‘”Experiencing God” Almost Never Happened’: The Blackabys’ Story

Millions of people around the world are familiar with the book “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God,” but they probably don’t know that its author, Henry Blackaby, never intended to write it.

On this Father’s Day episode of GPS: God. People. Stories., Henry’s son, Richard, shares memories of his father and the story behind the global best-seller.

You can connect with us through email at gps@billygraham.org or on Billy Graham Radio on Facebook. 

Transcript

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Richard Blackaby:
00:00:01 He said, ‘I want to live my Christian life so victoriously, so joyfully, so powerfully, that my kids all look at my life and say, “If that is what it looks like to be a Christian, then I want to be one too.”’

Jim Kirkland: In honor of Father’s Day, we sat down with Dr. Richard Blackaby. His father was the late Henry Blackaby, who wrote what is arguably one of the most influential Christian books of the last 35 years: Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God.

Richard:
00:00:32 Experiencing God almost never happened. I mean, it wouldn’t have happened unless God was just really determined to get that in print.

Jim: Richard is going to share memories of his dad and the story behind the book, Experiencing God, on this episode of GPS: God. People. Stories. It’s an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I’m Jim Kirkland.

In addition to hearing Richard Blackaby talk about the godly example his father set for him, you’re also going to hear Billy Graham offer us fathers some advice.


Billy Graham: 
00:01:04 Often fathers want the sons to be clones of themselves. Don’t try too hard to create your son in your image. Give your children an identity of their own. Help them be themselves. Let them make their decisions concerning Christ. Pray for them. Set an example before them. Teach them the things of God.

Jim: You’ll hear more from Billy Graham about godly parenting and the importance of forgiveness later in this episode. You can also learn more about God’s love and forgiveness right now at our website. In fact, any time you have questions, pay us a visit at FindPeaceWithGod.net. That’s FindPeaceWithGod.net. And, any time you’d rather speak with someone, they’re waiting for you at the 24/7 Billy Graham prayer line: 855-255-7729. Here’s perhaps an easier way to remember it: 855-255-PRAY. That’s 855-255-PRAY.

Intro: GPS: God. People. Stories.

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Jim: Henry Blackaby was born in British Columbia, Canada, in 1935. 

Richard:
00:02:24 He grew up with a real love for God and a high respect for who God was. And, I think he just settled early on as a young man that whatever God said he was going to do and wasn’t going to complain to Him—the greatest privilege in all the world was to be able to serve God.

Jim: While studying at seminary, Henry met his wife, Marilynn. They would have five children together, with Richard being the oldest. 

Richard:
00:02:49 In one sense, I was around them more than any of the other kids and got to minister with my dad a lot, and see the impact on other people’s lives.

Jim: As a senior pastor, Richard’s dad had a particular space in his heart for college students. 

Richard:
00:03:05 The biggest demographic in our church was always university students. And of course, their number one question was, How do I know God’s will? I don’t know what major to have, what career to have, who to marry—all the big questions. 

Jim: God seemed to give Henry the ability to answer those questions in a way that made sense to college students. So, he began traveling all over Canada. That’s what eventually led to his writing the book, Experiencing God.


Richard:
00:03:36 People would say, Well, Henry, we really want you to talk about how to know God’s will because you just have a good way of explaining that. And one day, a publisher was in the room and heard him and came up afterward and said, Henry, I’ve never heard anybody explain it that way. Have you ever thought about writing a book?

Jim: No, Henry had never considered writing a book. Richard says with his dad’s busy schedule, he didn’t think he had the time … and, honestly, really didn’t have the desire, but the publisher persisted. 

Richard:
00:04:06 The publisher assigned an editor to my dad and basically said, Just follow that man around, record everything he says, and get a transcript if you have to, but get this into a book. And so, Experiencing God almost never happened. I mean, it wouldn’t have happened unless God was just really determined to get that in print. ’Cause my dad never intended to be an author, but it was a message that God really wanted to be made available to people. And so, just knowing all the work and effort that went into just getting him to put those teachings down on paper, you realize that had to be a God thing.

Jim: When it came time to come up with a title for the book, the publisher had a suggestion; it was: Knowing God.

Richard:
00:04:52 My dad just said, No, I don’t want to just to be a bunch of information about God. You can know facts; you can know information, but you experience a person. And he said, I want them to experience God, not just know more about Him.

Jim: That idea of ‘experiencing’ God was something that was meeting a felt need with people. And Richard saw it firsthand when he was asked to give a preview of his dad’s book at a ministry conference a few months before it was published in 1990. For the preview event, he was given a small classroom.

Richard:
00:05:28 All six chairs are taken, but now people are going up and down the hallway, pulling chairs in from other rooms, hauling them back to our room, and now there’s no more room for seats. People are literally sitting on the floor. This was a room that had windows to the outside and a little kind of walkway outside the room, and so people have opened the windows and they’re standing outside the room listening through the windows. 

Jim: When the conference administrators heard about the huge crowd gathering, they moved the meeting into a bigger room, but it still wasn’t big enough; there were more than 250 people who had come to learn more.


Richard:
00:06:05 No one has heard of me; no one’s heard of my dad. It’s just this conference about experiencing God, but … there’s just something about knowing and experiencing God, knowing His will, that just resonates to the deepest core of people’s lives.

Jim: That day at the ministry conference was just the start of seeing how people would react to such an essential message. Henry’s publisher planned to print 5,000 copies of Experiencing God. But then, something amazing happened. 

Richard:
00:06:34 They couldn’t print them fast enough. They were selling 500,000 copies a year and it starts selling millions.

Jim: To date, the book has sold more than 8 million copies in English and has been translated into 80 other languages. Not long after its first publication, Henry and Richard began to hear stories about how the book was changing people’s lives. 

Richard:
00:06:57 Person after person would say, ‘I’ve been a Christian all of my adult life, but I had no idea you could experience God. I thought you just went to church and you heard about sermons about God, just sang songs about God. I had no idea God actually wanted to relate to me.’ And some people said it was like, ‘My Christian life had been in black and white all my life, and then I realized that Christian life’s supposed to be in HD color. And, suddenly it was just came alive, and I realized that there was always supposed to be far, far more than what I was experiencing.’

Jim: About 15 years later—after Experiencing God had gone worldwide—the publisher asked Richard to update the book.  

Richard:
00:07:37 The original book was actually taken from transcripts of my dad teaching it. My dad was in front of an audience teaching this. It got transcribed, put into a book. And so, on the one hand, it was very dynamic because it’s being presented in a live audience setting, and so he’s speaking as a speaker would, and it’s coming across that way. But the flip side of that was that when you write a book, you look at what you said and you realize, Oh, I’ve already used that word a couple of times. I’ll use a different word, or, I’m not sure that that’s really clear, I’ll say it in a better way.

Jim: In the midst of this process, Richard realized something.

Richard:
00:08:17 And I just said to my wife, Look at these pages! I can’t believe this is like a fabulous bestseller, because it’s certainly not in the way it was written. Clearly, it’s the message; it’s anointed truths from God that God blessed.

Jim: During the revisions, Henry was busy traveling, so he was more than happy to allow Richard to edit the book.

Richard:
00:08:38 He was never a control freak by any means. He was happy for you to take things and just make it so, and I knew him so well that I felt pretty confident that I could put things the way he would—or I’d heard him answer a lot of those questions many times, I knew exactly what he would say. For the most part, my dad was happily moving on to the next thing God had for him. It was my privilege just to be able to organize some things and update them and help him that way and to try to just preserve and keep fresh the things God had given him.

Jim: But in 2013, tragedy struck. While he was driving, Henry suffered a heart attack. He became disoriented and he couldn’t figure out his way home. 

Richard:
00:09:20 The heart attack should have killed him and then driving and having a heart attack, he should have crashed and been killed, but for some just God reason he survived that. He ended up driving the wrong direction, going down the highway confused. He was missing for about 28 hours, driving around in south Georgia, and the police are looking for him.

Jim: At first, Richard and his family thought Henry had been killed. 

Richard:
00:09:45 I had someone in my office track his ministry credit card. I thought, Well, maybe if he gets gas or something, we’ll know where he was. And so eventually he did get gas, but he had gone missing in Atlanta, and the gas station we saw was in Houston, Texas. And we just thought, This man did not drive all through the night from Atlanta to Houston. 

Jim: Eventually, they discovered that that Houston location was just where a gas station in Atlanta processed their credit cards. Henry was still alive. But after he was found, he underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery. In the years that followed, Henry began to struggle with dementia.

Richard:
00:10:25 This great mind that had been so insightful into God’s Word and just how to walk with Him. He would forget a lot of things, a lot of people, a lot of events. I remember at one point, Dad just asking me and saying, Richard, how many American presidents have I met? That’s like, Dad, you’d think that’d be something you’d remember if you’d been to the White House or someplace like that, but he couldn’t really remember anymore.

Jim: While traveling on speaking engagements with his father, Richard watched his gradual decline. 
Richard:
00:10:54 I just started to see him slipping here and there and just saying something that wasn’t quite accurate or just being off on something. And I’d kind of point that out, say, Hey, Dad, I don’t know if you noticed, but tonight you said this, and it’s actually that. And he joked about having a historian, his son, to keep him accurate, but it just became obvious that he was not able to do what he used to do. His mind just couldn’t deliver a 45-minute sermon anymore. And then he couldn’t do a 30-minute sermon. And then he struggled to do a five-minute devotional. And, I kept trying to help him just do what he could still do as time went on.

Jim: Richard started to think that his dad needed to retire. 

Richard:
00:11:35 But every time he would show up somewhere, even if it was just to be there with me while I spoke, people would tearfully just want to come and tell him how that material had changed their life. I just found that people just wanted the opportunity to thank him for how God had used him to bless them so much. And so we extended his ministry as long as we could, just ’cause people were just thrilled just to get to be around him.

Jim: Eventually, though, it became too difficult for Henry to travel. Throughout his ministry, Henry and Marilynn had visited 115 countries for speaking engagements. And Henry had written 50 more books after Experiencing God. Richard is thankful for all his dad was able to do in his life. 

Richard:
00:12:18 You know, you watch the greatest man of God I’ve ever known, and now he’s just an older man with dementia, and he always knew who I was. He knew who his kids were, but he never knew what day it was.

Jim: Henry Blackaby passed away on Feb. 10 of this year. Richard says he wants his dad to be remembered as a humble man who ‘really believed God was real.’ To drive that point home at his dad’s funeral, Richard told about a particular event at which his dad was speaking and the man who was going to introduce him. 

Richard:
00:12:52 The emcee was quite nervous that he might not introduce him properly, that with all the accolades and degrees and books and experiences, that he might leave something important out and somehow dishonor my dad. So, he had about a three-page printout that he’d gotten from the website, and he’s saying, Now, Henry, I’ve got all this, your education, where you’ve served, and your books, anything else? I just want to make sure I don’t miss anything. And clearly this guy is thinking he’s going to have to give this really long introduction. And finally, my dad just said, OK, here’s what I want you to say¬—when it’s time to introduce me, I want you to say, Here’s Henry Blackaby, a servant of God.

Jim: Great! Then the emcee asked what else should he say.

Richard:
00:13:34 And my dad had said, After you say I’m a servant of God, what else is there to say? What more could you add to that? And I think that captured my dad. He felt it was the greatest honor that he could be a servant of God. 

Jim: Yet, Henry knew he wasn’t perfect. 

Richard:
00:13:49 He often said, I trusted my family into the hands of God. I knew God would show me what to do with each of my kids, and God did. He didn’t always have the time. He was very busy. It would be easy to kinda nitpick some things in his fathering, but yet I feel like God really honored his heart for God. And my dad used to say, I just believe that if I will do all that God wants me to do, that God will make up the difference in my kids. If I feel like God wants me to travel somewhere, God will be there with my kids and minister to them. You know, you can’t really substitute the presence of your father in your life, but God did work in all of our lives, and God did make the difference up.

Jim: As Henry set an example of faithfulness to God, his children followed.

Richard:
00:14:36 He said, ‘I want to live my Christian life so victoriously, so joyfully, so powerfully, that my kids all look at my life and say, “If that is what it looks like to be a Christian, then I want to be one too.”’

Jim: And that’s exactly what happened. Henry’s legacy lives on in his five children. All are in full-time ministry. And all his grandchildren have become Christians, and many of his great-grandchildren now are choosing to follow Christ.

Richard:
00:15:02 When my parents did what God told them to do, other people were blessed by it. And so I thought, Well, what a great way to live your life. Now I ask myself: So how do I live my life so that my kids and my grandkids conclude: If that is what it looks like when you’re all in with God, we want to be all in, too.

Jim: Richard Blackaby has two sons and a daughter—they’re all in ministry. One’s a pastor and the two others work at Blackaby Ministries International with Richard. 

Richard:
00:15:32 I’ve been asked a number of times, Well, what is your greatest accomplishments as you look at your life? I think I’ve written around 40 books or I’ve done different things, but every solitary time, the first thing I’ll say is, My kids grew up to love Jesus, and they’re good parents, they’re good spouses, and they love their parents, and they love the church. And I would say that hands down, everything else pales in my view compared to that. More and more, I just prize that my kids love their parents and they love their parents’ God.

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Jim: Both Henry and Richard Blackaby have spent their lives loving their Heavenly Father while being godly earthly fathers. And that Heavenly Father they speak of is your  Heavenly Father. And if you haven’t yet grasped the love that your Heavenly Father has for you, I encourage you to go to our website: FindPeaceWithGod.net. That’s FindPeaceWithGod.net. 

In just a moment, Richard Blackaby shares a bit of Biblical wisdom for fathers.

Voice-over: You’re listening to GPS: God. People. Stories., a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 

Billy Graham:
00:16:53 Often fathers want the sons to be clones of themselves. Don’t try too hard to create your son in your image. He may have gifts and aptitudes altogether different than yours, and may be more important than yours, better than yours.

Voice-over: Billy Graham …

Billy Graham:
00:17:10 Give your children an identity of their own. Help them be themselves. Let them make their decisions concerning Christ. Pray for them. Set an example before them. Teach them the things of God. Jesus understood young people. He loved them. He accepted them. He said, “He that cometh [unto] me. I will in no wise cast out.” And the miracle of the Gospel is not that you accepted Christ, but that Christ is willing to accept you—sins and all. 

Jim: Amen. Jesus is the perfect example for all fathers—and for all parents, for that matter. He will lead us in our parenting role when we totally surrender ourselves to Him. If you would like to know more about making Jesus Christ Lord of your life and surrendering your life to Him, we can help you with that. Go to: FindPeaceWithGod.net. That’s FindPeaceWithGod.net.

Our guest this week has been Richard Blackaby, president of Blackaby Ministries International and the oldest child of another great man of God: Henry Blackaby. We spoke with Richard at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove when he was hosting a conference entitled, “The Ways of God.” There are conferences going on all the time. You can learn more about the conferences that are scheduled at this beautiful mountainside retreat in North Carolina by visiting TheCove.org. Before we wrap up, Richard has one final piece of encouragement for dads.


Richard:
00:18:44 There’s a lot of men who feel guilty because they have not been the man of God that perhaps they know they could have been. But the key is, you want to obviously do the best you can, but you’re going to ultimately have to trust your kids into God’s care and trust that God can guide you to know what to do. And if you’ve wasted some years where you wish you could have some years back to do it over again, unfortunately, you can’t go back, but boy, you can sure be doing it right now and you can get today right. So don’t beat yourself up over years gone by, but get serious with God to say, God, but today, how can I be the father that my kids need me to be. Help make whatever adjustments, Lord, I need to make in my life so that my kids get all the man of God that they deserve to have from their dad.

Jim: Wow, an excellent word. That is Richard Blackaby. We thank him for his insights and for sharing with us about his very special father, Henry Blackaby. If you’re a dad, happy Father’s Day, and we pray that it will be a good one with your family, if at all possible.

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Please make sure you’re subscribed to GPS, so you do not miss a single episode. We post every other week on Wednesdays. I’m Jim Kirkland. This is GPS: God. People. Stories. It’s an outreach of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association—Always Good News.

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