Last month, July 2025, was the 70th anniversary of Open Doors founded by Brother Andrew, God’s Smuggler. Seventy years ago, he made his first trip (to Poland) where meeting Christians desperately needing Bibles impacted him so much, he developed a heart for the Persecuted Church worldwide.
As I write, it has been fifty plus years since I first met Brother Andrew in the Philippines at Far East Broadcasting Company’s compound. He had come to learn about the Russian Bible printing at the Marshburn Press. We still laugh about the coffee time with all the compound missionaries when my bride, Dianne, innocently brought him a copy of Tortured For Christ by Richard Wurmbrand to autograph for her. From the very beginning of our long relationship, he was warm and friendly.
My first time to join him in public ministry on the platform was during the significant LOVE CHINA Conference he called together in Manila in 1975 – just a year before China began to open.
He was a family man. He and Corey had five children. Our three children adored Brother Andrew. The many times he joined us at our home for a meal, he always included the children in the conversation. They were so excited when we were able to visit his home in Holland for the first time in the early summer of 1985 and see his turtles and the bicycle-built-for-two in his garage that he had told the kids about.
I joined Open Doors (in Asia) in 1979, and we became co-workers for forty years. He was an encourager. He read and commended me on the publishing of all five books I wrote for Open Doors International over the years – especially Standing Strong Through The Storm (now in its 3rd Edition and in more than fifty languages).
“Be radical for Jesus, but not fanatical.”
Brother Andrew
It was his love for the Lord and His Word that made him stand out. He often shared from the Scriptures and devotionals he had just read that very day. One of his favorite books, after the Bible, was Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest. He became well-known for many of his own statements, most notably, “Be radical for Jesus, but not fanatical.”
Never using a typewriter, his communications were always handwritten – what today has become an art form. I have a treasured file of all his letters and notes to me and to our family. In the last one when I was in my early seventies, he again assured me that he regularly read my Daily Inspiration From The Lions Den devotionals and sent me an idea for a new devotional from Malachi 4:6 regarding children and parents. His final comment was, “We the parents have to change. May God help us to hurry up! As for you: don’t hurry too much. We want you and the family to be around much longer.”
Andrew loved to sing – especially the old English hymns. On one of his many trips to Canada he called me and asked me to bring some old hymnbooks to his hotel room. There we sang together at length old but meaningful hymns like “I’ll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord!”
But my bottom-line assessment would be about his leadership style. He didn’t teach it. He modelled it. I remember reading a story about him in a book about leadership. I have long forgotten who the author was but have never forgotten the story. The author was part of an American music team working with YWAM at the time of the Munich Olympics. They flew into Denmark, weary after a very long flight, and stayed at a Bible College. On arrival, a small man dressed in work clothes whom they thought was the gardener, asked them if he could help them with all their equipment and gear. He carried things like large speaker cabinets for them for about an hour. That evening at their first public meeting and after they led the music worship time, the head of the Bible College introduced the special speaker, Brother Andrew. The young people were shocked! It was the man they had thought was the gardener. The writer concluded, “Brother Andrew’s example had provided me with a shift in my ‘leadership paradigm’…a leader can wear gardener’s clothes.”
Today he’s wearing a white robe and hearing the Master’s words, “Well done!” And Open Doors continues on his ministry of serving Persecuted Christians.
