T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S ing come here for the annual meeting of his mission. On meeting me he called out: “Keller, I want to have a word w ith you. The work of your band of evangelists in our district is simply wonderful. I am amazed and delighted with the results of God’s blessing on th eir work. I never had an opportunity to really observe this work before, but now th a t I have seen what it is and what is accomplished through it I feel th a t I must have a band in my district next year.” THE KING’S BUSINESS for February has ju st come in this evening and re minds me of my promise to tell you something about Mr. Tan, leader of our new Band No. 9. Humanly speaking, everything depends on the Chinese lead ers of these bands. They must be men of tact, of patience, of real ability in a business way, men of prayer, and men who really know God and His Word. They must be men, too, who are con scious of a definite call from God to this work, and who are fully yielded to Him for it. We praise God th a t He has given us a number of ju s t such men. A mis sionary w rote me recently: “We are so happy to have one of th e Biola Evan gelistic Bands in our field, and are so g ratefu l for the leader, Mr. Ih, he is such a man of p rayer.” Well, Mr. Tan is ju st such a man, well educated and trained and yet so humble, and wholly given up to th is work. F o r several years he served as assistant leader in Band No. 3, and when the opportunity came to organize Band No. 9 he was asked to assume th e lead ership of this band. Two years ago a missionary came to us a t Nanyoh and asked if we could supply him w ith an evangelist. I told him th a t he might feel free to talk with any of the men and if he found one who suited him he might give him a call. If th e man ac cepted the call and went with him it would be perfectly agreeable to us. Af ter some days of observation and con versation with the men he chose Mr. Tan
and gave him a call, but Mr. Tan prompt ly and positively declined it. He said th a t God had definitely called him to this work and th a t he could not leave it vol untarily. About a year later another mis sionary came to me and said th a t his m is sion needed a specially able and strong man for an important post and asked if we could supply them with such a man. I gave him photographs of several men, told him all I knew about them, and told him th a t if he considered any of them suitable I would put him in touch with the man and try to arrange an in ter view. This missionary also chose Mr. Tan. It happened th a t Mr. Tan had ju st ar rived in Changsha for his summer vaca tion and I gave his address to the m is sionary and told him th a t he m ight call on Mr. Tan, and th a t if after a personal interview with him he still felt like ex tending a call he m ight do so. The m is sionary made the visit and gave a call to Mr| Tan, but never reported the re sult to me. To accept th e call would mean a position of no little influence, settled work in a place where h e could have his family with him, a larger sal ary than we could offer him and with it all a work th a t was ju st as definitely a work for God as his v ork in th e bands. A couple of weeks later I m et Mr. Tan and asked him, “Did M r.— —call on you, and did he ask you to serve his mission as evangelist?” When he replied in the affirmative I asked him, “What did "you say to him?” Mr. Tan ju st looked at me and sm iled; for some tim e he did not say a word, but th a t smile was as good as a long speech; I will not soon forget it. But finally he said to me w hat he had said to the other m issionary a year be fore: “God has called me to the work of the Biola Evangelistic Bands, and ju st as long as He wants me in th is work I am unwilling to consider calls to any other work.” Mr. Tan, with Band No. 9, a band or ganized after much earnest and united
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