The Audacity of Faith
Message from Marilee
Why have I written a second book based on my father’s life 45 years after my first book, Man of Vision, was released? Good question!
After Dad died in 1978, God led me to write Man of Vision*, about the price our family paid to give birth to World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse. While serving Christ always costs something, I believed that the price we paid was far more than God required. And I wanted others to learn from our mistakes and understand that if you marry, your priorities should be, God first, family second and ministry third. The book was released in 1980 and I never dreamed that I would write a second book about my father’s life!
It wasn’t until I started traveling with World Vision that I met people who knew my father and told me stories I had never heard. And I felt God nudging me to write a second book. To be honest, I have always wondered why God chose to use my father so powerfully when I knew he could be pretty hard to work with! Which raises another question. “How did God transform a poor, 12-year-old street preacher into an anointed servant of God who would bring millions to Christ and begin not one, but two amazing ministries? So, I set out on a journey of discovery that would last more than fifteen years!
In 2014, Franklin Graham graciously gave me over 30 boxes of my father’s papers!
And as I waded through his memoirs, sermons, and radio broadcasts, I read stories, not only about my dad, but about other amazing servants of God that had me weeping, laughing and down on my knees in awe of the miracles that happened as a result of their obedience and audacious faith! Stories like these are rare today, and I knew that these stories would inspire people to rise up and step out to change the world in Jesus’ name! I realize now that God used me to capture the bookends of my father’s life and ministry. Man of Vision is written primarily from my mother’s perspective, and The Audacity of Faith is written from Dad’s perspective. And they are both equally audacious!