These were just a few of the words and phrases used by friends and family during a Celebration of Life service to describe missions leader and international best-selling author, Floyd McClung, who passed away May 29, 2021. 

The service was hosted by All Nations International and the McClung family on July 24, 2021.  More than 1,100 people attended from around the world via the livestream to celebrate and honor McClung’s life and lavishly worship Jesus, who is worthy of our all. Another few hundred people attended in person at Shoal Creek Community Church, near Kansas City, Missouri (USA).

McClung, founder of All Nations, passed away in Cape Town, South Africa, after an extended illness he had battled since 2016 that left him incapacitated, hospitalized and unable to speak for more than five years.

Before becoming ill, McClung worked in full-time ministry with his wife, Sally, for more than 50 years including serving 35 years with Youth with a Mission and founding All Nations in 1993. He traveled to more than 190 countries, spoke on 100 college and university campuses and published 18 books. 

Floyd was a faithful follower, who “showed us how to follow Jesus right to the end,” said Pete Greig, founder of 24-7 Prayer International and senior pastor of Emmaus Road Churches in the United Kingdom. 

“He (Jesus) is not calling us to be safe Christians, but He is calling forth a generation, who is on fire for Jesus and who hungers so intensely that we would be willing to give our all to see Jesus known and worshipped throughout the earth. He is calling each one of us to go everywhere and tell everyone the happy news,” added Dr. Mary Ho, international executive leader for All Nations.

"I always wanted Floyd to give me the answers," said Gerhard Barnard, All Nations International Leadership Team (ILT) member and senior pastor of Logos Church in Cape Town, South Africa. "He never did. He helped me to discover the answers myself. But he always pointed me to Jesus. Always pointed me to the Bible. Always showed me the God way." 

He was a "man of prayer who knew prayer fueled missions," described Elizabeth Chen, All Nations ILT team member and co-pastor of Living Water Christian Church in Tainan, Taiwan. Floyd made you feel “like you are accepted, you are loved, and you are important,” said Matt Chen, All Nations ILT team member and senior pastor of Living Water Christian Church. 

“Papa Floyd” as some knew him, mentored and counseled many around the world including Roger Nix and Jimmy and Laura Siebert.

Nix, now senior pastor at Believers Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, (USA) was in the midst of leading a church from crisis into becoming a healthy missional church when he met the McClungs in Kansas City in 2004, he said. 

“I was desperate for mentorship, and as Floyd often does, he invites you along for the journey,” said Nix. “He makes space for you and he believes in you and somehow helps you believe in yourself and believe in the way of Jesus is both simple and doable.” 

The Sieberts remember when they were facing a big decision and had been hurt by some people back in the 1990s and sought Floyd's counsel. 

“He (Floyd) became a father to Laura and me,” said Jimmy, senior pastor of Antioch Community Church and Antioch Movement in Waco, Texas, (USA). “Floyd comforted us. He loved us. He wept with us and he counseled us.” 

Floyd was an advocate and supporter for “God callings” on people's lives including Dr. Pam Arlund, who serves on the All Nations ILT. Arlund spent 10 years in Central Asia as a church planter and Bible translator working among a previously unengaged people group. 

“My first thank you, Floyd, is 'Thank you for giving me a place to belong and thank you for giving me a place to be on mission for Jesus,'” said Arlund, who has never been married and has a gift for leadership. “... I was sure they were going to say to me what many people had said to me before, ‘That place is dangerous, you need to leave that place.’ And instead they looked me in the eye and they said, ‘thank you for going to difficult places. Thank you for doing difficult things.' They believed in the calling of God on my life in a way that few people ever had.”

Jane Overstreet, who is the CEO of Development Associates International and wife of Harold, said she remembers Floyd as being a man of wisdom and peace. During a YWAM international conference in India, she sensed the Holy Spirit guiding her to get involved in leadership development. At first, she was terrified about this thought as a young mother. She went to Floyd and asked him what to do.

“And very wisely, he just calmly said something to this effect, ‘If that was God speaking to you, you don’t need to do anything, He’ll bring it about. And if it wasn’t God, there’s nothing you can do to bring it about,’” she said. 

He spoke and lectured on more than 100 college and university campuses, but taught all those around him including his daughter, Misha. She remembers the lesson her father taught her to: "Find the beauty in people." It's a lesson she continues to remember to this day. 

“It's shaped the work that I do now,” said Misha. “It shaped the way that I parent, shaped the way that I’m a friend. It became a huge part of my world to look for the beauty in people, to look for their talents and strengths in each of them."

Floyd was a man with apostolic passion. In his article “Apostolic Passion,” he defined the term as “a deliberate, intentional choice to live for the worship of Jesus in the nations. It has to do with being committed to the point of death to spreading His glory. It’s the quality of those who are on fire for Jesus, who dream of the whole earth being covered with the Glory of the Lord.”   

“Floyd's one of those guys you could spend 30 minutes with and he would make you rethink your whole life, in a good way, not in a burdensome way,” said Mark Proeger, who served with his family in South Africa for about three years and has a passion for church planting. “He definitely had this apostolic anointing that would get you so excited about a new vision and a new way to see the Kingdom of God."

As the memorial service wrapped up, attendees were encouraged to pause and reflect on how the Holy Spirit might be leading them to help "finish the race" in reaching the least, the last and the lost.  "What is it that Floyd would say? 'Plan to go. Be willing to stay,'" said Elizabeth Chen.

Will you finish the race? Will you embrace and obey whatever Jesus asks of you in every season of life?

For more information about becoming a monthly partner and helping All Nations reach the neglected, email us at: comm@allnations.international. You are needed! There are only 7,000 remaining unreached people groups! Together, we can one day see them worshiping Jesus around the throne!

Join us today! We need those who will go, pray, send, volunteer, give and serve. To give today, click the link here: https://allnations.international/propel-1