Dayspring Discipleship Institute

      At the funeral service for Dawson Trotman in 1956, Dr. Billy Graham said, “I think Daws has personally touched more lives for Christ’s sake than anybody I have ever known.  Dr. Graham knew Trotman and the ministry he founded—The Navigators—quite well, using material Trotman developed as follow-up instruction for his crusades.
      When Trotman was a young man, his life drifted dangerously.  Although he had been student body president, class valedictorian, chairman of the student council, and captain of the basketball team, he gambled, he drank, and he became a noted pool shark.  A late night encounter with a policeman was the catalyst for a spiritual encounter with Christ. 
      Drunk and unable to find his car, Trotman was arrested.  Fortunately, the officer saw a deeper problem than alcohol.  “Son, do you like this kind of life?” he asked.  “Sir, I hate it,” Trotman replied.  The officer returned his keys and encouraged him to change his lifestyle.
      Two days later, he encountered Jesus Christ.  At a youth meeting one of the scriptures he had memorized earlier that morning came into his mind.  “Oh, God,” he prayed, “whatever it means to receive Christ, I want to do it right now.”
      Over the next several years he committed himself to prayer and Bible study.  In 1934, he was asked to visit a sailor.  His biography described the scene.  “Parked by a schoolhouse, they were pouring over the scriptures when a security guard approached and asked what they were doing.  ‘Reading the Bible,’ Trotman answered and seized the opportunity to witness.  Dawson turned from one passage to another to explain the Gospel and answer all the defenses of the hapless guard.  On the way back, the sailor said, ‘Boy, I’d give my right arm to know how to use the Word like that.’”
      That marked the beginning of the Navigators’ ministry, so named for its nautical origin.  The sailor led another to Christ, who in turn led still others to salvation.  The process of winning and discipling men and women for Christ continues throughout the world today through the Navigators.