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important thing you can do .” After listening to Mott share his story and watching as his heart was breaking over the lack of spiritual vitality in SVM , seeds for a new missions ’ conference germinated within Christy ’ s mind .
Christy traveled throughout the United States and Canada for two years , planting his passion for missions within other college students . Finally , on Friday , December 27 , 1946 , the first IVCF missions ’ conference began . Approximately 52 denominations were represented by 576 students from 151 colleges , universities , and seminaries . Long after the conference concluded on January 2 , Stacey Woods observed that over half of the participants had actually gone to the foreign mission field ( including Jim Elliot , David Howard , and Ralph Winter ), with the other half actively supporting missions from home .
The triennial Urbana missions ’ conference continues to this day . It has grown to become the largest student missions ’ conference in the world , and through it , God has challenged more than 250,000 participants with the responsibility and privilege of taking part in world missions .
Entering a Forbidden Land
Throughout Christy ’ s four years with IVCF , his passion to find a way into Afghanistan never diminished or wavered . Shortly after the first IVCF missions ’ conference , Christy learned of a posting on the bulletin board at Columbia Teachers College in New York stating that teachers were wanted in Afghanistan . Although his friends tried to dissuade him , saying that going to such a closed country would be foolish , he applied for the position . Hearing no reply for several months , Christy
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made alternate plans to study at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland .
The very day he boarded the Queen Elizabeth to sail for Scotland , a letter arrived at his home asking him to come to Washington , D . C ., for an interview . The
Betty and J . Christy Wilson
letter was forwarded to Christy in Scotland , and he promptly replied , “ I am now working on a doctorate , but would be more than willing to interrupt my studies if you want me to go to Afghanistan .”
The reply stated , “ There is no need for you to return to the States for an interview . We have had enough applications . Continue your studies and reapply after you have earned your degree .”
Christy was disappointed . However , that first delay allowed him to earn his doctorate in Islamic studies , and the knowledge he gained during his two years in Edinburgh proved valuable during the twenty-two years he would spend ministering in Afghanistan .
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Eventually , after four more years beset by several more setbacks , Christy and his new bride , Betty , set foot on Afghan soil in the summer of 1951 , having been invited by the Afghan minister of education to teach English in Kabul . No businessman , no explorer , no tourist , and certainly no missionary was allowed in Afghanistan . The country was a no-man ’ s-land with a strict “ no trespassing ” policy . But now Christy found himself standing on soil where few Christian witnesses had ever stood before .
As the years passed , Christy soon found himself in several new roles , including serving as personal tutor to Afghanistan ’ s crown prince and pastoring the international community in Kabul .
Pastoring the Only Church In Afghanistan
While Christy taught English to Afghans , they in turn taught him some of their treasured proverbs . One of them was Du tarbuz da yak dest gerefta na mesha . An English translation might read , “ Two watermelons can ’ t be held in one hand ,” meaning that if you have too many preoccupations , you will succeed at none of them . Christy experienced this pearl of wisdom firsthand as he sought to balance his teaching assignment and additional pastoral roles .
Christy sensed the Lord guiding him to devote his full-time energies to pastoring , and in late 1952 , he and other teachers planted the Community Christian Church of Kabul ( CCCK ) for the foreign community . Christy was formally chosen as their first pastor , and they initially met in the Wilsons ’ home before a building could be constructed many years later .
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