Beyond the Book with Dr. Akin: 10 Women Who Changed the World

In the following Q&A, Dr. Akin takes the time to answer a few questions about his new book.

What is the book about, and what motivated you to write it?

The book is about 10 wonderful women missionaries, many whose stories have been neglected or forgotten in missionary history. For example, Harriet Newell was headed to the mission field at 19 immediately after her marriage. She got pregnant, but she and her baby would die on a ship before they ever reached their planned destination. On her deathbed she begged her husband to tell her family back home, “I have never repented leaving all for Christ.” We need to hear words like that today.

How did these 10 women uniquely change the world, and how did you decide on these 10 missionaries?

Some were married and assisted their husbands, some were widowed and remained on the field, and some were single their entire lives. However, they were all faithful in their contexts and saw the blessings of God on their work, though not in equal measure from a human perspective. I landed on these 10 from my own studies and recommendations from others. Betsey Stockton has especially been an inspiration. She was born a black slave in America, came to Christ, and would be one of the first single women to go to the nations as a missionary.

In the book, you pair each missionary with a biblical passage that they embodied. Why is it important to you that readers connect these missionary stories to the truths of Scripture?

First, preaching should always be an exposition of the Bible. These chapters grew out of my preaching. Before writing the book, I delivered many of these stories in chapel at Southeastern, so each missionary story is wed with a biblical passage they illustrated through their life. Second, attaching the lives of these ladies to a biblical text shows by application how the word of God came alive and was beautifully displayed in the lives of his daughters. Consider the life of Eleanor Chesnut and how her life reflects so beautifully John 13:34-35. A medical missionary in China, she served the people there with a Christlike love only to be brutally martyred. In the last year of her life, she cared for 5,479 patients at a women’s hospital in southern China.

You dedicate this book to “all the wonderful women whose love for Christ and the nations compelled them to go.” How can churches be more intentional about creating a culture that celebrates, trains, and supports these God-called women as they are sent to the nations?

God is doing amazing things among the women in our churches, and he is using them mightily to make disciples around the world. In many parts of the world women can only be effectively reached by women. Further, women are often more effective than men in teaching children. (They are, sad to say, often more willing than many men are.) If this is the reality, then we should place this challenge before the girls and women in our churches and show them how essential they are to the work and fulfillment of the Great Commission. But again, we must face the reality that women are more willing to go than men. Women vastly outnumber men on the mission field. Through her letters and articles, Lottie Moon pled for more men to answer the call to go to the nations because they were not there!

God is doing amazing things among the women in our churches, and he is using them mightily to make disciples around the world.

Why do you think Southern Baptists have historically commissioned more women than men as missionaries, and how are you challenging generations of both women and men to answer the call to go?

The answer to that question is painfully simple: Women have been more willing to go. Therefore, the challenge in every generation is to call the men to follow the example of their sisters and go. Think about Yvette Aarons. She is the first Deaf missionary ever appointed by Southern Baptists. She had all sorts of obstacles in her path, but she never allowed them to stop her from getting to the unreached Deaf of the world.

Why is it so valuable to read missionary biographies?

They inspire and encourage us in our service to Christ wherever he calls us to go. They also help us avoid pity parties when we consider the hardships and sacrifices they made to get the gospel to those who have never heard. Darlene Deibler Rose served as a missionary in Southeast Asia during WWII. She and her husband would be imprisoned by the Japanese. Both would be brutally tortured, and he would die. Yet, following the end of the war, she remarried and returned to the field, serving our Lord for 40 more years.

How does this book equip readers to better serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission?

These stories show us how our great God did the extraordinary through very ordinary people because they were willing to trust and obey King Jesus. God delights in using the nobodies who want to exalt somebody named Jesus!

God delights in using the nobodies who want to exalt somebody named Jesus!

How have these stories and writing this book shaped you spiritually?

They have increased my love for Christ and my passion to get the gospel to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. They have also become spiritual heroes to me, inspiring me to serve my Savior well and to finish well because he is worthy.

*The flowers in the header are native to the regions where these 10 women served on mission.