Stephen Olford - The Secret of Soul Winning

Available Titles by Stephen F. Olford

Anointed Expository Preaching
Basics for Believers
The Christian Message for Contemporary Life
Expository Preaching Outlines, Vols. 17
Going Places with God
The Grace of Giving
Heart Cry for Revival
Not I, But Christ
The Sword of Suffering
The Tabernacle: Camping with God
The Way of Holiness
Windows of Wisdom

For these and other titles, including e-books and software,
please call 8008432241.

Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

Dr. Stephen F. Olford

March 29, 1918August 29, 2004

DR. STEPHEN OLFORD WAS the founder of Olford Ministries International and the Stephen Olford Center for Biblical Preaching. He was best known for his expository preaching and pastoral leadership.

Stephen Olford was raised in Angola, the son of missionaries Frederick and Bessie Olford. In Angola he committed his life to Christ and witnessed firsthand the transforming power of God and His Word.

Stephen spent his college years in the United Kingdom. A crisis experience led to his full surrender to the Lord and his call into the ministry. After receiving ministry training, Dr. Olford was appointed an Army Scripture Reader during World War II. Later he launched a Young People's Christian Fellowship in Newport, South Wales. After the war, Dr. Olford was involved in extensive evangelistic and preaching ministry throughout the UK and overseas.

In 1953, Dr. Olford's years of pastoral ministry began by serving Duke Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Surrey, England (19531959) and then Calvary Baptist Church in New York City (19591973). He pioneered a Christian TV program, Encounter, in New York; and his Sunday morning services were broadcast around the world on radio.

Already ministering to preachers through his extensive teaching, preaching, and writing ministry, Stephen Olford established the Institute for Biblical Preaching in 1980. Dr. and Mrs. Olford, along with their son David, moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1985 to develop a training center that would equip and encourage preachers and teachers of God's Word. In 1988, the Stephen Olford Center for Biblical Preaching was dedicated in Memphis.

Dr. Stephen Olford was recognized nationally and internationally for his powerful exposition of Scripture and his Christ-centered ministry. In recent years he was known as a mentor and model to thousands of preachers, teachers, and pastors in the United States and around the world. Dr. Olford received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and distinctions. As an ordained Baptist minister and a conservative evangelical, he ministered across many denominational, cultural, and racial lines. In addition to his extensive preaching ministry, Dr. Olford authored numerous books and preaching resources.

Dr. Olford's influence on thousands of pastors and preachers cannot be measured. He has had a significant role in the lives of many, including his longtime friend, Dr. Billy Graham. He has been called The Preacher's Preacher.

Dr. Stephen Olford went home to be with the Lord August 29, 2004. He was a beloved evangelist, pastor, teacher, preacher, leader, mentor, and friend. He was also a loving father, husband, grandfather, and family man in every sense of the word. Dr. Olford and his wife, Heather, were married for fifty-six years. They have two sons: Dr. Jonathan Olford and his wife, Catherine (three sons), and Dr. David Olford and his wife, Ellen (two daughters).

To learn more about Stephen Olford, please read The Life and Legacy of Stephen Olford by John Phillips (Olford Ministries International, 2006).

BY BILLY GRAHAM

ONCE WHEN LORD TENNYSON was on vacation in a country village, he asked an old Methodist woman, Is there any news?

Well, she replied, there is only one piece of news that I know, and that is that Christ died for my sins.

Tennyson responded, That is old news, and good news, and new news.

The chief duty and privilege of the Christian is soul-winning. The Scriptures say, He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide [atone for] a multitude of sins (James 5:20 KJV).

There are many preachers but few soul-winners. There are many books of sermons but few on soul-winning. In looking through the books in my library, I find many books on doctrine, Christian ethics, and homiletics; but I can count the books on soul-winning on one hand. Perhaps this neglect of the Christian's prime business is one of the causes of the church's failure to capture more men and women for Christ.

John Wesley said to his students, You have only one business, and that is the salvation of souls.

David Brainerd at the close of his life wrote in his diary, I cared not how I lived nor what hardships I went through if I only might gain souls for Christ.

Professor Smeaton of Edinburgh used to say to his students, Gentlemen, reckon your ministry a failure unless souls are won to Christ.

In a day when sects are thriving because their adherents dare to take their message directly to the people, the church must regain the urgency and compulsion of soul-winning, or we fight a losing battle for the minds and hearts of men.

Dr. Stephen Olford...is eminently qualified to give us helpful instruction in the art of soul-winning. Stephen Olford is not only one of the greatest Bible preachers I know but one of the most successful soul-winners I have ever met. I have been in close contact with Dr. Olford for years. We have ministered together on three continents. He is unquestionably one of the most refreshingly radiant Christians I know. He exemplifies in his personal life everything the apostle Paul meant when he spoke of the fruit of the Spirit. He is also a man of great compassion, carrying a burden for the lost.

In this volume Stephen Olford not only tells us what soul-winning is, but he comes directly to the point and tells us how to perform this greatest of all Christian duties.

From a heart that has been strangely and wonderfully warmed by the Spirit of God, he brings us practical suggestions about how to win men to Christ.

I am confident that no one can prayerfully read this book without being a better Christian and without being adequately equipped to convert the sinner from the error of his way, and to save souls from death by the help of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Billy Graham

BY ADRIAN ROGERS

THE BIBLE SAYS THAT the soul-winner is wise. That being so, Stephen Olford was a man greatly endowed with wisdom.

This volume pulsates with holy fire, biblical truth, and spiritual motivation. In my own ministry I have borrowed heavily from it and shared its insights with others in my preaching and personal ministry.

Stephen Olford did not merely practice what he preached, but he preached what he practiced. This volume is not the result of a philosopher sitting behind his desk, nor is it the findings of a scholar who has gathered up materials.