A letter from Don Crosbie. Don served as International Director from 1975 – 1983.
Congratulations to World Outreach on its 90th anniversary.
My personal connection goes back a long way to when Len Jones was director and Chas Bilby was New Zealand director. This was in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I still recall Len Jones visiting our church, showing slides and presenting the challenge of the missionary call. In addition, Dal and Dorothy Walker (WO’s first missionaries in Indonesia), became my parents-in-law when I married their daughter, Valmae, in 1965. Valmae and I left for the mission field in 1966, spending one year in the Philippines and, following that, 7 years in Indonesia. It was there that we formally linked up with World Outreach (WO) as we ministered in Indonesia through radio, literature, evangelistic crusades and a Bible correspondence course.
In the mid-1970s, I was pastor of a church in Wellington, New Zealand (NZ), when the call came from Chas Bilby (then International Director of WO), asking me to consider becoming International Director in his place. I agreed and served 7 years in that capacity, first based out of Wellington, NZ, then for 3 years out of Dallas, Texas.
During my tenure, among other duties, we initiated a ministry in Egypt through pastor’s seminars and leadership training. I believe this was the first time that WO opened a ministry in the Middle East. In 1983 I resigned to pursue a political run for the NZ Parliament and passed the baton to Bill Molenkamp, a long-time ministry associate and WO missionary.
World Outreach continued to grow over the years and now has reached its 90th anniversary.
Our prayer is that it will continue to fulfil its mission worldwide, maintain its purpose of reaching all people with the gospel, and equipping pastors and other leaders as they grow in the Lord.
(This article can also be found in our Nations Magazine – Issue 3, 2022. Do you want to discover more about the World Outreach Nation Magazine? Take a look here.)
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