A Faithful Friend

My friend and college classmate, Esther Yoder from Virginia, lived at Alvin Yoders while she was attending school in Kansas. That arrangement harked back to the CPS years of the 1940s when Esther's father and Alvin were working in the same mental institution in Pennsylvania and became lifelong friends.

Esther's father was Sam. I believe I met him only once. At that time he talked briefly about his longstanding friendship with Alvin. He also spoke of a very difficult time when Alvin needed institutional care for mental illness, and how the small group of friends they were both part of suffered along with Alvin. Alvin recovered, and went on to live a full and productive life. In all the years I knew him, he never had another incapacitating bout with that brand of illness.

In my one conversation with Sam I saw glimpses of what Alvin admired so deeply about Sam--his friendliness and his faithful Christian life.

I didn't know until the day of Alvin's funeral that the connection between Alvin and Sam included another chapter of Alvin's life. I can't quite put everything together chronologically, but apparently Sam and his wife Mattie lived at one time in Kalona, IA where Alvin grew up. During those years, Alvin worked for Sam. In the process of those day to day interactions, Alvin was deeply changed through Sam's example and encouragement to live the Christian life as an outgrowth of a personal relationship with Christ and a love for God's Word.

Before this, at the age of 16, Alvin had joined the church his parents belonged to. He had resolved at that time to do what was expected of people who were part of the church. For three years he "walked the walk," but he had little understanding of anything better than the set of do's and don'ts he was observing. At the age of 19 he set out on a new course, and thereafter he lived life with a passion for the things of God.

Alvin moved to Kansas when he married Barbara. Our family grew up with theirs. My older sister Linda is the same age as Oren, the second child in their family, although Oren was in my grade all the way through school. In school Ernest and Carol were in the same grade and Rachel and Caleb were in the same grade. Marietta was between Caleb and Lowell and Frieda was between Dorcas and Clara.

We shared many of the same growing up experiences, except for one--Rural Bible Crusade summer camp. Alvin's children, each in turn, got to go to camp during the summer. We were a bit envious of them, and in awe of what they did to earn that privilege. They memorized 300 Bible verses.

I learned this week that it was Barbara who had the vision for the Bible verse memorization project, but Alvin helped make the project happen, and it seems to fit perfectly with his practice and passion. He read, studied, and memorized more Scripture than anyone I know.

I wondered what had become of Rural Bible Crusade, and learned in an internet search that the name of the organization has changed to Bible Impact Ministries. The focus has changed somewhat and has expanded to include a fairly complete Bible curriculum offered for use in Bible club settings. A campground in Missouri is the site for summer camp these days. At one time the headquarters was in Salina, Kansas, and a native of Salina was the director. At least one of the summer camps was held near Hutchinson at Kansas Bible Camp.

A change in public education forced the change in focus for Rural Bible Crusade (RBC). Representatives of the organization used to visit every rural public school in the area to hand out leaflets with information on the Bible memorization program, with the verses themselves available on other handouts. Many teachers served as allies, encouraging the students and helping them get the memorizing done.

Then came legislation that outlawed public prayer in schools, and other accompanying restrictions to the promotion of Christianity in public schools. RBC reps were no longer welcome to hand out their leaflets, and with almost no publicity, the project foundered. It didn't die, however, partly because the widow of the founder was persistent in keeping the vision alive.

The man who founded the ministry, J. Lloyd Hunter, grieved for the wasted years of men who came to the Lord late in life, leaving behind them wreckage caused by sin. He believed that reaching children would help avoid this terrible waste.

Two rural Kansans, J. H. Kornelson and Bob J. Clark, each served for a time as director of the ministry after Hunter's death. Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas were states where the program was perhaps the most active.

I learned from reading the history of the organization that the original program called for memorizing 500 verses. Before it was phased out, the number had fallen to 200. The children in Alvin's family must have participated when the requirements were shrinking, but had not yet reached the low of 200.

One person who participated in the program for a number of years as a child was eight years old when she began memorizing her 500 verses. She eventually became a missionary in Iran. Mr. Clark, the director, said of her "She told me her missionary work began when she began memorizing those first 500 verses."

I have never heard the members of Alvin's family say where their interest in missions and Christian service began, but perhaps the memorization of those 300 verses was a step along the path that eventually took them to prison work in Alabama (Marietta and Frieda), caring for retarded children in Ohio (Ernest), caring for the elderly in Arkansas (Marietta), working as a midwife in El Salvador and in Paraguay, and now in rural Kansas (Lois); work in the inner city in Washington, D. C. , holding seminars in India, serving as a minister in our local church (Oren)--in an orphanage in Romania, and then in a university in the same country (R------), a community worker in El Salvador (Marietta), and an English language teacher in China (F---). I don't have an exact figure for how many years of combined service this involves, but I'm pretty sure it spans upward of 60 years. (Perhaps one of my readers will know the exact number.)

I have a feeling, though, that Sam Yoder gets part of the credit for the Alvin Yoder family's investment in the Lord's work. If that young Amish man had not served the Lord so joyfully and consistently, Alvin might not have become a Man of the Word as he did. If Alvin had not lived his Christian life as passionately as he did, his children might not have chosen paths that took them "into all the world." And if they had not gone, how many people would not have been introduced to Christ or been nurtured in living for God?

From this vantage point--perhaps 70 years after the friendship between Sam and Alvin began--I'm considering the potential of my friendships and my influence on others for good or ill. I think I'd better get started paying attention if they are ever to count remarkably in the kingdom of God as theirs did. And as for memorizing Scripture, I'd better get more serious about that as well.