In the year 1728, Leonard Dober (Moravian Missionary), with twenty six young men made a covenant with God to take the Gospel to the unreached across the globe. Few years later, Leonard heard from Count Zinzen¬dorf the need for missionaries to take the good news to the slaves in the Carribbean. His soul was sorely distressed and torn in twain as he thought about them. But then he heard a voice that said, “rise and preach deliverance to the captives, you are that voice for St. Thomas in the West Indies”. The next morning when he turned his focus to the Bible, he came across Deuteronomy 32:47 (KJV) –‘for it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land’, which gave him the assurance to set out on the daunting task ahead. To his utter astonishment Leonard heard from his friend Tobias Leupold of a similar experience. Leonard stood in front of the Moravian broth¬ers and addressed his need to heed to the mis¬sion. ‘I know the Grace of Christ myself and I know that in St. Thomas there are slaves who cannot believe because they have not heard. If another brother will go with me I am ready to become a slave myself.’ Teaching the slaves about, ‘true freedom’, which can only be ex¬perienced through Christ would have been a byword and a futile process to them. Yet Leon¬ard never deterred from his decision and was resolute. All doubts were silenced in the midst of Leonard’s critics when he picked up from the draw¬ing lots to read aloud, “Let the lad g o, for the Lord is with him”. Leonard along with his fellow worker, David Nitschmann arrived on the shores of St. Thomas on De¬cember 13, 1732 and preached the Gospel to the slaves. The work that began through them, fifty years lat¬er saw many churches established in the regions of the Caribbean and 13, 000 were baptised during these Moravian missions. These young men were so determined and wholeheartedly surrendered to their call that they even didn’t regard their life for the sake of the gospel. We, as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, are we so determined and willing to surrender to God’s call? Or are we still bystanders, unde¬terred by the many that are on the road to utter hopelessness and de¬spair? In these last days God ex¬pects us to have a similar passion and commitment to His cause of reaching the lost.

Sources: 1. History of the Moravian Missions by J E Hutton, 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Leonhard_Dober Images Downloaded from: 1. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Johann_Leonhard_Dober.jpg, 2. http://media.web.britannica.com/eb-media/22/147122-004-E527BC8B.jpg