Soon the holidays will be upon us, and many people will watch the famous movie starring Jimmy Stewart: "It's a Wonderful Life." Life truly is wonderful for all who know the Lord Jesus Christ.
This afternoon I was thinking how wonderful it has been for me to have been a part of Bridge-Logos and its predecessors for so many years. It has now been forty-two years since Logos International Fellowship was founded in the back room of Bonded Jewelers in Plainfield, New Jersey. I began packing books in the shipping room of the company soon thereafter. I would work there after teaching school in nearby Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
The jewelry store was owned by Dan Malachuk, an elder of First Christian Assembly in Plainfield, and an International Director of the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship. Dan had met Raphael Gasson, a former spiritualist who became a Christian. Dan learned that Mr. Gasson had a book that needed to be published and decided that he would take it upon himself to get it published. That book was The Challenging Counterfeit, which is no longer in print, but is available online.
A year or so later Dan published a blockbuster book that is still in print: Run Baby Run by Nicky Cruz with Jamie Buckingham. This book still sells well for us. In fact, we will be reprinting it in the near future. At the Full Gospel Business Men's International Convention at the Washington Hilton I met Jamie Buckingham, who was then a Southern Baptist pastor. John and Elizabeth Sherrill had suggested to Dan that Jamie would be a good writer to tell Nicky's story.
Soon thereafter Jamie was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and he has since become legendary. What a wonderful man he was. Jamie truly was a great teacher, a good person, an excellent writer, and a loving human being. He wrote many books, including the authorized biography of Kathryn Kuhlman, Daughter of Destiny, which we still carry. He went home to be with Jesus when he was a relatively young man.
So many of the people I knew in those days have gone on to glory. They are now enjoying the presence of the Lord in full measure, but I miss them. I look forward to seeing them again in Heaven: Dennis Bennett, Dan Malachuk, Harold Hill, John Wimber, Harold Bredesen, Kathryn Kuhlman, Willard Cantelon, Jamie Buckingham, and so many others. These folk were true trailblazers, who led thousands to the Lord and brought thousands into the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Willlard Cantelon, incidentally, wrote The Day the Dollar Dies, a book we recently republished. It is doing very well for us. Harold Hill wrote, How to Live Like a King's Kid, a book that's still in print and has always been one of my favorites.
Yes, its' a wonderful life, and it's made so much richer by contact with men and women like those I've mentioned above.
4 comments:
Dan Malachuck ran the publishing house and his brother, Richard, ran the mission out of Bonded Jewelers. How many souls entered Bonded to buy jewels and walked out with the "pearl of great price" thanks to brother Richard's sharing the love of Jesus?
Carol Deans-Worrell
So very true. Bro. Richard served as a faithful missionary in Plainfield for years and then continued the work in Watching, when the business moved.
So very true. Bro. Richard served as a faithful missionary in Plainfield for years and then continued the work in Watching, when the business moved.
Brother Richard Malachuck was my mentor, teacher and prayer partner who could talk about Jesus all day long at Boned Jewelers. I miss the days when Christians would instinctively fellowship around Christ and not issues. I was SO blessed that he was simply a 5 minute ride from our home in Scotch Plains for decades. (john campbell)
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