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Brother Andrew is a doer. While most Christians put out fleeces, he would already be on the plane, facing danger, finding a way into some place others describe as "closed." As a teen in Holland, he worked alongside Corrie ten Boom in the resistance during World War II. As a college graduate, he started making trips behind the Iron Curtain, sneaking in Bibles, books, or whatever else was needed to further the gospel there. Forty years ago, he organized this whirlwind of activity into a ministry called Open Doors.

Once described as "the James Bond of the cloth," Brother Andrew refuses to see himself as exceptional. He describes his 1967 bestseller, God's Smuggler, as a "curse," because it portrays him as heroic and extraordinary, whereas he thinks all Christians should do whatever it takes to help brothers and sisters in need. Just like he does.

From behind the Iron Curtain, throughout Africa, and now the Middle East, Brother Andrew keeps walking through open doors.

IF YOU HAD TO DO IT OVER AGAIN, WOULD YOU STILL START OUT AS GOD'S SMUGGLER?

I didn't start as God's smuggler. I'm against smuggling. What you are calling smuggling resulted from several years of ministry in communist countries—first in evangelism, then in teaching. Pastors there had no training, so they asked if I could bring them a Bible on my next trip to visit them. I said yes. But soon there were so many requests that I couldn't carry them openly any more.

WHAT ABOUT PROJECT PEARL, WHERE IN 1981 YOU DUMPED A WHOLE FREIGHTER'S WORTH OF BIBLES ONTO CHINA?

That was very illegal. By that time, Open Doors had a fleet of vehicles that were specially converted for this type of activity so that we could not only hide books and Bibles but also a person or a printing press, something we still do.

IT SEEMS YOU'VE MADE FRIENDS WITH THE IDEA OF SMUGGLING.

No, I haven't. I think smuggling is when you use any method needed for your purpose, when you lie and sell for profit. We don't. We have our rules. We will not tell a lie. We never sell. And we make no profit.

SO WHAT ARE THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES THAT DRIVE OPEN DOORS?

The first principle is an attitude: we come to serve. In every circumstance, we ask, "What can I do for you?" Also, Open Doors always works through the pastors; we never go independently. We work through the church, to the church. For example, the idea for Project Pearl came from Christians in China. They even told us how, when, and where to do it, because we offered ourselves.

After we find out what a church needs, we come back and supply it, whatever they ask. It may be a very tedious job, like making sure a Christian prisoner's family gets medical attention or even just being with them. In my very first trip, July 1955, just out of college, I went to the former nation of Czechoslovakia. A pastor said, "Andrew, your being here is worth more than ten of the best sermons." So that became another principle of Open Doors: Be there. Only when you are there can God tell you what you should do.

YOU HAVE CONCENTRATED YOUR PERSONAL EFFORTS RECENTLY ON THE MIDDLE EAST. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES FOR THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH THERE?

We face a growing wave of Muslim fundamentalism, fed by a number of things. Until the end of the Second World War, seven-eighths of the entire Muslim world was colonized by so-called Christian nations. The Muslims lived under constant humiliation. They could not solve their own problems.

Even today they are divided and disgusted with their own weakness. From this division, a radical faction has emerged that wants Muslims to go back to their roots. It's a revival movement, very much political because in Islam there is no separation between church and state. And because they are the only guys with an ideology, I think they have a future. They have a faith for which they're ready to die. In comparison, we Christians have lost that kind of faith.

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December 11 1995, Vol. 39, No. 14