This is article seven of a series on the missions heart of J. Herbert Walker, Jr.
Ministry in Europe
At the General Assembly in St. Louis in 1970, God again game me a word of knowledge. “You will be going to Europe to minister.” A few days following the General Assembly, we were assigned as superintendent of the Church of God in Europe and the Middle East. During the next six years Lucille and I traveled together visiting at least twice each year all of the countries where we had churches. We were gone from home 75 percent of the time.
One of our most rewarding experiences in Europe was with the American servicemen. When we arrived, there was only one center. After four years of work with Brother Roy Stricklin and two years with Brother Ed King, we were able to establish 14 centers and several fellowships. I helped them organize the centers and set up their bookkeeping system. I thoroughly enjoyed ministering to our servicemen in seminars and Bible classes.
Prepared to Serve
Following our six years in Europe, we returned to the States to become coordinator of education for World Missions. The Church of God at that time had 54 Bible schools and colleges outside the United States. During the next four years, I visited 52 of these schools. In my doctoral program in sociology at the University of Tennessee, I had been trained in research methodology. In fact, I had taught this at Lee College along with classes in statistics.
Thus, I had the scientific preparation to help meet the needs of our missions schools. My visits to the schools provided many hours of dialogue with our missionaries. It was wonderful to learn of their experiences and to share the goodness of the Lord. We prayed together, wept together, laughed together and rejoiced in the things that God was doing.
Although I had a big hand in developing the master plan of missions education, I was frustrated by not seeing many of my recommendations implemented. This changed, however, when I was elected assistant director of World Missions at the General Assembly in 1980. In this new position, I was able to see many of the recommendations carried out even beyond my hopes and dreams.
J. Herbert Walker, Jr.
(Taken from The Pentecostal Minister written in 1987.)
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