Missionary Moment: Part 2

William Wallace was born in 1908 in Tennessee. His mother died when he was eleven, leaving William, his sister, and their physician father behind. At age 17, his conscious was assaulted by the nagging question: what would God have me do with this my life? With a Bible in hand, he made the decisive decision to be a medial missionary to the nations. He spent the next 10 years receiving his education. Along the way, he turned down a lucrative offer from a stateside medical practice to pursue his dream. As his training drew to a close, he wrote these words to the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, "I must confess, I am not a good speaker nor apt as a teacher, but I do feel God can use my training as a physician. As humble as I know how, I want to volunteer to serve as a medical missionary under our Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board."

With these words, he launched a missionary career in China. Wallace arrived during unrest and stayed when others left. He served the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion of China, World War II, and the Communist takeover of China. Sometimes he even performed surgery with bombs exploding all around him. He was often with the sickest patients in the most dangerous parts of the hospital.

His radical sacrifice of time and energy was fueled by a overwhelming sense of God. He saw himself simply as "one piece of man." This Chinese saying was used to deprecate one's value by painting him as a single expendable person. But when Wallace said it, he was not using a phrase for show. As one commented, "He really meant it. He has no concept of his own worth and no anxiety for the future that I can see." In other words, the smallness of his life in relation to the greatness of God released in him such sacrificial energy that he could stay through hardships for the glory of Christ.

Eventually, this would cost him his life. In December 1950, the Communist planted evidence against Wallace in attempts to paint him as a spy. He endured the horror of attempted brainwashing, before he was killed in February 1951.

What a legacy this man leaves for us. Who said that Christian teachers are the only ones who can make a difference? Who says that God cannot get the attention of a 17 year old and change his life forever? What would happen if we were as available to God as this man? What might happen in our lives, families, and communities?

* All of this information was taken from Daniel Akin's 5 Who Changed the World pp. 37-55