The Dawn Treader

Williams was born near London in 1796.  He was dragged to church by his mother.  He pretty much hated it.  At age 17, he moved out on his own.  Freedom at last.  He worked as an apprentice iron monger.  One Sunday morning, Williams was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  His employer's wife, Mrs. Tonkin, happened to walk by him on the street in London.  She asked him to come to church with her.  He had a lame excuse for not coming, and she called him on it.  She wouldn't take no for an answer.

Williams was trapped, and reluctantly agreed to go.  He figured that brown nosing the boss by going to church with his wife would count for something, and he made up his mind to day dream his way through the boring sermon.

The sermon he heard, however, changed his life.  Rev East preached on Mark 8:36-37.  The words kept repeating in young William's mind, "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Everything Williams' thought of ... becoming a rich iron merchant ... marrying a beautiful girl ... getting drunk with his buds ... were all shallow when weighed against eternity. 

John Williams made a decision - he was headed down the wrong road in life, and he was going to change direction right then and there.  It was time he became a Christian.

Williams later called that hour spent listening to Reverend East the best hour of his entire life.

Williams joined a Pigfest that met on Monday nights called the Mutual Improvement Society.  Williams was mentored by Reverend Matthew Wilks, the assistant pastor at Whitefield Tabernacle and the moderator of the Monday night Pigfest.

Two years later, Wilks brought something to the Pigfest that absolutely captivated  young Williams.  It was an 18 inch wooden statute.  It was an idol.  It had been brought all the way from the Pacific Islands to London by members of the London Missionary Society.

Wilks spoke.  "We must pray diligently for the people of Tahiti [where the idol came from] and for Henry Nott [an LMS missionary serving in the Pacific].  For hundreds of years the islanders have practiced infanticide, ritual killing, and cannibalism.  Now alcohol and guns have made matters worse.  Without God, these people are doomed."

A holy fire was lit underneath Williams that could not be quenched.  His heart burned within him, and propelled him on a journey that took him half way around the world.

John Williams lived a life so focused and so fully committed to spreading the hope of Christ, that his short life on earth continues to echo to this day.  John Williams died at the age of 43.  He was one year older than I am today.  John Williams lived missionally.  I will explain how his missional life serves as a ideal for me in my next John Williams post.