Source: http://www.cslewisinstitute.org/Profile_In_Faith_V_Raymond_Edman_SinglePage
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 00:54:26+00:00

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With the help of a friend, she dyed her wedding dress black, the color of mourning, to wear that afternoon at her young husband’s funeral. The date was July 4, 1925, and their baby son, Charles, was only seven weeks old.
Just over a year earlier, Edith was radiant as a bride in her stunning, white wedding dress. Her adoring sweetheart, V. Raymond Edman, had eagerly awaited the wedding at mission headquarters in Quito, Ecuador. But then Ray, whom Edith affectionately called “Friend Prexy,” had contracted typhus fever. Dr. Herbert Parker, an expert in tropical diseases, had to break the hard news to her that Ray’s feet were already cold; he wasn’t long for this earth. A friend, Will Reed, ordered a native coffin made of wood, covered in black cloth, to be ready for the burial. The climate of the tropics demands a quick interment. The funeral service was planned and scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
Their mutual calling led them to the Quechua Indians in Ecuador. They were married, welcomed their first child, and things were looking bright. God was blessing their work, and they were developing good relationships with the Indians. Then suddenly, death was lurking on their doorstep.
Ray, like Lazarus in John 11, had faced death. But unlike Lazarus, Ray was never buried in that black coffin. Edith didn’t have to wear her blackened wedding dress that day. About a week later, Ray was able to recognize his wife and was gradually restored to health, a testimony of Jesus’ resurrection power.
At that moment, for the first time in his life, Edman became aware of a “Presence” beside him. He knew immediately that it was Jesus. He couldn’t see or touch him, but he heard Jesus say, “I will go with you.” He arose from that encounter with the living Christ with a renewed strength and peace. He then led his group through the deep snow and trudged throughout the afternoon, eventually arriving at a home in Boden—C Company headquarters. The woman of the house, noticing that Ray was not well, gave him a hot meal and a warm feather bed in the attic with her brother rather than bunking him in the unheated room with the other soldiers. This experience of the the Spirit’s presence had a profound effect on the young Edman as he was learning to trust the Lord in the midst of difficulties.
After his military service, Edman spent two years at the University of Illinois, where he studied French and Spanish. He already spoke Swedish, German, and English. During a Bible conference between his freshman and sophomore years, through the influence of Paul Rader, the pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, Edman dedicated himself to missionary service in South America.
When Rader became the president of the Missionary Training Institute in Nyack, New York, Edman decided to take a one-year break from his studies at Illinois and teach Spanish and take courses at Nyack. During this time Edman met “Uncle Joe” and his own future wife, Edith Olson, on a trip to Boston.
Uncle Joe saw great potential in Ray, and out of that developed a lifelong Paul–Timothy-type relationship. Sensing that Ray was somewhat restless, Uncle Joe invited him to move to Boston and live with him as he explored what God had in store. On one eventful night, the mentor told his young disciple, “Ray, God has a plan for your life. When you abandon yourself, God will reveal it.” Almost immediately, Ray fell on his knees and prayed that he would “abandon himself to God and await his will.”9 He realized that his love for adventure and “busy holiness” had hindered him from discerning God’s direction in his life.
For the next two years, as Edman completed a bachelor’s degree in Spanish at Boston University, his relationship with Edith grew. Soon after his graduation, Edman traveled to Ecuador for mission work, with the plan that Edith would soon join him.
“I did not say ‘in Ecuador,’” was the reply.
Following his abandonment to God’s will for his life and willingness to go anywhere, Edman became the pastor of a small church in Worcester, Massachusetts. While serving there he completed a PhD program in international relations at Clark University and began hosting a morning radio program on WORC.
While praying one cold morning in January 1936, Edman heard the Lord say, “Wheaton College.” That seemed strange. The idea of teaching at Wheaton had never crossed his mind. Yet two months later, this word from the Lord was confirmed when Edman was invited to join the faculty of Wheaton College, in Illinois. Teaching history, Edman soon became one of the most popular professors on campus. He also gained respect among the faculty for his sharp mind, clear thoughts on education, and ability to communicate well in public settings. So in January 1940, when the board of trustees came to a point of irreconcilable differences with the college’s president, J. Oliver Buswell, Jr., the name of V. Raymond Edman was proposed as an “acting president.” Thus began Edman’s twenty-five years of service to Wheaton College and to the greater Christian community as the institution’s president. During his tenure, the college expanded its financial endowments, its enrollment rose by 50 percent, and the campus added fourteen buildings. He established the Office of Chaplain, witnessed a campus revival in 1950, and had a lasting impact on the lives of faculty, staff, and students such as Billy Graham.
Just as young Edman had once been mentored, encouraged, challenged, and held up in prayer throughout his life by his mentor in the faith, Uncle Joe, so Edman became that kind of spiritual father and friend to Billy Graham.
Dr. Edman would have a lifelong impact on Graham’s life and ministry. Prexy encouraged Billy’s budding relationship with Ruth, commenting one day, “Bill, Ruth’s one in a million.” He also recommended that Billy succeed him as a preaching pastor at the local Tabernacle Church, while Graham was still a student. To make Billy’s preaching assignment easier, Edman would provide him with sermon outlines that he could adapt since he knew Billy had a full academic load and didn’t have time to prepare.
In the years to come, whenever Billy had a major decision to make, he would call Prexy. Edman would give no direct advice but would tell Billy, “Do what the Lord tells you to do.” Then they would pray about it. When Graham found himself in the midst of controversy, Edman stayed by his side and encouraged him with the words, “Billy, pay no attention. You have only one Person to please, and that’s the Lord.” Edman became one of the charter board members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and brought wisdom and good counsel to the board. Edman always adjourned the board meetings early saying with a smile, “You cannot accomplish anything after nine o’clock.” That was in part because he was an early riser who met the Lord in prayer in the wee hours of the morning.
In 1965 Dr. Edman passed the baton of the Wheaton presidency to his former Wheaton student, now proven leader, who was also a friend of Uncle Joe: Hudson T. Armerding. Edman was promoted to the position of chancellor so that he could continue to represent Wheaton, albeit with a lighter load. He was also elected as the senior vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
On September 22, 1967, Chancellor Edman stood before the Wheaton College faculty and students to give a chapel message titled “In the Presence of the King.” The 1960s were turbulent times, as the Vietnam War raged. Students on the Wheaton campus were struggling with how to make sense of it all. Edman knew that what Christians in Wheaton and elsewhere needed was a return to seeking a daily audience with the King of kings.
Those were V. Raymond Edman’s last words on earth as he turned, collapsed on stage and entered the presence of the King of kings whom he had served so long and well.
Victor Raymond Edman found the secret. And so can we.
1. Earle Cairns, V. Raymond Edman: In the Presence of the King (Moody Press: Chicago, 1972), 35.
2. V. Raymond Edman, They Found the Secret: 20 Transformed Lives That Reveal a Touch of Eternity (1960; repr., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 179.
3. Edman, They Found the Secret, 179.
4. Cairns, V. Raymond Edman, 52.
5. Edman, They Found the Secret, 180.
6. Quoted in Edman, They Found the Secret, 8–9.
7. Cairns, V. Raymond Edman, 18.
8. Edman, They Found the Secret, 177.
9. Cairns, V. Raymond Edman, 33.
10. Edman, They Found the Secret, 182.
11. Billy Graham, Just as I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 63.
12. Quoted in Edman, They Found the Secret, 5–6.
13. Quoted in Edman, They Found the Secret, 8.
14. V. Raymond Edman, The Presence of the King, chapel talk at Wheaton College, September 22, 1967, http://www2.wheaton.edu/learnres/ARCSC/exhibits/edman/ (includes audio).
15. Quoted in Edman, They Found the Secret, 12.
16. V. Raymond Edman, The Disciplines of Life (Chicago: Van Kampen Press, 1948), 4.
Joel S. Woodruff, Ed.D., Vice President of Discipleship & Outreach, has worked in education, “tent-making,” nonprofit administration, and pastoral ministry in Alaska, Israel, Hungary, France, and Virginia. He served as a Dean and professor at European Bible Institute, and worked for Oakwood Services International before coming to CSLI. He has a B.A from Wheaton College, M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

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