Indeed, Jesus Abbey has become a "big fire," as magazine articles, television interviews, documentaries and films found their way up the mountain to learn about the successes and challenges to this abnormal way of life. Archer writes the Lord has "given them a vision for a mission to all of East Asia and other parts of the world, and He has sent us thousands and thousands (as much as 10,000 a year) of visitors to encourage us by their prayers and to be encouraged by us. And all the time He is teaching the laboratory of theology we were not able to have at the seminary. Here people are meeting God personally and having their lives radically changed by Him…And we have also proved, at least on a small scale, that God can use us in the "real" world around us, the world of coal miners and farmers, as well as to affect the more distant world of the big cities. We are grateful that He has called us to this life and this ministry. It never stops being pioneering and it never stops being exciting. If we could handle this ourselves, instead of being totally dependent on God, we’d never find out that God’s promises are true!"
As independent missionaries, completely dependent upon the Lord to provide, Archer and Jane are "forever thankful and awed that He is using the two of them together in some small part of His great, big, wonderful plan." They have both written books about their experiences, which were published in Korean, and became best sellers. Fortunately, they have finished translating them to English and will be available soon. Jane’s book is entitled, At the Table in the Wilderness, and shares many of the stories from Jesus Abbey. Archer translated two of his books into English, his autobiography called The Way of a Pioneer and another book titled Biblical Economics.
Archer shares his story of being a pioneer and "the work that God began in me that first year in seminary, He has continued to build upon through the years. I continue to make new discoveries in this direction, such as the realization that the most important fact about the Holy Spirit is neither ‘gifts’ nor ‘fruit’ but ‘koinonia’ – oneness (2 Cor. 13.13)." Koinonia is a word used in every period of Greek literature and its meaning is of a close, unbreakable, permanent relationship. Archer expressed if God shared his only son with us, can we do any less than share all that is precious to us with one another so that we have koinonia with each other and that this is also koinonia with God the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Perhaps this is the word that best defines what I experienced at the Jesus Abbey and my visits this summer with Jane and Archer. As the third generation of missionaries, Archer is very proud of his father and grandfather, as the Torreys have been teaching about the Holy Spirit and to seek the Baptism in the Holy Spirit for over 100 years.
Archer’s grandfather, the bible scholar and evangelist, was Dr. Reuben Archer Torrey. Long associated with D. L. Moody, he became prominent in the early the 1900’s with revivals from Wales to the U.S.A. He was the first superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute and he preached about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He wrote many books on devotion and theology. Dr. Reuben Archer Torrey’s charismatic presence, passion, and earnestness filled meeting halls for weeks at a time winning many thousands to Christ. He later became the first dean at Biola University in 1912. Dr. Reuben Archer Torrey experienced people who rejected his teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Torrey family have been trying to get a hearing on these basically Biblical concepts for 100 years, but the church steeped in tradition has not listened. Only in the last few years, with the development of the "charismatic" movement and with new life coming in the Georgist movement, have his teachings begun to get a hearing.
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