Evans’ Legacy Continues Today
On January 4, 1910, R.M. Evans and his wife became the first Church of God foreign missionaries as they arrived in the Bahamas with native Bahamians, Edmond and Rebecca Barr.
By Douglas Leroy, Director of Church of God World Missions.
What is 750,000 miles long, reaches around the world 30 times, and grows 20 times longer each day? Answer: The line of people who are without Christ.
How stunning to think that over four billion people in the world are unsaved and nearly two billion of these have never heard about Jesus. What could be a more compelling reason for a commitment to missions, a commitment to “go?”
Missions is not man’s idea. It was initiated by God. People who become believers in Christ are exhorted to share that experience with others. God does not limit Himself to a person or a country. He is for everyone (John 3:16).
The Gospel is Good News, and news can be news only to those who have heard it. That is why Christ tells every believer to go and share the news with everyone.
Robert Glover in his book, Bible Basis of Missions, states: “Jesus gave two commands – “Go ye” and “Tarry ye.” To “go” without first “tarrying” would make the going in vain. On the other hand, to “tarry” without the “going” would make the tarrying spurious. In other words, Christian missions and Pentecost were inseparably related.”
The divine order is given in the Book of Acts. Christ went up; the Holy Spirit came down; the disciples went out; the lost came in.
The scriptural basis of sending is prominent. Moses was sent to Egypt. Jonah was sent to Nineveh. Isaiah was sent to the unsaved. Jesus declared that just as the Father sent Him, He was sending us (John 20:21).
We are not told to “sit” but to “go.”
Robert Evans was a retired Methodist pastor who attended the Pleasant Grove Holiness Camp Meeting near Durant, Florida, in 1909. General Overseer A. J. Tomlinson preached the revival and over 100 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, including the Evanses and the Barrs, a couple from the Bahamas.
Edmond and Rebecca Barr wanted to return to the Bahamas and tell their countrymen about the Holy Spirit. Evans led the drive to raise funds to send them. He became convinced that God was calling him to go to the Bahamas.
On January 4, 1910, the Evanses arrived in the Bahamas, joining the Barrs to preach Christ and to share the Pentecostal experience with the Bahamians. They became the first Church of God foreign missionaries.
Today, people are still being called and all of us are to go. As we go, we are to evangelize the lost and disciple the believer.
Douglas LeRoy
General Director
© 2009 Church of God World Missions
