to whom they point are beyond remarkable. Each of these people earned this characterization not because of something inherent to themselves, but because they actually died to self. They became less, so Christ Jesus could become more. History cannot help but to celebrate people who authentically seek, find, and live the deeper Christian life. It’s all about holiness.
This was an especially refreshing reminder delivered to me in less than 200 pages. I am very, very cognitive of the seamlessly endless stream and short-lived shelf-life of our contemporary time’s so called cutting-edge methodologies, strategies, and quick tricks for ministry and church growth. Today, ecclesiology seems to be more concerned about marketing and theology-lite maneuvering than classical Christianity and Orthodox presentations of the Gospel. Our Sabbath gatherings have become more about evangelism than deep worship. I ask, what day do we offer to God and God alone? I also ask, if we really understood how to really, really befriend our neighbors, and love sinners six days a week, would we even need a “Seeker Sensitive” service on Sundays? Really?
So, these are the sorts of questions I’ve been mulling over as I reached for and immersed myself in Edman’s book of classic testimony. I was shocked with what my reading left me with. I pondered …
These heroes of the faith - J. Hudson Taylor, Samuel Brengle, John Bunyan, Amy Carmichael, Oswald chambers, Charles Finney, Adoniram Judson Gordon, John Hyde, Dwight Moody, Andrew Murray, etc. - relied not on cutting-edge methodologies or slick marketing. They relied on faith and God’s promise to actually fill those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These heroes realized their need for all of God and then embraced the deeper Christian life. They died to self and counted holiness as a non-negotiable aspect of the mature Christian life.
I am especially taken with the testimony and life of Richard C. Halverson. I suppose he caught my attention because he too took off for Hollywood, CA at the wise, old age of 19. He caught on much quicker than I did. He left those LA streets after six months; it took me 3.5 years! Halverson dropped into a church near his home and began a new course of life and living that changed everything. Halverson calls this moment in his life “conversion.” He received Christ as his savior.
Soon afterwards, he attended a Bible conference and was called by Christ to a full surrender. This was too much for the young convert to embrace. He felt it would mean that he would have to turn his back on everything he wanted to do and be. So, he left the conference that night, without surrendering to Jesus.
Halverson recounts the night:
I left the meeting that night in a terrible condition, having refused to yield to Christ. However I was rushed from there to a cabin prayer meeting during which time God met me in an unusual way. I surrendered to him completely as I knew how; and of course experienced the deepest peace and happiness I had ever known. This experience of utter yieldedness to the Savior and the consequent joy that filled my life was more cataclysmic than my conversion. When I returned to Los Angeles my church friends were aware of great changes in my life. As a result of that experience, the Holy Spirit has always been real to me. I do not remember having had any specific teaching on the subject at that time, and I certainly was not seeking an experience of the Spirit; nevertheless, from that night to this present day, the Person, work, and reign of the Holy Spirit has been very precious and relevant (80-81).
This is an incredible testimony. One to which I give full credence. It would not resonate on its own, but it doesn’t have to do so. Christianity is full of heroes - well known and little known – who have accomplished wonderful things through the Spirit with nothing but the Spirit … and faith. I think we – today – would do well to revisit these stories. I think in them we will find what we have been looking for in all the wrong places. The Spirit will establish, grow, and sustain our churches, if we are given to the Spirit.
I, as a church planter, believe in this truth. Believing is one thing, living as if it were so is another. I want to live as if it were so.
Imagine … a church dedicated to the deeper Christian life, that’s also not afraid of things like disciplined marketing. I think it’ll float.
Work Cited:
V. Raymond Edman, They Found the Secret. Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.