George Verwer
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George Verwer | |
George praying for the World during one of his speaking engagements
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Born | July 3, 1938 |
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Occupation | "Special Projects Dude" -- Missions Mobilizer. Radical Discipleship Encourager. |
Spouse | Drena |
Website www.georgeverwer.com |
George Verwer (born July 3, 1938) is the founder of Operation Mobilisation (OM), a Christian missions organization. Verwer has written several books on various Christian themes. He is a passionate advocate of radical discipleship as the only legitimate option for people who believe in Jesus.
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[edit] Early life
Verwer's first contact with Christianity was through his neighbor, Dorothea Clapp, who gave him the Gospel of John and also put him on her "Holy Ghost hit list". Verwer gives her a lot of credit for him coming to Jesus, and for what resulted.
When he was a pupil at Ramsey High School in New Jersey, he went to a Jack Wyrtzen meeting in which Billy Graham spoke in Madison Square Garden, New York. There he was converted to become a Christian, at the age of 16. Within a year, about 200 of his classmates became Christians.
He had a growing conviction to evangelize on foreign soil. He started with distribution of the Gospel of John in Mexico in 1957 along with two friends. They called this operation "Send the Light". This continued with others during summer holidays. Afterwards Verwer used the name "Send the Light" for a book distribution operation to India based in the United Kingdom. This has since developed into Send the Light, the largest Christian book distributor in the United Kingdom.
[edit] Education
After high school, he attended Maryville College and then transferred to Moody Bible Institute where he met his wife, Drena, who was a fellow student.
[edit] Operation Mobilisation
After graduation, they went to Spain. Once while bringing Bibles into the USSR, George was arrested and accused of being a spy. He was evicted, and back in Spain, after a time of prayer in 1961 the work of Operation Mobilization (OM) was born. George often refers to this calling himself "God's Blunderer", in reference to Brother Andrew, "God's Smuggler".
In August 2003, George handed over the international leadership of the work of Operation Mobilization to Peter Maiden, who was the Associate International Director for 15 years. George and his wife are now involved in Special Projects Ministries full-time. They still travel and take meetings around the world.
[edit] Family
Drena and George had three children. Although born American, George became a naturalized British Citizen, and they live in Kent.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] Books
- George Verwer, Extremism, Bombay: Gospel Literature Service (1964)
- George Verwer, Literature Evangelism, Send the Light, 1977. ISBN 0963090836
- George Verwer, No Turning Back, Send the Light, 1983. ISBN 1850782504
- George Verwer, Pseudo Discipleship, Send the Light,
- George Verwer, The Revolution of Love, Authentic Lifestyle, 1989. ISBN 1850780455
- George Verwer, Hunger For Reality, IBS-STL, 1997. ISBN 1850782490
- George Verwer, Out Of The Comfort Zone, Bethany House Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0764224786 (Online etext)
- Dan Davidson, Dave Davidson, George Verwer, God's Great Ambition, ThinkWow.com, 2001. ISBN 096361777X
[edit] Audio Books
- There Is A 29th Chapter To Acts, Oasis Audio, 2000. ISBN 1886463751
- If You're Not Called To Stay Then Go!
- Lukewarm No More
- Straight From The Heart
- Failure, Restoration, Forgiveness: Confessions of a Weak Servant
[edit] External links
- George Verwer's Website
- OM page about its founder
- 100+ Online Audio Sermons from Verwer (from SermonIndex.net)