Leaving a Legacy

[paul]

John Maxwell in his laws of leadership refers to the law of Legacy. He highlights Legacies as one who –“leaves behind ongoing proof of their impact, by reproducing themselves in others, who produce will beyond their own generation.
I will refer to Dr. T.L. Osborn in this post, so In case some may not be familiar with his name, below is a short bio. Also, his wife Daisy has gone on to be with the Lord several years ago. T.L. is about 83 years old and lives in Tulsa area and is still very active in ministry.
T.L. Osborn and his wife Daisy Osborn have made an unprecedented impact on the world in our time. They are valued among the great soul winners of this century. Married at ages 17 and 18, the Osborns were missionaries in India at 20 and 21. In 1949 they instituted the OSFO International Gospel Center-a world evangelism and missionary church organization. Their life commitment: To express and to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ to people throughout the world. Their guiding principle: The top priority of the church is the evangelization of the world. T L Osborn has conducted mass crusades in over 70 nations, preaching to audiences ranging from 20,000 to 250,000 nightly and more. They have sponsored over 25,000 national preachers as full-time missionaries, reaching their own unreached tribes and villages.
I just returned from Kenya where as I mentioned we graduated 63 students from our bible College. While there I was privilege to meet Bishop G. Makala from Mombasa, Kenya. Bishop Makala is 73 and has been responsible for many Pentecostal church plants and has been the mentor of hundreds of young pastors. His present church numbers in the several thousands.
He shared with me that as a young man he went to a T.L. Osborn Crusade, it was the first crusade of it’s kind and the first one T.L. Osborn had conducted in 1958. Bishop Makala talked of the great impact on his life by this man of God. And how so many of the older Pentecostal leaders in Kenya were products of the Osborn Crusades that changed their nation.
At our graduation ceremony one of the graduating pastors came to me and told me of a similar story about how his father had been saved in one of the Osborn crusades and eventually was brought to Tulsa and translated the many books T.O. had written into Swahili. This pastor who spoke to me was one who would donate the television and dvd player to be used in our school to help bring our bible college program into a remote village.
Some may not know of T.L. Osborn, others may know of him and not agree with him and some of his teachings, and I am sure some will find all nothing but faults with him. But one thing in undeniable, he has left a legacy that changed a country and established the Pentecostal Church in Kenya.
I wonder sometimes what will be this generation of preachers legacy ?

[Gerald Creasy]

I used to watch T. L. Osbourne quite regularly when he had a tv program in the late 70s/early 80s.