Jim Elliot: Missionary Martyr

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Jim Elliot wrote these words at Wheaton College, as he prayed for God’s direction for missionary service. Where would God lead this unusually dedicated and versatile man?

            Born into a godly family in Portland, Oregon, Jim was a dynamic speaker, a Greek scholar, and a college wrestling champion. But he welcomed the sacrifice of the mission field, even to the point of death—and, years later in Ecuador, that would be his ultimate calling.

            Though many saw this young man’s martyrdom as a tragedy, God knew that Jim Elliot’s extraordinary witness would not end there—as the seeds of a previously impossible ministry had been planted among the Auca Indians.