Finishing Well

By Peggy Fletcher

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
—II Timothy 4:7

‍“I want to be accelerating as I cross the finish line.”
—Donovan Bailey, Canadian Sprinter

Where are their weapons?” Ted scanned the dark glasses and expressionless faces of the three bodyguards before turning to our Egyptian friend, Ali—who nodded to the three imposing Iraqis. One by one, they reached into their jackets and flipped open glistening switchblades. “And we know how to use them!” declared the tallest of the three.

It was August, 2003. After the initial euphoria which followed the downfall of Saddam Hussein, conditions in Iraq had begun to deteriorate considerably. The United Nations building in Baghdad had been leveled a few days earlier by a massive truck bomb, killing the U.N. envoy and 22 other people. Ted and I were part of a small team of Pioneers “scouts” who had crossed the blistering desert highway from Amman, Jordan, in search of new ministry opportunities. This was the highlight of a six-nation Middle East trip, the first since Ted’s successful kidney transplant at the Mayo Clinic.

Secretly, Ted hoped to reach Tikrit, where Saddam Hussein was said to be hiding out. “If I can get the $23 million reward for finding Saddam,” Ted laughed, only half joking, “imagine how many missionaries we could send!”

Despite Ted’s determined efforts, we never did reach Tikrit. The highway north of Baghdad proved to be impassably dangerous. Suicide bombers would later destroy three of the restaurants our team visited during their time in Baghdad. Each night, gunfire interrupted our sleep. But when Ted returned home a few days later, he was satisfied that he had pushed the boundaries as far as he could. Once again, he had experienced the front lines of God’s kingdom advance and prayed in faith for Iraqi believers and the future outreach of the gospel. Once again, despite his recent kidney transplant and other human limitations, the Lord had opened new doors of opportunity for future partnerships and ministry teams in a difficult part of the world.

Ted didn’t know it at the time, nor did I, of course, but this would be his final overseas trip.

Numbered Days

Four years earlier, in the summer of 1999, a routine physical revealed that Ted had lost 80 percent of his kidney function—possibly due to a weakened heart. With the probability of dialysis and limited mobility ahead, Ted wanted to travel. More harvest fields were out there, and his desire was to impact as many as he could in his lifetime.

In late 2000, Ted traveled to North Africa and the Middle East with Ken Clary, Ted’s former boss at The Wall Street Journal, who was influenced towards Christ through Ted’s witness. As with many of Ted’s relationships, the two were lifelong friends. Ted later wrote of the trip, “We heard moving testimonies from former Muslims in Sudan, Egypt, and Israel, from Bedouins in the Sinai Desert, and from the Druze in Lebanon.”

Then in July 2001, Ted and Ken, along with our son, John, and our grandson, John Hunt, visited the work of Pioneers’ newest ministry partner—the Evangelical Mission for the Assistance to Fisherman (EMAF) in Santos, Brazil. Their first evening in Brazil, Ted participated in the commissioning service for one of EMAF’s missionaries headed to the state of Maranhao, along Brazil’s northern coast. The next morning, Ted and EMAF’s founder, Marcio Garcia, stood shoulder to shoulder on a cliff overlooking some of Brazil’s coastal islands. Together they envisioned ministry to the least reached villages of that country—and to the world. The moment encapsulated what was happening in the global missions community at the turn of the millennium. Post-World War II mission leaders were passing the baton of leadership. A new generation was stepping forward to take the gospel “from the whole Church to the whole world.”

Marcio, Ted and their companions flew to Salvador and from there spent the next week traveling from island to island in little boats. At each stop, they saw the poverty, alcoholism, illiteracy and broken homes that are prevalent in Brazil’s fishing communities. Yet in the midst of this they observed local missionaries bringing hope through evangelism, discipleship and children’s programs. Hundreds of churches had been planted through this amazing ministry.

While Ted reveled in being on the front lines, the group’s schedule and living conditions in the villages were often rough. At times, Ted struggled to keep pace.

Momentum Builds

As Pioneers’ ministries expanded across Africa, Latin America and Asia, we also continued to strengthen our U.S. office—four candidate orientation programs each year for aspiring missionaries, pre-departure residential training sessions and a growing number of forums for pastors and partners of the ministry. In Australia, Canada, Ghana, New Zealand and Singapore, mobilization efforts were also gaining momentum.

In 2001, Pioneers-USA constructed the Frizen Missionary Training Center, named in honor of Edwin L. (Jack) and Grace Frizen. For nearly 30 years, Jack provided leadership for the International Foreign Mission Association (today called CrossGlobal Link). From 1993 until his homegoing in 2012, Jack served as a Pioneers board member, prayer warrior and dedicated leadership consultant. Jack’s extensive knowledge and connections within the mission world, his mentoring of young leaders and his prayerful personal encouragement to missionaries were all significant contributing factors to the growth and health of the mission.

At the ground breaking for the Training Center, Ted addressed the crowd: “As I look back over the years, I can only say, ‘Thank you, Lord!’ You have blessed us in ways we never dreamed possible. You have given us the desires of our hearts. You have enabled us to recruit a new generation of non-traditional missionaries who are pioneers themselves—young men and women who have a passion for God and an unrelenting desire to make Christ known.”

Just as construction of the Frizen Missionary Training Center was beginning in 2001, the world was shaken by the tragedy of September 11. For churches and mission agencies, these events highlighted the needs of the Muslim world. They also heightened concern for the safety and security of missionary teams in many of the places where Pioneers works.

A New Lease on Life

In January 2002, doctors urged Ted to begin dialysis. Being hooked up to a dialysis machine for four hours at a time, three days a week, was a new kind of challenge for Ted. While he enjoyed getting to know the other patients and sharing with them his hope in Christ, at times he felt restless. He longed to be free to travel and to encourage the missionaries, as well as our much-loved team of financial and prayer supporters. It appeared at first that Ted would not qualify for a kidney transplant due to the condition of his heart. A second opinion from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, however, gave renewed hope. The doctors there expressed their willingness to proceed with a transplant. All that was needed was the right donor.

A close friend of the family, Pat Dyal, had been faithfully praying for Ted’s health for more than a year. When Pioneers began in 1979, Pat had served for two years as a volunteer administrative assistant. Knowing Ted’s need, Pat felt led by the Lord to volunteer as a potential kidney donor. After extensive testing, it was determined that she was an excellent match for the transplant. The transplant took place on April 30, 2002. It proved to be highly successful.

Give Me This Mountain

During his months of recovery, Ted rejoiced in the reports of ministry breakthroughs around the world—former Muslims finding Christ on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, a new group of believers called “The Lord’s Family” forming in Lebanon, and 240 people responding to the gospel in the Foodoo tribe in Benin, where Ted visited just three years before with our son-in-law, Gary Franz. Ted wrote to praying friends, “I do have limitations on overseas travel for a year—we shall see! Like Caleb of old I can now say, ‘Give me this mountain!’ I do not know what mountain God wants to give me at this time, but the Arab world is very much on my heart. I just want to stay involved in this great missionary enterprise, and buy up all the opportunities God makes available to me.”

With our eyes set on outreach in the Arab world, Ted and I made our first overseas trip in two years. We traveled to six Middle Eastern countries in August 2003, visiting Pioneers missionaries and looking for strategic new ministry opportunities. Ted wrote of the trip, “The Spirit of God is moving in Iraq and the Islamic world. It is vital that we recognize the signs and step out in faith to build missionary teams including both local believers and foreign workers.”

On August 30, we returned to Amman, Jordan, exhausted yet excited from the trip. Even though we had to catch a 5 a.m. flight the next day, our Egyptian friend had some people he wanted to introduce to us. Omar, a new Arab believer, and Talah, his fundamentalist Muslim friend, joined us for dinner at the Kan Zeman restaurant in an ancient castle, complete with traditional Arab dishes and live music. Though an extremist, Talah was uniquely prepared by God to listen to the gospel as Ted freely shared it with him. Before we departed that evening, Talah had committed his life to Christ.

Well Done

With Ted’s new kidney functioning so well, dialysis treatments were no longer needed. On November 19, 2003, Ted entered the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, at 2 p.m. for a routine, out-patient procedure to have the fistula on his arm removed, where an artery had been tied off so he could receive dialysis. Ted was released at 4:30 p.m., and as I drove on Interstate 95 toward our home in Hilton Head, South Carolina, Ted made cell phone calls to check in with each of our four children.

By the time we arrived home at 8:30 p.m., Ted was obviously in severe pain. He took some pain medication and went to the bedroom to lie down. Within minutes, he called out for me and said, “Peggy, I think you should call 911.”

As I answered the 911 operator’s questions, I could see that Ted was in serious distress and struggling to breathe. When I hung up, to my surprise, Ted got up out of bed and placed his hands on my shoulders. It was clear he had something to say that was so important that he needed to say it while standing up. Looking me directly in the eyes, Ted spoke his last words—“I want to finish well. . . I love you.” And then he lay back down struggling for another breath, fighting for another moment . . . perhaps hoping that God might grant him another day to live, to serve.

Paramedics arrived within minutes, just as Ted was losing consciousness. Through the oxygen mask, he seemed as if there was something more he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come. I wonder even now if he wasn’t getting his first glimpse of the beauty of God’s glory and the wonder of eternity, and he wanted to tell me.

All attempts to restart Ted’s heart failed, and at 9:57 p.m. my beloved husband and life partner passed from this life into the presence of the Lord. The Certificate of Death listed the immediate cause as a pulmonary embolus, a blood clot that had broken off, possibly resulting from the surgical procedure earlier in the day, and had found its way to his lung, blocking the flow of blood.

Friends and family members gathered from across the country to lay Ted’s body to rest at an early morning grave site service in Orlando, Florida. While a bugler played “Taps,” two Marine Corps honor guards folded the United States flag that draped Ted’s casket. One of the Marines then knelt and presented the flag to me, thanking me—“On behalf of the President of the United States, the Commandant of the Marine Corps and a grateful nation”—for Ted’s service as a Marine during the Korean War. Later, a simple bronze plate would mark the place of his grave, with the verse—“To live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21) written just below Ted’s name.

Hundreds joined us later that morning at a memorial service to celebrate Ted’s life and remember his influence. Harry Fletcher, Ted’s youngest brother and vice president of international ministry for Good News Jail & Prison Ministry, officiated at the service. Many family and friends from around the world gave testimony to Ted’s remarkable life and vision.

A Worthy Cause

Ted Fletcher was a strong and courageous man of God. As a young man, he fought in the Korean War, only to battle heart and kidney disease later in life. He hated to talk about his health, but in his last years Ted endured long hours in doctor’s offices and on kidney dialysis. Being restricted by health issues was hard for him, but he faithfully followed doctors’ orders when he was given “the gift of life” as the recipient of Pat Dyal’s donated kidney. Her gift was a trust, and he never treated it lightly. I keep Ted’s pocket medicine box where the last two pills were left to be taken . . . no more medicine in heaven!

Ted never forgot that life is a gift from the Lord. He lived each day to the fullest and never did anything halfway; instead, he consistently seized opportunities to bless others—his family, friends and strangers, and ultimately the world, with the utmost passion. For over 50 years, Ted’s life was focused on doing God’s will, which for him involved the launch of a mission agency that would send missionaries with the gospel to the ends of the earth. Many times he added one more phone call, one more letter, one more email and one more visit to an already crowded schedule, even at the expense of his own physical comfort.

Upon hearing of Ted’s death, Carin Leroy, one of the first missionaries to join Pioneers in the very earliest days, wrote, “Ted was a visionary. He dreamed of starting a mission that would reach the most unreached peoples of the world, to go to the most difficult places, to plant churches. He wanted to break the typical missions mold and create something unique. His passion was to see many come to Christ, no matter how difficult the task. I remember him saying to us in our early years on the field, when times were tough, ‘It’s a worthy cause.’ He wanted us to look beyond the difficulty to see God’s vision.”

My greatest comfort comes from knowing how much Ted longed for heaven. In the instructions he left for his funeral arrangements, he wrote, “I only want to prepare for that day when I go to be with the Lord. I have had a wonderful life and walk with the Lord for over 51 years. I am ready and anxious to meet the Lord Jesus Christ and to spend all eternity with Him.” Some years earlier, he wrote, “My desire is that I go to heaven at the height of the battle. I want to die climbing.” And so he kept battling and climbing and living “for God’s greater glory” (as he signed his last prayer letter just days before reaching heaven’s shores). Our final trip together to the Middle East marked a fitting conclusion to the earthly journey of a man who was always ready to obey when God came calling.