Saturday, March 31, 2012

Theodore H. Epp


In the worship service last Sunday, Theodore H. Epp, founder and director of the Back to the Bible Broadcast, was enshrined into the Christian Hall of Fame.  This was an especially meaningful time for me, since I served with this international Christian radio ministry for 34 years.  Many memories came flooding back.
Since Back to the Bible has always been a faith ministry, bills and salaries could only be met as listeners felt led to give.  So there were times in those early days when pay checks could not be issued on time.  But no one really suffered from the delay, and no one complained.
How could we?  We remembered the letter that a widow from Kansas had sent.  She had been blessed by the ministry and wanted to have a share in the work.  There, scotched-taped to her letter were two dimes.  We were deeply touched by her sacrificial gift.  “She had done what she could.”
In Luke 21:1, 2, we read that rich people came and deposited their large gifts into the temple treasure.  At the same time a widow dropped in a couple of coins.  Jesus told the group that her offering was greater than that of the rich, as “She had done what she could.”
Another passage (Mark 14:3-8), tells about a woman with some expensive ointment, pouring it on the head of Jesus as a love offering.  People who saw it said it was a waste, but Jesus said, “She had done what she could.”
The widow from Kansas “had done what she could.”  The widow in Luke 21 “had done what she could,” and the woman in Mark 14, with the alabaster box of ointment, “had done what she could.”
How about us—you and me?  Can it be said that we too have done what we could?
          —Ruth Jay

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