From Every Nation
The From Every Nation Podcast is designed to encourage and equip the next generation of missionaries to take the gospel into the world. Join us as we interview missionaries to hear first hand about their life and ministry. Learn firsthand what strategies, barriers, and opportunities they faced on the field. The FEN podcast also equips you today, for the missionary work the Lord has planned for your life. The FEN podcast is the official podcast of the Tom Elliff Center for Missions at Oklahoma Baptist University
From Every Nation
Tom Elliff: Faithful Leadership and the Power of Prayer Pt. 2
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Join our enlightening conversation with Brother Tom as he reveals the profound journey of his spiritual leadership and the personal trials that shaped his tenure as president of the International Mission Board (IMB). Brother Tom opens up about his steadfast commitment to nurturing his pastoral nature despite the challenges of a presidential role, and how his wife's courageous battle with cancer influenced this season of his life.
The power of prayer takes center stage as Brother Tom shares his lifelong dedication to this vital spiritual discipline. From the 1970s, when he began embracing the role of a praying pastor, to building a 24-hour prayer ministry, Brother Tom's experiences illustrate prayer's transformative impact on spiritual growth and mission work. He candidly discusses the rigorous work that prayer demands and how it has enabled him to contribute meaningfully to global missions without succumbing to the physical toll of constant travel. His stories of guiding individuals to Christ emphasize that prayer is a gift that strengthens with age and unwavering dedication.
Finally, we explore the mission and vision of the Tom Elliff Center for Missions at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU). Dedicated to equipping the next generation of missionaries, the center aims to inspire students from all fields to spread the gospel, beginning at their local churches. The episode captures the excitement of sharing this mission and invites listeners to engage with feedback on how the center can further inspire future missionaries. This is an inspiring episode that celebrates leadership, prayer, and the preparation of future generations to make a global impact.
Leading With Spiritual Gifts and Influence
Speaker 1Welcome back everyone . We're excited for you to join us again . We're going to wrap up our interview here with Brother Tom and we'll probably have him back in the future to chat with you all , but we're going to spend some time . We're going to start this episode talking about his time as president of the IMB and how that influenced and shaped his life . So I hope you all enjoy . Thanks for tuning in . You were president of the IMB for two years , Three and a half , Three and a half . Talk to us about the lead up to that and what was that experience like ?
Speaker 2Well , prior to that , I was senior vice president for three and a half years and my wife then went through her first go around with cancer . So we came home and a year later she was cured and they came back and they said well , we'd like for you to come back this time as president . And so I went back as president for three and a half years .
Speaker 1Because those first three years you were , that was Brother Jerry , right Jerry .
Speaker 2Rankin yeah , Jerry was the president , yeah .
Speaker 1So what were some of the things that you learned , or that God taught you , while you were president of the IMB ?
Speaker 2Well , cal , I think it's important for us to remember that we are the person that God has made us , and sometimes people say , well , I can't do that because I don't have this gift or I don't have that gift . You can do anything that God asks you to do . That's why it's important to hear God , to live in the Word , to let Him speak by His Spirit , through the Word , to you and say this is for you . When that happens , then you don't have to worry about okay , I've got to go be a different person . I've always been a pastor , now I've got to be president . You know , I was always pastoral , now I've got to be presidential . No , you have to be you filled with the spirit period . That's it . That's it . So when they asked me about coming back to be president , about coming back to be president , I said you know , I can't come back as someone different than who I am , and I am by my calling . I'm a pastor . So if I come back , I'll seek to surround myself with the sharpest administrative people that I can . And they were there , they are to this day , my dear friends . But I still will have to operate with the spiritual gifts that God has given me . So the key is to get up every morning and report for duty and say , lord , okay . The key is to get up every morning and report for duty and say , lord , okay , I'm yours and you'll bring to me whatever I need to have . I will honestly say there was not one day in all those three and a half years when I regretted that decision . There's not one day when I did not enjoy Ultimately I mean , you don't enjoy making hard decisions and hard calls and things of that nature but it was exhilarating in a sense to walk with these heroes of faith . You know that was a thrill for me , but in the end I sought to be a pastor .
Speaker 2So when I arrived this is an example , okay , when I arrived , even before I arrived , I talked to the guy who was in charge of the building and I said I need a prayer room attached to my office . I said can you cut a hole in the wall and then go next door into a room and then make that into a prayer room ? Here's what I'd like it to be . I want there to be one whole wall to be a map of the world . I want a prayer altar , in front of that , a couple of chairs and so forth . He said , yes , sir , I'll be glad to have that done . When I arrived , that prayer room was already right out of my office . It was there , didn't have to go across the hall or anything . I just stood up in my office and walked around the desk and walked into the prayer room . That was perfect . That was ideal .
Speaker 2So then I started doing what I've done as a pastor for years and years and years and years , and that is well . I started doing this by writing . I was at a small church in seminary . I would write one letter a day to someone and I would say in two weeks I'm going to be on my knees praying for you and if there's something specific that you'd like for me to pray about , pray with you for , would you just turn this letter over and write that out on the back and either mail it back to me or bring it by the office ? And so I started getting these letters back . And of course , what happened ? I got to know the church family . Wow , see , here's a lady that would say here's what's going on in letters back . And of course , what happened ? I got to know the church family .
Speaker 2Wow See here's a lady that would say here's what's going on in my life and here's what's happening in our family , or a man who would say the worst thing in the world is happening to me , or I just lost my job , or whatever . So I got to know the church family . Well then , the next church I went to , I started writing five letters a day and I would come in to the office in the morning There'd be a stack of letters on my desk . Sometimes people wouldn't respond , sometimes they would , and so when I was at First Southern , I wrote 10 letters a day and I would go into the prayer room and I had one right off my office here at First Southern and I would get on my knees and I would take those letters and I would read them and I would pray specifically for those people of that regard . Well , I got to know them . They got to know me . Well , I did that at IMB . We had about 400 employees there in the office and I just started sending them these letters out . And what was amazing was , of course , we were an office , not a church . I was not a pastor , I was the president , but in some ways I became more of a pastor to that whole 440-employee group , sometimes more than even their pastor .
Speaker 2Then , as God began to move in our organization in this fashion , I would arrive at the office , which I would always come early . I would arrive and there would be people standing at my door waiting to talk to me about the things that were on their heart , sometimes two or three . They wouldn't stay , I'd end up talking to one . I don't mean and I say sometimes , not every day , or anything like that I want to be honest with you . Occasionally it'd be more than one , but then it was no longer seeing people in the hallway and not knowing who they were . I not only knew who they were , I knew what they were going through .
Speaker 2And people did stop me on occasion and say , brother Tom , I know my day for you to pray for me is not coming up for a while , but could I share something with you ? And we'd stop and talk and we would pray . And I did that the entire time I was there . Go through the road one time , go through it a second time . You know , and just you know , it was something I'd always done . What I'm saying , kyle , is you should not . If you're going to be a leader , you don't need to lead with gifts you don't have . You need to lead with the gifts that God gives you Now . He may give you another gifting for the hour by His Holy Spirit , but you are who you are in Christ , and if you're not comfortable with that , you're not going to be comfortable with being a leader anyway .
Speaker 1So how would you encourage students to find their giftings and to know in what ways they are gifted to lead , that's a really good question .
Speaker 2Number one I wouldn't ever suggest that they not read some in regard to spiritual gifts and their gifting . But I think some ways , these gifts , these giftings , they begin to surface . These gifts , these giftings , they begin to surface in our you know Now , if you're going to go off like a monk and sit in a monastery and pray about what your gift is and never use it , that's , that's , you know . That's one thing . But if you're busy about ministry , pretty soon you you discover whether you're good with people . You discover whether you like being around people or whether you would rather work in some other . You know , maybe not even be around people at all , whether you don't mind being alone , and you start discovering whether you like to serve or to give . Well , you know the spiritual gifts and I think it's as much by earnest prayer before God that you begin to discover who you are and you know . Then you get in meetings and people say , well , why don't you do this ? And you can easily say you know , I know somebody who can do that and I can't do it as well as they can . Would you let me ask them ? And that's why I say you need to bond with the people . That's your leadership team .
Speaker 2We would take retreats , sometimes just the men , sometimes the men and their wives . We would go into these leadership retreats and to me they were primarily spiritual issues because we wanted to be able to operate smoothly . I can't tell you the number of times we never sat down . We'd go to a room that had a big table in it and I would . I would say , guys , we don't need to sit down here , let's just stand right here . Here's the issue . You're all busy . What do you think we're gonna do ? This one standing up and we'll be out of there in 10 or 15 minutes .
Speaker 2You know well , we're busy people . You know you've got several thousand missionaries around the world . Every one of them have families and every one of them have needs and , uh , you're in different time zones . You can't . You know , mess around . You've got you got to be decisive . But if you jump out of your gifting , then I think that and that's where people struggle , because , you know , sometimes people want to be a captain when they don't have a captain gifting , and sometimes people want to serve . When God calls them to be a captain , he says I'm going to let you serve your way into being a captain here . So it's with God . Here again , it is all with God , knowing God being busy about the ministry , and I think then you begin to discover what it is that you do and do well .
Speaker 1So your gifts that you gained from the pastorate of shepherding congregations really played out in your time as IMB president . Right , right .
Speaker 2Shepherding , and I had people tell me that They'd come to me and say , man , you're more my . You know I say this . I said I had some people come tell me you're more my pastor now than my pastor , because I feel like I know you better and you know me better than he does , you know . Well , I wasn't aspiring for that , that wasn't my goal . In fact , I wasn't aspiring for that , that wasn't my goal . In fact , I don't even think that would be really healthy . But I knew what they were saying . Somebody took time to listen to my heart . Well , that's a pastor , that's what you do ?
Speaker 1Yeah , so let's circle back to well , no , let's keep talking about your time with the IMB and after . So you were president of the IMB . You left in 2014 ? Yeah , 2014 . So how have you , in the last 10 years , continued to be faithful to the mission of God and His desire to be known all over the world ? How do you challenge people and encourage people to live on mission for God ? Because I know you do a lot of speaking and a lot of things . How are you engaged in that now ?
Speaker 2Yeah , Well , changing assignments you know one point , you're president and the next time you're not does not change your , your role of encouragement and prayer and ministry . And so I still do a lot
The Power of Prayer and Faithfulness
Speaker 2of things . You know , even at even at First Southern we have we have every other Saturday we have a missionary prayer , specifically at the prayer time that some people have put together . I was there this last Saturday . Sometimes I'm not in town to be a part of it , but I mean they take the better part of three hours to pray for missionaries out of First Southern who are all over the world . Wow , and so it's an exciting time . You can't divorce anything from prayer , but , um , it's an exciting time . I'm glad to see them step up to that . You know , I'm always glad to be a part of it when I can , but , as I said many times , I'm out of town at that time . So you know it , it takes some . Sometimes you're speaking , sometimes you're going , I , at 80 , I don't travel overseas as much as I used to .
Speaker 2I know people who do , but my wife and I was our . We started doing that . We would always feel like we had to circle back and go by our kids , you know . And so a small trip becomes a large trip . So we decided some time ago that our best ministry was the ministry of prayer , and so that's what we did . You know , primarily I preach every week . I take specific assignments , sometimes with IMB , to go do certain things , but we feel like that the arena is the arena of prayer . Prayer is something that you actually get better at , I think , with age , rather than worse at . You know , there are other gifts that you know . Time passes and you can't do that anymore . You can just always pray and pray better , and so I love that gift , I love that privilege .
Speaker 1Let's talk about that a bit , because I think it was two weeks ago or so . We had lunch together and you said just that . You talked about how prayer is one of the few gifts in life that , as you get older , you're not going to get worse at . You can only continue to grow and grow and grow and be more faithful in prayer and through prayer until the day you die and you go to glory . So where did that start for you ? When did your passion for prayer and your understanding of need to be faithful in prayer start , and how'd that grow At ?
Speaker 2Eastwood , eastwood , in the 70s . Yeah , we had some individuals on more than one occasion come and speak , and embedded in their speaking was always this reference to prayer . And the more I thought about it , the more I realized that I was not a praying pastor . So I remember this day clearly . I walked in one morning on a Monday morning and I said to my assistant there they used to call them secretaries I said to my secretary um , I want you to hold my calls until noon . And um , she said oh , I said yeah , and I said , as a matter of fact , that's pretty much going to become the routine . I want to come in , I'm going to pray till noon and then I'm . You know , she looked at me with shock because , you know , I could get several cups of coffee before then . I could go , you know , walk around the hallways . I've never met anybody that liked to be confined , you know , like that . So this was different for me .
Speaker 2So I went in to my office and I thought , man , I'm here for four hours , here there's something , and what do I do ? And my eyes fell on this big sheet . It was a big book , computer-generated book , one of the early computer books , huge thing . And I didn't have a computer back in those days nobody in the seventies , you know . So I took that book and I just began going down and praying for each individual . When I came out around noon she said here's this man here . She said here's this man here and he wants to talk to you . And he came in and said preacher , you know , I need to . I think I'm lost , I need to know Christ . And I led him to the Lord .
Speaker 2The next day , somebody , the next day , somebody else in fact I think it was president of our WMU who came by and she said I've been convinced , I'm not really saved . So I led her to the Lord . The next day , I led somebody else to the Lord and I thought you know , this is not a bad practice , yeah , and the Lord began to show me that the work was the work , the hard work . If it weren't hard work , more people would do it more often . But the work is is prayer .
Speaker 2And so I began praying like that . That's where I began sending out letters to people who know how to pray for . And then we had a 24-hour ministry of prayer . We built a prayer room and put a computer access I mean a code access to the door . So we went right through the night . You could do it back then . I don't think you could do that now in some arenas , but you could do it . Then People would come down and feel safe and everything , walk right off the street into the prayer room and that prayer room became the . That was the hotbed .
Speaker 1And this is still at First .
Speaker 2Southern , this was at Eastwood . Sorry , sorry , eastwood , this was at Eastwood , yeah . And so the Lord began , and it was out of that arena of prayer that God called us to the mission field , but much to everybody's surprise , including ours , you know . But I will have to tell you that prayer is the work , prayer is the key . And when you start seeing , when you pray , you can't how can you have answers to prayer if you don't pray , you know , unless it's answered to somebody else's prayer . You know , but prayer is it , it is the . That's the arena . If it were not , Satan would not fight it . With everything that he has to keep you from being a praying person everything with your schedule , with your attention span , with you , know he just everything he can distractions he will keep you from praying because , um , he wants you to think that talking to other people is more important than talking to God , which it's not . So I'm a firm believer in the discipline of prayer . I really am .
Speaker 1Yeah , one . I'd love to get your opinion on this , because one thing I've run into when talking to people and even at times in my own life , but as I've grown and understood faithfulness and , through that , the power of prayer , that's changed . But I think for a lot of people there's a point in their life where they question if prayer works and they wonder okay , I know I'm called to do this and I know people who do this a lot and really advocate for it , but they just really wonder does this work ? What's the purpose of it ? How do you respond to people in those moments ?
Speaker 2Well , just think about your question . If I don't pray , then all I can do is what I can do . If I pray , then I'm only limited by what God wants to do in that situation . Prayer is truly , as the book says , communion . It is communion with God and for people who have a tendency to believe , I can do more by myself than I could with God .
The Discipline of Prayer
Speaker 2Well , I'm not suggesting that the person not be busy , that a person not lead folks to Christ , but any discipline and it is a discipline that has so many commands , so many calls , such an incredible example of our Savior Himself spending nights in prayer . Any discipline like that . If you disregard that , at great peril . I mean , what you're saying is I can do better not doing what he says than I can doing what he says , because he said that I'm to pray , but I don't think that's the best way to do it . I think there's a better way to do it than what Jesus said . No , that's not going to happen . I mean , if you just think about it , it's the rationale . Plus , you've got to realize what I said is true no discipline , no discipline , not even soul winning . This is interesting . Does the devil seem to fight as much as he fights prayer , because prayers are generally the ones also who are soul winners and God puts them in that kind of arena , not necessarily at any given moment , but he puts them in that kind of arena .
Speaker 2So I do not know how anyone could think that disregarding a specific command of the Lord is positioning them to do anything else . I mean , if a servant says to his master right off the bat now I'm going to do what you say , except for one thing I'm not going to do that , what does the master say ? You go away and think about this and whether you want to be my servant . You come back and tell me no , that's not going to work . And that's what people do who will not pray .
Speaker 2They somehow think that disobeying and it's disobedience . They don't want to think of that . They think , well , I'm just so busy doing what Doing I'm so busy . I mean , he's given you something you could do anytime , any place , any age . How can somebody say , well , I just can't work that in , I just don't know how to do that . So where does that come from ? It comes from the devil . I'm going to convince Satan fights prayer because prayer gets the work done . And I don't know . I keep a prayer journal . I've journaled for many , many , many , many , many years and I will have to tell you that it's a great delight to go back and see what victories God wins through prayers . I can't even remember them all .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's really good because I think about my own journey and realizing I couldn't tell you when this switch flipped for me , sure , but I just know . One day I decided I see faithful people praying yeah . I see scripture calling us to pray . I see Jesus prayed yeah . And one day I just woke up and said how can you not pray ?
Speaker 1Okay , I'm going to be faithful to this . How can you not be faithful to that ? And the more I have , the more I realize . I think that's probably one of the things that the Lord has shown me his faithfulness through was prayer and being able to look in hindsight at just the mighty ways that God has answered prayers , or started working towards answering prayers , before I even started praying about it . But then , once I started praying about it and the Lord just opened my eyes to these things , I said , wow , how faithful of a God to know what I needed before I even asked Him . And so there's , for me , this aspect of just faith , and faith and trusting it's becoming aware that God is the audience .
Speaker 2Yeah , and a lot of people wouldn't do anything anyway if it's just God is the audience , because he's not going to tell anybody whether I pray or not , but my friend might tell that . But God is the audience , he observes it and hears it and he knows what's on your heart . And I would say praying is the ignored discipline in most lives and we get busy and we say , well , I just don't have time to pray .
Speaker 2Yes you do have time to pray , and if you pray , god will see to it that you get more and more time , if you actually pray . So I'm a firm believer that we ought to develop the discipline of prayer . Yeah .
Speaker 1What does ? In your book ? You talk a lot about the importance of a posture of prayer .
Speaker 2Not physical so much , but spiritual posture .
Speaker 1Correct correct . Because you mentioned when you first started , just blocking off large chunks of time to pray , having to work through and deal through . I need to make sure my heart is right before God . Talk to us about that and the importance of that when wanting to be faithful in prayer .
Speaker 2That's really good . It was a saying in Psalm 24 , who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord , who shall stand in his holy place ? Okay , here's some things . He who has clean hands , pure heart , he's not lifted up his soul to vanity , he's not sworn deceitfully .
Speaker 2Oh , that's a good place for me to start right there , lord , I want you to search my heart and see if there's anything in my relationship with you that needs correction , that needs an adjustment , because I want to start out knowing , as I pray , that there's no hindrance , that there's nothing that needs to be overcome . Well , that's where you start Absolute surrender , going in , coming out Without it . There's . You know , god's got other things on His agenda for you than that , because he wants you to have a pure heart , and that , to me , is a critical issue , and that , to me , is a critical issue . So I would say you know , if you're going to set aside time for prayer , I do begin the first part of that by heart preparation for prayer .
Speaker 2Now , it could take very little time . You could be living in such surrender that that's not even a problem . You just step in to that conversation with God as you would . A friend , I would hope that would be the case . But if there is something , you need to put it on the table right there and say Lord , I'm going to , I'm asking you to deal with this , I have this attitude or I'm acting this way . You know he's always working to conform us to the image of his dear son , as Scripture says . So we're not ever going to walk in the prayer room perfect but we can get to a point of perfect surrender so that he perfects us .
Speaker 2I don't know if all that makes sense , but that's the truth that really does .
Speaker 1And you talking earlier about making the time . We got to make time to wrestle with these things . We got to make time to pray . We got to make time to wrestle with these things . We got to make time to pray . We got to make time to make our heart right before god so we can walk into surrender . And in these ways and that's something taylor and I have been , we we've been talking about a lot in recent months is just how easily it is to get consumed with busyness and you lose sight of the time and the importance of some of these things . So it's so , and we do our best to make sure to prioritize time in the Word and time for prayer , and it changes everything . So I really challenge our listeners and our students . If you don't have these practices in your life , college is a time , in a lot of ways , no different than the rest of life . That's right .
Speaker 1You will always be busy . That's right . We hear people say , oh , I'll have more time later , I'll be more free later , but that's just . I've never found that to be the case . No , the devil will see to it that you don't . Yeah .
Speaker 2But until you do that , you can't do anything , but after you pray you can do anything that God does .
Speaker 1Yeah , and so we have to sacrificially make time for something such as important as prayer and time in the Word . That's really good . So , brother Tom , I think we'll wrap up our conversation here .
Speaker 2I hope your audience here will become men and women of ardent prayer .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2I cannot think of anything that it would be better to leave college with than having come in without having that and leaving with a determination , day after day , to spend time with God in prayer . And I mentioned a while ago Stephenber saying I keep my mornings for God . I like that . Most people I know who are faithful in prayer end up becoming people who rise earlier than many other people , and I'm not saying there's anything to brag about that . But I'll guarantee you if you will do that , you'll find that you have several hours that don't have all those distractions . You can't turn on the TV because you wake the kids . You can't do this , you can't do that . You have peace and quiet and it's just you and God and your Bible and your prayer journal , and I've found over the years that that's a wonderful , it's a delicious experience really .
Speaker 1That's awesome . Well , thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to come and chat with us .
Speaker 2It's my blessing and I appreciate this , and I also appreciate immensely the contribution that you're making through our center here for missions . Thank you , sir .
Speaker 2You know , my prayer is that God will turn what we are bringing to him and putting on the altar , that he will take this and turn it into a movement . And there's a difference between a movement . Movement takes on a life of its own and it becomes powerful . It begins to shape things around it as opposed to be conformed to things around it . It starts making space for itself , and I'm praying that across our campus , that there will be a movement toward reaching the world and sharing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ .
Speaker 1And we're praying for it too , and the Lord has been real faithful in the last couple of years and it's been exciting . We're going to see where the Lord takes us in the next few years .
Equipping Next Gen Missionaries at OBU
Speaker 1Thanks again , everybody . Thanks for listening . Thanks for tuning in . We're excited to get this post and excited to hear your feedback from our conversation , so we'll talk to you all soon . Thanks for listening to this episode . The Tom Ellef Center for Missions exists to equip the next generation of missionaries at Oklahoma Baptist University . Regardless of your major , you can come to OBU , get a world-class Christian education and get equipped to take the gospel to the nations . Our prayer is to send students from the local church through OBU to the world with the gospel . For more information about us or the Ellef Center Scholarship , follow the link in our description and come visit us at OBU you .