Lilly Seifert, who turned 100 this year, made an important decision decades ago — a commitment that eventually blessed tens of thousands of people worldwide and established an example of faithful giving for her own children and grandchildren.
In the late 1940s, she was a busy young farm wife in Saskatchewan, caring for her family, milking cows, raising poultry and tending a big garden. One day, she heard a radio program that touched her heart. Jack McAlister, founder of the ministry that is known today as Every Home for Christ, was challenging his listeners to join him in worldwide missions outreach.
Lilly recounts, “The program called Tract Club of the Air was one of the few Christian radio broadcasts we heard from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, which challenged us to use their tracts for personal evangelism and to reach overseas. The testimonies of people who had accepted Christ through this inexpensive means of sharing the Gospel prompted me to give.”
In 1946, when Jack McAlister launched Tract Club of the Air, he laid a firm and lasting foundation to mission and evangelism through gospel literature. As the audience of this radio broadcast grew, World Literature Crusade was formed and the work spread on every continent. More than six decades later, we are known as Every Home for Christ, a ministry that presents gospel messages in the form of literature home by home around the world. Today, through this simple strategy, every two seconds, somewhere in the world, someone responds to a gospel message that he or she received through EHC’s ministry. Last year alone, more than 15 million of these responses were followed up.
When Lilly was recently asked how she defines success, she answered, “Success is introducing people to Christ by sharing the Gospel in whatever way available and using the money He has entrusted to us to get the job done.”
Her decision to give has created a wonderful legacy and today, three generations of her own family are supporting EHC with the same dedication.
Her daughter Fern and son-in-law Bruce Pringle began early in their marriage to give of their time and finances. Today, Bruce serves as a member of EHC Canada’s board of directors. Fern’s and Bruce’s daughter Coralee and son-in-law Chad also support EHC, extending the legacy of their grandmother.
“We see the effectiveness of the printed page and cost effectiveness as well,” Lilly comments. “Even if people do not respond immediately, that message is in their homes and, as we pray, God will lead them to read and respond in His timing.”
When Lilly (nee Lydia Schroeder) was a child, her parents were devoted to church activities and regularly travelled at least an hour each way in a horse-drawn buggy to attend worship services. Lilly was the fourth-eldest of 11 children. When she was 16, she realized: “Although I had been baptized, confirmed and become a church member, I really was not a Christian.” She attended a home prayer meeting affiliated with another church and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Saviour.
At 100 years of age, Lilly is in good health and loves to read her Bible. Her legacy, spanning three generations, has reached far beyond her own family. What an encouraging testimony of God’s grace at work through generations of His people.