ABWE - Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

“Spiritual success flows down a river called suffering and sacrifice and it impacts the world because . . . God uses it in a wonderful way.” —Wendell W. Kempton

“Michael, these people have suffered profoundly for their faith, and we must be prepared to take some risks to help them,” said Wendell Kempton in 1987 as we crossed the bleak winter landscape of Austria and Hungary aboard the Orient Express bound for communist Romania. While our train clacked along the rails, he told us the stories of Christians throughout the communist world who had suffered for their faith. Few could tell a story with more passion and drama than Wendell Kempton.

As we approached the borders laced with barbed wire and patrolled by soldiers with police dogs, Dr. Kempton briefed us about how on his previous experience he had been interrogated by border police and accused of being a criminal or a spy. We prayed that the cash relief money and contraband Christian literature we were bringing in for believers would not be discovered and confiscated by the customs agents. Once safely over the border, we met believers who had been denied even basic necessities of life yet sacrificially gave of their meager stores to care for us as though we were angels from Heaven. Even twenty years later, my memory of them brings joy to my heart.

A year later, Dr. Kempton, along with his friend Jack Wyrtzen, visited Shanghai and had the opportunity to visit with Wang Ming Tao, sometimes called the “John the Baptist” of China, who had suffered twenty-three years in prison for his faith. This visit made such a profound impact upon Dr. Kempton that he could rarely bring himself to tell the story without tears.

Dr. Kempton was deeply moved by the lives of those who suffered and sacrificed for the cause of Christ. Coming from this personal experience, he led ABWE to launch ministry initiatives in many of the nations of the world where followers of Christ faced persecution. All who knew him perceived in his demeanor, his eyes, and his voice, a profound respect for those who had been persecuted for their faith in Christ. It was for this reason that he desired to have the stories of his trip to Romania and his visit with Wang Ming Tao retold at his funeral service.

As I perused the pages of Dr. Kempton’s Bible following his home going, I looked through the book of Acts and found myself taken by the number of times he marked verses that described the persecution of the early Church. He wrote the word Persecution or placed a capital P in the margin beside each reference to persecution. Following each occurrence of persecution, he underlined the results that God gave and wrote Impact in the margin. As a result of his observation and obedience to Scripture, Wendell Kempton allowed that impact to extend into our lives.

The Scripture teaches us that we should: “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourselves are in the body also (Hebrews 13:3). Wendell Kempton never forgot those who suffered for their faith—for he considered them to be his brothers in bonds. He allowed the testimony of those who were called to “the river of spiritual success called suffering and sacrifice,” to deeply impact his life. Our challenge is to do the same.

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