Books that Have influenced me
When I was in my final year of seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks said that the two things that would most determine where we would be at in ten years are the books we read and the friends we make. He advised, "Choose them carefully!" It was good counsel. I've been greatly influenced by the books I've read, especially Christian biographies (see my book, Great Christians You Should Know: What I've Learned from Reading Christian Biographies, on the Sermons and Resources tab). I'll just feature two below for starters. I have a bibliography on "Books for Growing Christians" and another on reading Christian biographies.
To the Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson, Courtney Anderson [Little, Brown & Company
I have read this biography twice, and each time it has impacted my life. The first time I read it was in 1982-83. After many hardships, the Judson's had moved to Burma, which was an incredibly difficult place to live in the early 1800's. They were the only Christians in Rangoon. After just a few months there, they lost their 8-month-old son, buried him in their yard, and continued through their grief to try to learn the difficult language and culture. At the time I first read that, our son was 8-months-old. Their faithful endurance through such hardships challenged me with my flimsy faith.
The horrible suffering and difficult trials that Judson later faced convicted me about my grumbling over relatively minor matters. He faced imprisonment, torture, the loss of his first wife, the loss of their daughter, the loss of his second wife, and far more trials. Yet he endured and was faithful, finally dying there while married to a new, third wife. When he died, there were relatively few converts. He left behind a Burmese-English dictionary and a Burmese translation of the Bible. Today, in spite of persecution from the Buddhist government, Burma (Myanmar) is the second largest Baptist country in the world. Read this biography and be challenged to be faithful in spite of trials and with little visible fruit to show for your service.
John G. Paton Autobio-graphy [Banner of Truth]
This is another gripping missionary story that could be made into an exciting movie. Paton was from Scotland, where he was enjoying a fruitful ministry in Glasgow. But he felt the call to go to the unreached New Hebrides Islands. The first missionaries to set foot there were killed and eaten by the cannibals within hours. An old man in Paton's church used to warn him, "You'll be eaten by cannibals!" Finally, Paton grew weary of hearing this and replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your ow prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms. I confess to you, that if I can be live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms. And in the great day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." (p. 56)
He went with his new bride. Shortly after she gave birth to their firstborn, she died. Then shortly after that the baby died and Paton was left alone with these murderous cannibals. He went through many harrowing escapes from death and had to flee from the islands. After remarrying, he went back and continued his ministry.
Today the New Hebrides (now called Vanuatu) has more Christians per capita than the United States. I always watch for the athletes from Vanuatu during the parade of the nations at the Olympic games and think, "Just over 150 years ago, the ancestors of these people were vicious cannibals. But because of the power of the gospel through faithful servants like John Paton, today they are civilized believers in Jesus Christ!" Read it and your life will be different!