Bob Pierce, World Vision, and his Jephthah Vow

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

In 1947, a Xiamen missionary,Tena Holkeboer, of the Amoy Mission, met an American at Xiamen University, which was his last stop on a speaking tour of China. She asked him to talk to her 400 young students, so he spent 4 days with them, and encouraged those who became Christians to share their new faith with their parents.

The next day he went to say goodbye to Tena and she met him at the door, distraught, holding little White Jade in her arms. She had been beaten and was covered in blood. "What happened?" the young American asked.

"White Jade did just what you asked," Tena said, "...Look what it cost her! Her father screamed that she had dishonored her ancestors and threw her out of the house." Tena thrust White Jade into his arms and said, "Now what are you going to do about it? I already have six other children sharing my rice bowl."

The man said, "All I have is five dollars."Tena told him, "That's fine. When you get home, send me five dollars every month. I promise you I'll take care of this child." She kept her promise, and he kept his. The young man, a worker with Youth for Christ, was Bob Pierce, and this incident in Xiamen led him to found World Vision International, which has touched the lives of millions (Susan Marie worked for World Vision when I met her, and was on her way to Somalia but married me instead).

World Vision is one of the finest organizations of its kind, and has changed the lives of millions. But Pierce paid a much greater price than $5 a month. He sacrificed not only himself but his family upon the altar of humanitarian service. I won't ask if it was worth it. But I will ask, "Was it necessary?" Could Pierce have achieved his "mission" with Gideon's strategy instead of Jephthah's?

A Broken Heart Breaks Hearts Bob Pierce's daughter, Marilee Pierce Dunker, wrote "My father went to China a young man in search of adventure. He came home a man with a mission."

Pierce, wrote, "Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God." Pierce was certainly a man of compassion, and his heart was indeed broken, but the man with a broken heart also broke hearts, including his own, and perhaps God's as well, perhaps because he attempted God's mission in Pierce's strength, not God's.

Pierce's Price By 1963, Pierce had suffered a nervous breakdown, traveled the world alone rather than return to his family, and in 1967 resigned from World Vision, bitter and disillusioned with those running it. In 1968, while he was in Asia, his daughter Sharon phoned and asked if he could come home, but he wanted to stay longer. His wife returned, but not before Sharon had attempted suicide. She tried again later that year, and succeeded. After a year in a Swiss hospital, Pierce took over what became Samaritan's Purse. In 1970, Pierce legally separated from his wife. He met only once again with his family, in September 1978, and died four days later.

Pierce's Jephthah Agreement. Pierce wrote, "I've made an agreement with God that I'll take care of his helpless little lambs overseas if he'll take care of mine at home." His "agreement" reminds me of Jephthah's rash vow, over which Israeli women mourned for centuries.

Judges 11:30, 31 (NAS): "Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." And to his dismay, he was met by his daughter, his only child, and because of his oath sacrificed her.

Jephthah Sacrifice or Gideon Obedience? God gave Gideon's tiny army of 300 a victory over a vastly greater enemy because, unlike Jephthah, Gideon fought in God's strength, not his own. Gideon started out with 32,000 troops to fight a combined army that had filled the valley as thickly as locusts, and had more camels than "sands on the seashore." Victory seemed impossible, but God still whittled Gideon's vastly outnumbered army from 32,000 down to 300. In Judges 7:2, 3(NIV), "The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained." And God then pared the army down to 300 men, and primised victory.

Obedience, not Sacrifice, Gives Victory Each of us has our own mission, our own Ammon to defeat, but God made it clear that the battle is not ours but His, and to be fought in His way, not ours. God repeatedly told Israel that he wanted obedience, not sacrifice. And one of God's greatest commandments is to care for our families. Paul did not mince words when, in 1 Timothy 5:8, he wrote, "If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

Half of Americans are Jephthahs? It is sobering that 1/2 of Americans divorce; worse yet, the statistics are the same for Christian families. Perhaps that is because their are too many Jephthahs and not enough Gideons. They may have a valid mission and sincerely believe they are serving God, but such are not being led but driven. They are sacrificing their families, and themselves, upon the altar of achievement (whether spiritual or secular) when God is perfectly able and willing to fight for us if we all Him, and trust Him.

God the Father. God is, above all else, our Father. And if He made us fathers and mothers, it is our job, not His, to care for our children--no matter what we are called to do. This is scriptural; this is logical; this is right.

I am excited that World Vision grew out of an incident that happened here in Xiamen. But we should learn from Pierce's Price that when on a mission for God, we should not shirk from that mission, but be careful to use God's methods and God's priorities, not our own. Above all, we should not sacrifice upon altars that we, not God, have erected.

In closing... Billy Graham's life is instructive! He too is a man with a mission, and like Pierce started out with Youth for Christ, was not overly sensitive to the needs of wife and family in early years, and could have followed the same path as Bob Pierce. Graham's family could have easily ended up another casualty. Fortunately, Graham was 1) teachable, and 2) accountable. Yet even Billy Graham has said that one regret was that he did not spend more time with his family. An amazing man...but that is for another Daily Noodle....

Visit Samaritan's Purse Website

Visit World Vision Website
Sources:
World Vision Philippines Site
Kwantes, Anne, "She has Done a Beautiful Thing," OMF Literature Publishers, 2005, pp. 192, 193
Stafford, Tim, "An Imperfect Instrument--World Vision's founder led a tragic and inspiring life," Christianity Today, December 20, 2008
www.amoymagic.com