Looking Back
Recollections of SLM’s founders, from an article in the Reaper in 1967
“PRINCIPLES IN GOD’S LEADING”
The passing of time has a dramatic way of changing one’s perspective, and I have become very conscious of this as I have reflected on the early days of the Source of Light Mission, and especially as I have reviewed my own role in those events.
Although the day-to-day activities were considered to be under God’s control, their successful consummation seemed to depend a great deal on the dedication and ability of those who were involved. These activities did not appear at that time to be necessarily interrelated, but were rather ends within themselves.
Now, however, events of those early years seem to be very definitely interwoven. And the role of all of us who were involved appears to be less significant in the light of an apparent working out of an overall divine plan. Isolated events and situations that then appeared to be individual hurdles to be cleared, now appear to have been related situations that established the pattern for SLM’s ministry through the years.
Charles Gilmore and I went to Jamaica to distribute Gospels of John that were already there waiting, having been prayed in and provided through Cam Thompson. We were immediately concerned that there was no follow-up of those who received the Gospels. As we prayed, we felt that this could be best accomplished through a Bible correspondence course in the absence of a corps of field workers to do personal follow-up. The cults were very effectively using Bible correspondence courses in this way.
We were unable to locate a Bible course that we felt would meet the particular need that we envisioned. Therefore, we decided to write one ourselves. Several efforts were scrapped, and the course that we finally developed was a simple course on the way of salvation in the Gospel of John, which was based principally on an outline taken from the Christian Worker’s New Testament. Since many of those who received the Gospel of John would have only that portion of Scripture, the course was limited to that Book. Our goal was to lead those who took the course to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The course was written, five hundred copies were mimeographed, and Charles and I left for Jamaica. With the help of George DaCosta, a Jamaican (or rather we helped him), the Gospels were distributed. An announcement was included in each Gospel offering a free Bible correspondence course to anyone who would send in the coupon. Bette and Eleanor (our wives) had stayed at home and sent out the courses as the requests came in. By the time Charles and I returned home, all of the first five hundred courses had been sent out and there were five hundred requests waiting. By the time those requests were filled, the first courses were back, asking for the next course that had not yet been written.
All of these events seemed to transpire as a natural course of events. We simply entered into opportunities as they developed. Although we had adopted the name Source of Light Mission (taking the name from a radio broadcast that Charles and Bette Gilmore had in Pennsylvania before moving to Georgia), we had not at this time, as I recall, set out to start a mission. We had just responded to Cam Thompson’s plea for help in distributing Gospels and following up the contacts that developed through the distributions. The tremendous response to the Gospel distribution and the recurring requests for other courses kept pushing us into a continuing and expanding ministry. It seemed apparent that what we had rather innocently, if I may use the term, “blundered” into, had very rapidly developed into a ministry that was far beyond the capabilities of the two couples with which it had started. We then sought the help and guidance of others. A council was formed, including Brother E. C. Sheehan and Cam Thompson, and the mission was officially incorporated. The work developed like a spiral, with one event growing out of another and continuing right on to its present world-wide outreach through the Bible correspondence courses in many different languages.
The first Bible correspondence courses were almost solely Scripture. The Scripture speaks for itself. I often heard Cam Thompson say that no better tract has ever been written than the Gospel of John; so why not concentrate our efforts in getting a Gospel of John to every person as quickly as possible? Cam’s motto, “God’s Word to every home in Latin America with a MAXIMUM of prayer and a MINIMUM of red tape,” was an outgrowth of this conviction. God has greatly used His Word in the courses. Because of their strong biblical basis, the courses have had wide appeal and wide usage by many groups, crossing many denominational bounds, because the Bible is not a sectarian book.
At perhaps no time was it more apparent that this work was of the Lord and not of man than when both of the founding families were taken out of the work and yet it continued to grow, perhaps even with greater strides than before. But the principles under which SLM would operate were established in those very early years, often by circumstances engineered by the Lord Himself. Adherence to the principles set by the Lord in the beginning of the work is probably one of the principle keys to the phenomenal growth of the Mission through the years. Faithful adherence to these principles in the years ahead will guarantee that the Source of Light Mission will continue to grow as it has in the past and give an increasing light in the darkness ahead.
God has used many people in providing for His work through SLM and for those who have been associated with SLM through the years. Each one has learned dependence upon Him out of sheer necessity. Most of the time there was no other option. Praise the Lord for the circumstances which He engineers and for His great faithfulness in those circumstances not only to supply our needs, but to teach us utter dependence upon Him for His provision and direction.
