Called to the Climb
Jarrod Stackelroth: In the early days
of the Adventist movement, there were
no mission budgets, no flights, no
support teams or training manuals,
but there was a message, and for those
who believed it, that was enough.
They walked, they rode in wagons.
They went door to door with hand printed
tracks and bibles wrapped in cloth.
They often had no formal education,
no large congregations backing
them, and yet somehow their
message began to circle the globe.
It wasn't easy.
They were misunderstood, mocked,
even rejected by family and friends.
They were often hungry, tired, and
discouraged, but they pressed on
not because they loved hardship,
but because they loved truth.
They believed that the message they
carried had the power to change lives,
and that it was worth every cost.
One of the clearest examples of
this spirit was Stephen Haskell,
born in Massachusetts in 1833.
Haskell had little formal schooling.
He began working in a soap factory at
just seven years old and eventually
became a successful businessman.
But after embracing the Adventist
faith in his early twenties, his
life changed course completely.
He poured himself into sharing the
message of Christ's soon return, first
in his hometown and then far beyond.
Haskell was largely self-taught.
He studied relentlessly and
became a powerful evangelist.
Not through flashy sermons, but through
deep conviction and tireless effort.
He traveled extensively, often
on foot carrying literature,
preaching and organizing churches.
He wasn't deterred by
exhaustion or rejection.
He simply kept going.
Haskell helped organize the first
tracked and missionary society,
a forerunner of global literature
evangelism, and was instrumental
in expanding the work overseas.
Haskell was among the first to
preach the Adventist message in the
British Isles, and later ventured to
Australia, South Africa and beyond.
Wherever he went, he planted seeds
sometimes with immediate fruit.
Often with only the hope that
someone else would water them.
Later conditions were often harsh.
Travel was slow, finances
were thin, illness was common.
Yet these early missionaries didn't
wait for ideal circumstances.
They didn't wait until
everything was in place.
They moved forward with what they
had, and what they had was faith.
They trusted that God would
multiply their small efforts.
That one visit.
One tract, one conversation might
be the spark that ignites a life.
They believed that the gospel
wasn't meant to stay in one place.
It was meant to move.
And so they did step by step,
mile by mile, message by message.
They built a missionary movement, not
out of comfort, but out of commitment.
It's easy to look at today's global
church with its institutions resources
and reach and forget where it all began.
It began with people like Haskell who
were willing to walk through storms
and knock on doors simply because they
believed that God had called them to go.
And sometimes that's
what mission looks like.
It's not always grand
campaigns and global platforms.
Sometimes it's just showing up.
Being faithful.
Saying yes to one more opportunity,
carrying hope into one more conversation
because the gospel was never meant
to be passive and neither are we.
Episode 10.
Called to Climb Read
by Jared Stacker Roth.
