Davy Crockett and Missions

When I heard that Fess Parker died yesterday, my mind went back to a time that I vaguely remember, yet it some ways, a period that was maybe more real than today.

It was probably around 1955 when we got our first TV (yes, I am indeed that old) and I have vivid memories of watching Davy Crockett on the black and white screen in the den of our house in Gardena, California. Those were the days of frontier heroes like, John Wayne, Gunsmoke (James Arness), The Rifleman and Have Gun Will Travel. It was the transition time between the singing cowboys of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. It’s amazing that after 55 years I can still remember the opening lines of the ballad of Davy Crockett . It was a time when good and evil was clearly distinguished, justice didn’t have the ACLU, where hero’s earned their place in history and highest form of being an American was honesty and hard work.

As one of the early Baby-boomers I learned from Davy Crockett and my other pioneer TV heroes that the greatest quest in life was adventure. Risk was something that didn’t need to be analyzed or managed, it came with the territory of the great frontier. It was from those days that Ralph Winter calls “The Most Incredible Twenty-Five Years,” (1950 – 1975) in mission history. It was during that period more career North American missionaries were sent out to do pioneer ministry to the regions beyond. I was a part of that era, signing on to do bush work in the deserts of Kenya, for Christ to be sure, but also the sheer adventure of it that would have made Davy proud.

Well, no sense in pining away for the old days, but gee I miss those days when the goal was clear and the only obstacle was not measured in dollars but in one’s commitment to the task. Though it’s been over fifty years Crocketts advice still rings true - “Be sure you’re right – then go ahead.”