My Pilgrimage to Missions
The late J. Herbert Walker, former Church of God World Missions leader, shares his personal journey and testimony about being called to the missions field.
By J. Herbert Walker, Jr.
I had a vision when I was five years old that has had a lasting effect upon me. In the old auditorium of the North Cleveland (Tenn.) Church of God on a Sunday morning, I saw the Lord Jesus standing on the shore of a small lake. I was on the same side of the lake as Him; however, a finger of water separated us. Smiling, He beckoned me to come. As I started to Him, the scene faded. Later in my life I have looked back upon the experience as one in which Jesus was saying, “I want you to walk with me, and if you do, you’ll be crossing the waters.”
In my childhood, I was directly influenced by a number of missionaries. One of my early Sunday school teachers, whom I remember well, was Hoyle Case. At that time, he was an unmarried student at the Church of God Bible Training School. He often told stories about missionaries during our Sunday school class. Soon after he graduated, he and Mildred Blackwell married and went to India as missionaries.
Brother and Sister Edmund Stark, missionaries to Angola, visited North Cleveland and showed slides about Africa. One of the pictures was of the continent of Africa. The next picture showed a man facing east with a heavy bundle, formed in the shape of the continent of Africa, on his back. Straining under the heavy burden, his face was drawn in pain.
Brother Stark told us that this was the current condition of the people of Africa. They were in darkness, in need of the Christ who could make their yoke easy and their burden light. Near the end of their presentation, the Starks showed an African sunset. This, they explained, indicated that the time was growing short for us to be able to minister in that Dark Continent. Nevertheless, God had called them to bring the light of the gospel before the day was spent.
From my age of seven until sixteen, dad was the general overseer of the Church of God. Back then when missionaries came to headquarters, they stayed in the home of the general overseer. This provided me with many personal contacts with missionaries who had come directly from the missions field. The Archers from Mexico, the Kluzits from Haiti, Brother Ingram and many other missionaries all spent time in our home. Of course, their conversations with Mom and Dad were about work on the missions field.
Several of the experiences related by J.H. Ingram were later included in his book Around the World With the Gospel Light. These exciting stories stirred my heart; and, being inquisitive, I asked a lot of questions. I still recall with fondness the kindness of the missionaries as they told their interesting missionary stories to us children.
On one of my dad’s many overseas trips, my mom went with him to the Bahamas. When they returned, they shared many experiences and showed us pictures of the places they had visited. Dad always had a great love for missions and that love was transmitted to us. Mom also was a prayer warrior and often spent six to eight hours a day in prayer. Many times she prayed in specific detail for our missionaries and their needs. These experiences provided me with lasting memories about missions.
J. Herbert Walker, Jr.
Taken from The Pentecostal Minister written in 1987.
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© 2009 Church of God World Missions
