I was excited when this biography was released. Some people who read it may not know who Avery Willis was, but he achieved many noteworthy feats in his life. He spent 14 years as a missionary in Indonesia. During that time, God added two million people to Indonesian churches. Willis was responsible for producing some of the best works that Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention has published. He also wrote or co-authored 16 books of his own, including Masterlife, and directed overseas Southern Baptist mission work for the Southern Baptist Convention during one of its most explosive periods of growth. But I know him as the person who asked my dad to write Experiencing God. As I got to know Willis, I came to admire him as a godly man who took his relationship with Christ seriously.
What intrigues me about this biography, besides the story itself, is the way it is assembled. Willis’ daughter Sherrie wrote it. She relied heavily on Willis’ journals, so the book includes interesting insights into Willis’ mind. And to Sherrie’s credit, she shares some of her father’s candid thoughts that, though likely difficult to write, make the story more compelling and genuine. Ron Owens, a family friend who used a similar style when writing great biographies on Manley Beasley and Ron Dunn, encouraged Sherrie to write the book.
Willis was born on February 21, 1934. He was six years old when he gave his life to Christ during one of his father’s sermons (24). He didn’t see himself as a leader, but he ultimately came to understand that his call to ministry depended more on God than on his own skills (32). He hungered to be filled by the Holy Spirit. As a college student, he shut himself in a room for more than two hours and refused to leave until the Spirit filled him completely (33). After he entered the mission field in the 1960s, he noted in his journal, “I do not understand why we are so reticent to receive or use prayer in the healing of the body as well as the soul. In Acts, it was an essential part of the spreading of the Gospel and seems to be needed today if we are to see a great moving of these people to God” (127). In 1971, Avery wrote,
My concern for my life is that I don’t bypass anything the Spirit has for me or any way He wants to use me. I am convinced of the filling of the Spirit in my own life, and yet I realize there could be an even fuller experience of the Spirit—perhaps related to a deeper prayer life, because my prayer life has slipped this past year from what it used to be. I realize a need for more prayer. I keep hoping and praying that the Lord will give me more openness to Him and that I will be a better channel for His work.” (200)
Throughout Avery’s life, he journaled about his ongoing struggle with pride that robbed him of experiencing the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Reading about his honesty before God when he fell short is inspiring. In 1989, God convicted Avery while he was at the peak of his career and influence. After awakening Willis in the middle of the night, God told him, “You need a cleansing. Look at My holiness. You move too quickly to the practical and don’t stay long enough for the Holy Spirit to reveal all of My righteousness and your unrighteousness” (324). Willis always knew when his prayer life was not as it should be.
He had some amazing life experiences. He arrived in Indonesia shortly before an attempted communist coup. It was later discovered that the communists had planned to murder all the Americans in the nation if their coup succeeded (110). He recognized that American missionaries had used church planting methods that were not reproduceable, and he agonized over how to make disciples more effectively. He noticed that missionaries often relied on American resources to provide for local pastors, making the nationals depended on foreign support (101). Ultimately, Willis became the president of the Indonesian Baptist Seminary, and he sought to change the school’s model. He realized that current missional methods would never lead to world evangelization. He claimed that even if Southern Baptists saw 3,000 people saved per day, just like at Pentecost, it would take 5,479 years to reach the five billion people alive in 1975 (290). Yet, he concluded, “If each disciple could help another person become a disciple every six months, it would take only 16 years to total more than eight and one half billion people. But the critical point remains. To reproduce a disciple, one must be a disciple” (290). He became obsessed with producing disciples who produced disciples.
Willis eventually joined the Baptist Sunday School Board where he oversaw the development of some of the Southern Baptists’ most outstanding discipleship materials, including, Survival Kit for New Believers, Experiencing God, and The Mind of Christ. He ultimately led the International Mission Board of Southern Baptists’ international efforts, which led him to travel to more than 125 nations and join global church planting movements.
When Willis teamed up with Henry Blackaby and T.W. Hunt, God used the trio to spark a Southern Baptist revival. This revival ultimately led Willis and Blackaby to help conduct a solemn assembly at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.
In 1986, Willis attended a conference where Blackaby spoke on “knowing and doing the will of God” (305). Willis was impressed and asked Blackaby to write a course for Lifeway. Getting Blackaby’s thoughts on paper took some effort, but that material eventually became one of Lifeway’s most popular courses: Experiencing God.
The book also describes Willis’ wife Shirley’s struggles. He had to leave her in East Java when she experienced an emotional breakdown, and they remained in the USA longer than they intended so she could seek professional help (269-271). At one point, the couple discovered that they had grown apart, especially spiritually, and had developed an unhealthy habit of criticizing each other (272). These revelations moved me. For one, I realize how difficult it must have been for their daughter to write about her parents’ struggles. But I was also struck that in the midst of God’s profound activity, their marriage was suffering. Rather than making me think less of Willis, I was reminded that he and Shirley were ordinary, flawed people who earnestly desired for God to use them for His kingdom. I always appreciate biographies that show a balanced picture of a person, for everyone has a “dark side.” Those revelations give me hope that God can use a flawed person like me for His purposes as well.
One other aspect of Willis’ life that often comes into view is his ambition to do something significant for God. Many leaders have similar desires, but Willis’ thoughts are captured in his journals for us to read and evaluate. Throughout Willis’ life, he sensed that God had a special assignment for him. He often wondered what it might be. While in Indonesia, he mused, “I often wonder about God’s ultimate plan for my life. I feel a divine compulsion that in His own time God has a special work chosen for me in reaching many people for Christ . . .” (131). Willis’ name was recommended for executive positions on several occasions. Each time it was, he recorded his thoughts in his journal. His friend Tom Elliff recommended him to be president of the Baptist Sunday School Board, but he was ultimately not chosen. Willis was also considered for the role of president of the International Mission Board, which would have been his dream job. Instead, Jerry Rankin got the position. Rankin then hired Willis to be one of his vice presidents. Willis was later nominated to be president of the Southern Baptist convention, but he lost the election. Willis regularly battled his pride and ambition to receive a larger assignment. Willis’ biographer notes that, at 57, he desired to become the IMB president: “The nearer he came to retirement, the more he feared the possibility might slip away due to his age” (339). The way Willis handled these disappointments is interesting. He continually sought God’s explanation for his circumstances. He realized that God had important things for him to do, but the importance stemmed from the assignment giver, not how prominent and esteemed the positions were.
Right to the end, Willis served the Lord with all his might. He always tried to care for his body and to stay in good shape. He jogged for many years. At one point in Bangkok, Thailand, he suffered a concussion when he was hit by a car while jogging. Yet he generally enjoyed robust health until he retired. He eventually developed leukemia, which ultimately took his life. Even when he was too weak to travel or speak, he used social media and blogs to share his spiritual journey with others and to encourage people in their faith (431). At one point, he wrote a powerful blog post entitled, “Why Me? Why Now?” in which he processed how to accept his condition in light of everything he still wanted to do in his life (433).
Sherrie Willis Brown should be commended for presenting a powerful portrait of her father that will inspire many other ordinary people to reach greater heights with God. I enjoyed this biography because I knew Willis and I knew many of the Christian leaders who appear in his story. But even readers who are unfamiliar with Willis will be inspired by the true, unvarnished story of an ordinary person who lived to glorify God.
Rating: 4
