In 1960, Rudy Johnson, his wife, and 3 young children headed to Peru to plant a church. The work was hard, and they were not joined by any co-laborers for nearly 7 years.

But the church grew through persistence and faithfulness. In fact, the church planted more than 40 more churches. It’s been estimated that this church has now influenced 128 million people.

By 1976, Rudy and his wife were ready to retire, so they returned home to Miami, FL. There, he bought a house next to his son and his grandchildren. As a favor to his son, he agreed to lead a missions team to another part of Peru—Cusco, Peru.

Despite his objections, Rudy sensed God’s calling to Cusco. He sold his house and returned to the field. I met Rudy in the Fall of 2000, and he indicated he was looking for the first $750,000 to acquire property and start a church and school in Cusco. To this day I remember Rudy’s plea: “All I want to do is to change a city…”

Read about the outcome of Rudy’s plea in my next blog. But for now, focus upon his words and their challenge. How many of us would pray for a city, and ask God to use us to change that city? Perhaps we should start today. Such is the generous life.

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published October 6, 2010

Topics: A Life of Faith

FaithGenerosityMissions