Evon Hedley has been a big part of Lake Avenue Church for over 50 years. He has served in many capacities. I am honored to share his story with you.
Evon was born in Brantford, Ontario - the same town where Wayne Gretzky was born. He was born in a cottage, the eldest of four children.
"The General Secretary of the YMCA, Chief Williamson, took an interest in me. He was a 60 year old man and would walk home from High School with me. He would give me side jobs, which were helpful during the Great Depression since any money I earned helped to put food on the family table. He was always giving me Bible tracts which I would promptly throw away, until one day he gave me a tract that had a dollar bill in it. That's when he got my attention! I read the tract that told me about the good news of Jesus Christ and how I was lost and in need of a Savior. I learned to love the guy.
"Around that time five Baptist churches in Brantford got together and did a two-week evangelistic campaign. They brought a unique woman preacher who was the granddaughter of General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. Her name was Evangeline Booth and she was a great preacher. I was seated in the back of the balcony with some other guys as she spoke about Zacchaeus. She was pointing at us saying, 'Zacchaeus come down.' She was looking at me. I knew what I had to do. So I went down."
Evon shared how there were so many seekers and not enough counselors. "I waited around but nobody knew I was there and nobody paid attention to me, but the Lord did. I knelt down in the corner and prayed to receive the Savior. I didn't receive a New Testament, the Gospel of John or anything, but that night my name was written down in heaven."
Immediately Evon became interested in the Christian life.
"I told Chief Williamson that I found it hard to talk to people about Jesus and he responded, 'Oh, don't worry about that. You have to learn to walk the Christian life. Then you'll learn to talk afterwards.' That was very good advice," said Hedley.
Soon he joined the Christian group at his High School and learned more about the Bible. Chief Williamson gave him a nice Bible on his 17th birthday and within a year he was helping lead the group. When he graduated from High School college was not an option since there was no money for that in his family. Evon would take different jobs to get by.
He continued, "During that time we formed an interfaith prayer group in the city and would meet on Saturday nights at the YWCA. We called it the Young Peoples' Prayer Group which later changed to Youth Fellowship with the slogan "Brantford's Youth for Christ!" We would kneel and pray for the youth in our city. After a while we started having youth rallies after our Sunday evening service in a big church downtown. It was quite successful.
"A dear lady suggested we broadcast the rallies on the radio and volunteered to pay for it. It cost$15 a week for 90 minutes. This led us to neighboring cities asking them to organize youth rallies in their communities. I was asked by the executive committee to become the first staff member. When other cities joined, we formed the Canadian Youth Fellowship. The rallies grew from 500 to 1600 people so we had to move locations. Soon activities greatly reduced because of WW II. I was able to keep an eye on the organization since I served locally in the Air Force.
"During the war, my girlfriend and I got married. I had 66 years of married life with Jean for which I am very grateful. By the time we came back from the War the American Youth for Christ organization started coming into different parts of Canada. So we decided to join them. We became good friends with Youth for Christ USA. Billy Graham, Torrey Johnson, Bob Cook and Ted Engstrom came to share at our rallies and they invited us to come to the Youth for Christ convention in the U.S. It was such a great time in my life. We saw many young girls and guys become followers of Christ."
Ted Engstrom (who also later attended Lake) became the president of Youth for Christ and invited Evon to work with him as the executive director of the International Office in Wheaton, Illinois. They had six wonderful years together and became very close friends. After working with him and Youth for Christ, he followed Ted out to California at his invitation to be the Director of Development for World Vision. Ted became Executive Vice President of World Vision under Bob Pierce the founder and President. Hedley's main task in both organizations was to find the money to pay the bills. He found it to be a sacred calling.
Evon decided eventually to go back to Illinois because the cost of living in California was very expensive. When he moved back he served at the Christian Businessmen's Committee International in the Chicago area. Their mission was to reach their fellow businessmen for Christ. He was the chief staff man for them and had a staff of seven in the office. He was there for nine years and had a great time. He met a lot of wonderful Christian men from the U.S. and Canada and also overseas as he was given the opportunity to travel the world. During this time he and Jean had two daughters, Suzie and Marna, who now wonderfully care for him in many ways. Suzie lives in Montana with her husband and three sons, and Marna lives in Pasadena with her husband and three sons.
"While we lived in Illinois we joined the Wheaton Bible Church and were very active there. Jean was in the choir and I was an elder and usher. When we decided to return to California, one of the elders told me that if we planned to live in Pasadena there was only one church we should consider and that was Lake Avenue Church. We came in 1963 and right away Pastor Ortlund lassoed me to be the head usher and gave me different assignments. I've had a wonderful time in various areas of leadership at Lake, both in Sunday School classes and on almost every committee they've had. I served for four years on the ministry council, but when they invited me for a second term I responded, 'No, I think being 80 years old I should move off and let some young people serve.' "
Evon had a great time serving with Ray Ortlund and Gordon Kirk and their staffs. He gladly served on several search committees and was chair of the search committee that brought Roger Bosch to Lake's staff.
"These past seven years with Pastor Greg Waybright have been wonderful as well. Pastor Greg shared with me that in every move he's made there has been an older man on the committee and in the process that has influenced his decision. In this case it was I. I was honored to hear that and it has been joyful fellowship all the way around.
"One of the things I've most enjoyed throughout the years is mentoring young men. I always thought of my mentoring session not as a Bible study or a prayer meeting but rather application of the Bible. I like to encourage them and see where they are, helping them in areas where they need help. We would find a passage to help solve it as well as pray. Most times I have met the guys over a meal or in the car."
He always felt it was a two way street. Not only was he strengthened and encouraged by them, but they have helped him with his perspective on life, especially in a youthful manner. "They helped me relate with them and understand today's culture. At the end of our time a few of these men were naming their sons Evon! One of them actually named his son Nicholas Evon, switching my first and middle name. So, it's been fun that way!"
Although Evon has gone through some challenging times, it has been easy for him to share his blessings with others. God has always blessed him with so much.
"People ask me if I knew Billy Graham. He was really a gracious man; I can say that he knew me. We worked together many years ago. A mutual friend, who also worked for Youth for Christ, asked him in a very bold tone, 'Billy, how much time do you spend in prayer?' " Evon continued, "I was so embarrassed I almost crawled under the table. Billy graciously responded with all the details of his daily schedule, 'I would preach my heart out and see the people come and accept the invitation of the Savior. Then at the end of the day I would fall into bed. Whether I was having breakfast, in a meeting, or preaching, I had an open line to heaven. I leave the phone off the hook so I can talk to God and He can talk to me.' I thought to myself, wow - I want to have a prayer life like that."
In conclusion I asked Mr. Hedley to share one bit of advice. He said, "Don't let your relationship with the local church, and through the local church the Lord, become cold and distant. Keep active, keep into the Bible, day by day and pray."