Vijayesh Lal had a bit of a fan-boy moment when he met Brother Andrew for the first time. Overwhelmed by the opportunity to meet one of his heroes, Lal blurted out, “I never thought I would meet you.” Dressed casually in a t-shirt and shorts, Brother Andrew simply replied, “You must change your thinking.”

Over the next 15 years, Lal and Brother Andrew would meet many more times, and Lal’s thinking would, in fact, change. Brother Andrew’s radical faith, effective preaching, and refusal to hide his faith even in the face of danger would not only shape Lal personally but give him a vision for Christianity in India: “not a faith that we are embarrassed of or hide, but a faith that is lived out fully.” Lal writes in his article “Brother Andrew Changed Me. His Approach Can Change India.”

Brother Andrew, who passed away on September 27, smuggled Bibles into Communist countries for years. Born Anne van der Bijl, he wrote God’s Smuggler with journalists John and Elizabeth Sherrill, which gave a first-person account of eluding border guards in his Volkswagen Beetle full of Bibles. The book was published under the name “Brother Andrew” and sold more than 10 million copies.

The book became so famous that Brother Andrew had to stop smuggling Bibles himself. He shifted his focus to leading Open Doors, an organization he founded that aids persecuted Christians to this day.

Lal, who is now general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, is one of countless many who are thankful for Brother Andrew’s courage and perseverance.

“As I look back today, I am thankful to God for Brother Andrew and his life,” Lal writes. “For his simplicity and his matter-of-fact attitude, but most of all for his example in his obedience to Christ that allowed him to impact millions.”