Dawson Trotman: Navigating Life

Without his good friend Dawson Trotman, Billy Graham would not have had such a lasting impact on millions of people. Trotman, the founder of Navigators, was known as the apostle of follow-up. He was an inventive genius. So many thousands were giving their lives to Christ at Billy Graham’s rallies that he became deeply troubled about the lack of follow-up. Worried about the converts, Graham had trouble sleeping at night. He contacted Trotman , begging him to take over the follow-up discipling. Initially, Trotman said no, “I don’t have the time. I can’t follow-up on 6,000 converts. Please find someone else.”  Graham took him by the shoulders, saying that there was no one else.

Reluctantly, Trotman agreed to pray about this on the beach in Taiwan. God powerfully spoke to him that he was to spend six months a year doing follow-up ministry with the Billy Graham Crusades. The Billy Graham people were then discipled by Trotman so that they were able to use his model for themselves. Graham commented, “I think Dawson had personally touched more lives than anybody that I have ever known.”

Before God reached him, Trotman bootlegged booze during Prohibition, stole, and lied on a regular basis. He was also an obsessive gambler, willing to bet on anything and everything imaginable. He felt powerless to overcome the stealing and lying which killed his conscience.

One day, at age 20, Trotman attended a Christian young adult event where he would get a free meal if he memorized ten bible verses. One of the verses on eternal life, John 5:24, started to wake him up spiritually: Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He said, “God, whatever this means, I want it.” Then one of the other verses, John 1:12 flashed through his mind:  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. He then said, “O God, whatever it means to receive Jesus, I want to do it right now.” 

The word got out at the lumberyard where he worked that ‘Porky’s got religion.’ The entire lumberyard was so curious that all 200 turned up to hear him preach to them. This paved the way for Trotman to have spiritual conversations with many of his fellow workers.  

Trotman and his buddies started a motorcycle ministry with the evangelistic Fisherman’s Club, wanting to show other young people that Jesus could change their lives. They drove around California witnessing to people. 

He made a vow that he would share Christ with at least one person every day. One night, he had not yet shared Jesus with anyone, so he got on his motorbike and hours later finally found a man who had just missed his train. While giving him a ride, he led him to Christ, and was able to go back home to have a good night’s sleep. Jesus said in Matthew 4:19, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Trotman believed that no person ever really followed Jesus without eventually becoming a fisher of men and women.  If you are not fishing, you are not following. 

In 1932, Trotman married Lila Clayton with whom he had five children. Living with Trotman was a never-ending adventure for Lila, as he never asked for financial support for many years.  He had been inspired by the example of George Mueller to only pray for his finances. Lila was very devoted to the Navigator cause as well, being a great help to Trotman. 

God began giving him favour with sailors, many of whom received Christ while off the ships. He sadly found out that few of the early converts survived spiritually, when going back on their ships.

He began to invest more in discipling one individual at a time, which gave him fully-committed sailors. As Trotman put it so often, “Making a decision is only ten percent; following through is 90 percent.” He helped people to discover ‘disciple’ as an active verb, rather than just a passive noun. Within a year, Trotman had around 50 sailors who lived with him while on shore leave, being discipled in the Great Commission. Lila’s hospitality and cooking were vital to this naval outreach. In the ship USS Virginia, 250 sailors were walking with Jesus when disaster happened on Dec  7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor. Eight battleships were sunk that day, with 2,403 dying. From that naval tragedy, many Navigators ended up going to four continents to share the gospel.

At the heart of Navigators is the call of 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” Trotman’s passion was that we would all become reproducing followers of Christ who disciple others who disciple others.  He did not want people to remain as baby Christians for the rest of their lives. At the heart of his follow-up was scripture memorization. Trotman commented, “I learned my one thousand Bible verses by just having a goal to learn one a day…every day for one thousand days.”

 Dawson taught a five-step process:

Hear the Word (Luke 11:28)

Read the Word (I Timothy 4:13)

Study the Word (2 Timothy 2:15)

Memorize the Word (Psalm 119:11)

Meditate on the Word (Psalm 1:1-2)

Trotman never tried to promote himself, his materials, or his organization. He was radically humble, always seeking to be a blessing to other organizations like IVCF, Young Life, Wycliffe, Campus Crusade for Christ/CRU, and Youth for Christ/Youth Unlimited.

Sadly, Trotman died on June 18, 1956, aged 50, while rescuing a girl, Allene Beck, from drowning. He and the girl were both knocked out of the boat by a rogue wave. She could not swim, so he held her above his head until she was rescued. Sadly, he then dropped below the waves and perished.

As Billy Graham said at his 1956 funeral, Trotman loved the Word of God. More than anyone else, Trotman taught Graham to love the Bible. The Word of God, for Trotman, was sweetness.  He meditated on it day and night. 

Billy Graham commented,

“Dawson Trotman is one of the most unforgettable characters I have ever met in Christian work. He was always helping someone wherever he went. He was always on duty at all times, touching lives daily – and sometimes hourly – for Christ. He was unconventional – a man’s man, rough and tough at times. Though he was a tenacious person, he was kind and understanding. He was serious but had a sense of humour.  Dawson was a born optimist with a strong faith. He knew how to motivate people and get them to work.”

Thankfully, the Navigators survived Trotman’s tragic death. There are now over 100,000 people who subscribe to its Discipleship Journal. More than 4,000 people work for the Navigators in 110 nations.

Our prayer is that Dawson Trotman’s scriptural example will continue to motivate millions to more effectively navigate life, bringing new life to many others.