Missionary’s years in Vietnam made him a ‘Servant on the Edge

http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23367

GARLAND, Texas (BP)--As Americans pulled out of South Vietnam in the face of advancing communist troops in 1975, Korean war veteran-turned-Baptist missionary Sam James faced a gut-wrenching decision: whether to stay with the Vietnamese people he loved or exit with other Americans fleeing the country.

To stay meant confronting the triumphant communists and possibly death or prison. To leave meant abandoning the churches and people in whom he had invested 13 years of life.

James wavered until the last days of South Vietnam. He faced uncertainty, death and injustice all around him as he tried to prepare Christians under his care for the violent and uncertain days ahead.

When he left on one of the last flights out of Vietnam, James didn't know until he returned 14 years later what happened to those he had mentored in faith. snip

As American troops fought to forestall the advancing communist troops, James found that he had to draw boundaries with his own country’s military leaders who wanted to use him for espionage, which he refused to do.