Henry Blackaby died on February 10th, following a long illness. I felt sad that he had passed, but his death prompted me to reflect on his influence on me and my family. Of course, Henry Blackaby became famous in the SBC through his devotional workbook, Experiencing God. My wife taught this at the church we pastored many times. I encouraged all our members to take the course. I taught it once at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. Blackaby’s famous phrase, “watch to see where God is working and join Him,” caught my attention and affected my thinking.
Beyond his Experiencing God course, God used Henry Blackaby to guide me to an important decision. In 2003, I struggled with what I sensed was a call from God to return to missionary service. At the time, I was teaching missions at Southern Baptist Seminary and serving at the Associate Dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at the seminary. In addition, I served as a bi-vocational pastor. Those ministries we going well, and I was not motivated to leave. Still, a mission trip to Southeast Asia led to a growing sense that we should return to service with the International Mission Board. I felt torn between a happy, successful ministry and a growing sense of missionary call.
One morning at the seminary, I prayed and asked God to send me a “fleece” (a reference to Gideon) to confirm His call to return to missionary service. I prayed that prayer in the morning and then went about a normal day at the seminary. Truly, I forgot about that prayer. That night, as I prepared to go to sleep, I looked on my bedside table for my Our Daily Bread devotional booklet. I normally read the Scripture and devotional thoughts in the booklet before I prayed and went to sleep. Well, that night I couldn’t find the booklet. I looked and looked, but I couldn’t find it. I thought, “Barbara always has a devotional book on her table.” So, I looked at her table and found Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God Day by Day devotional book.
I opened the book at random and found the Bible reading was Acts 8:26-40. This is the story of how God called Philip to leave his evangelistic work in Samaria and walk along the Jerusalem to Gaza road. In his comments on the passage, Henry Blackaby wrote that sometimes God calls us to leave a successful ministry for a new one of His choosing. We should imitate Philip and obey God’s leading without question. I had asked for a “fleece,” and God answered my prayer. I took this as clear guidance from the Lord, and we applied for reappointment as missionaries. For His part, the Lord opened many doors that enabled us to be reappointed as IMB missionaries in November of 2004.
As Paul Harvey would say, “And now for the rest of the story.” The next night I prepared to do my nighttime devotions, and there was my Our Daily Bread booklet on my bedside table. I asked Barbara if she had moved it or replaced it, and she said, no.
God blessed our service in Southeast Asia, and I have been grateful for Henry Blackaby’s godly counsel. He was a faithful servant of the Lord, and we honor his memory.
Did Henry Blackaby influence your life?
