She stood five feet four inches tall, thick-set, with hazel eyes dimly visible through the “coke bottle” lenses of her spectacles. Her daily attire might include a chartreuse dress, a fox fur draped over her shoulders and a hat with a long plume that swept down under her chin. Her gravelly voice, considered deep for a woman, resounded throughout the room when she spoke. Billy Graham once described Henrietta Mears as “a Christian in Technicolor.”
Billy Graham said she was one of the greatest Christians he had ever known.
Bill Bright, Founder of Campus Crusade often said that the three most influential people in his life were his mother, his wife Vonette and Henrietta Mears.
Others who credit Miss Mears with great influence in their lives and ministries are:
-Former US Senate Chaplin, Richard Halverson
-Author and bible translator J. B. Phillips
-Actors Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Colleen Townsend Evans
-Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life
-Dawson Trotman, the founder of Navigators
-Radio Host and Seminary founder Charles E. Fuller
Her other accomplishments include but are not limited to:
-Within 3 years of taking the lead of Christian Education at Hollywood First Presbyterian church in California in 1928, the enrollment expanded from 400 to 4,500.
-She founded Gospel Light publishers to print the new Sunday School materials she wrote because they were in demand well beyond Hollywood!
-Gospel Light International or GLint was founded to meet the international need for Sunday School materials.
-Revel publishers also finds its origins in Henrietta Mears.
-She founded Forest Home Christian Camp. It continues to flourish as a camp to touch people’s lives for the Kingdom.
In all her endeavors she trained others to do the work of the Kingdom. In the perennially 500 strong college class she lectured, prayed and raised up leaders who in turn raised up others through evangelism and discipleship. Over 400 men and women went into vocational ministry in the US and as foreign missionaries as a direct result of Miss Mears.
And she did all of this with such bad eyesight she that was legally blind.
Oh, and did I mention prayer?=} One short example: She had weekly leadership two-hour prayer meetings at 6 AM on Saturdays. Those who attended said she had always had her personal extended time in the word and prayer before the meeting began. Bill Greig II, her cousin who traveled with her for years and presided over Revel & Gospel Light told me Miss Mears considered prayer paramount and never acted without depending on God first in prayer.
WHY IS HENRIETTA MEARS IMPORTANT TODAY?
Putting aside the things I have already mentioned, Miss Mears, or “Teacher” as she was best known, tapped into a bunch of eternal principles. The depth of her personal relationship with God flowed into ministry. She had an intimate relationship with and clear dependence on God. That relationship coupled with the biblical principles she mined from the word and others are just a valid today as they were in the last century. The ministries that spawned from hers, are still using these biblical principles and they continue to be fruitful for the Kingdom.
If this intrigues you, stay tuned. From time to time more information about this remarkable women will come this way.
MORE!
Patience=}