The
Revolution of Love Continues…
George Verwer hands over the leadership of
Operation Mobilization (OM)
and, instead of retiring, joins the battle to fight the worlds AIDS
pandemic
By Dan Wooding
IDAHO, USA (ANS) -- Armed
with a British Old Age Pension, a London bus pass and masses of faith,
this extraordinary American-born revolutionary, has found a new mission
in life – battling the world AIDS pandemic.
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George
Verwer (left) hands over OM leadershio to Peter Maiden
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George Verwer founded Operation Mobilization
(OM)
back in the 1960s and in 2003, handed over the leadership of the group,
which has over 4000 OMers bringing God’s unchanging truth to millions
every year, to British-born Peter Maiden.
Then, from his home on the southern edge of London, England,
which
he shares with his American wife, Drena, he began picking up a British
Old Age Pension, claimed his bus pass, and then surprised his many
friends by starting a completely new ministry.
In a recent phone interview from Idaho, Verwer, who was
visiting his older son Ben and his family, agreed to talk about his new
calling.
I began by asking George Verwer about his new life. Now he
was picking up a pension, had he really retired?
“Not exactly,” he laughed, “especially since I preached
against
retirement for fifty years, so I better just better keep on running and
not contradict myself.”
I then asked him to talk about his new HIV/AIDS outreach.
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George
Verwer preaches about World Missions
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“I always had a special ministry part of OM called Special
Projects
which is raising funds for projects inside of OM and outside of OM,”
said Verwer. “They included literature projects, scholarships, etc.,
and I have just continued with that. It has grown a lot and it’s now
got a budget of about a $1,000,000 a year and I’m very involved in
finding that money and making sure it gets used properly.
“We have a small team that I work with and lately we’ve
especially become involved in the battle against HIV and AIDS. It
seemed to me that hardly anybody was producing materials about HIV and
AIDS in a lot of different languages. There wasn’t even that much in
English. And so there’s been a niche that we really have fitted in,
working with Patrick Dixon who’s sort of my mentor and who wrote the
book ‘AIDS and You.’
“I’ve actually been doing quite a lot of radio work;
speaking
on different stations and offering that book free to anybody who will
email me at georgev@swissmail.org.
On top of that, I take about 300 preaching meetings a year. I have just
come in from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. It was a tremendous
meeting opportunity, especially with leaders there.
“So I’m very fulfilled in what I’m doing. I’m actually
happier
these days because often the other jobs [with OM] would get painful at
times.”
He then explained how, some 15 years ago, Dr. Patrick Dixon
first introduced him to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
“He invited me to speak to pastors in London where I live,”
said
Verwer. “At the time I told him, ‘I’m not equipped to do this,’ and he
said, ‘Well, we’ll talk about HIV/AIDS and you just come in and talk
about motivation.’ That was the beginning.
“I was greatly influenced by what I began to read about the
situation in the world and the more I talked to people about it, the
more I realized that this was just horrendous.
“I began to ask myself, ‘How can the Church not be
responding
to this?’ So, about three or four years ago, I made a huge shift,
believing that this is something the whole ‘Body of Christ’ must get
involved in some way and then it just took off from there.”
Mixed response
George admitted that there had been a mixed response to his
new HIV/AIDS ministry.
“One of my closest friends was very upset with me because he
believed that I’m over-emphasizing this and I know there are Christians
that think this [HIV/AIDS] is a judgment from God, but there’s been a
big shift and we’re part of that shift together with many other many
other people that are now involved in battling this terrible problem.
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George
Verwer today
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“It’s a lot easier today and there’s a lot more
positive response than years ago. It’s such a huge problem and, even
though there are a lot of players today, the problem is so huge that
there’s plenty of scope for small ministries like ours.
“Meanwhile, Operation Mobilization, under the leadership of
Peter Maiden, is also now going into all kinds of AIDS related things.
I’m not responsible for that but I’m trying to do my part in that as
well.”
Verwer said that OM had changed tremendously in recent
years.
“It is now a completely holistic ministry,” he said. “It’s not the OM
that people used to know. We are still proactive with literature and in
proclamation of the Gospel and planting churches. Today, it’s not an
either or; they fit together quite well as long as you have the wisdom
and the right people. You’ve got to have the right people no matter
what you’re doing.”
George Verwer has certainly come a long way since he gave
his
life to Jesus Christ at the age of 16 in a Jack Wyrtzen meeting in
which Billy Graham spoke in Madison Square Garden, New York. The young
convert then returned to his school in northern New Jersey and within a
year, about 200 of his classmates had found a relationship with the
living God through Jesus Christ.
George had a growing conviction to share the Word of God on
foreign soil and he started with the distribution of Gospels of John in
Mexico along with two friends. This continued with others during summer
holidays — beginning in Mexico in 1957.
Attending Maryville College after high school, he
transferred
to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, where he met a girl, Drena, who
was a fellow student and later became his wife. They were led together
in discipling young Christians while concurrently carrying out a
rigorous program of world evangelism.
They went to Spain where, in 1961, where the work of OM was
born. George was once thrown out of the USSR accused of being a spy,
and as a result of this the name Operation Mobilization was born.
George Verwer concluded the interview by saying, “I have
never
been the same since that transformation that took place that night in
New York and I have never had a single day in these fifty-one years as
a Christian in which I haven’t experienced the power and the grace of
God. I’ve had some miserable minutes crawling my way back to the cross,
but somehow, by the end of the day, I’ve always been back into the
action.
“I can’t believe that it has been 51 years since my
conversion. I encourage others to press on don’t be discouraged.”
For more information on George Verwer’s ministry, go to www.georgeverwer.com.
Note to the media. George
Verwer is in the US at this time and is available for interview via his
mobile phone at (201) 657 0130.
| Dan Wooding
is an award winning British
journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma. He is
the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints
in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS). He was, for ten
years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC.
Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his
autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron
Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com.
danjuma1@aol.com. |
