May, 1941
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
177
•‘Wow! Things have certainly been happening down here. The Lord is doing ■so very much that it almost sweeps me off my feet. When I’m worrying about seeking out men for Christ, He sends them to me so fast I don’t have time to look for any. It’s like panning for gold; only you are too busy picking diamonds out of the pan to get the gold.” Do such victories as these await every yielded Christian young man who enters a training camp? Or are they reserved only for those whpjire prepared? “ P rep a red ” fo r the Navy For two years Jack had been in con tinuous contact with a group of sailors and marines who knew from experience what “the victorious Christian life” meant on a warship. From the stories of their adventures in soul-winning, he had gleaned many practical hints con cerning his own witnessing. Better still, for two years he had set tled down to a definite prayer life and to the same kind of personal, intensive Bible study the Navigators stress, par ticularly memorization of God’s Word. For a period of nine months, Jack and seven other boys of high school and col lege age had served on the “Dunamis Gospel Team,” holding meetings for young people’s societies in Southern Cal ifornia churches. (The Dunamis Bible Clubs for young men and boys, as well as the Martures Bible Clubs for young women and girls, are directed by Mr. Trotman, a work in which the Naviga tors play a part by reason of their gifts.) Jack had seen that the public testimony of the Navigators Gospel Team has been in itself a practical dem onstration to multiplied hundreds of churchgoing young men of draft age of what the Word of God can do in a service man’s life. It is clear, then, that Jack’s "preparation” was one of per sonal prayer, intensive Bible study, con stant witnessing for Christ, and victo rious Christian living. In all this, for him, the Navigators had set the example.
Slow Growth fo r Great Power It may be asked, What has been the secret of the Navigators’ fruitful testi mony on their ships and among boys and young men ashore ? To answer briefly, those who know this work inti mately would say, “It is a work of the Holy Spirit.” And indeed it is His bur dening of their leader, first for the need among boys and then for service men, never allowing the vision of either field to fade, that is behind this record. First, back in 1928, when Mr. Trot man was himself a Christian of only a few months’ experience, there began several years of effort to reach boys, not on a small scale, but in large num bers. During the first three years of this period, well over two hundred boys, through the leader’s own four Bible clubs, were definitely led to accept Christ as their Saviour. The next two years were spent in establishing this work in other cities. But following this phase of ministry, the Lord led His servant, in 1933, to an entirely different emphasis, not that of wholesale evangelism among Navy men, but of concentrated spiritual help for one sailor on the U. S. S, West Virginia. This man “meant business” so whole heartedly that he came ashore again and again to study the Word until midnight, rising at four-thirty in the mornings to return to his ship for duty in the ship’s kitchen. His life was being watched by a young man who had entered the Navy to save money toward attending theo logical seminary but had slipped into spending his free time at beer parlors ashore. After a time, the would-be theo logical student, brought under convic tion of sin, joined him in prayer and Bible study aboard ship. After completing their term of Navy service, during which time they won others of their shipmates to Christ, both of these men enrolled at the Bible Insti tute of Los Angeles, the school in which Mr. Trotman himself had studied in
1929 and 1930. The first of these two Navigators became President of the school’s Student Missionary Union and is now a missionary under the American Sunday School Union. The second man served as President of the Biola Men, of his senior class, and of the Student Missionary Union, and is now a member of the Africa Inland Mission, witnessing for Christ in the Belgian Congo. Half of his support is supplied by his Navy friends. Another Navigator of the early days on the West Virginia sailed for China under the China Inland Mission after his graduation from Biola. Still another is serving in Mexico under the Pioneer Mission Agency. The work oh the ships spread slowly, for it had been proved that only as young men were thoroughly grounded in the Word of God could they find vic tory over the fierce temptations that faced them aboard ship and ashore. Not merely salvation from the guilt of sin, but the fullness of the Holy Spirit for deliverance from sin’s power was the need. A “genuine Navigator” is expected to maintain rigid self-discipline in matters of Bible study, prayer, “living the life,” and in witnessing for his Saviour, as well as advancing steadily in his regular Na vy rates. Above all, as he leads another man to Christ, he must feel his respon sibility for establishing that man in the Christian life and in soul-winning ef fort. Long before entering the Navy, Jack, through watching the Navigators and through his training in Dunamis Club, had learned to regard this careful follow-up work as only a normal phase of personal evangelism. The Navigators’ Director h i m s e l f seeks to give intensive Bible instruc tion, training leaders who shall be able to win others to Christ. His Scriptural reason for this approach appears in 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many wit nesses, the same commit thou to faith ful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” A number of the Navi gators have the exceptional educational background or natural gifts that aid their testimony, and quite a large pro portion of the men are petty officers with positions of responsibility on their ships. They repeatedly remind them selves, however, of the Lord's words, “Without me ye can do nothing.” Life at the Navigators’ Home While Jack was still in training -at San Diego, a new center for Navigators’ work, patterned after the one at Long [Continued on Page 199] • “Shore liberty” brings men of the U. S. Fleet to the Navy Landing at Long Beach, Calif. (The accompanying photo graph and the one at the top of the opposite page are used through the courtesy of the LONG BEACH PRESS- TELEGRAM.)
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