George Verwer (July 3, 1938 – April 14, 2023) was an American evangelist and founder of Operation Mobilisation (OM), an evangelicalChristianmissions organization. Verwer wrote several books on various Christian themes. He was a passionate advocate of radical discipleship as the only legitimate option for people who believe in Jesus. Over a million books he authored have been distributed worldwide.
George Verwer was born on July 3, 1938 to George Verwer, Sr. and Eleanor Caddell Verwer. His parents were Dutch immigrants and he was raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, where his father worked as an electrician.[1][2] Verwer's family attended a Reformed Church of America congregation, although his father rarely attended church and Verwer attended church to socialize. As a child, Verwer had a reputation for mischief, most notably setting creating a fire in Bergen County forest and getting caught by the police breaking into a neighbor's home.[1]
As a result of these incidents, Dorothea Clapp gave him the Gospel of John and prayed that he would convert to Christianity. Verwer later said that Clapp put him on her "Holy Ghost hit list".[1] Verwer attributed to her some of the reasons that he made a commitment to Christ, and for what resulted in his life. In 1953, as a 14-year-old student from Wyckoff, New Jersey, attending Ramsey High School, Verwer went to a Jack Wyrtzen meeting in which Billy Graham spoke in Madison Square Garden, in New York City.[3] There he was converted to become a Christian, at the age of 16. Within a year, about 200 of his classmates became Christians.[4]
Verwer had a growing conviction to evangelize on foreign soil. He started with the distribution of the Gospel of John in Mexico in 1957 along with two friends, Walter Borchard and Dale Rhoton. They called this operation "Send the Light". This continued with others during the summer holidays. Afterward, Verwer used the name "Send the Light" for a book distribution operation to India based in the United Kingdom. This developed into Send the Light, which was once the largest Christian book distributor in the United Kingdom, but entered into administration December 2009 and moved into liquidation December 2010.
After high school, he attended Maryville College and then transferred to Moody Bible Institute, where he met his wife, Drena, a fellow student. They have three children.
After graduation, they went to Spain. Once while taking Bibles into the USSR, George was arrested and accused of being a spy. He was deported, and back in Spain, after a time of prayer in 1961 the work of OM was born. George often referred to this calling himself "God's Bungler", in reference to Brother Andrew, "God's Smuggler".
In August 2003, George handed over the international leadership of the work of OM to Peter Maiden, who was the Associate International Director for 15 years. George and his wife were involved in Special Projects Ministries[clarification needed] full-time, traveling and taking meetings around the world.
^Wood, Patrick. "George Verwer and the birth of OM"Archived 2017-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, Operation Mobilisation, October 30, 2016. Accessed October 19, 2017. "In Wyckoff, New Jersey, in 1953 George was 14 years old, high-spirited, and showing promise as a natural-born leader at Ramsey High School when Mrs. Clapp’s son first gave him a copy of John’s Gospel."
