Lisa Barry: For the last two days on Gateway To Joy we've been introducing you to one of our new friends. Her name is Nancy Leigh DeMoss. And she is one of those people that you could sit down with and talk for hours. Nancy is the Director of Publications and Women's Ministries for Life Action Ministry and the Editor of Spirit of Revival magazine. On Monday and Tuesday we talked about her new book entitled The Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. Today, Nancy and Elisabeth, I'd like to shift gears a little bit and do some reminiscing on your spiritual journeys.

Elisabeth, let's start with you. You have a rich Christian heritage behind you. Would you tell us a little bit about that upbringing and your conversion experience?

Elisabeth Elliot: Every evening one or the other of our parents would tuck us into bed at night, each individual child. And whoever was the one, whether it was my father or my mother, we would always sing, sing a hymn together. And then either my father or my mother would pray for us and we would be given an opportunity to pray also. So those were just routine, nobody ever thought there was ever anything strange or unusual about that. And then every single morning after breakfast we also had hymn singing, Bible reading and prayer.

And my brother Dave and I made a personal profession of faith when I was ten and he was nine. This was in a Philadelphia church. I think I felt duty bound to get saved under this preacher that was speaking that evening, so I stood up and accepted Christ, loudly.

Years later, I looked back and thought, Well, that really wasn't the first time. I had put it down in my Bible a few times before that, but I just wanted to make sure--you know, how many times you need to make sure that you belong to Christ. So when I was 10 was the last time that I felt duty bound to make sure that it was a public profession. So it was a very strong Christian home for which all of us are unutterably thankful.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: And actually, I have had the blessing of also growing up in a strong Christian home, though my parents were first generation believers--did not come from truly Christian homes. They came to know the Lord shortly before they married. And yet God gave them the desire and the wisdom to know they needed to lead their children into a relationship with Christ.

So from the time we were very little...and you have to understand I'm the firstborn of seven children, the first six of us were born in my parents' first five years of marriage. So there were six children age five and under, and even at that early stage with many little children, my parents made a priority of taking some time out of each day to gather us together. Or, I say each day, I don't know that it was every day, but it was certainly a habit, a priority that we would sit down and listen to the Scripture together.

There was a wonderful children's devotional book that came out, was first published in those years, called Leading Little Ones to God and it was taking children doctrinally and chronologically through the Scripture. And it was as we were in the process of going through that book as a family, for our family devotional time, that the Lord first touched my heart and made me conscience of my need for a Savior. And actually my first conscious memory is at the age of four of trusting Christ, there by myself at naptime, next to my bed in my own bedroom--and trusting Christ to save me.

There have been points since then that I have wondered, Did I know enough, did I have enough theological groundedness, was this a true conversion? But I go back and realize, first of all, conversion is not based on what we do. It's based on what Christ has done. And that really was the point at which I first trusted Christ as my Savior and that I really--even at that young age--became a new creature. It's been a process of growth and learning to know the heart and the ways of God since then, but all really beginning for me at that point, at the age of four.

Lisa Barry: What were some of the things that your parents did growing up to help nurture your love for God?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: You know, they didn't have in those days all the books and tapes and seminars and conferences and helps that are available to parents today. They really trusted God to show them how they should bring up our family. I think one of the most important things was not only this matter of a set-apart time for family devotions--I have to say honestly with that many children and as we got older with an age range, it wasn't always easy to have meaningful family devotion times, though we knew it was a priority just because they set apart that time.

But perhaps equally important was the fact that we just talked about spiritual matters in the course of everyday life. This was not a compartment of our lives, but my parents talked easily and naturally in the course of everyday life about the Word of God, the ways of God. They were always making application of spiritual truth to our lives.

Then I think another major thing was that we were always seeing lives changed by the Gospel right in front of our eyes. My parents always had people in our home, and I want to say always is hardly an overstatement. There were certainly, frequently guests at our dinner table, overnight guests. My mother has an incredible gift for hospitality and knowing how to make people feel welcome. We were always watching people be transformed by the Gospel.

My dad would witness to anything that moved. People sometimes said maybe he was a little more aggressive at that than what they might have felt comfortable with. They called it buttonholing people. But he had been so transformed himself as a young man by the power of the Gospel that he just could not imagine not telling others what he had found in Christ.

So we were always hearing the stories at the dinner table, sometimes meeting the people themselves who had come to know the Lord through my father. He was not a preacher by the way, he was a businessman, a layman, but we were seeing the power of the Gospel that changed lives.

I really think, Lisa and Elisabeth, that that made such a difference in my growing up compared to many of the young people that grew up with me in Christian school, in my local church, many of whom today as adults do not have a heart for God. But I think in many cases they heard things talked about at church that they never saw lived out in a vital way in their own homes.

Lisa Barry: Elisabeth, as Nancy talked about missionaries coming to their home, that was a very common occurrence in your home as well. Can you tell me about a particular missionary that came to visit that really impacted your life?

Elisabeth Elliot: I could tell you about any number of them. I remember my brother Dave saying, "We always seem to have suitcases bumping down the stairs," because we had so many missionaries who came to stay with us. It was taken for granted in the church that my parents belonged to--whenever there was anybody who was even remotely looking like a missionary--it was taken for granted that the Howard family would take them home.

My mother did her very best to try to encourage other younger couples to realize what a terrible mistake they were making by not being willing to take these people home to their homes, because missionaries can bless your home in a way that nobody else can do. Of course, the answer always was, "Well, we don't have a big house, we don't have enough money, we don't have a guestroom," and all that. Well we didn't have a big house, we didn't have a lot of money, but we did have a guestroom--always, no matter what, even if we had to double up we had a guestroom. It was always ready.

Lisa Barry: Can you tell me of a particular missionary that stayed at your house?

Elisabeth Elliot: Yes, you asked me that and I just went over everything else but that. I'd like to say Betty Scott Stam, and I have talked many times about Betty Scott Stam, because I believe that she was one of the people who visited our home. But I'm really not positive about that because I learned the story of John and Betty Stam later on, I sometimes think, Well maybe I just added that. But at any rate, she was one. She belonged to a very well-known Christian missionary family and I'm sure her father had sat at our dinner table.

And then there was a Chinese man...I'm trying to think what his name was. His motto was, "No Bible, no breakfast." He would remind us children of that every time when we would come to breakfast. He would ask us if we had read our Bible before we came. His motto for his family was, "No Bible, no breakfast." Leland Wang was his name, W-A-N-G, a very sweet, cute man. We just loved it when he came.

Then there was a man named Russell Abel who was a missionary in the South Pacific. He used to give us what he called "airplane rides." We loved him because he would put us in a chair and then he would hoist the chair up above his head and swing us around. So things like that stuck in our minds probably much more than the great biblical things that they were talking about with my parents.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: One of my favorite memories with a man of God visiting in our home was not a missionary but a preacher. His name was Dr. Hyman Appleman. He was the Russian Jewish evangelist under whom my dad was converted in 1950, and he visited in our home. I can still remember hearing him and my dad praying together--Dr. Appleman with his very thick Jewish Russian accent pouring out his heart before the Lord. And I think even as children we were so impacted by this evidence of holy men of God who really knew how to talk to God and took God seriously. What an incredible thing that was for us growing up in that environment.

Elisabeth Elliot: I remember Hyman Appleman staying at our home, too. At that time we lived in New Jersey but we had lived in Philadelphia. Where did you live?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: I grew up in the Philadelphia area.

Elisabeth Elliot: What was your father's business?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: He was in the insurance business.

Elisabeth Elliot: Well, I'm sure my father knew your father.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: That may well have been. My dad of course has been with the Lord for a number of years, and of course Dr. Appleman as well.

I think of this thing of missionaries, too, and one of my memories is on the wall of our breakfast room we had a map of the world with bulletin board material around it and little pins where there were missionaries that my parents knew or that in some way we were involved in praying for or supporting, and with pieces of yarn connected to the outer edge with their photos. These were people that my parents wanted to have us make a connection with to see God's heart for the world.

I still remember on Sunday afternoons at the lunch table. That was typically the time that my dad would bring down missionary letters and would read them to the family so we would keep up with what God was doing in and through some of these missionaries that we felt like were our missionaries. That was a valuable part of giving us a heart for God's work in the world.

Lisa Barry: Well again we're out of time so I'll have to break in here, but Nancy, what a great idea. Most of us can't take our children around the world, but we can expose them to missions in this very practical way.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss has been our special guest these last few days and I'm happy to say you'll be hearing more from her in the weeks to come. Two things that I especially appreciate about Nancy are #1 she is understanding and #2 she is practical. When you hear her speak or read her books you will immediately sense that she understands you and then she'll help you determine what your next step ought to be.

That's exactly what you'll find in the video entitled "The Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free." In this straightforward three-part video Nancy exposes 50 lies that place women in bondage. More importantly, she shows you how to counter those lies with the truth that will set you free. For information on how to get a copy for yourself, give us a call toll free. Our number is 1-800-759-4JOY. You can call any time day or night, 1-800-759-4569. If you prefer to write, our postal address is:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. Or, dial up our Web site at gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible and is supported by the generous gifts of people like you. Thanks for doing your part.

Tomorrow Elisabeth talks candidly about the importance of contentment. It's a message we all need to hear, so make it a point to join us next time for another Gateway To Joy.