14. A Burden and Vision that Has Never Changed

Ihad a love for the Bible even before my conversion. Both receiving a gospel of John in the mail during the summer of 1953 and hearing Billy Graham on March 3, 1955, changed the course of my life. Even before that I attended the Bible Club at Ramsey High School, which was probably the reason I got the following letter together with the gospel of John:

Word of Life Camp

Schroon Lake, New York

July 15, 1953

Dear Bible Club Member:

The summer is well started now, and I hope that you are truly enjoying it. Whether you are working or resting, I imagine that you have some spare time. As Bible Club president, I have always desired that each member read at least a portion of the Bible. During the school year, our time is quite occupied with school work, but now that you have a little time, I would like to invite you to read the portion of God’s Word which is enclosed, the Gospel of John.

There are several reasons, which I shall briefly state, why I would like you to read it. First of all the Bible itself tells you to “Search the Scriptures” in John 5:39. This is one of God’s commands which we should obey. Also, there are many interesting stories in the Bible of miracles and exciting experiences which are all true, as it says in John 17:17 -- “Thy word is truth.” Also, the Bible has been a great source of enjoyment and blessing to many, including me. Only in this Book do we find God’s instructions for us and our lives.

The time spent in reading this short book would be most worthwhile and inspiriting. In this short portion are included most of the basic Bible truths, and the way to find true joy, peace, and success.

This summer will be only as worthwhile as the things which you do in it. Reading this short portion of God’s Word will be very worthwhile, and I pray that it may be the source of joy and blessing. If you have any questions or problems in which I might help, please let me know. I would be most happy to help you.

God bless you in His path.

Yours most truly,

Daniel Clapp

I also joined the Pocket Testament League around that same time and carried a New Testament in my pocket. I saw one of their presentations that showed their gospel preaching and distribution of John’s gospel. So the seed of wanting everyone in the world to have the Word of God was sown in my heart.

Most people know I am involved in many aspects of God’s work and also know how much I esteem all agencies and churches that are part of God’s great global force. What I share below comes from my heart with a lot of thought from a lifetime of ministry.

On my last trip to India I did some homework and interviewed many people and realized that, despite all the fantastic ministries—including mass evangelism, radio, TV, film shows, and literature—there are still hundreds of millions who have never heard the gospel in any form. Also, many groups have moved into holistic ministry, like the schools we have among the Dalits, which involves a significant amount of time and money. Tremendous evangelism and church planting is done side-by-side and we thank the Lord for results.

However, though the Dalits may soon be the most reached group in India, with around 250 million people, what percentage of them will we actually reach knowing that many of them do not read? We are told there are somewhere around 300 million “Other Backward Castes” (OBC), maybe more, and I wonder how many have not yet had one chance to hear of or know the saving grace of Christ? This is from someone who believes that one chance to hear of Jesus is not enough.

There are over 170 million Muslims in India. Maybe if we are optimistic, many millions have been to a gospel film show or have a New Testament or gospel or may have heard or seen a gospel radio or TV program. What if it were even 70 million? That’s 100 million to go! Do you get my point? I am not up-to-date on China, but with all the growth there no one would question that hundreds of millions have never heard.

I recently noticed huge steps forward to get the Bible or parts of it in every language. It’s great to read that many millions of dollars are now given or pledged to this. But this makes it more difficult for me to understand how there are hundreds of millions (some would say a billion) all around us in whose languages we have already translated gospel materials, and yet we still have not given anything to them. This doesn’t make sense!

One group claims that we will soon lead another billion to Christ. I believe this is misleading, but with certain parts of the world having massive church growth, who knows? The truth is that we’ll only have a small effect on the hundreds of millions who are more resistant to the gospel or live away from the areas where this response is taking place. For example, will Dalit converts in India reach Brahmans?

My plea is that we would pray more for the reaching of these unreached hundreds of millions with the message of salvation. Would you pray for the release of funds for this kind of ministry? Financial breakthroughs will enable us to give more evangelistic tools to thousands of workers who are asking for them. It will not be one agency or church that makes this happen, but a massive grassroots movement (already going on) in which people even in the midst of other ministry want to reach the millions around them. We need to make every effort to teach each believer in every new church that they should be reaching out to all the lost around them. This would be a gigantic step forward.

A few years ago I decided to make a list of those ministries that have given the gospel to at least 100 million. I called it “The Hundred Million Club.” I have a list of about fifty agencies and ministries. Of course, many people in certain nations and language groups have read the gospel many times. Some have a pile of gospels. And yet, hundreds of millions still have nothing. We have much to rejoice over, but we also have so much to do.

I hope you will become part of the vision and action.