BIOGRAPHY – DON RICHARDSON
 Canadian-born Don Richardson spent his youth in three provinces of Canada: Prince Edward Island, Ontario and British Columbia. He began his walk with the Lord at a Youth For Christ rally in 1952. Both he and his late wife, Carol Joy [Soderstrom], graduated from Prairie Bible Institute, Alberta, and completed training at Wycliffe’s Summer Institute of Linguistics.
In 1962, under sponsorship of World Team (formerly Regions Beyond Missionary Union), Don and Carol embarked on a missionary career in Irian Jaya (formerly Dutch New Guinea). They served for 15 years among the Sawi, a Stone Age tribe of cannibal-headhunters who valued treachery as an ideal. Don designed an alphabet suited to their language, authored 19 primers, taught the tribesmen to read in their native tongue and translated the New Testament into Sawi. More than half of the Sawi came to Christ.
Don is a best-selling author. His first book, PEACE CHILD, tells the dramatic story of how the Richardsons were able to communicate the Gospel to the Sawi. LORDS OF THE EARTH documents the trials of their colleagues among the Yali, another Irian Jaya tribe. ETERNITY IN THEIR HEARTS, Don’s third book, presents case histories of the way God prepares cultures to receive the Gospel. Don’s fourth book, SECRETS OF THE KORAN, enables readers to know the Koran better than many Muslims.
Since 1977 Don has served as “Minister-at-Large” for World Team. He is an ordained pastor and holds an honorary doctorate of literature from Biola University. He speaks at more than 40 missions conferences per year and has spoken in all 50 U.S. states and in 36 countries. In addition, Don is a frequent instructor in a course called “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” and on various college and seminary campuses.
Don is the father of four grown children, all serving the Lord. Following the passing of his first wife in early 2004, Don wed Carol Joyce Abraham of Bend, Oregon in July 2005. Carol’s ministry includes speaking to women’s groups, music solos, teaching, and hospitality. |
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