Dough Sutphen, 70; Smuggled 1,000,000 Bibles Into China ('Project Pearl')
Bill Schenley
Dough Sutphen "Gone to Lord", Friends Say
FROM: The Journal Chrétien (France) ~
By Stefan J. Bos, International Correspondent
WASHINGTON/BEIJING
Dough Sutphen, who became known for leading an
operation to smuggle one million Bibles to China, has
died at age 70, BosNewsLife learned Wednesday,
May 9.
The man, who was also called "Brother David," passed
away early Tuesday, May 8, in a hospital near his home
in North Bend, Washington, said Paul Hattaway, the
director of Asia Harvest, a major mission organization,
in a statement to BosNewsLife. The cause of death was
not immediately clear, but Sutphen was in bad health
following several heart attacks.
"Dough Sutphen is best remembered for leading the
audacious "Project Pearl" in 1981 - when one million
Chinese Bibles, weighing 232 tons, were delivered by
barge to thousands of waiting Christians on a beach in
southern China," recalled Hattaway.
Time magazine described it at the time as "A remarkable
mission.the largest operation of its kind in the history of
China."
IN SECRECY
Under a cloak of secrecy because of the highly-sensitive
nature of the work in Communist China, Sutphen and his
team worked closely with house church leaders inside
China to eventually take one million Bibles into China by
boat, all at once.
Starting with no money or resources, "God
supernaturally provided everything needed" and the
delivery was successfully completed in the evening of
18 June, 1981, said Hattaway, who knew him well. Over
10,000 Chinese believers gathered along a beach near the
city of Shantou in southern China, and took the one million
Bibles away in trucks, cars, donkey carts, on bicycles, and
strung across bamboo poles.
The army arrived at the beach several hours after the
delivery, but the vast majority of Bibles, at least 90%,
according to estimates, had been successfully moved by
Chinese Christians. Later, the government backed
Three-Self church and other officials tried to denounce
Project Pearl saying all Bibles had been confiscated or
swept out to sea, however Chinese Christians denied these
statement. "Project Pearl Bibles had made their way to
[word] hungry believers in 18 different provinces, and letters
of overwhelming gratitude poured in from Christians who
had received their first copy of God's Word," recalled
Hattaway.
Many Chinese church leaders have reportedly described
Project Pearl as "a pivotal moment" in their history as the
Church had only started to re-emerge after what Hattaway
described as decades of "brutal oppression."
HIGH LIGHT
Project Pearl was seen as a high light in the Christian work
of Doug Sutphen, who became a Christian during a crusade
of American evangelist Billy Graham on September 4 in
1963. That conversion followed a time of rebellion against
God, said Hattaway.
Sutphen was born in Pennsylvannia in 1936. His father's
job in the military resulted in the family moving to California.
After a childhood made difficult by his dyslexia, Doug
"wandered away from the Lord and found his identity in
playing football," friends said.
Blessed with a powerful physique, he was offered a
football playing scholarship at the University of Denver
and moved to Colorado in 1955. After his college football
career came to an end, Sutphen returned to California
where he gained employment as a trainee lithographer in a
print shop in downtown Los Angeles. "This training would
prove essential in later years when God called Sutphen to a
ministry of printing and publishing the Scriptures in Asia.
Before this happened, Sutphen completed a six-year stint in
the US Marines," added Hattaway.
Following "his dramatic change" at the Billy Graham
campaign in the 60s, Sutphen started his missionary career
in the Philippines" and joined the Far East Broadcasting
Company, a Christian network, becoming the head of its
printing department which produced and distributed millions
of Bibles and Gospel tracts throughout Asia.
DECADES MINISTRY
"This was the start of 42 years of serving the Body of Christ
in Asia, a service which continued up to his death," explained
Hattaway, who knew him well.
He said that in the late 1960s Sutphen "received a call
from God to provide Bibles to the Church" in China, which
was the time was in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, and
authorities tried to seal its borders from outside influence.
Described as "crazy" or "naive" by even fellow missionaries,
the Gospel warrior soldiered on, friends said. "Piece by
piece the Lord unfolded His plan to Sutphen and he was
finally able to get a visa and enter China in 1976," Hattaway
said.
In 1979 a few Christian groups began to carry Bibles into
China from Hong Kong and Sutphen had joined Open
Doors, which supports persecuted Christians around. He
adopted the name "Brother David" to protect his identity.
GROWING DEMAND
After leading teams of Bible-carrying Christians, which
reportedly resulted in the successful delivery of over
30,000 Bibles, Sutphen concluded that that carrying
Bibles by hand would never be able to meet the demand.
Eventually after what Hattaway called "much prayer with
several key colleagues," 'Project Pearl' was born.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Sutphen continued
with mission work and eventually managed to ask China's
government-sanctioned Amity Press to print Bibles for the
unregistered house churches. He was strongly criticized by
some for working with Communists, but Sutphen said he
had "forgiven" his critics and continued.
He said it was most important that "God's Word would
get into the hands of Chinese believers," and that the
question of how they got there was of secondary
importance to him. One of Sutphen's closest friends
David Aikman, journalist and author of "Jesus in Beijing,"
wasn't urprised. "Overall there is no other Christian I
can recall in the four decades of my own Christian life
who has so consistently exhibited such an absolutely
Christ-like attitude towards life and towards other
Christians ; even his adversaries," he said in a
statement.
Following Project Pearl, Sutphen was able to oversee
the distribution of an additional 1.1 million Bibles to
Chinese Christians, most of them members of house
church fellowships, according to Asia Harvest estimates.
REACHING NORTH KOREA
Sutphen also wanted go reach Christians in North Korea
and visited the country on several occasions. He was
even able by "God's grace" to preach the Gospel to
North Korean government officials and diplomats,
Hattaway claimed.
In 1995 he was struck with four heart-attacks in the
space of 72 days. Three different doctors told him he
was going to die, but Sutphen claimed his work for the
Church in Asia was not yet finished. While his
colleagues were anticipating news of his death, Sutphen
and his wife founded Love China Ministries International
aimed at further serving churches in Asia.
People who knew them said Doug Sutphen and his wife
Meiling made a beautiful team, walking through struggles
and successes together. "Meiling broke the news of
Doug's passing, and is heart-broken by the loss of her
best friend and life partner," said Hattaway whose group
urged supporters to "pray the peace of the Holy Spirit
will comfort her during these difficult days." Meiling plans
to continue the work of Love China Ministries from their
home in North Bend.
KEEPING ALLIVE
"God kept Doug Sutphen alive and allowed him to
serve Jesus Christ for 12 more years after the doctors
announced he would die. These years have been filled
with challenges, as partial blindness and the scourge of
diabetes ravaged Sutphen's body," Hattaway said.
"Still he retained a joyful and positive spirit, and was
always full of encouragement to everyone he met. In
2005 I was privileged to spend a week at his bedside
in Washington, and felt closely bonded to this dear
brother in Christ as we prayed and talked about God's
work in China."
Remarkably, in late 2005 Doug made yet another trip
to his beloved China to meet with church leaders and
plan new strategies evangelization. Months of planning
reportedly went into finding an airline that could accept
his wheelchair and walker and hotels in China with the
right facilities.
When Chinese Christians saw him they "hugged him
dearly and tears rolled down their cheeks," Hattaway
remembered.
"Here was a warrior of the Gospel someone who had
been literally willing to die to bring them the Word of
God during their darkest hour of suffering. He was
someone who brought them food when they were hungry,
water when they were thirsty, and clothes when they
were naked."
Before he died, Sutphen reportedly said : "I want a
revival, not a funeral."
There are thousands of missionaries working in China
today, doing a myriad of different activities, but those who
can claim to have been serving the Lord in China as far
back as the Cultural Revolution in the 1970s can be
counted on one hand, Hattaway explained. Doug Sutphen
was one of them, and the Chinese have long memories.
(With reports from Asia and the USA).