“I’d Rather Have Jesus”
From Robert Finley’s 2013 autobiography, Apostolic Adventures:
“During 1943 [while at the University of Virginia] I sought to develop friendly relations with Dr. Cecil Cook, pastor of University Baptist Church, and he was very responsive. So in the spring of 1944 our group sponsored special meetings at his church every Thursday night with Dr. Donald [Grey] Barnhouse of Philadelphia as speaker. We advertised these meetings extensively and several hundred people from the Charlottesville area attended each week. The teaching we received was a great blessing to all the students in our group.
Around that time we learned of a new ministry among university students called Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, and were visited by several IVCF staff, including C. Stacey Woods, the General Secretary. He told me that ours was the largest such Christian fellowship group that he had seen develop spontaneously in a secular university. Then he talked with me about possibly working with IVCF after I graduated.
In the summer of 1944 our group started Friday night “Youth Rallies” meeting at University Baptist Church. We invited young people from other churches to join us and attendance soon grew to over 100 every week. About that time we began to hear about “Youth for Christ” rallies similar to ours which were springing up all over the country, although we did not have contact with any of them.
I was scheduled to graduate that November [per the war time schedule] and was praying about what God’s will might be for me next. Then I received a telegram from Chicago which would set the course for my life in the future. It said,
25,0000 ARE EXPECTED FOR A YOUTH RALLY IN CHICAGO STADIUM. WE WANT YOU TO COME AND GIVE YOUR TESTIMONY. STACEY WOODS RECOMMENDED YOU. [signed] TORREY M. JOHNSON
It was scheduled to be held the same day as my graduation ceremony. But I knew it was of the Lord and wired confirmation of my acceptance. I could pick up my degree when I returned. Thus began my full-time ministry for Christ which would eventually influence the kingdom of God to the uttermost parts of the earth.
***
Torrey Johnson, pastor of Midwest Bible Church in Chicago, was a 35 year old spiritual dynamo. He had been conducting “Youth for Christ” meetings every Saturday night in downtown Chicago. Now he was putting on a super rally in Chicago Stadium, and the place was filled to overflowing with 25,000 people.
On the platform I sat between Dr. Harry Ironside, pastor of Moody Memorial Church, and George Beverly Shea who sang “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” a song for which he had composed the music. When my turn came to speak I told of how I had been born again in Miami and realized that I needed more education. My friends urged me to attend Wheaton College or Moody Bible Institute (both in the Chicago area) but God spoke to my heart saying, “I want you to be a missionary to the heathen, beginning NOW, not when you get out of a school someplace.” So I went to the University of Virginia. That testimony brought thunderous applause from the audience. Fundamentalist Christians regarded secular universities to be heathen institutions in those days. I went on to tell some boxing experiences and how we had developed a Christian fellowship group at U.Va., all of which brought forth more applause.
There were no other born again Christian athletes with national recognition at that time except one named Gill Dodds who had set a new record for the World Indoor Mile race. So when the super rally was over that night in Chicago, I was besieged by dozens of pastors and ministry leaders urging me to visit them and speak to their congregations. My pockets were soon filled with calling cards from places where I could go to speak at any time, and I did visit many of them in the months that followed. In fact, I preached in two Chicago churches the very next day, which was Sunday.”—Excerpt taken from Chapters 7 and 8 in Apostolic Adventures, Robert V. Finley’s autobiography (2013).
Finley was hired as InterVarsity’s first evangelist in January of 1945. He was the second evangelist hired by Youth for Christ in May/June of 1945. According to InterVarsity, “By 1946, when World War II was over, InterVarsity had 18 staff and chapters on 277 campuses across the country.” By 1950, “. . . there were 35 staff serving students in 499 InterVarsity chapters across the country.” Read more about InterVarsity’s history HERE.
From Dr. Finley’s book, Apostolic Adventures:
For the summer of 1948, Torrey Johnson, Bob Cook and other YFC leaders planned a big conference to be held at a Bible Institute in Beatenberg, Switzerland. Many of my good friends who were YFC Directors in the USA were planning to attend, and after praying about it for a while I felt God leading me to go, although it would be at my own expense.
I applied for and received a passport, and asked Noel Lyons to make arrangements. Noel was working in the headquarters office in Chicagoland Youth for Christ as logistics manager for the Beatenburg Conference.
My last meetings on the IVCF staff were at three universities in Colorado in May 1948. But the highlight of that visit was not part of IVCF. It was a three day conference for overseas students planned and directed by Frances Dey, the first full time missionary to work among foreign students in America. She had served as a missionary in Syria and Lebanon before World War II, and was the first person I met who had seen the tremendous potential of reaching foreign fields at home. However, no mission board would employ her, so she had to work independently, trusting God to supply her needs.
The conference was held at a campground in Estes Park, high in the Rocky Mountains, and was my first opportunity to explain the gospel to 30 foreign nationals three times daily. It strongly confirmed my growing conviction that a specialized ministry among foreign students should be started in the USA.
***
I had driven the Billy Graham Pontiac to Colorado. It was like a new car, since I had the motor overhauled and had the entire car painted. During my last meetings in Colorado, at U.C. in Boulder, I put a FOR SALE sign on the Pontiac and a married couple, graduate students at U.C., made me an offer. I sold it for $1200, and with all that money in my pocket took a train to Chicago.
Upon arrival I gave Noel Lyons $225 to pay for passage to Europe aboard the Queen Mary.
There was not much to do except eat, walk, and sleep aboard ship across the Atlantic, so I spent most of my time talking with fellow travelers.
The one I spent most time with was Dawson Trotman, founder and spiritual father of the Navigators. I had met him in California when he gave me a packet of little memory cards with Bible verses on them. I told him I had already memorized all of those verses and hundreds more. So he used me as an example to encourage some of his disciples.
As we talked I shared with Daws my vision for a specialized evangelistic work among foreign students in the USA. Five years later he would do more than any other person to help me get such a ministry established.
*Cars were hard to buy during World War II. Graham had ordered a car earlier, and when it arrived, he sold his Pontiac to Bob Finley. This excerpt is taken from Chapter 9 in Apostolic Adventures, Robert V. Finley’s autobiography (2013).
PREM is a deeply moving true story of commitment, surrender, and courage. I bought this book and immediately read it from cover to cover, and I am so GLAD I did! The pages of this incredible account filled me with deep admiration and awe, at Brother Prem's complete surrender to his Lord, in his life, and at such a great cost. My own intense personal reaction after reading these pages was a feeling of deep unworthiness, as I have never made such a complete surrender to God, as Brother Prem had. Brother Prem’s testimony is nothing short of spiritually heroic. His example calls me to be ever more committed to serving my Lord Jesus Christ with all the treasure, time, and talent He has ever given me. I highly encourage every believer to read PREM, and fully surrender to working for the Kingdom, while there is still time. Committed Christian men like Prem Pradhan appear perhaps only once in a hundred years. PREM is a spiritual testament to the selflessness, courage, and unwavering commitment of a man who, like the apostle Paul, chose the path of suffering and service to his own people of Nepal. Prem Pradhan understood, like very few Christians, that his earthly life was just a brief vapor, momentary, in comparison to the eternal joy of serving and giving his life for his Lord Jesus Christ. His radical surrender to Christ, his willingness to live with heartfelt purpose and burning passion, and his acceptance of suffering as part of his Christian journey, make Prem Pradhan a modern giant of the faith. Prem devoted his life to preaching and living the Gospel, facing relentless opposition, imprisonment, deep loneliness, and physical suffering. Prem truly comprehended and embraced the cost of discipleship. PREM has challenged me, personally, to my own spiritual inventory: am I truly willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the Gospel? Am I really inclined to live with Prem Pradhan’s kind of single-minded devotion to the Cause of Christ? Frankly, I find myself wanting. If you long for a deeper walk of commitment to the calling of Christ, I highly recommend this book to you. —Dr. Max Rossi
Prem's life and testimony is equal to other heroes of my faith, such as: Sadhu Sundar Singh, Watchman Nee, and Perpetua. His account of prison life was especially impactful and moving, as was his opinion that God's church should not go underground to avoid persecution. I pray that we can follow his example when the time comes. —Thomas Noss
This is an incredible story, told mostly in the first person because of interviews done by the late Bob Finley over 9 years (1968-1977) with Prem himself. There is a wonderful section at the end of the book, told by Bob's widow Cynthia, of how this amazing book came about. Through the determined loving efforts of Cynthia and her likewise colleague Ellen Gray Maybank, those spoken words of Prem live today in this epistle. As others have noted, it is truly a modern-day Pauline account not unlike that found in Acts. Prem also had a bit of Jonah in him as he told of his 3-month attempt to bargain with the Lord on His call on his life. It was only when he realized that his life was falling apart that he knew God would not release him from His call/purpose of preaching to/reaching his native Nepal. God gave him immediate encouragement through His power and grace. Then began years of suffering and praise and never looking back. Read the graphic, heart-wrenching, stunning account of his (and fellow believers) incarceration in Tansen Prison--and why they were sent there--for a taste of what he went through to obey the call of the Lord, and thus win many souls for Him. It is truly a story that will make your heart sing in grateful praise. —E. Donaldson
Thank God Cynthia Finley and her team has put in writing all the things that Prem told her husband, Dr. Bob Finley. No more myth. No more hearsay. You get the words straight out of the apostle’s mouth. An indelible record.
You’ll be amazed how God used Prem’s imprisonments to disciple a whole nation. Instead of Prem going to the whole nation (impossible for a lame man in the roadless 1950s), God brought representatives of the whole nation to Prem—and gathered them in discipleship rooms (called prisons) where the apostle could win them and disciple them. When they were released, they went to their home areas, including the far corners of Nepal. God’s ways are different than man’s ways. Take off your blinders. Even the worst that can happen to you can work for God’s best. You will wrench with Prem in his sufferings, rejoice with him in his deliverances and miracles, and realize that the same God of the biblical apostles is alive today. The testimony of PREM will change your life. —John M. Lindner