Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation.

The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here.

Letters We Love
Dr. Robert L. Sumner

Every once in a little while we get a nice letter that takes us back down memory lane, something we always enjoy. One came recently from an Illinois city where I conducted several crusades. It said in part: “Brother Sumner, I cut my spiritual teeth as a teenager on the preaching of two Bobs in ­­____ Church, you and Bob Smith. Thank you sincerely for the impact you have had on my life. Missionary Bob Smith is now with the Lord and we want to keep you here much longer. Praying that there will still be the day when you can come back to preach in ____.” That was a nice letter and we join the writer in missing our dear friend, Bob Smith. After his missionary days in Liberia, he served several years on our staff as an evangelist.

We very rarely mention the name or names of the letter writers in this column, but this one will enhance the letter by so doing. Years ago, the editor attended the Baptist Bible Seminary, then in Johnson City (NY), with Ed and Ruth Dean (Ruth was not a ‘Dean’ then; that came later – although they celebrated their 62^nd wedding anniversary last Thanksgiving Day). The Deans were church planters with what is now Baptist Church Planters (Elyria, OH) and had labored at a church in Washington. But to their letter:

“Some years after we left, Fred Barlow held evangelistic services there. One of the members kept inviting a fellow worker, who kept refusing. Finally, on Friday night, he came and responded and was saved. He later became the area representative for AWANA, until an injury sidelined him. He is now serving as one of the deacons here at Faith.

“Thought you too would appreciate this news of something more that the Lord did through one of our classmates.”

Indeed. Fred Barlow was in our class and so was Bob Smith, mentioned above.

Another nice letter came from another servant of Christ in the Northwest. He wrote:

“Please continue to send me The Biblical Evangelist. I read it and when I finish reading it I pass it on to different pastors. I will be sending you a love gift in the near future to help cover the cost.

“I first met you in 1964 when I was with the Regular Baptists in the State of Washington and you spoke at one of our pastors’ fellowships. I am a missionary to the Jewish people and have been in this line of work for over 35 years. Thank you for staying true to God’s Word and for being a blessing to so many down through the years.”

A longtime reader and friend of this ministry wrote:

“Please pray for me. Our Heavenly Father called me into fulltime intercessory prayer 23 years ago. I receive 3-4,000 requests each month from all over the world. Satan opposes this more than when I witness and lead a precious soul to our Lord Jesus Christ. Am 75 and driving a 1978 Ford 200,000 miles.

“May our wonderful God bless you. Don’t give up! Am fasting and praying for you. I am on Social Security, am enclosing $30, praying that God will stretch it out!”

Wasn’t that a sweet letter? This brother sacrificially has driven a car over a quarter of a century for a fifth of a million miles, living on Social Security, yet still sent us a gift of $30. Personally, I appreciate his praying and fasting in our behalf more, but I’m thrilled to have both.

From Tennessee, with a request for information we need not mention here, came this good word: “I do want to continue receiving your paper, The Biblical Evangelist. I’m sorry I haven’t sent any support for so long, and I will try my best to do better about that in the future. I’m sending $10 this time, not much, but I hope it helps some.”

Of course it helps! Every little bit helps.

A minister in Ohio, who was chairman of our united crusade, wrote:

“Thank you for keeping me on your mailing list. Please keep me there. Thanks. I wish the amount I sent was at least $5,000 rather than $000005. [As we always say in such cases, ‘So do we!’] You have been in my prayers since you came to the ______ County revival in 1965 or 1966 (at least close) [actually it was August 16-27, 1967; Billy Carl Rice handled the music – Ed]. I pastored a small independent Baptist church in _______ and you spoke there Sunday morning. I also heard you preach at the GARBC conference on evangelism. You have truly been one of my Christian warrior heroes for a lot of years. I rejoice with you in God’s provision of health and happiness.

“Your paper helped us learn the truth of ‘avoid all appearance of evil’ concerning ______. …

“Tonight on radio I heard a talk show host criticizing President Bush for listening to the conservatives that would not endorse Harriet Meirs. What are your thoughts? [While my first reactions were negative, the more I learned about her the more I felt she would do a good job. I wrote a major editorial about it, but when she withdrew her name from consideration, I deleted the editorial.]

“PLEASE continue to PRAY for all our family, but especially for me. I am age 70 [he’s just a kid, says this 83-year-old editor].”

He went on to ask questions about my family and tell me about his. Join me in praying for him.

A very kind letter came from a brother in the Midwest:

“I enjoy reading The Biblical Evangelist  and get a different insight on the Word of our Lord and it’s always in a positive way.

“The spreading of the Gospel in word or print is soothing to the heart. The Biblical Evangelist articles teach the Gospel, which all evangelism should do.

“You have succeeded in spreading His Word by your paper.”

And he enclosed a nice gift.

That’s all for this time. Let us hear from you!