Most people reading this may never have heard of Wayne Myers. We just celebrated Thanksgiving this past week, then Black Friday and this week we now come to Giving Tuesday (today, Dec. 1). As we go through this day, we may want to learn a bit more about this incredible saint of God, so listen to the latest episode of Lessons From Legends on the Charisma Podcast Network to hear more.
Myers’ life message is “Living to give.” As an American missionary living in Mexico City, he has helped fund the buildings of more than 4,000 native Mexican churches. He has given away more than 100 vehicles to pastors and ministry leaders. He and his wife, Martha, have a goal, and that is to bless someone, normally financially, each and every day of the year. At 98, he is still going strong and has a conference coming up in January 2021.
More than 20 years ago, I filmed a five-part series with Wayne Myers for our International School of Ministry (ISOM). I was the director calling the camera shots. I barely remember a thing that he shared because for five hours I was fixated on a face that radiated like the sun and emanated an infectious joy greater than I had ever seen. At the end of the recording, I turned to my technical director in the control room and made this statement: “If giving brings that much joy, Lord teach me to give.”
Myers and his wife, Martha, live very humble lives on the mission field, drive humble cars and have a humble home, yet they have had millions of dollars pass through their hands for kingdom purposes. When Freda Lindsay, co-founder of Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas needed funds to build a student learning center in 1976, Myers took the microphone and pledged $100,000. This immediately inspired others, and $400,000 was raised on the spot in cash and pledges. You can be pretty sure that, at the time, Myers did not have that kind of money, but he has continually stepped out in faith for the needs of others, and God has somehow always miraculously provided.
Myers made some famous statements:
“I am giving while I am a-living, so I’m a-knowing where it is a-going.”
“We only own what we give away.”
“Everything in your hand is a seed. Everything in God’s hand is a harvest.”
“If you want to be rich, give. If you want to be poor, hoard. If you want to have abundance, scatter.”
Myers is a man always focused on the eternal, and his life and message are a challenge to all of us as we maybe celebrate the deals we scooped up on Black Friday. Hopefully on today’s Giving Tuesday, we will open our hands in generosity to sow into the needs of others. Wayne Meyers’ life and legacy are the topic of this week’s Lessons From Legends podcast that can be downloaded from the Charisma Podcast Network here. {eoa}
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