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Bill
Wallace was born in 1908, the son of a physician.
Young Bill however, had little interest in medicine and instead
came to love cars and motorcycles. At the age of seventeen,
Wallace's life was changed forever when God led him to submit
his life to missions. On that day, July 5th of 1925, Bill
Wallace accepted the call of God to become a medical missionary
wherever His Master saw fit to lead him.
Ten years
later after finishing medical school and turning down a lucrative
offer of a medical practice in the States, Wallace headed
off to Wuchow, China to become a medical missionary for the
Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In 1935 Bill Wallace left his beloved Knoxville, TN and found
his way to the Stout Memorial Hospital in Wuchow.
The years
that followed were hardly easy in China. Wallace continued
to minister through the Boxer Rebellion, the Japanese invasion
during World War II, and the Communist takeover that followed
the war. Everyone who encountered Wallace found him to be
a tireless laborer in the Master's fields. He had an intense
love for the Lord and those the Lord loved.
In spite
of all that Wallace had done to help the Chinese, the new
communist regime came to see him, as well as all foreigners,
as a threat to their iron grip on the people of China. While
many missionaries heeded the advice of their mission boards
to leave China, Bill Wallace could not bring himself to leave
the people he had come to love. After being accused of espionage
and forced to sign a phony confession, Wallace eventually
was beaten to death in a dark prison cell.
After
Wallace's death, the Communist sought to bury his body in
an unmarked grave to cover up their evil deed. Faithful Christian
Chinese, not fooled by the ruse, found Wallace's body and
laid him to rest in a proper service. They placed a marker
there in Wouchow that simply read, "For Me to Live Is
Christ."
Around
the world there are many memorials to Bill Wallace of China.
Jesse C. Fletcher wrote Bill Wallace of China in
1963, exposing a new generation to this example of selfless
missions. A motion picture based on the book was later released.
In Puchan, Korea there is the Wallace Memorial Hospital. The
Baptist Student Union at the University of Tennessee Medical
Center is named for Wallace. In Knoxville, TN there is the
Wallace Memorial Baptist Church. Wallace's great memorial
is not buildings however. Hundreds of young men and women
have been inspired by his life to take their medical abilities
and use them to the glory of God. May we all remember Bill
Wallace of China and the God he so faithfully served!
Source:
Bill Wallace of China by Jesse C. Fletcher, Timothy
and Denise George, Editors (Broadman and Holman Publishers,
1996).
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