Don Richardson

Don Richardson

Canadian-born Don Richardson spent his youth in three provinces of Canada: Prince Edward Island, Ontario and British Columbia. He began his walk with the Lord at a Youth For Christ rally in 1952. Both he and his late wife, Carol Joy [Soderstrom], graduated from Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada, and completed training at Wycliffe’s Summer Institute of Linguistics. In 1962, under sponsorship of World Team (formerly Regions Beyond Missionary Union), Don and Carol embarked on a missionary career in what is now Papua, Indonesia (formerly Dutch New Guinea). They served for 15 years among the Sawi, a Stone Age tribe of cannibal-headhunters who valued treachery as an ideal. Don designed an alphabet suited to their language, authored 19 primers, taught the tribesmen to read in their native tongue and translated the New Testament into Sawi. More than half of the Sawi came to Christ. Since 1977 Don has served as Minister-at-Large for World Team. He is an ordained pastor and holds an honorary doctorate of literature from Biola University. He speaks at more than 40 churches and conferences per year and has spoken in all 50 U.S. states and in 36 countries. In addition, Don is a frequent instructor in a course called “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” and on various college and seminary campuses. Don is a best-selling author. His 1st book, Peace Child, tells the dramatic story of how the Richardsons were able to communicate the Gospel to the Sawi. Lords of the Earth documents the trials of their colleagues among the Yali, another tribe in the same province. Eternity in Their Hearts, Don’s 3rd book, presents case histories of the way God prepares cultures to receive the Gospel. Don’s 4th book, Secrets of the Koran, enables readers to know the Koran better than many Muslims. Unhidden, Don’s 5th book, presents a comprehensive “theory of everything”—a unified field of truth covering areas such as theology, anthropology, cosmology, subatomic physics, church history, missions, and more. Don’s 6th book, Heaven Wins, addresses numerous topics such as an ‘age of accountability,’ human free will versus divine sovereignty, church history, and the cosmos-wide extent of God’s ultimate plan of redemption. Don is the father of four adult children (all serving the Lord) and has 12 grandchildren. Following the passing of his first wife in early 2004, Don wed Carol Joyce Abraham in July 2005. Carol’s ministry includes speaking to women’s groups, teaching, music solos, and hospitality.

Update this biography »
Complete biography of Don Richardson »