Miracle After Miracle in Russia and Beyond
OMS Missionary Harold Brown Shares
Harold Brown has served with OMS for more than 55 years. He accepted Christ at age 12 but had no exposure to missions and never had a missionary visit his church. When Harold was 16, he went to John Wesley camp, heard a missionary speak, and felt called to be a missionary.
Because the missionary was from Africa, Harold assumed that he was also called to serve in Africa. He went to Bible college after high school and became acquainted with One Mission Society (OMS) missionaries. Harold asked them about working in Africa, and they said they didn’t have any work in Africa. But he wanted to go with OMS, so in 1967, Harold went to Haiti with an OMS Men for Missions team. The Lord told him, “This is as Africa as it gets, and this is OMS.” Harold served for 25 years in Haiti, 4 years in Russia, and several years as the regional director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa while living in the U.S (along with his wife Mary before she passed away). Harold said, “So, after 30 years, I got to serve in Africa.”
During his time in Russia, Harold witnessed miracles from God. Here are two he shared with OMS.
In 1994, the year after Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary (MECS) was established, Dr. JB Crouse, then-President of OMS, told Harold it would be good to translate OMS cofounder Lettie Cowman’s devotional book Streams in the Desert into Russian. Harold told his Russian leader that OMS wanted to translate Streams in the Desert into Russian and publish it. He said, “That already exists in Russian.” Harold said, “No, that’s not possible; Streams was written in the 1920s.”
“Oh yes,” the Russian leader said, “I have a copy at my home.” Howard told him he must be mistaken.
The leader responded, “We had three books when I was a boy. We had the Bible, a book of John Wesley’s sermons, and what we called ‘the green book.’” Howard said, “Well, it can’t be Mrs. Cowman’s book.”
The leader brought it the next day, and sure enough, it was Streams in the Desert, translated into Russian. The leader explained, “In 1928, Ivan Prohonoff, who was an evangelical Christian leader in Russia at the time, heard Mrs. Cowman speak in Sweden. He got a copy of her book and asked her if he could translate it into Russian, which he did. Instead of translating it into Russian, we reprinted 10,000 copies of Ivan’s book. Little did we know that two years later, the Russian government would decree that in order for a religious organization to be recognized, they had to have been in existence for 25 years, which should have made it impossible for MECS to continue. However, when we reprinted Streams in the Desert in Russian, we put ‘to Moscow Evangelical Seminary’ in the flyleaf of the book. This tied OMS, and therefore MECS, back to 1928 when the book was translated. That allowed us to qualify for the 25-year rule. This tells me that God had a plan for OMS in Russia, even back in 1993, and he had that plan in 1928 when that book was translated.”
Another one of Harold’s favorite stories from Russia:
When the CoMission ministry launched, missionaries decided to use the JESUS film and its corresponding curriculum as the platform for going into public schools. The JESUS film had been translated by The JESUS Film Project and Crusade, 20 years on the ground in Russia.
In preparation for the beginning of CoMission, missionaries were going to host a premiere showing of the JESUS film in a major theater in Moscow. They scheduled an afternoon when they would show the JESUS film officially for the first time, announced this, and invited several people. The night before the premiere, Paul, the head of The JESUS Film Project, had gone to his hotel and turned on the TV. The JESUS film was on! Paul couldn’t understand how God could allow this to happen, as the big premiere was the next day. When Paul arrived for the showing, nobody mentioned the film being on TV the night before. The day of the launch, a crowd gathered in the theater. The time came to start, but some audience members came to Paul and said, “We invited a general, and it is very important that we have his permission before starting the film. He’s not here yet, so we have to delay.” Finally, the general came in late, took his prominent place, and the missionaries played the JESUS film.
While the film was being shown, people responded emotionally; some wept. After two or three people stood up to speak when the film ended, the general got up. He said, “I had no plans to come here this afternoon, but last evening when I went home and turned my TV on, the JESUS film was on. As I watched it, I said, ‘This is what Russia needs.’ That’s the reason I came this afternoon. This is what we need.” Had the film not appeared on TV, the general would not have been there, and they would not have had his approval. The only explanation: But God.
Harold advised new and current missionaries to make themselves available for God’s plans. He said, “All I ever did was make myself available. God has done the rest, miracle after miracle. No explanation, but God.”