Why Are We Here — George Verwer

Having just arrived from England, I'm not sure if I have the credentials to welcome anybody to Memphis, but perhaps I could just add my welcome to each one of you. I think God has wrought many miracles to bring us together at this time.

Every one of you could share the mountains, the obstacles you've had to see moved just to bring you this far. Some of you, your parents, were against your going and you saw the Lord change their hearts.

Some of you had financial Mount Everest crashing down on your head. Others were beating their brains against exams, thinking you'd have a total nervous breakdown before the end of your school term, much less go on Operation Immobilization.

But you're here. We believe it's in God's plan that we're here together. We just by faith are believing Him to really accomplish some great things in this week. I have to go off to Chicago actually for the weekend of meetings, some of which were booked before this conference was even put on the calendar.

But I'll be back Sunday night looking forward to being here the rest of the week. And then you'll have to look at me in Belgium almost every day, and I'm sure most of you will be have more than enough of George Verwer by the end of the Belgian conference.

Then some of you will never see me again. It's hard to believe that this is our 20th Summer Crusade in Europe. Very hard for some of us to accept this. And I have a 20 year old son to prove it. He marks the beginning of the work in Europe.

And it's interesting to me sons and daughters of people who came on that crusade 20 years ago. His parents came on that crusade 20 years ago. So O .M. is growing a little older, but we're just excited.

We're just like big kids. I warned Bert about that laugh. It was relatively controlled. But really we're excited about this summer. I just come from actually Germany. Before I was in England. I was only in England 24 hours and wanted to see my family.

There are about 1 ,500 German young people in that meeting. I had six meetings actually, but there's sort of a conference. And I'm just so excited about what God is doing in Germany. And almost all of you will have Germans on your team this summer because of what God's doing in that country.

I stopped in at the June conference in Belgium just for an hour and a half. Spoke at their conference. About 200 are in the June crusade. We years ago didn't even have a June crusade. So that's exciting.

The crusade in Europe has already begun. We're we're just excited. We don't like to spend much time looking at the past. This is not of great interest to us. If we do once in a while, it's just to give you a little bit of historical roots.

But that's not really our interest. We want to look to the future. And we believe that God has a great plan for each one of you. So we're excited. Praise God for this opportunity to be together. I appreciated George Baratheon.

I just can't believe this brother up here making the announcements. We met in Sri Lanka and then he was on my team. It's a miracle he survived that. Or I survived it. So George, you know, next to me is so gentle and calm and quiet.

You know, giving tornado announcements and panic doors we got to go through. I was here in Memphis the last time we had a conference here. My wife and I were sleeping in the choir dressing room. And there was a fire alarm, a false alarm, in the middle of the night.

That was the year we had men and women all sleeping in this one church. And I have been told this was an unbelievable mobilization. Everybody was out. If the building had been consumed in fire, everybody would have been out except my wife and I.

Because the choir dressing room has no fire alarm. So we slept through the night. We were happy. Wasn't a real fire. I'd like to say a little word about the book since I'm not going to be here on the weekend.

I'd hate for you to miss out the whole weekend on getting to see the books. When I went into that book room, because I've seen a lot of miserable OM book tables. It has often distressed me. People after several years in the work can't even put up a book table.

So I like to see a good proper literature display. And when I went into the literature room, I almost went into orbit. I mean this there's, you know, avalanches of books. In fact, you'll have to be careful going in there.

You make the wrong move. You know, we'll have to lose one more under a mountain of books. So they brought a whole truckload of books up. Some of them are at unbelievable special prices. There's some of those magazine books that they almost give away prices.

Because I have a lot of books that I want to recommend, I need to start tonight. And I am so excited about the ministry of the printed page. Now, I, let me just say this, I am so happy to be back here in the United States.

I don't get the privilege of being here much. God sent my wife and I out 21 years ago. We had never been back 21 years on a furlough. I only get back to the OM conferences or to preach. Now, all over the world, I'm trying to be, you know, Mr. Cross-cultural communicator.

I found out my first month in Mexico that as Americans we do things that are very offensive. And I went to Europe and I found out we do more things that are very offensive. So I just declared all-out war against, you know, what had been brainwashed into me for 20 years.

De-Americanized, you know, to some degree. I've lived in England a lot for 18 years. Often in the meetings, you know, if I'm a little too loud, boisterous, then some of the English folk get a little bit, you know, a little concerned about that.

Over in Germany. Germans, especially in their churches, like the preaching to be very dignified, very much in order. People that start shouting at them or getting excited, they have little memories about that in the past.

It's a very big thing. You know, I'm going away in Germany. This is just this weekend. This is, you know, after 20 years of trying to learn how to communicate. A German girl comes up to me and she said, you know, I just want to tell you that some of us really feel turned off by the way you, the way you speak.

You know, great encouragement. So I'm really relaxed here, I'll tell you. And I like the South. I went to school in the South. And I've always been very, you know, the first Southern girl that came to my high school.

I was a Yankee, born in Patterson. The first Southern girl that walked in the door, you know who was at her. Her parents weren't too happy, so that all ended in one night. But, when I came to study in the South, I found these people are more friendly.

You can be more relaxed here, really, these people in the South. How many of you are Southerners? Oh, this is great. This is great. You know, you can really be relaxed with these people. You won't understand what they're saying, but you can be relaxed with them.

No, that's not true. Let me get back to my books before we get carried away. If you ever feel you're becoming extreme, it can happen very easily, you know, Evan. You're getting uptight. You don't know how to really find freedom in your Christian life, get a hold of this book.

By the way, there are not many copies. I don't know why. One of my favorite books, but you can't have big mountains of every book. It's called, The Wider Place, by Eugenia Price. She lives in Georgia.

Where God offers freedom from anything that limits our growth. I had many, many dangerous areas in my Christian life. Extreme things that I was not aware of, and this book and her other books have helped me beyond words.

It's not everybody's book for the, you know, for the, for the week, but I believe that many of you want to, want to get that book and be helped through it. Where God offers freedom. Ralph Shalas, very different kind of book.

From now on. This man's so identified with France that he wrote, he writes his books in French. We have to translate them back into English. This is one of those books. Ralph is the longest standing visiting speakers to OM conferences.

He's a, he's a saint. He's got cancer, though it seems to be somewhat held up at present, cured. He's writing. I don't know how old he is. Where's Malcolm Jones from France? Is he here? How old is Ralph Shalas?

Do you know? 65? Yeah, 65, 70. He's really a saint of God. That is his book, On Spiritual Growth. Get it. It really should be required reading, but we have too many books. I was listening to the tapes recently by Elizabeth Elliot.

I listen to tapes in the bathtub. And that's the advantage of tapes. I mean, it would be difficult, wouldn't it, to have a live presentation. But with tapes you can, you can do almost anything. So I was in the bathtub with Elizabeth Elliot, or listening to Elizabeth Elliot, and my bathing suit, of course.

And I am so impressed with this woman, really. How many of you have read her writings? That is also very encouraging. This is her book. I don't know if this one is on half price. There are a lot of books on half price.

But it's a little expensive if it isn't. Try to get it for half price, you know. A little bit like an Arab. Treat it like an Arab market. I was just getting orientation for my trip to Morocco next year.

You know, if you want to pay a dollar, usually he'll start offering you whatever you're buying at two, three dollars, if you're going to come down. So, you know, bargain with him there in the literature.

And it's Harley Rollins. It's a southerner. Friendly. Operation World. How many have a copy of this? Wow, that is amazing. What can I say? You already have a copy. This is the revised edition. Some of the slightly extreme right-wing statements that upset, you know, some people have been modified and we've put in some of the American missionary groups as Europeans.

We want to acknowledge that Americans are also involved in world missions. There have been other revisions. This is a truly great book. And lastly, two outstanding books by A .W. Tozer. There's more spiritual meat in those two books than we can give you here this week.

Treasury of Tozer, Collection of Favorite Writings, and The Best of A .W. Tozer. Between those two books, you have enough to digest in the next two years. I just strongly recommend this man's writings.

Prayer, Spiritual Warfare, and the Seriousness of the Mission

Let's just pray, because we can't go late tonight for a number of reasons. Let's pray. Father, help us now as we look into your word, as we consider what lies ahead, how we can get the best out of this conference.

I thank you, Lord, for the freedom. I'll be back here in my own country. I thank you, Lord, for the freedom you give in other countries. Perhaps not as easy a situation, Lord, yet maybe I can be deceived by that.

And I want your word this morning. I don't want to get carried away in some kind of Bavarian trip. But I want your word. We want your word. We have not come here to seek the counsel of men. But we've come to seek wisdom from you.

Guide us in this time together in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, though my message starts now, what I've just said is also important just to lay a little foundation for what we're going to share tonight. I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah.

How many have heard the tape on warfare? Orientation tape number one. Raise your hand. Very good. Some people get so frightened by that tape, they never listen past that. And they never read the little letter I send around with the tapes to say, you know, it's not always as bad as it sounds.

And they never read spiritual balance, where they can learn that we have perhaps progressed a little bit since those early days in understanding what the spiritual warfare is. But I want to say right from the beginning that we don't want you to go to Europe if you don't believe there's a war in Europe.

There is a war in Europe. A spiritual war. Now, the way things are going on right now in Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, we may be in Europe at the dawn or the beginning of World War Three. And if you don't think that can happen at any minute, then you must be very ignorant of history and politics.

You say, we're not going into politics. Well, you may want to get in just a little bit to know that Russia is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, that our nation is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons, that Russia is behind Iraq, and Syria, and that our nation is behind Israel.

Just add up the rest. Now, in this latest bomb attack by the Israelis on Iraq, Mr. Reagan, playing a little token commitment toward the Arabs, saying, we're going to send you any planes. Well, for how long?

Two weeks? They have enough American armaments in Israel to take on the whole Arab world. You see, the Russians may not appreciate that. Now, I'm not going to get any further into that because that's not my interest.

But if those people are concerned, and are throwing themselves into that, and are looking for committed men, and looking for equipment, and are preparing thousands and hundreds of thousands of soldiers, everybody in Israel almost is in the military.

I've just come from Israel again a few months ago. How much more we spiritually must face the reality that this is a warfare. This is not a game. My heart is so grieved by some of the short-term work that I have read about, and been involved in, because it seems to me like a big evangelical game.

With young people sort of running around, taking snapshots half a day, or touring the world on the money that some church provides. And I believe that God wants to baptize us during this week with a seriousness of purpose about what we are doing.

One of the greatest problems in the present generation is the lack of seriousness of purpose in the things of God. And this conference will be hard. It will be hard. I am just pushing myself to stay awake, because on my watch, and on my body, it's 25 minutes to 3 in the morning.

Because when you cross the Atlantic, things happen to you, and the times change. And I'm over here for such a short trip, I don't even bother to correct my watch, because this tells me what time my wife is at, and she's more concerned to me than I am about myself.

It's always five o 'clock around, so I keep it on English time. Then I don't phone her in the middle of the night when I get lonely. There's a war on in Europe. We are here in a military boot camp to train you to go to battle.

And if you don't want that, if you don't feel ready for that, don't go. Because I am all in favor of cutting down the numbers. Now, years ago, I used to lead the work. This work is growing so fast. It's moving so fast.

There are so many tremendous leaders who are more spiritual than I am, more dedicated, more disciplined, more loving. Fortunately, most of them aren't louder, so I still get an opportunity. I don't need the work anymore.

I just follow, and I'm running out of breath. You know, Mike Evans, George Miley, Dave Hicks, they're running all over the world. We're in 35 nations. The way they're going, we'll be in another 30 nations before I even get my second breath.

So I'm not gonna worry if some of you decide to go home. You come to Dave Hicks. You say, look, this verbal guy scares me. I'm going home. Of course, Hicks, he's been picking up pieces for me for 15 years.

He'll console you and love you, and he'll sign you on the dotted line of the 25-year program. Seriously speaking, and one thing that's very basic when you're in a warfare is to know how to laugh. That's right.

And I will tell you, if you don't know how to laugh, don't go on a limb. You'll spend a lot of time crying. There's no middle ground. There's no middle ground. There is a war. We have been commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to avenge lives of the world.

We take that with absolute seriousness. Some of us have been for almost a quarter of a century. So many people thought O .M. would run out of steam 15 years ago. You can't imagine how many prophets of doom, letters, tape recordings, you know, telling us, look, you just can't live this way.

Sure, late adolescence, okay. Married without children, okay. But you know, you can't go on year after year. Summer Crusade, Easter Crusade, Winter Crusade, 12 months a year. 25 or sometimes that many million people reached in a year, generally more like 12 million.

But here we are. 25 years later. Dick Griffin and I were just planning the 25th anniversary of O .M. in Mexico. And I'm going to go to Mexico City and the 25th anniversary, quarter of a century. And we're still burning.

It's burning. We're still in the war. We still believe Jesus is King and Captain. We still believe that God is on the throne and that we are just to present our bodies daily as a living sacrifice and to go forth in his name, dying to self.

Rebuilding Nehemiah's Walls Through Prayer and Vigilance

Now here in the book of Nehemiah, we have so many lessons. We can't get into it, but we have Nehemiah going back to rebuild the walls. He spies out the land after much prayer, after seeing answers to prayer.

He spies out the land in chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. The walls get rebuilt. And in verse 3, there's tremendous opposition. In verse 4, it's a sort of quick Bible study. And got some people praying and some people watching.

He preached some sermons and they got back. And we read in verse 6, chapter 4, This is a week for work. Sure, you're gonna have a little relaxation. You're gonna have some good meals. Because an army needs to get decent food.

You know, I even squeezed in a game of tennis this morning at 6 o 'clock. So, you know, we're not saying, We're just here 24 hours a day. Nobody's gonna smile. That's not being a faithful soldier of Jesus Christ.

But we're here to work. In a sense, please try to understand this. This was burned into my heart. Again, reading a missionary book by one of the great missiologists, Herbert Cain of Trinity Seminary. How much training it takes to prepare people for cross-cultural evangelism.

We are going to attempt in one week and then another five days in Belgium to get into your mind and to some degree into your heart, which normally we would need a year. Why are we doing that? Because we believe the world is an emergency situation.

A .W. Tozer said the whole world is in an emergency situation. The church, to a large degree, has failed to obey Jesus Christ. Therefore, half the people in the world have never yet had the gospel in any way, shape, or form.

There are another ten reasons I can give you why I feel we're in an emergency situation. That's why I believe the Holy Spirit has raised up what old Ralph Winter calls a spiritual guerrilla force, Operation Mobilization, to launch out now and to help the struggling existing church in Europe and the missionaries in Europe to do the job.

We're not going to do the job. We're going as an emergency force in training, in training, to help them do the job. And we've got to get to some degree into you in the next week and in Belgium. Of course, that's considering you've gone through the tapes, you've gone through the books.

Without that, we're already in trouble. We've got to get into you what normally we would like a year to do. I want to tell you some of the short-term workers going out from the United States are causing harm in existing missionary work.

And we now have a number of key leaders in Europe who are opposed, opposed to especially American short-term summer holiday trips, and they're speaking out. One of them is Dr. Michael Griffiths, a very close friend of mine, very outspoken, now the president of London Bible College, formerly the director of OMF, the Great China Mission.

You should hear some of his lucid descriptions of some short-term operations. I was concerned about this. I wrote him a letter. I was greatly relieved that he strongly is linked with us and would love people to go on OMF before they, of course, come to London Bible College or join OMF.

And we just, we just have to get some of this basic orientation over. Doesn't mean we're going to be perfect in doing it. We won't be. Therefore, we don't expect you to be perfect in the response, but let's do the best we can.

Preparing to amalgamate our hearts with these Europeans who we're going to meet in a few weeks time. Preparing to work as servants, because this is the present place that American missionaries and trainees must go as.

If we are going to be accepted, if we are going to be appreciated, if we are going to leave something more than just the smell in some of these countries, we must go as servants. We must go as co-workers.

No longer with the big heavy American or Anglo-Saxon image. That's why we're here. We're here to work, to study, to prepare, to discuss the problems, to be interviewed, to get the final confirmation on what we're doing.

Praise God. The wall was built because they had a mind to work. Because they knew the God who would fight for them. Chapter four, verse 20, our God shall fight for us. These men were so committed to the task that we read in verse 23.

So neither I nor my brother nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, except that everyone put them off for washing. Isn't that interesting? Last night, after being up too late the night before, being on jet lag, I went home, it's five or six o 'clock in the afternoon, which was midnight or more, and I somehow just didn't make it getting the clothes off.

I just fell asleep and woke up. So I get encouragement by this scripture. Now, this became my habit before I was married. If you think I'm intense now, you just think, Jesus, you didn't live around me then.

You know, to me, there's only so many hours in the day, so many seconds, using, taking clothes off, putting clothes on, what a waste of time. So many nights I went to sleep with my clothes on, the floor, chair, anywhere.

Bed at one, up at 6 .30, what is the purpose of taking your clothes off? I slept, I learned to sleep so well with them on, you know, I took them off, I didn't, I had to sleep. Now, this was one of the areas where I had to come into balance.

When I got married, my wife somehow didn't go for this, especially the shoes. Boy, 21 years of marriage, it's been God's great graduate school for me. And I thank the Lord for that institution. So here's the biblical basis for that.

So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes. Except that everyone put them off for washing. Now, we don't make major theological issue of this.

So don't worry. But do you picture the intensity? It was a warfare situation. People were ready to attack, tear down the walls, and destroy them. A lot of things that we feel are important, if we're thrown into a war, become unimportant.

And this is the problem. The church is not on a militant stance. It's not an invading army. And I just feel, this is why the world is not being evangelized as it should be. Well, they had a lot of problems.

Revival Through Gathering Around God's Word

But I want to jump over to the great revival that came under Ezra, chapter 8. Because I see in this passage, and there are many other similar passages, the biblical basis for gathering together in this way.

Even if we were not preparing to go out into a spiritual invasion, there is a biblical basis for God's people gathering together. I am personally the kind of person, after all these years of conferences, that only come here under holy orders from the King of Kings.

I have a great love for people. I want to give my life to people. But I prefer one at a time. One at a time. I find crowds very hard. I was very nervous in the dining hall, lunch time. You wouldn't think that.

Do you think leaders are the kind of people that have it all together? You're just beginning. Because I tell you, you're looking at one leader who doesn't have it all together. But I know a God who is somehow, by His grace, keeping me, keeping on.

But I find conferences a little difficult. Already I've seen so many people I can fellowship with, not for five minutes, passing like two locomotives. But you know, let's go for a walk. One of my closest friends in England is Peter Maiden.

Last time we got together, we started talking. Then we started walking. Then we started talking. We came to the highest mountain in England, and that looks nice. We climbed up to the top of the highest mountain in England.

This was the dumbest thing you've ever seen. Peter Maiden with a suit coat and a tie on the top of Snowdin. People were looking around, hey, what's this guy doing up here? People die up there from improper clothing.

Of course, this was a warmer season, so that wasn't too much of a problem. We had a whole day together. Well, these little interviews. Step right in, sit down. Let's have a great time together. Well, it was great to know you.

What was your name again? Luigi, Susie. Oh, I always get those mixed up. God bless you, Luigi. I'll be praying for you next. Do you think we want this? No. But you see, if we're going to evangelize the world, if we're going to obey God, we're going to have to lay aside, at times, some of the things that we would prefer, the way we would prefer them.

And we're going to have to lock hands and lock hearts, believe the best. We will get longer fellowship with some, but we've got a war to win, a battle to fight. I've come here because this is where God wants me.

I'm not interested, really, at this point, in my emotions. My wife and I never like to separate. It's always tears, it's always agony. I am emotionally only half functioning without my wife. I don't understand that, but it is.

She normally comes with me. Last time I was in Memphis, she was with me. We had a wonderful time. We actually came over by ship just to take life a little slower. It was a fantastic time. She had to remain in England because my son is in very, very big pre-university exams and wanted her to be there.

I'm here because I'm brought with a price. I belong to Jesus. I'm not interested mainly in how the vibrations of the conference are going on, or how much emotional satisfaction and fulfillment I am getting from the conference.

I'm interested in the glory of God. I'm interested in obeying Jesus. And I know that means George Borough is going to have to be crucified. Not destroyed, crucified. Which means that Jesus Christ is going to live this life out through us.

And he is going to accomplish the impossible. So I feel it's sensible, it's reasonable, it's biblical to gather in this way. That's what they did here for the reading of the law. Notice verse 1 in chapter 8.

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street. Isn't that interesting? Have you ever studied those words? They gathered themselves as one man into the street. And there was before the water gate.

And they spoke unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both the men and the women.

All who could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the street that was before the water gate from the morning until the midday. Before the men and the women and those who could understand.

And the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. Think of how much more we have today than those people. The New Testament, the Sermon on the Mount, the deeper teachings of God.

Yet they were just the book of the law listening, attentive, were brought into revival. One of the most spiritual movements I've ever worked with. They've got plenty of weaknesses. Every spiritual movement has weakness.

Every spiritual movement has extremes. One of those movements is the movement under the leadership of Bhakt Singh of India. I've lived with this man. I've traveled with him. I've prayed with him. I've preached at his convocations.

And that's one of the backbones of their whole movement. In West India, one of the biggest factors in their whole movement is they gather in what they call a holy convocation for a week. They gather. They live together.

They share. They have nights of prayer. They have three hour Bible studies. Then they parade through the streets witnessing. And the Spirit of God every year has poured himself out upon those great holy convocations.

Thousands have come to Christ as one of the great spiritual movements of our day. Those of us who have traveled among those assemblies and lived with those people know that this doesn't deliver them from problems.

I remember Bhakt Singh sharing with me one of his men committed suicide. I call that a fairly substantial problem. This treasure, beloved, is in earthen vessels. If you're looking for the perfect New Testament organization, you're in the wrong place.

You will not find it here. In fact, I would say if you're looking for the perfect organization and the perfect church and the great final New Testament movement, you are on one big fat tangent. And the sooner you get off it and come down to earth, the happier you'll be.

We are linked heart and heart with the whole body of Christ around the world. Even those that don't agree with us, we feel linked with them. And our burden is not to serve certain men but to just sense our oneness with the whole body and to bring glory to God in everything we do.

But we do at the same time feel that there are certain biblical principles we must obey. We feel one of those principles is that as God's people we should gather in special times of prayer, worship, the reading of the law, the reading of the word.

I can't take the time to read what they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. Who is the Tirshata and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said unto all the people this day is holy unto the Lord.

This day is holy unto the Lord, your God, more not, nor we, but when they heard the words of the law and he said unto them go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared for this day is holy unto our Lord.

Neither be ye grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. It's fantastic, not just ministers to me that passage. Revival through the reading of the word of God. In these days gathered together God wants to meet us in revival.

He wants to revive our hearts. He wants us to be caught up together praising him. We are an army of praise. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. Mighty unto God to the pulling down of strongholds.

The weapon of praise, the shield of faith. God's spiritual boot camp is very, very unlike a military boot camp in so many ways. There are a few similarities. Most comparisons in scripture, beloved, only go so far.

I went too far for a while in my teaching on the militant. I was reading war books and how Rommel did it in the deserts of North Africa and God just thanked me. I haven't touched many war books for many, many years.

Because the comparison only goes so far. And that's very important in understanding scripture not to take the comparison further than the scripture takes it. Because the scripture has many other comparisons.

We're not only soldiers, we're pilgrims. We're not only pilgrims, we're servants. Jesus said more than servants, friends. And if you don't get the balance of all these things, you become lopsided. And you become some kind of a military freak.

Which is actually very obnoxious in the work of God. And you get little generals. We had some of our early leaders. They thought they were Napoleon. They thought they were, you know, OK, line up you guys.

What do you mean you don't feel it's in love? Boom, I love you. And you know, God's had to give us many spankings. Because we so quickly, you know, went to one extreme or the other. Yes, we're soldiers.

But our joy comes from the Lord. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. We're pilgrims. We're friends. We're servants. We're high priests. We're co-heirs. Don't think of yourself as some little private joining this, you know, army.

There's General Hicks and your private Susie Bell. I think there's actually a girl by that name that may be coming here. Forgive me. You know, that's carrying the comparison too far. We as leaders are not generals.

We're servants. Shepherds. And we just want to love you. We want to help you. Don't think because I do some of the speaking at this conference, some of the conferences, I don't even go. I haven't been to the M .D. Dula House in one year.

I say that because some people think, George Murray, he's the big leader. We don't operate that way. Our whole work is led by a team of people. Each field is somewhat autonomous. Basically, they do what they feel led to do out there, Pakistan and France.