Stephen F. Olford: Expositor Of The Word
By Roger D. Willmore
Stephen F. Olford went to be with the Lord on August 29, 2004. His life and ministry touched countless people from the pulpit to the pew. He was known for his passionate and powerful expository preaching. His friends and colleagues affectionately called him “Prince of Preachers.” On a more personal level, for almost 35 years Dr. Olford was my friend, mentor, and my father in ministry.
Stephen Olford was no ordinary man. The extraordinary elements that seemed to characterize his life began even before his birth. He was born to missionary parents, Fredrick and Bessie Olford, on March 29, 1918. Fredrick Olford’s basic knowledge of medicine and the experience he had gained on the mission field caused him to anticipate possible complications with the birth of their first child. His concern prompted Fredrick and Bessie to make the thousand-mile trek to the British Colony of Northern Rhodesia. Fred walked every step of the way while Bessie was carried in a hammock by A-Chokwe men.
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The first seventeen years of Olford’s life were spent in the heart of Africa where he witnessed first hand the power of God. His formative years in Africa flavored his preaching for the rest of his life. His sermons were often illustrated with exciting stories of his boyhood adventures and the miracles of God among the A-Chokwe tribe.
At age seventeen Stephen Olford left his home in Angola to live in England, where he would pursue his education to be an engineer. His college thesis project was carburetion. He developed a special carburetion system and took up motorcycle racing to demonstrate the efficiency of his invention. On his way home from a race on a cold rainy night he crashed his motorcycle and lay injured in the road for several hours. Pneumonia quickly set in. Doctors announced: Two weeks to live.
Laying on his death bed, embittered by his rebellion against the will of God and by his impending death, he received a letter from his father who had gone back to Africa to assist with a new missions project. It took tree months for a letter to reach England from Africa. But in God’s sovereignty the letter contained words that would forever change Stephen Olford’s life. His father wrote: Only one life, ‘Twill soon be past, Only what is done for Jesus will last.
Stephen fell under deep conviction. He slipped out of bed, dropped to his knees and cried out to God: Lord you have won and I own you as King of Kings and Lord of Lords…and Lord if you will heal my body I will serve you anywhere, anytime, at any cost. God answered that prayer and for the rest of his life he lived completely for the Glory of God.
Olford served as pastor for 21 years. His first church was Duke Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Surrey (London), England. F.B. Meyer, the noted orator, author and preacher was one of the first pastors of the Duke Street Congregation, which also had ties back to Charles Spurgeon. Following seven fruitful years of ministry at Duke Street, Olford moved from England to the United States in 1959, when he accepted the call to be pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in New York City where he served for 14 years.