2 May

William Borden

posted by Kaylan Christopher

William Borden was born on November 1, 1887. He lived a privileged life as a child and teenager as the heir to Borden Dairy, Inc. When he was seven years old, he surrendered his life to Christ and dedicated himself to do whatever God wanted with his life.

A 1904 graduate of a private boarding prep school in Chicago, William’s parents gave their 16-year-old son a trip around the world as a graduation present. He traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. During his journey, he felt a growing burden for the hurting people of the world.

William wrote home about his desire to be a missionary. One friend expressed his disappointment that William was throwing his life away to be a missionary. But William wrote in the back of his Bible: “No reserves.”

In 1905, William arrived on the campus of Yale University. The other students knew he was different. One classmate said: “He came to college far ahead, spiritually, of any of us. He had already given his heart in full surrender to Christ and had really done it.”

During his first semester, William began meeting with a classmate to pray before breakfast. Over time, the prayer duo grew and birthed a movement that spread across campus. By the end of his first year, 150 freshmen were meeting for weekly Bible study and prayer. And by the time William was a senior, 1,000 of Yale’s 1,300 students were meeting in these groups.

In college, William made it his habit to seek out “lost” students and bring them to salvation. He founded the Yale Hope Mission, and created an outreach ministry to care for the orphaned and widowed and rescue the homeless and hungry.

One of his friends wrote about him: “He might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street, in a cheap lodging house or some restaurant to which he had take a poor hungry fellow to feed him, seeking to lead men to Christ.”

He made one entry in his journal that described what others saw in him: “Say ‘no’ to self and ‘yes’ to Jesus every time.”

William graduated from Yale in 1909 and went on to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. During seminary, he taught a Sunday School class in a black church and gave thousands of dollars to Christian causes.

In 1912, he graduated from seminary and was ordained that year by Dr. James M. Gray at the Moody Memorial Church. He then set sail for China hoping to work with Muslims. But first, he traveled to Egypt to study with Dr. Samuel Zwemer, a missionary to the Muslim people.

Unfortunately, at the end of 1912, William contracted cerebral meningitis and died only a few months later on April 9, 1913 at the age of 25.

That’s not the end of his story, though. William had influenced dozens to become missionaries because of his challenge. He encouraged hundreds to full surrender of their lives and fortunes to God. He led hundreds of people to a personal relationship and salvation in Jesus.

Prior to his death, Borden had written two more words in his Bible. Underneath the words “No reserves” he had written: “No retreats” and “No regrets.”

Source: Kuykendall, David W. “Profiles of Famous Christians.” 1994: California: http://www.kjvuser.com/profilesoffamouschristians.htm.

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