Remembering Robert M. “Bob” Evers and the God Who Multiplies Obedience

My dad, Robert M. “Bob” Evers, went home to be with the Lord on August 7th. He was 96 years old.

Dad lived a remarkably full life. He served in the U.S. Army, traveled the world as an industrial engineer and consultant, loved photography and his treasured Hasselblad camera, and loved cooking for his family. Even into his 90s, as macular degeneration gradually took his eyesight, he continued attending a weekly men’s Bible study and volunteering at a local food kitchen.

Dad finished well. With his eyesight mostly gone, he had a lot of time to sit and pull out of his memory Bible verses he had learned through the nine+ decades. He continually shared his current verse of the day and what it meant and how we could make this truth a part of our lives.

But since Dad’s passing, I have found myself thinking about something much smaller. Many years ago, Dad invited me to go on a trip. He couldn’t have known what God would do with that invitation.

One Invitation

Dad had attended Bob Jones University with Bill Bathman, who later founded In Touch Mission International. Many years after their university days, their paths crossed again. Dad became involved with ITMI, eventually serving as a board member and later as chairman.

Through that relationship, when I was in my late 30s, I was given the opportunity to travel with Dad and Bill to Poland and Romania. I went. And God used that trip to change the direction of my life.

I had grown up in a Christian home in America, with freedoms and opportunities that I largely took for granted. In Poland, one of the first Eastern European national believers I came to know was Piotr (Peter) Zaremba. Piotr had come to faith and learned to follow Christ in circumstances very different from mine. As I listened to him and observed his life, I realized there was a depth to his experience of following Christ that I had not personally known.

In the years that followed, I would meet many more faithful believers who had endured communism, persecution, poverty, and hardship and yet remained committed to Christ. God used those encounters to do something in me.

Within a few years, Bill invited me to join ITMI’s board. I had come to believe deeply in ITMI’s commitment to come alongside godly national believers—men and women who understand their own people, language, culture, and circumstances—and help equip them to reach their people for Christ. Later, I was asked to become ITMI’s director. For the past 25 years, God has given me the privilege of serving alongside His people in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

And part of the path God used to bring me there began with a father inviting his son on a trip. Dad couldn’t have known.

Five Loaves, Two Fish

That reminds me of a young boy described in John 6. Thousands of people needed food, and all he had was a small lunch.

“There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” — John 6:9

Five loaves. Two fish. It must have seemed so insignificant compared with the need before them. But placed in the hands of Jesus, that small offering became enough to feed thousands—with food left over.

As I think about Dad, I also think about you, our ITMI partners. For many years, you have prayed. You have given. You have helped a national believer, supported a family, provided Bibles, helped drill a borehole, trained a pastor, fed someone in need, or responded to some other opportunity God placed before you.

Sometimes what you could do may have seemed small compared with the need. You may not have completely understood why God prompted you to become involved. And you may never know in this life the full result of your obedience.

Neither did Dad. He could see an opportunity to invite his son to Poland and Romania. He could not see 25 years of ministry in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia on the other side of that invitation. But God could.

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” — Ephesians 3:20–21

As I remember Dad, I am grateful for his years of service to ITMI. I am grateful for his investment in my life. But most of all, I am grateful that when God placed opportunities before him, Dad was willing to say yes.

Dad could not have known what God would do with one invitation. Neither can we always know what He will do with our next act of obedience. Our responsibility is not to see the outcome. It is to faithfully place what we have in His hands.

The multiplication belongs to Him.
— Steve Evers