PASADENA, CA (ANS) -- Evangelist Billy Graham once told Dr. Ralph D. Winter, who died yesterday (Wednesday, May 20, 2009) at his Pasadena, California home at the age of 84 from complications of cancer, that he had influenced and challenged many young people to “give their lives to preaching the gospel overseas.”

Billy Graham preaching

Graham went on to say, “The U.S. Center which you founded years ago is known around the world as a fountain of missionary information and motivation for those who have seen the vision of a lost world.”

C. Peter Wagner, President of the Global Harvest Ministries and Chancellor of the Wagner Leadership Institute once said, “We have never met anyone who knows so much about so many subjects as Ralph Winter.”

The U.S. Center for World Mission’s website reported, “He [Dr. Winter] went peacefully, surrounded by three of his four daughters, his wife Barb, and a few friends.

“Many of the staff of the USCWM and WCIU had just finished two days of prayer and fasting when they received the news of his passing. Soon, many friends and staff members gathered at the house. It was a bittersweet moment as they reminisced, sang many of his favorite hymns, and prayed together.”

The memorial service will be at 1:00 pm on June 27th in the chapel at Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, CA. The family requests no flowers. Memorial gifts can be made out to the Roberta Winter Institute and sent to the following address:
USCWM
c/o Betty Leung
1605 Elizabeth Street
Pasadena, CA 91104

Dr. Ralph Winter

Dr. Winter graduated from Cal Tech with a degree in engineering, got an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from Columbia University, then a Ph.D from Cornell in Structural Linguistics, with minors in Cultural Anthropology and Mathematical Statistics. Then he graduated from Princeton Seminary and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church.

He and his wife and family served from ‘56 to ‘66 as missionaries to the Mayan Indians of Guatemala, innovating ministries in education, small business development and Theological Education by Extension or TEE. He disseminated TEE concepts worldwide and helped forge a continental network of extension educators.

He was then called to the School of World Mission of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, where he taught mission history and leadership training.

A friend said, “He treated his over 1000 missionary students more like research assistants than pupils, and together amassed an enormous amount of information on the state of the church worldwide.”

In 1969, he and his wife Roberta, who passed away in October 2001, founded the William Carey Library to publish missionary literature. In 1972 he helped establish the American Society of Missiology and later the International Society of Frontier Missiology.

Before 1974 Christians believed that to finish the Great Commission, we simply needed to encourage the churches in all the different countries to reach their own people. Building on the work of Donald A. McGavran (1897-1990), who was dean emeritus and former senior professor of mission, church growth, and South Asian studies at the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as William Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and others, Dr. Winter’s well-researched 1974 address to the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization awakened the global church to the thousands of people groups far beyond the reach of established churches and mission efforts.

After this, the world was never the same. And Dr. Winter was among the first to commit himself and his resources to the vision of tackling any and every problem that impeded the mission movement to all peoples.

To this end in 1976 he resigned his prestigious tenured position at Fuller Seminary and he and his wife by faith began the Frontier Mission Fellowship and founded the United States Center for World Mission and in 1977 the William Carey International University. These were among the first of many organizations dedicated to provide for and coordinate thinking, training, and services needed to establish Christian movements among the remaining unreached people groups.

The William Carey International University in Pasadena, California

A spokesperson for Dr. Winter said, “It is awesome to reflect on the miracles involved during their first 10 years here to see the Lord provide the millions of dollars needed for the purchase of this campus. Day by day it was a walk of faith, and everyone who joined Dr. Winter in this vision caught at least a portion of his infectious confidence in God, as He provided miraculously time and time again, until this beautiful campus was paid for as well as 110 local houses. The amazing thing is that from the first day the focus was not on making this a great campus or a great organization. The focus was always on reaching the lost, the least reached, the hidden peoples for the glory of God among all nations.”

From this campus and this growing community many ministries have blossomed and changed the world:

* The Global Prayer Digest has provided up to date information on the unreached people groups, and has galvanized a growing world prayer movement.
* Mission Frontiers has kept missionaries and church leaders informed and challenged with fresh strategic insights and practical case studies.
* The Perspectives’ Course is a college level course that may prove to be the most significant educational mobilization tool of any century. 60,000 graduates are now making a huge difference, and the movement is growing.
* William Carey International University and its signature World Christian Foundations curriculum is bringing high-quality biblical & missiological education to field missionaries without demanding they leave the field to study.
* Dr. Winter has rejoiced in the partnership with Maranatha High School to begin the process of developing supplemental resources for school textbooks, and calls this project one of the most significant events of 2002. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Dr. Winter’s strong pushing against much opposition, Maranatha would not have had a home here on this campus this year.
* The INSIGHT program gives high school graduates a holistic biblical foundation for life.
* The Roberta Winter Institute is breaking ground in refocusing medical research efforts towards the causes of illness rather than simply seeking the amelioration or cure of disease & sickness.

On another occasion Billy Graham wrote: “Ralph Winter has not only helped promote evangelism among many mission boards around the world, but by his research, training and publishing he has accelerated world evangelization.”

Dr. Winter once wrote: “I do not hesitate to believe that our most valuable, single accomplishment is the formation of a living, breathing, human community that is dedicated to pursuing the most significant frontiers for the cause of global missions.”

Dan Wooding, 68, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 45 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS); and US Bureau Chief for the Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv) and Safe Worlds IPTV’s Faith, Hope and Charity channel. He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on UCB UK and Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com.