Message Magazine Online - Vol. 55, No. 01, Spring 2007

In This Issue

• Editorials
• Canadian Editorial
  David W. Smith
• Vision Greater Than Our Memories
  Dr. Michael G. Loftis
• Going On: Fran Weddle
• Message Headlines
• Nothing Wasted: The Story of Paul and Helen Miller
  Jim Ruff
• My Way of Escape
  Shoko
• Looking Back: God's Faithfulness. Looking Ahead: God's Provision
  Spencer Jackson
• Prisoners Set Free
  Angela Shuff
• Sharing the Mission
  Dr. Bill Commons
• Between Here and There: Partnering in Ecuador
  Geoff Williams
• Pray for the Unreached
• ABWE and FBFA Announce Historic Partnership
• Children's Corner
  Sadie Busse
• Congratulations ABWE on 80 Years of Ministry
  
• Our Rearview Mirror
  Dr. Wendell Kempton

Canadian Editorial

David W. Smith, Executive Director, ABWE Canada

We are thankful to God for His blessing upon ABWE over the past eighty years. ABWE’s first ministry began in the Philippines, but today we have expanding ministries on every continent. Recently, I have been reading about the early days of missionary work in the Philippines (With Scalpel and with Sword by Dr. Lincoln Nelson) and Bangladesh (Interwoven by Russ and Nancy Ebersole). Both books tell of the innovative thinking and advanced methods used in the early days to take the gospel to those who had never heard of it. Today, our team is using the same message, but developing many new methods to reach the lost.

One of the benefits of living in England for ten years was my opportunity to explore the rich history of Britain. I enjoyed going to the castles, cathedrals, and historic sites to learn about the past. One of my favorite places to visit was the HMS Victory in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Admiral Horatio Nelson was fatally shot on the deck of the Victory by a sniper while he led the British to victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. His British Navy used superior technology to win a decisive victory. The British navy gunners used advanced methods to fire their cannons. The seconds saved by this new technology was the edge they needed to defeat their enemy.

I am still learning the amazing history of ABWE, and new chapters are being written every day by the present team of more than 1,300 career missionaries serving in eighty countries. ABWE Canada is young in relation to our American partners. Canadians were sent out with ABWE in the 1950s, but our official forty-year history began when we were registered as a charity and a Canadian Board of Directors was appointed during Canada's centenary year, 1967. Today, forty-four Canadian missionaries serve alongside our American partners in seventeen countries. We also sponsor national missionaries on several of our fields and send many short-term teams and individuals to work with both missionary and national ministries.

Like the British Navy of 1805, we must employ superior methods in order to be successful. The future years of service until our Lord returns for His church must be guided by a consistent, strategic, and innovative proclamation of God's grace. Today, Horatio Nelson is buried in St Paul's Cathedral and memorialized on the highest column in Trafalgar Square, because he led his navy to a decisive victory. Our victory as Christians is secured though our leader Jesus Christ, but as long as He remains in Heaven, we must continue to tell each soul of the victory over sin available through Him alone.