Roy Robertson, at far left in the group photo, and at left, died earlier today. He was in his mid-80s. Roy was the first Navigators missionary, sent out to China in 1948 when the outcome of the war between Mao DeZong and Chiang KaiShek was still moot. This summer the Navigators are planning to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their missionary effort. Roy, as the first Nav missionary, was to be the featured speaker. I was looking forward to seeing Roy again for the first time in a decade, though we had been corresponding regularly. In the group photo Roy is shown with the Asian team he had recruited and trained for evangelism at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. For 60 years Roy evangelized throughout all of Asia, not only in China, but in Japan and Taiwan and Hong Kong and Viet Nam and the Philippines and Singapore and Indonesia and India.
Roy specialized in large scale evangelistic outreaches, with a strong, sustained emphasis on follow up, and always with a view to training younger men. Roy was indefatigable, working right up to the end when, as I understand it (reports so far have been conflicting) he died peacefully seated on his front porch after mowing the lawn. I am sure he did not resist death. His wife, Phyllis, had gone to be with the Lord just a few months ago. I know that both of them were greeted in glory as heroes.
For several years Roy worked under my leadership. I used to jest that he was my ideal 19th century missionary. And indeed, in many ways he was a throwback to an earlier era, which made him something of a misfit in The Navigators after its founder, Dawson Trotman, drowned in 1956. Roy's vision of mission was formed in large measure by Trotman, but Dick Hillis was also a major shaper of Roy's strategies and methodology. Hillis was a China Inland Mission missionary who later founded Overseas Crusades. With my encouragement, Roy left the Navs to found his own mission, Training Evangelistic Leadership (TEL) in the 1970s. The mission grew steadily through the years. And just this year he formally handed over his leadership to a successor.
In his most recent note Roy assured me that he would be reading my book, What About the Cross? as he traveled to Singapore and back. He wrote, "I'm glad you're your own man and not someone else." Coming from Roy, that was a blessing.
Roy specialized in large scale evangelistic outreaches, with a strong, sustained emphasis on follow up, and always with a view to training younger men. Roy was indefatigable, working right up to the end when, as I understand it (reports so far have been conflicting) he died peacefully seated on his front porch after mowing the lawn. I am sure he did not resist death. His wife, Phyllis, had gone to be with the Lord just a few months ago. I know that both of them were greeted in glory as heroes.
For several years Roy worked under my leadership. I used to jest that he was my ideal 19th century missionary. And indeed, in many ways he was a throwback to an earlier era, which made him something of a misfit in The Navigators after its founder, Dawson Trotman, drowned in 1956. Roy's vision of mission was formed in large measure by Trotman, but Dick Hillis was also a major shaper of Roy's strategies and methodology. Hillis was a China Inland Mission missionary who later founded Overseas Crusades. With my encouragement, Roy left the Navs to found his own mission, Training Evangelistic Leadership (TEL) in the 1970s. The mission grew steadily through the years. And just this year he formally handed over his leadership to a successor.
In his most recent note Roy assured me that he would be reading my book, What About the Cross? as he traveled to Singapore and back. He wrote, "I'm glad you're your own man and not someone else." Coming from Roy, that was a blessing.
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