Missions man

GEORGE FOR REAL:
Journeying with George Verwer, founder of OM
DVD from CWR. 55 mins. £12.99
ISBN 5027957001602

Over the summer, TV was clogged with tennis and football, so it was good to sit down for an hour to watch this DVD documentary that follows George Verwer telling the story of his remarkable life.

From his early days in New Jersey and NYC, to Moody Bible Institute, and on through marriage to Drena, this film presented by Russell Boulter charts the trajectory of a mission-soaked life. George and Drena started married life in Mexico, moved to Spain, then to India and Nepal, before joining the first OM ship Logos, from which they developed a huge literature ministry.

Candid

George and Drena discuss many of the personal struggles of a worldwide work, and George is as candid as we would expect about the spiritual battles he has fought, about his failures and his repentance. His commitment to radical discipleship shines through.

He talks about his latest concept, ‘messi-ology’, where God works in messy situations to advance his kingdom. George has had a number of catchy phrases like this (I am of the ‘revolution in love and balance’ era) but the film doesn’t really develop what mes-siology means – I’ll need to check out the new book More Drops.

The overriding impression you come away with is of a man captured by the needs of the nations, whose life has been consumed by the drive to venture out with vision and faith. His has been a highly pragmatic approach to mission, concerned most of all to build a movement that gets things done and particularly to get Christian young people mobilised for mission. While I would want to see much more mention of local churches as the heart of mission, this is an inspiring hour of watching that will challenge you to play your part in the work of mission.