Why did I choose Simpson as my Mentor?

Prof. Jintae Kim, Ph.D.

Alliance Theological Seminary Nov 2, 2003

His Strengths and Examples to Follow (7)

Integrity

Talents

Vision-oriented ministry

Passion & Action

Spiritual Experience

Faith

Lasting Legacy

I. Integrity

1. He was always Truthful in his life.

His rebaptism and resignation from 13’th St. Presb. Church and New York Presbytery.

2. He did not seek his own financial gain.

He refused to receive his salary when Chestnut St. Presb. Church began building project. He refused to receive his salary when Chestnut St. Presb. Church began building project. He did not draw salary when Gospel Tabernacle started.

3. Humility

No boasting

on his healing experience

or his talents.

Refused to accept his honorary Doctoral degree.

II. Talents

1. Preacher and Pastor par excellence

Thorough preparation, Eloquence, Biblical foundation…

“Simpson made sure the services were anything but tiring to the public. Music played a key role. The pastor kept his sermons short and refused appeals for money.

Also lacking: any put-downs of other churches or groups.”(52-53)

2. Evangelist par excellence

3. Poet & Musician

His poems and songs (about 350).

4. Professor

Nyack Missionary College

5. Productive writer

Mission magazine, Christ in the Bible series, Fourfold Gospel…

6. Magnetic Personality

Drew high-caliber people from all backgrounds.

7. Promoter of events

2 Alliances, Mission conventions, Friday meetings…

III. Vision-oriented Ministry

One clear vision: “Divine Plan”

A Dynamic body of

New Testament-type churches

giving preeminence to Jesus Christ

in personal experience (Holiness)

and universal witness (Mission).

Primary purpose:

Function of evangelism.

IV. Passion & Action

He used

all his talents and resources

for achieving

this one goal

with utmost passion and zeal.

His dream and Heart for the lost souls!

Simpson’s schedule (All for Jesus, 105)

On a routine day he would board the 6:18 a.m. train at Nyack, using the one-hour trip to midtown Manhattan for studying and writing. After immersing himself in work all day at the West-Forty-fourth Street headquarters, he would return to Nyack for a late supper. Then it was off to an evening class up the hill and later to the room for more study and work (and ink spots?) until one or two o’clock in the morning – and all this by a man given up for dead by a competent physician just a few years before.

Motivation (All for Jesus, 105)

What impelled the Alliance founder was a sense of urgency that could well be summed up, “All for Jesus.” He once exclaimed: “Everything around us is intensely alive; life is earnest; death is earnest; sin is earnest; men are earnest; business is earnest; knowledge is earnest; the age is earnest; God forgive us if we alone are trifling in the white heat of this crisis time.”

No time for trifling in this life of mine;Not this the path the blessed Master trod,But strenuous toil; each hour and power employedAlways and all for God.Time swiftly flies; eternity is near,And soon my dust may lie beneath the sod.How dare I waste my life or cease to be Always and all for God!I catch the meaning of this solemn age;With life’s vast issues all my soul is awed.Life was not given for trifling; it must beAlways and all for God.

 

V. Spiritual Experience

His direct encounter with the risen Lord in his

experiences of sanctification and healing.

VI. Faith

1. Finance

Finance was the last priority.

“Just as in business anything

that was worth succeeding

always found people enough to sustain it; so in the work of God,

if anything was worth doing,

God would see that it was supported.”

2. Everything starts with prayer and reliance on

Christ.

3. The source of his strength: Faith (All for

Jesus, 132) To those who in amazement asked how he

could do is, Dr. Simpson had an unvarying reply: “There is no service which God expects of us for which He has not made the fullest provision in the infinite resources of His grace. We cannot dare too much if it be in dependence upon Him, for He has given us all His fullness, and sends no one warring upon his own charges.”

VII. Lasting Legacy

His work became a movement that goes far beyond his worthy efforts

and grows unchecked by his passing from the scene (All For

Jesus, xi). The work that began in Simpson’s heart has grown into

one of the more significant missionary forces of modern church history, while in North

America its impact grows by the year (ibid., xii).