Rev. Steve Martin Reviews “The Man in the Gap”

My good friend, Steve Martin, kindly allowed me to use the following book review as a guest post.

SHORT REVIEW OF REX JEFFERIES, THE MAN IN THE GAP

 (The Life and Ministry of Martin Petersen Holdt)

 Shepherd Press; 2020; 176 pp; pb

I first met the subject of this mini-biography of Pastor Martin Holdt in 1994 in Atlanta. I was privileged to have him as a friend and confidant for the next sixteen years until his untimely passing. I shall always thank the Lord that I could know such a man of God as Martin Holdt.

Thanks go to Rex Jefferies and Shepherd Press for writing and publishing this inspirational biography of Pastor Holdt.  Its many strengths include the following:

1. Rex Jefferies was a friend and co-worker of Martin Holdt and knew the subject well.
2. Rex Jefferies lives and ministers in South Africa and knows the national context well.
3. Rex Jefferies had access to surviving family members, correspondence and Martin’s many friends and co-laborers for more information. We get a well-rounded picture of the man.
4. Rex Jefferies is a spiritually minded man and has extracted the best qualities of Martin’s life and ministry to highlight. It is an inspirational read and I stopped and prayed several times in thanksgiving to God for such an example and that I might have more of what moved Martin.

My only complaint is selfish–that there was not more to savor. Martin Holdt knew God personally and intimately and that alone makes a man larger than he would be otherwise. Much more could be written about Martin, his interior life, his theology, the spiritual and cultural context of late 20^th and early 21^st century South Africa, his weaknesses, etc. But that would have been a much larger biography.

I thank God for this uplifting biography of a much used man of God that serves to whet the appetite for a larger biography to come perhaps. May God uses this book to motivate many to pray that God would pour forth His Spirit on many more men and women to “stand in the gap” in their lifetimes, in their unique situations.

Steve Martin | Retired pastor for 31 years in Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Retired Dean of Students at IRBS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in Texas / The review originally appeared HERE.