William Borden had it going on. He was the heir to the Borden family fortune (ever heard of Borden condensed milk?). He graduated high school in 1904 at the age of 16 and received a trip around the world as a gift from his parents. While abroad, he felt called to be a missionary. His friends thought he was crazy.
In his Bible, he wrote, “No reserves.”
God did amazing things through William while he was a student at Yale University, like starting prayer meetings and Bible studies. He had a plethora of lucrative job offers when he graduated (on top of already being really rich) but turned them down. He knew that God was calling him to China to be a missionary, and it was game on.
In his Bible, he wrote, “No retreats.”
He went to seminary and then on his way to China, he stopped in Egypt to learn Arabic because he felt called to reach Muslims in China. He came down with meningitis and died within a month; he was 25 years old.
In his Bible, under “No reserves,” and “No retreats,” were the words, “No regrets.”
Thanks to the many pioneer missionaries throughout the past centuries, the church has been growing in this most populous country in the world. Despite the tight government control over religion, the underground church is spreading like wildfire. There is so much potential to be tapped among Chinese Christians and many church/ministry leaders – within and outside of China – believe that the Chinese church will be instrumental in bringing the gospel to the unreached places of the earth.
There are too many who still haven’t heard of Jesus in China, one of the countries on the August 2011 World Race route.
Will you pick up the torch? Click here to check out the route & apply.
Just imagine what your life would be like if you…
- were to go all out and held nothing back
- were to listen for His voice and press fully into his call
- if you were to go on the World Race
“No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.”
— William Borden
Many thanks to Howard Culbertson, Professor of Missions and World Evangelism at Southern Nazarene University, whose biography page on William Borden was the basis/inspiration of most of this blog post.
