His name was George Verwer. Even in his student days, it was evident that the world was going to hear from him. He was a committed soul winner and a successful motivator, and he had a world vision. He was able to get many of his fellow students to blitz various target zones in the Chicago area with tracts and intensive soul-winning efforts.

From the start, he had a vision of the “untold millions still untold.” He began, as a student, by setting his sights on Mexico. He mobilized a number of students to join him one Christmas in an effort to distribute thousands of tracts and testaments throughout Mexico. He secured a large amount of Spanish literature, mobilized a number of students, and set forth on his mission. Some Christian leaders told him bluntly, “George, you cannot do it in Mexico.”

Those were the days when Rome still ruled Latin America with an iron hand. In Mexico it was both difficult and dangerous, if not actually illegal, to do what George proposed. George, however, had a life text: “Nothing shall be impossible unto you” (Matt. 17:20). His was the kind of faith that moves mountains, the kind of faith that believes that God says what He means and means what He says. Someone told him that he would never get past the Mexican customs with his gospel books and tracts, but he remained undaunted. He and his friends prayed all of the way to the Mexican border. When they arrived at the customs barrier, the Mexican customs officials were all dead drunk! The missionaries rode through triumphantly. It was the beginning.

Before long, George had not only begun regular invasions of Mexico during school recesses but also had established a number of Christian bookstores in key Mexican cities. Then he decided to get on Mexican radio with the gospel. Again someone told him, “You can’t do that in Mexico.” Again he fell back on his text: “Nothing is impossible!” George not only had a faith that works but also was blessed with a large amount of common sense. He approached the radio stations on a business basis. He said, “I have a series of bookstores. I would like to buy time to tell people about books that we have on sale.” It worked! Soon, he or his Mexican partners were on the air: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special offer this week. We have secured some copies of Billy Grahams book Peace with God. Do you have peace with God? Let me read you a paragraph from this book.…”

George graduated from Moody Bible Institute and went off to Spain. Spain was still virtually a closed field to missionaries. Someone told George, “You might have gotten away with it in Mexico, but you’ll end up in prison in Spain.” George simply leaned a little harder on his text.

Again, he used common sense. He did not apply to go to Spain as a missionary but as a student! He enrolled in the University of Madrid. He signed up for the minimum number of courses that would enable him to be a bona fide student—and devoted the rest of his time to evangelism. He scoured the writings of the early church fathers, writings endorsed by Rome. He compiled from the writings those passages that were sound. He published them as tracts—all quotations from the church fathers that Rome revered! He also found an edition of the Spanish New Testament that was free of Romish annotations, one that had the imprimatur of Rome. He was in business! These were the materials that he distributed wholesale! How could the Roman Catholic Church attack him? He was distributing the writings of its own fathers!

Then he went to Russia! That was in the days when the Iron Curtain was solidly in place and when atheistic Communism controlled the lives and destinies of millions. George and some friends made it past the Soviet customs and headed toward Moscow. Along the way, they left a trail of Bibles and tracts. Then they were stopped, searched, arrested, and put in prison. They were interrogated, but George was unperturbed. He was in God’s hands. He and his friends witnessed boldly to their jailers. They told them, quite frankly, that they had come to give the gospel to the Russian people.

“You say the Bible is full of lies,” George said. “Then why are you so afraid of it?”

In the end, they were given an armed escort out of the country, and all of their books, Bibles, and tracts were confiscated. “Good!” was Georges cheerful comment. “You can be quite sure that those guards will read the Bibles and literature—if only out of curiosity!”

By this time, George had begun praying for a ship! While he was looking at his atlas, it had dawned on him that nearly all of the world’s great cities are located on the seacoasts and great rivers of the world. What better way to reach them than by the sea? As he was praying one day about his vision, the Lord spoke to him: “George, if I gave you a ship tomorrow, what would you do with it?”

George had his answer ready. Onboard the ship would be Bible teachers, counselors, and foot soldiers to knock on doors and give out tracts. He would have onboard printing presses to turn out tracts by the thousands. He would have onboard books by the hundreds for sale, including textbooks and reference books, so badly needed in Third World countries—an incentive to get people on board. He would have teams who would deal with officials and dock authorities in advance and make arrangements for the arrival of the ship. He would have people to mobilize the local churches and pastors for a major, cooperative evangelistic effort once the ship docked. He would invite the local people, including officials and dignitaries, to come on board. He would offer seminars, Bible classes, and gospel meetings on the ship. People who queued up outside, waiting to get on board, would be shown gospel films. The white sides of the ship could be used for a screen.

So George told the Lord all of this. The Lord said to him, “George, if I gave you a ship tomorrow, you would do none of those things.” George protested, affirming his sincerity.

“No, George,” the Lord said, “you would do none of those things because you do not have a captain, and you do not have a crew. If I gave you a ship, you would have to tie it up in port, and you’d go bankrupt paying docking fees. You would not be able to move that ship a single sea mile.”

“You’re right, Lord,” George said, “so give me a captain, and give me a crew—and then give me a ship.”

One by one, George prayed in his crew. But he still needed a captain. About that time, George invited me to come over to Brussels and participate in a Bible conference. By this time, he had organized a mission called Operation Mobilization. Every summer, he mobilized hundreds of young people from the United States, Europe, and Latin America to come to Europe to do mass door-to-door evangelism. They converged on Brussels for a week’s orientation and Bible teaching. Then they fanned out in teams all over the continent to tell people about Christ.

During that conference, George introduced me to a young Englishman named Graham Scott. In the course of our conversation, Graham asked me what I knew about George Verwer and Operation Mobilization. I told him what I knew and how George was now asking God for a ship’s captain. “Can you imagine,” I said, “the spiritual audacity of the man! He is expecting a man who has spent his life climbing the professional ladder, and who has achieved the rank of ship’s captain, to give it all up to come live like this?” I pointed to the hundreds of young people all around us, willing to sleep on the floor and eat peanut butter sandwiches in a self-denying lifestyle.

Graham looked at me, and a smile slowly lit up his face. “I know,” he said, “I’m him!”

George was given his boat, and he called it the Logos and sent it out to be a new venture in global evangelism. Then he asked God for another ship! He got that one too! He called it the Doulos. That was many years ago. The story of Operation Mobilization from then until now has been the story of one miracle after another. Some years ago, the mission stated that its teams had encountered some 250 million people face-to-face (not counting its radio and other outreaches) and that, during this same period, it had reached 150 million Indian nationals with the gospel.