by John Combest

John & Emily Combest serve in Congo. John is a 2014 BBTI graduate.

A small white chapel sits nestled in Ngaliema Bay of Kinshasa, Congo. Few know of its existence. Yet, this unassuming brick edifice stands as a monument to those first missionaries who, despite all obstacles, brought Christ to this land. Dr. Aaron Sims, a Baptist missionary doctor, pioneered several of the mission stations along the Congo River, building this church alongside his own humble home in 1981. Two years later, his colleague, Fritz Gleichman, passed away suddenly and was interred a few meters from the sanctuary.

I have often looked out across the Ubangi River and wondered if there were still any missionaries serving on the other side. These two Congos, separated by a river of the same name and a tributary upon which I live, have buried many a diplomat, businessman, and missionary. Yet, over the past two centuries, the church of God has recognized its undying duty to push the frontiers of Christianity. We sent scores of missionaries into the interior to people unknown and places unnamed. Many a widow and widower buried their grief and loss and moved yet deeper into the endless expanse of Congo. Questions plague me – How far did they go? Is there still a frontier which the Gospel has not reached? Are there yet a people to whom Christ has not been preached?

For a number of years, I have begged the Lord to send us fellow missionaries who would share in the labors on this side of the river, freeing me to cross over into the northwestern regions of DRC. I have watched in grief as mission boards, agencies, and churches have steered young and old alike away from these beleaguered zones to the more developed and tender fields of west and east Africa. “Security and stability” they say! Do we think for a moment that those early missionaries did not face death and hardships at every turn? Do not the scores of gravesites across this region speak to this very point? Has the situation somehow worsened since Livingstone first penetrated these dark corridors of central Africa? How is it then that the young men of our generation are content to be children’s pastors and “ministry helpers” and our young women to be nursery workers? Where is the strength and youth of our generation? Where is the fortitude which so clearly marked the lives of those before? Those were the days when frontiers were smashed and ministries carved out of the forests through years of dogged determination and effort, despite the “insecurity and instability.” Today, in Kinshasa, a city of seventeen million, you find the remnants of this last generation of workers, all well beyond the age of retirement with illnesses which will see them to their graves; and yet, with no one coming, here they live, bearing the increasing load and care of all the churches. Who will come alongside the church to continue the work of Biblical and pastoral training, music, literacy, and Scripture distribution? Who will help develop and translate materials for the strengthening of the church? Who will organize and lead the faithful into a future of increasing opportunities? And above all, who will carry on that spirit of missions—eyes ever on the horizon, seeking out those places where the gospel has not yet reached and those people to whom Christ has not yet been preached?

Listening to these old missionaries speak cannot but leave you with a heavy heart. There is a general confusion and dismay at the fragility and timidity of our age. To these, who themselves have opened new trails and founded new works, there is great sadness at the loss of focus and drive which so defined the churches of their time. Where are the missionaries for the coming generation? Have we convinced ourselves that the work of missions has been completed? These elderly ministers would beg to differ. They would argue that the work has just begun! Not only are there groups yet without the gospel, but there exists a church and a Christian community to teach and disciple. But this is no fool’s game. The challenges both within and without the church are significant. Even as these missionaries sit in wonder, their tough personalities and continual stories show the difficulties which they have endured.

Yesterday evening, I came across a man from Spain who was motorbiking across the continent. For three hours, he spoke of his journey: kidnapped in Nigeria, held at gunpoint in Tunisia, chased by rebels on motorcycles in Mali, thrown in a jail in Benin. All this was “ok,” but Congo… Congo had broken him. He cried openly twice as he shared the difficulties he has faced here and of his near-death experience with malaria. So overjoyed was he at seeing us that he spent the night at the foot of my bed in a village in central Congo. This is a warning to those who would come in search of adventure – Congo has a way of tempering those notions.

That said, I plead for our youth, the strength of our nation, those who desire a work which demands their lives and absolute attention. I plead for our parents whose words and actions are so influential and upon whom God has placed the work of raising these future missionaries. I plead for our pastors who help guide our churches and have the opportunity to turn the hearts of our people back to the greatest of all commissions. The more I travel about this land [Congo], the greater the burden of ministry becomes. Our ministries and travels demand an ever-increasing investment from us both financially and physically, and yet, who else is there? And where else are we to turn for help if not to the very body to which this mission on Earth has been left? I can never forget that simple grave behind the small white chapel in Kinshasa, that symbol of a time and sacrifice past. Just like the greatest Sacrifice of all, may these sacrifices never be forgotten by the church. May their testimonies drive us ever forward until this work is complete and Christ returns for us.

Contact: johnforcongo@gmail.com

The new BIMI missionary in Japan, Ron White, was preaching about sin, or tsumi: “Tsumi are bad. Tsumi cause death. We need to get rid of our  tsumi!” But there was a big problem. He said tsuma instead of tsumi and was actually saying, “Wives are bad. Wives cause death. We need to get rid of our wives!”

                   John and Lena Allen

I was saved in my high school years. Immediately after graduation I joined the military, and a few months later I married my high school sweetheart (who is still my sweetheart and ministry partner forty-seven years later).

While stationed in Germany in 1980-81, we had part in planting a church for US service members. There we met our first missionaries, John & Alma Bettig, who served with Trans World Radio, recording and producing Russian language broadcasts to beam into the Soviet Union. After they spent an afternoon telling us of their twenty years of work in this ministry, we were moved in our hearts with both the responsibility and opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ with the world beyond us.

In 1981, after completing my four-year military tour, we moved to our present home church in Louisville, Kentucky, and became more involved in ministry and missions. Starting in 1991, I was able to take short-term trips to Eastern Europe and Russia to teach in Bible institutes and to preach. In 1999, we began taking yearly trips to Mexico with our church.

When I became pastor of our church in 2001, we were able to focus on missions through increased giving, more mission trips, and sending out our own. In 2003, we sent our son Matt and his family to Papua New Guinea (PNG). He was the first missionary sent from our church who grew up in the church. It meant much to our people.

My wife and I visited PNG in late 2005, and while we were there the Lord directly moved in our hearts that PNG was where we should be. We didn’t see it coming—after all, who follows their son into the ministry? The needs were for someone to learn the unwritten Kamea language with a view to translating the Bible, and for someone with medical experience and gifting to serve the people with a medical clinic. Those were a perfect fit for my wife and me (now empty nesters). I had always enjoyed working with other languages and had a burden for Bible translation; and my wife was a registered nurse with varied experience.

A few months later we resigned our positions and moved to Bowie, Texas, to begin training at BBTI. We are now in our seventeenth year in PNG and use lessons we learned at BBTI almost constantly.

Summer 2024

 

             Daniel & Libby O’Connor
                  Verity and Eleanor

Daniel O’Connor was born in 1995 in Louisiana, and Libby Mashburn was born in Alabama in 1996. They both came to study at BBTI in 2019 but did not previously know each other. They graduated the following year and were married in April 2021.

Proving himself to be an excellent phonetician, and with a view to teaching Phonetics in 2021, Daniel began helping the out-going Phonetics teacher, Michael Carpenter. Libby easily grasped the linguistic concepts of phonology and morphology. In 2021, she began teaching Phonemics. This year she taught our Morphology class. Both Daniel and Libby are an important part of our linguistics department. The O’Connors wasted no time beginning their teaching career, and neither did they waste time beginning a family. Eleanor Josephine was born in March 2022, and Verity Ruth in September 2023.
Daniel was raised in a godly Chrisitan home and was home schooled. He was influenced by a strong interest in ministry and especially missions. Daniel has had extensive Bible training in his home and church. He was taught to work hard and grew up learning the building trades. Daniel made a profession of faith in Christ at age eight, but at age fifteen, he realized he had only said a prayer, and not trusted in the finished work of Christ for his salvation. After hearing a message on hell, he received Christ.

Libby’s background is much different. She attended a Christian school for only one year. The rest of her education was in the public schools. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Huntsville with a Foreign Language and International Trade major. She learned to be a seamstress and later began making and selling modest women’s clothing. Libby was led to Christ by her stepfather at a young age.

Whereas Daniel’s home was stable and peaceful, Libby’s was tumultuous. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her mother’s life changed when she was saved, and she determined to raise Libby in a godly environment. Other family members believed that she had become a fanatical cult member, and thus began the custody battles. For a time, Libby lived in a home where she learned biblical principles. Other periods were spent in a home that taught and encouraged worldliness. Libby was rebellious but God was longsuffering and victoriously brought her through. She decided to seek and follow Christ. In this world where broken homes and dysfunctional families are almost normal, Libby knows what young people are going through.

Daniel has the desire and skills to help with the much-needed upkeep of BBTI’s facilities but works part time to provide for his family. He wants to increase the family’s level of financial support so that he can teach, help with maintenance, and represent BBTI full time. These are all essential ministry needs. Please contact them at danjoconnor95@gmail.com if you would like them to present their ministry to your church.

The O’Connors desire to serve the Lord on the foreign field. For now, however, they want to invest their time and talents in the preparation of missionary students at BBTI.

146,000 Roglai people (whose language is also called Roglai) live in the Vietnamese coastal provinces of Khanh and Ninh Thuan. Evangelical Christianity among this people group is estimated at 12%. Due to persecution, an accurate estimate of evangelistic churches is difficult to assess.

Since there is no Roglai Bible, pastors and leaders study the Vietnamese Bible and speak its truths to the congregation in Roglai. They long for a faithful Roglai Bible. A church will not be strong without it. A group of capable young men are forming a translation team to address this need. Some team members will translate; others will do a back translation for accuracy’s sake. Some older men are wisely included as counselors.

The missionary involved has participated in these men’s ministry training and preparation for the translation work. He is confident that they are godly, capable men of good character. The missionary’s involvement will be as an adviser only, as he believes God would have the work be led and completed by nationals. They are beginning with a Gospel tract before proceeding with the Gospel of John.

God is raising up His army of Light Bearers from many places. In this case, it is an indigenous undertaking. Countries such as Mexico, Korea, and the Philippine Islands are also sending out faithful witnesses. Will you pray for the Roglai translation team?

“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields…” —John 4:35

The gospel song writer W. S. Brown wrote: A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true! Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the Captain. We will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, American men by the thousands volunteered for military service. For many it would mean the ultimate sacrifice. Some who were too young even lied about their age to join. Would to God that we had young men today with this same spirit who would volunteer to serve in the army of the Great Commission! The young patriots were saying to Uncle Sam, “Let me go!” It seems young men today are saying to our Captain, “If you want me, make me go.”

If we were to ask one hundred men in a Bible college why they are there, they would tell us they are preparing for the gospel ministry. If we were to ask how many are planning to exercise their ministry outside the borders of our country, the number would be extremely low, perhaps only two or three percent. Does that seem just? Only one out of forty people born in the world will be born in the US. We make up a small part of the world population, but we seem to get more than our share of the preachers. It is true that there is a great shortage of pastors right now in America. Pastors are leaving the ministry at almost the same alarming rate as missionaries, and fewer are entering the ministry. We cannot deny that we need Christian workers here, but neither can we ignore the commandment of Jesus to preach the Gospel to every creature and to all nations. We ought to be very disturbed about our failure to obey this order.

If we were to ask young Christians, including those in Bible schools, why they are not planning and preparing for missionary service, their answer, almost without exception, would be, “God has not called me.” Many even say, “I am willing to go if God calls me.” Friend, why not prove your willingness by volunteering? Would it not please God if we would follow the example of Isaiah and say, “Here am I; send me”? What could possibly be wrong with volunteering to do what Christ has commanded us to do? Saul of Tarsis who became Paul the Apostle had a supernatural experience, but no one since then has had such a calling. A good way to know if missionary service is God’s will for you is to volunteer for it!

Perhaps you should get on your knees and honestly volunteer to go to the foreign field, then get up and immediately begin to prepare and move in that direction. Lift up your eyes. Start asking God where you should go. Get information. Look for open doors. Discuss it with your pastor. Get a passport and visit some mission fields. The “willingness” of God’s people is not getting the task done. Some are honestly willing to go, but they have often heard, “You must be absolutely sure you are called, or you better not go.” Unsure what this calling looks or feels like and without clear Bible verses that explain it, they hesitate to declare that they are called. Perhaps they are waiting on God when God is waiting on them.

Robert served in a South Sea Island country for many years until forced to return to the states to die of cancer. He spent his remaining days pleading for more missionaries. Men would tell him, “Brother Bob, I need a call to go.” To which he would say, “Give me your phone number; I will call you!” Another brother named Mark heard Robert say this, and he volunteered to go to the mission field. Some mocked him and said, “Mark, you cannot volunteer; you must have a call.” He applied to a mission board, but they were reluctant to accept him because he was only a volunteer and probably would not stay long on the field. He told them, “I may someday doubt that I was really called, but I will never doubt the fact that I volunteered.” They accepted him, and he spent three and a half decades as a missionary in Africa until bad health forced him home. A single lady named Rebecca heard Brother Mark give his testimony. She was interested in foreign missions, but had always heard, “Wait for a call.” Rebecca told her pastor of her desire to volunteer for missionary service. He said, “Okay, do it, and see if the Lord stops you.” God did not stop her!

We encourage people to volunteer to serve in the church nursery or mow the grass. We can volunteer to win the lost in our town or anywhere in our country. But we must not volunteer to go and win them in foreign countries? Does that make sense? Is there any scripture that forbids volunteering? Why can we volunteer for any occupation except full-time service for Christ in a place where few or none are serving?

You may ask, “What if God does not want me to be a missionary?” In that case, God can use your church to hold you back. You may be disqualified because of mental or physical inability, poor health, inconsistent Christian living, addictions, or your age might be a prohibiting factor. (Under eighteen might be too young, and over seventy might be too old). It probably would not be right to lie about your age to join up! Maybe we are too afraid of making the mistake of going when we should stay. Which do you suppose would be the greater error: going when we should stay or staying when we should go? If we go when we should not, it merely costs time and money. However, if we stay when we should go, a group of lost heathen will never hear about Jesus!

“A call for loyal soldiers comes to one and all; soldiers for the conflict, will you heed the call? Will you answer quickly with a ready cheer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?”

After dismissing his congregation, a missionary in Germany went to the back door to greet people as they left. He greeted each member with a handshake and smile and told them, “Gutten nackt.” They realized that he meant to say “Gutten nacht” meaning good night, but grinned or snickered because he had actually said good naked. The preacher was greatly embarrassed when a member at the end of the line corrected him. —Christine

Our language tutor was teaching us to pray in the Indonesian language. We write out our prayer for his review and then read/pray them before class begins. My wife was thanking God for his mercy, but omitted an “h” sound in the middle of the word. She thanked God for his spider webs instead! —D.C.

When our language helper, Lilee, asked me what kind of meat I like to eat, I attempted to say “kai kap muu kap NGUA” (chicken and pork and beef). But instead, I came up with ‘kai kap muu kap NGU” (chicken and pork and SNAKE)! Lilee gave me a funny look and replied in English, “Really?!” –K.R, Laos

Photo Source Anna Diamantopoulou/Flickr Licensed/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Pontic Greeks quite possibly heard the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeys. This people group considers themselves descendants of the Argonauts, who set sail looking for gold and silver. Because of their desire to seek treasure in other lands, this group of Greeks eventually settled in Northeastern Turkey with the majority settling around the Black Sea.

During World War I, when the country underwent an ethnic cleansing, almost 250,000 Pontics were able to flee back to Greece. However, when they arrived, those that lived there could not understand their language. It had evolved into words and sounds that could not be understood because of the influence of the nations that had surrounded them before their dispersal. Today, this dialect of the Greek language is considered endangered as their descendants become more assimilated in the regions in which they live. Yet the Pontics want to keep their language and traditions alive. They try to pass down their traditional poems, songs, dress, and dances to their children. However, their brightly colored traditional dress cannot cover their spiritual darkness.

Though many profess to be Christians, they have no true knowledge of the Gospel. Some practice Greek Orthodox traditions, and others have converted to Islam. Because there is no Scripture in their language, a people who may have once been exposed to the truth are now living in spiritual darkness.

Chris and Bonnie Matthews

As a boy, Chris rode church buses to various Protestant and Baptist churches. When he was in his early teens, his family joined a church which taught baptismal regeneration. They baptized him based on an earlier profession of faith, but he had no assurance of salvation. In 1993, at the age of fifteen, he attended a church camp and fell under deep conviction. He pleaded with the counselors for guidance, but they assured him he was okay. That evening, a speaker recited the sinner’s prayer which reminded Chris of the true Gospel he had learned previously. He asked Christ to be his Saviour. Later, he was scripturally baptized and called to preach at Ray Avenue Baptist Church in Salina, Kansas. He attended Bible college for one year and was trained for six years by Dr. Plato Shepherd at Smoky Valley Baptist Church in Lindsborg, Kansas. Chris served as an associate pastor for three years, and in 2005, he became the pastor, serving until 2018. He also became a firefighter and an Emergency Medical Technician. He taught both EMS and CPR.

Bonnie was raised in the home of a godly pastor. She made a profession of faith at age four, but like many children, she later had doubts. It was not until she was a pastor’s wife that she received full assurance of her salvation. She graduated from Calvary University in Kansas City with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She was a pastor’s wife for fifteen years. She has taught music, written and led ladies’ Bible studies, led youth ensembles, spoken at ladies’ conferences, written historical novels, and taught piano. Bonnie has training and field experience in Teaching English as a Second Language.

The Matthewses could have easily continued serving the Lord in Kansas, but God began to burden their hearts for a very restricted country in Southeast Asia. Upon hearing this, people began telling them that they needed to attend BBTI. Shortly after arriving in 2019, they fell in love with our school and could see how it would benefit them on the mission field. Even while they were students, Chris envisioned returning to BBTI one day to help train missionaries.

In less than a year after graduation, the Matthews family arrived on their field. God gave them a very fruitful ministry in evangelism and leadership training. They were having the time of their lives! They loved the place and especially the people, and the people loved them. They often saw God protect them and provide miraculously. One such time was during the strict COVID lockdown when they needed to return to the US for the impending death of Bonnie’s dad. They were not allowed to leave their neighborhood, but they had to obtain their passports from another part of the large city. Couriers could not get through the military/police checkpoints, but Chris rode his motor scooter unhindered through every checkpoint without even being stopped!

Chris and Bonnie were not looking for an easier place of service or greener pastures, but God was impressing their hearts that they needed to labor at BBTI. Rex Cobb had previously told Chris that BBTI would soon need a younger director. After much fasting, praying, and seeking counsel, they contacted Brother Cobb, other staff members, and our sponsoring pastor, Steve Summers. No snap decision was made, but all involved, including the school trustees, believed that Chris was right for the job. He will officially become the director at graduation on May 18th. He plans to make trips back to his field to train church leaders and help oversee a Bible translation project. Chris’ leadership experience and Bonnie’s many skills will help move this ministry forward in the days to come.

Spring 2024

A Christian could not invest his life in any occupation more valuable than translating the eternal, living words of God into a language in which it has never existed. The Great Commission cannot be fulfilled without a Bible. With modern technology, Bible translation should be easier and faster than at any time in history. Not long ago, a Bible translator typed and retyped the New Testament twenty-five times before it was ready to print. Despite digital technology, it is still a very difficult work. It requires proper spiritual, physical, mental, intellectual, and linguistic preparation. Praise God that some see the need for Bible translation and are expressing a desire to engage in this worthy work, and we do not want to discourage them. However, they must “count the cost” and be aware of the long-term commitment required and the endurance needed to overcome many obstacles. While each language and place have their special challenges, you can be sure that the work of Bible translation is not easy anywhere.

The prospective translator must understand the futility of beginning without the proper training in linguistics and translation principles. Bible translation must be done right! To spend fifteen years producing a New Testament, only to discover that the people cannot understand it or do not accept it is tragic, but it has happened. Good, well-intentioned people with sound doctrine do not necessarily produce good Bible translations.

A BBTI graduate, who we will call Fred Jones, works with an unreached people group in a dangerous and restricted part of the world. He compares his efforts to translate the Bible for this ethnic group to pushing a rope uphill. Not all places will seem as impossible as Brother Fred’s. His is probably a worst-case scenario, but there is an enemy with many wiles who wants to stop all Bible translation. Fred attempted to reach part of this group who lives in a country controlled by godless atheists. The leaders hate Christianity, and they sometimes hate the ethnic people who will not give up their cultural and linguistic identity. After a time, Fred was forced to move to a neighboring country and work with another part of the same group. However, the situation there is not much better. First, he must have a reason to justify being in the country, and “missionary” is not one of the options. He must operate some type of business or offer a skill that would benefit the country. The government of the second country is controlled by a religion that opposes Christianity, and those in power also hate the ethnic group that Fred loves. After a few years, the government began to practice genocide against Fred’s people. Men from his neighborhood disappeared; some were reported killed and others imprisoned. When Fred and two other foreign workers bought food for the wives and children of the missing men, they were accused of aiding terrorists. Two of them were jailed, but Fred escaped before being arrested. Nevertheless, he is determined to return and with God’s help push the rope further up the hill. Yes, there is political and religious opposition, but Fred is proving that it can be overcome.

The Bible translator must expect to push the rope up a steep linguistic hill. Unless the major language is English, he must first learn the trade language and then the heart language of the people group. The first language is difficult, but the second one is often much more complex, without a language school to attend. Since the second language Fred needed to learn had never been written, he had to learn it without books and teachers, develop an alphabet, and write the words in the correct morphological and syntactical order. Thankfully, Fred and his wife learned these skills at BBTI.

It is always difficult to move God’s Word from one language to another. It can be painstakingly slow. The missionary translator should never attempt the task of Bible translation without the help of native speakers, but it is challenging to find them. There may be no Christians among the group, and even if there are, they may be afraid to help. Sometimes, helpers will only work secretly.

The Bible translator must go and live where people do not have a Bible, and usually that means living in inhospitable places. Places where translation work is needed can be unpleasant, difficult, and sometimes dangerous. Primitive living conditions require enormous amounts of time and energy to accomplish simple daily tasks. (No hot showers or electric range!)

Consider Fred’s wife. She must be as tough as he is. She raises her children and homeschools them under the same conditions. She, too, must learn both the trade language and the heart language of the people group. She must learn to understand and love a people that are sometimes hard to love. At BBTI, Fred’s wife received the same pre-field training as Fred. This enables her to learn and cope with the culture and analyze and learn the language. She can communicate and teach women that may be culturally off limits to Fred. They make a good team.

Bible translation usually proceeds slowly. Often it is put on the back burner because of all the other work that the missionary must do. He needs to evangelize those around him and teach them the Word of God, even though it does not yet exist in the language. He must work at his business to retain his visa and good standing with the government. Some supporters may question why he is not winning the multitudes and establishing churches reported by other missionaries in other places. He must report to them and explain why he is not producing the same results.

As we pray for laborers for God’s harvest field, let us also pray that many of these will labor in the work of Bible translation. Pray that our homes and churches will produce soldiers of the Jones’ caliber equipped for God to send. Pray for laborers who can patiently endure the spiritual, mental, and physical hardness required to accomplish the task and push the rope up a steep hill!

Although we had been in Laos just a short time, I thought I was making progress in learning the language. So, when our six-month old daughter needed a vaccination, I felt confident to take her to the clinic. I tried to tell the nurses that she needed a sakjaa, meaning “shot of medicine.” But I accidentally said she needed a supjaa, meaning “cigarette.” She is a little too young to start smoking! — KR

Vernon Miller with two of his first students.

W. Vernon Miller was born deaf to hearing parents in December 1932. He did not learn sign language until the age of eighteen when he enrolled at Gallaudet University, a school for the Deaf in Washington DC.


One Sunday, Vernon heard a strong missionary challenge. He struggled all night about surrendering his life. The next morning, he appeared at his pastor’s door, with a packed suitcase! His pastor marveled at Vernon’s commitment but wondered what kind of missionary a deaf man could be.


In 1968, Vernon arrived in Peru as a missionary serving with Baptist International Missions, Inc. Then, as today in many foreign countries, the Deaf were isolated, ignored, and uneducated. They lived and died with little or no hope of hearing the Gospel. The Deaf were usually hidden away by their families because of a Catholic belief that any physical defect was a judgment from God. It took several years for Vernon to find deaf people whom he could serve. Finally, he located a few deaf children. They knew no sign language, nor could they read or write in any language. Therefore, Vernon began a small school for deaf children in the village of Chosica. The children were first taught sign language. Later, primary school subjects were introduced. Woodworking and other manual trades were added. Amador, a Peruvian national, was sent from his local church to assist Vernon. When Vernon married Velma Carlsberg, a deaf widow, she discipled ladies and became a mother figure to the children.


After a radio announcement of a school dedicated to the education of the Deaf, many families brought their deaf children. The locale in use was too small, so the work was moved to a slum area of Lima called El Salvador, where a nice piece of reasonably priced land was obtained.
Vernon named the flourishing work Efata, meaning “be opened” from the account of Jesus healing a deaf man. In time, a church was started. The school expanded, and a home for deaf children was established. Eventually, higher training was offered to prepare deaf young people as pastors and pastor’s wives to go from and to the deaf community. From this foundation, deaf couples have gone throughout Peru, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries to establish deaf churches.


Vernon and Velma retired in 2000. Vernon passed into the presence of his Savior six years later. The work today thrives under the leadership of Missionary Joe Kotvas.

Vernon Miller is recognized as the person who brought sign language to the Deaf of Peru, bringing them not only out of the shadows of society but also into the light of the Gospel.

Winter 2023-24

Part of the application process for enrollment in our Advanced Missionary Training program is a recommendation from the pastor of the applicant. Doug and Lisa Nispel applied for enrollment at BBTI in 2014. One question we ask the pastor is, “What is the applicant’s greatest strength?” For Doug, he answered “faithful” and for Lisa “compassionate.” We found the pastor’s description of them fully accurate. As students, they were a constant joy to us, along with their two daughters, Abigail and Elizabeth. They worked diligently both in the classroom and during our afternoon Work Detail.


Doug was a bus kid. His parents sent him to Red Lion Bible Church and his grandmother paid for him to attend the Christian school until the sixth grade. He heard the Gospel many times and was saved at the age of eleven. Doug lived for God for a time but became tired of feeling like an oddball and not having any friends. He decided to go his own way. As is always the case, this led to some poor choices. Even as a preteen, he began using the marijuana and alcohol that he had access to at home. However, God did not give up on Doug. When he was nearing the age of twenty, his father was gloriously saved. The booze and drugs left the home, and his father began serving the Lord. (Today he has a truck stop ministry). This had a convicting influence on Doug, and at the age of twenty-one, he surrendered every area of his life to God.


Lisa was raised by good, religious parents in a Methodist church. Then came the day when the pastor distributed to all a copy of the Good News for Modern Man and announced that it would replace their Bible. Her father had enough discernment to leave the church, and the family began attending Red Lion Bible Church. Lisa was led to Christ by a faithful Sunday School teacher who used the Wordless Book to teach the Gospel. Lisa’s father and mother began a bus route. Together, they serve faithfully in that ministry until this day.


The Nispel family arrived at BBTI in 2015 with the desire to serve the Lord in Romania. They continued raising support as students and graduated in 2016. In March 2017, less than a year after graduation, they arrived in Timisoara, Romania, and began learning the new language and culture.


A big part of the Nispel’s ministry is training believers in evangelism. They serve primarily in five or six Baptist churches, helping with outreaches and training the believers to use different methods of evangelism and tract distribution in outdoor and public settings. People are receptive and willing to listen but slow to trust Christ. Doug and Lisa look for outreach opportunities such as carnivals or festivals. They incorporate the use of Christian films in their open-air meetings. In the summer, they assist several different Baptist churches in vacation Bible school outreaches in places where there are thus far no churches.

When the Iron Curtain was torn down in the early 90s, Gospel seeds were sown in Romania and other Eastern European countries. It produced a great harvest for people who were hungry for prosperity and freedom. Thank God, that many missionaries went. Sadly, many stayed only a short time. There is, no doubt, a great need for new, church-planting missionaries in Europe, but there is also a great need for missionaries such as the Nispels who will take up the unfinished task of training believers to reach others.


Compassion took the Nispels to Romania, and faithfulness keeps them there!

Winter 2023-24

The Wasa are the largest ethnic group in the Western Region of Ghana with a population close to 300,000. The Western Region is tropical with an annual rainfall of sixty inches and is known for its production of cocoa, rubber, and palm oil. Other industries include fishing, animal husbandry, lumbering, and gold mining.


The Wasa face many challenges. The areas where gold is mined are damaged by erosion that causes flooding and ruins the land for farming. Also, many Wasa living in poverty mine gold illegally. These small, unregulated operations use chemicals and heavy metals that contaminate drinking water.
A second challenge is the Wasa language. Some of the older Wasa fear its demise. In an effort to modernize, children are punished for speaking their language in school. “English is a global language. Practice it now!!!” is written on at least one schoolroom wall.


Another challenge is the great spiritual need of the Wasa. Although their primary religion is listed as Christianity, its form is Non-Evangelical Protestantism which focuses more on social issues than a personal faith in Jesus Christ. Only Biblical teaching can correct this erroneous teaching, but there is no Bible in Wasa. A translation has reportedly begun. Will you pray for the Wasa and for those that are translating God’s Word for them?

Spring 2023-24

Our call to the mission field started when a ministry in Romania, supported by our church since the early 1970s, asked if anyone wanted to help on a construction project. I did not have any vacation time, a passport, or even a way to financially go. I told the Lord that if he would provide the way, I would go. He did provide! While in Romania, I passed out tracts and churches invited me to preach. After that trip, I knew the Lord would eventually have me go into missions but did not know where or when. I knew I needed to wait on the Lord to show me where he wanted me to be and when I was to go, so I remained active in our home church by serving in the bus ministry, jail ministry, nursing home and anywhere that I could help.


I met Lisa in 2001. On our second date, I told her that I believed the Lord would have us on the mission field, and that if she were not willing to go, we should not continue our relationship. Being close to her family, she did not automatically say yes, but did say she would pray about it. That night, sitting in her car before going into her third shift work, she looked up at the sky and thought of all Jesus had done for her. At that moment, she knew. If missions was what the Lord had for her, He would help her through it. Lisa let me know she was willing to go, and we married a year later.


I had been going to Romania on mission trips every two to three years since the year 2000. In 2007, while on one of those trips, I realized that I was ready to stay. The desire in my heart to be in Romania was honestly more than the desire to be in America. I became sure of the call to go.
I tried to schedule meetings and look for a mission board, but every door I tried was shut. I waited on the Lord, asking Him to open the door and make it obvious when it was time to start the deputation process. In 2012, the Lord answered that prayer in specific ways, showing us it was time for me to quit my job and go on deputation. We started full-time deputation with little support, but God answered prayer and provided a place for us to stay. I knew God would take care of my family.


In 2014, the Lord led us to BBTI to prepare for the mission field. It was hard to wait on the Lord to open doors in his timing instead of mine, but God’s timing is best. He used our lack of support to prompt me to contact churches in other states and keep me in America long enough for missionary training. At the right time, he gave us the support we needed, and we went to Romania.

Winter 2023-24

We cannot overestimate the value of a missionary. Humanly speaking, he is the only one standing between a group of people and Hell! If a missionary leaves the field prematurely, he is often discouraged and feels that he has failed the Lord and those people who believed in him. He, his church, and his mission agency should be asking some questions: What went wrong? What could have prevented it? And what should we do now? A missionary that we know well worked with his wife and children in a very remote mountain village, accessed only by plane or helicopter. Alone, they faced a very frightening experience and were in imminent physical danger. Almost miraculously, they were rescued by helicopter. They returned to the States very traumatized. Their pastor—the one who should care most—spoke with them for less than one minute and then apparently wrote them off as quitters. Talk about adding insult to injury! What they needed was a thorough debriefing with caring, competent counselors.


Gospel Furthering Fellowship (GFF), under the direction of BBTI graduate Rodney Myers, specializes in proper preparation for the mission field. This includes a strong recommendation that the missionary acquire Advanced Missionary Training at BBTI. They also offer help and debriefing, not only for their own members, but for any Baptist missionary. Consider the words of GFF Missionary Care Director Chris Luppino in his article, The Crisis that Few are Talking About:


The closing challenge of Jesus to His disciples in Mark 16:15 is clear, compelling, and challenging. They were to take the Gospel to every living person in every corner of the world. It is Jesus’ commission to the Christians of every generation during the church age. He highlighted one of the challenges to fulfilling His command in Matthew 9:37 where He said, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.”


In comparison to the need, the number of laborers (missionaries) is small. In the face of the challenging task of cross-cultural evangelism and church planting, many of the laborers are weak. The inherent weaknesses are amplified by the fact that missionaries are often sent woefully under-prepared. The director of our mission was challenging a pastor with some of the difficulties the missionary that his church was sending was likely to encounter and with the need for him and his wife to be properly prepared. In response to a list of the challenges that the missionary could reasonably be expected to face the pastor replied, “He will just have to learn as he goes along.” [Fortunately, that missionary couple did attend BBTI and are now successfully learning a tribal language that people told them is impossible to learn!]

Once laborers are sent, they are often neglected. If they “crash and burn” or just quietly go away (leave the field), the ridicule, blame, and scorn is usually targeted at the missionary. They are labeled as quitters, not being “tough” enough, not being made of the right stuff, or being a John Mark. We have no words to describe the sending church, sending pastor, or sending agency that let them down. If we are going to take the Gospel to each living person in every corner of the world, we must do better…much better!
The crisis that few are talking about is missionary attrition. A 2017 survey of 745 former missionaries cited a lack of missionary care as the number one cause of missionary attrition.


Gospel Furthering Fellowship is an Independent Baptist mission service ministry. We do not send missionaries or start churches. GFF serves churches that send missionaries to start churches. We come alongside churches and missionaries by using our experience and expertise to encourage and promote long-term missionary service among unreached people groups. Churches have a biblical mandate to intentionally, not accidentally, produce career missionaries. We are honored to serve them as they seek to do so.

We at home cannot possibly understand what a new missionary faces. He is concerned about the children’s welfare and education. Culture stress is often overwhelming. The pressure he feels from his supporters to produce results may derive from his own mind, but it is there, nonetheless. The missionary is tempted to take shortcuts and minister before learning the language. When language learning suffers, he eventually realizes his inability to effectively communicate. Why didn’t someone warn me that this language and the hearts of these people would be so hard? This dear man of God and his wife may question their spirituality. Surely, if we were right with God, we would love these people!
Missionaries may feel reluctant to share with anyone, including their pastor, what they are going through. After all, they told him and a bunch of others what they were going to do. They never entertained a thought of failure. The pastor needs to exercise his gift of discernment, read between the lines, investigate, and be sure that his missionary family is indeed doing well. Even if he does not suspect a problem, a personal visit might be a great encouragement to his missionary family.
It is the work of the church to get missionaries to the field. It is also the work of the church to keep them there. If they return early, it is the duty of the church to love and welcome them as the heroes they are. The church should attempt to restore and resend them. Compassionate care, not criticism, is needed.

Winter 2023-24

Ten thousand Pame live in San Luis Potosi, a state of central Mexico. They call themselves Xiúi meaning “indigenous.” The Pame cultivate maize, beans, squash, and chili which constitute their main diet. However, the soil is poor and rocky and many Pame are migrant workers.

Pame traditional religious beliefs in spirits, witches, and gods have mixed with Catholicism brought by the Spaniards. Pame call the Sun and the Catholic God by the same name. Likewise, they call the Moon and the Virgin Mary by the same name.

They need the truth found in God’s Word. But is it worth the time and toil of translating the Bible for a relatively small people group? Someone thinks so! And that is the rest of the story.

In 1980, BBTI graduate Rex Cobb began working in Bible translation among the Zapotecs in Oaxaca, Mexico. The people of his remote Zapotec village were suspicious of Americans, and it became increasingly difficult to minister among them. Bro. Cobb began to pray for Mexican nationals to assume the work of reaching their own indigenous people. In 1987, Rex learned of a Bible institute in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico, which was beginning to train students to do just that. God had answered his prayer!

He moved to northern Mexico and for four years taught the skills he had learned at BBTI. The first class had thirty-five students. Bro. Rex later moved on to church planting, and as the years passed, he wondered if he had made the right decision to leave the work with the Zapotecs and invest his time in training Mexican missionaries. Recently the Lord confirmed that yes, it was the correct decision.

Last March, at a mission conference in Gainesville, Texas, Rex met Dr. Neftalí Santos MD, a Mexican missionary to the Pame people of the state of San Luis Potosi. Neftalí taught the Pame people to read and is directing them as they translate the Bible into Pame. Neftalí studied linguistics and Bible translation at the Instituto Bíblico Maranatha in the city of San Luis Potosí. His teacher? Jorge Rocha, one of the students in Rex’s first class at the Bible Institute in Chihuahua! What a joy to learn how God has used Dr. Jorge Rocha to challenge and train dozens of men in the work of missions. Wondrous are God’s doings in our eyes!

God has a plan to reach every tribe and nation with the Gospel. He thinks it is worth the time and toil to translate the Bible for a relatively small people group. Neftalí thinks it is worth it and so do we! We are grateful He lets us get involved and has even let us see some far-reaching effects of BBTI’s ministry.

Fall 2023

Linguistics

There were many notable events in 1973. The infamous Supreme Court ruling Roe vs. Wade made legal the murder of sixty-six million babies over the next forty-nine years. The Watergate scandal was a top story for most of the year, and President Nixon assured us that he was not a crook. Vice president Spiro Agnew resigned over a tax evasion issue, and Gerald Ford was confirmed by the House of Representatives to replace him. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The American Baseball League adopted the designated hitter position, and Secretariat won the Triple Crown. After the loss of over 58,000 men and one woman, we pulled out of Vietnam and gave South Vietnam to the
communists. Also, that year Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia.

It was not announced on national news or even on local news, but in September of 1973 the Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI) began in a Sunday school classroom of Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Before that time, no Baptist school existed to train missionaries in linguistics, language and culture learning, and Bible translation principles. The vision for BBTI grew out of the frustration of a Baptist missionary trying to minister in Spanish to a group of Indian people whose understanding of Spanish was extremely limited. George Anderson thought maybe he had missed the class at his Bible college that dealt with language learning. He inquired and found that no such class was given at his college or at any Baptist school in America, Canada, or England. In light of Christ’s command to teach all nations, George thought this was very strange. He learned that there are still thousands of unwritten languages with not a word of the Bible and where language schools do not exist. George correctly reasoned that if these people were to ever hear the Gospel or read God’s Word, they needed missionaries with specialized training to reach them. There are two kinds of men: One says, “This is not right. Someone ought to do something about it.” And the other kind says, “This is not right. I am going to do something about it.” George learned that training in linguistic and cross-culture communication was available at the non-denominational organization New Tribes Mission. The New Tribes leaders graciously agreed to accept George and his wife Sharon and train them with the understanding that the Andersons would use it to begin a similar school for Baptist missionaries. George asked his supporting churches to be patient with them for two years while they acquired this valuable training.

BBTI began with the Andersons and three other families: the Duffees, the Huddlestons, and the Cobbs. Realizing that a Sunday School classroom is not an appropriate place to train missionaries, we began praying and searching for a larger rural property. We had no money, but with the help of Paul Henderson, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Bowie, Texas, we were given one hundred seventeen acres of land with three houses five miles from Bowie. The move was made on April 1, 1974, and by then a fifth family, the Christensens, had joined the group.

Missionaries need to learn building skills, and repairs to our old houses provided plenty of on-the-job experience. The many hard and unpleasant tasks such as digging a ditch were classified as GMT (Good Missionary Training), and we did them as to the Lord, knowing that we were building something that would last. Today there is housing for four staff families and a dozen other families or single students. A multipurpose building was constructed in 2004 and an addition to it is currently in progress.

Advancements have been made in the field of linguistic and cultural anthropology, and BBTI has tried to keep pace. The courses of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Chronological Bible Teaching, Greek, and Jungle Camp have been added but much is still the same. Certainly, the goal of training missionaries has not changed. BBTI has had three directors: George Anderson, Charles Turner, and Rex Cobb.

The tuition-free specialized training is given in one nine-month school year.Enrollment has never been large; it has averaged thirteen students per class. Our best representatives have been our graduates and students that visit churches on deputation. We accept students from like-minded churches with their pastor’s approval. Since 2006, we have promoted the work of missions and our Advanced Missionary Training weekly on fifty-five radio stations and in this quarterly publication. Our graduates have worked in Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Bahamas, China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Nepal, Russia, Israel, Tajikistan, Korea, Japan, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Papua Indonesia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Jordan, Uganda, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Malawi, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Ethiopia, Lithuania, Hungry, Romania, Republic of Georgia, Armenia, Croatia, Greece, Greenland, and to the Chippewas Indians in the United States. Others are preparing to go to Iceland, Burkina Faso, and to some countries mentioned above. Graduates are using the skills they learned at BBTI in cross-cultural evangelism, Indigenous church planting, Bible translation, and literacy.

Thank God for half a century of blessings. We glance back, but we gaze forward. The task is still before us, even greater than it was fifty years ago because the population has doubled. By the grace of God and with the prayers and support of God’s people, we plan to continue to prepare missionaries for their challenging task of language learning, cultural adaptation, and communication of the Gospel. If we were on the right path a half century ago, and we believe we were, then we plan to stay on that same path. Technology is helpful in some ways, but it will never replace flesh and blood missionaries going where people have no knowledge of Christ and staying until there is a thriving church with a well-translated Bible and a desire to take the Gospel to the regions beyond them. That is the plan for the next fifty years or until Jesus returns!

Sometimes in life we find ourselves in the midst of a series of events perceived as misfortunes.  Often, however, God intends for these times, when it seems everything goes wrong, to bring us closer to Him.

Such was the case for Rosalind Goforth in the summer of 1900.  She and her husband, Jonathan, had been ministering to the Chinese people since 1888, when the first of the “hurricane of horrors” struck.  After previously losing three precious babies, seven-year-old Florence went to be safe in the arms of Jesus.  While the presence of God was there to sustain, the pain was still very real. Only a few months following, the Goforth family was forced to flee China because of the Boxer Rebellion.  Picture this missionary family hurrying to gather what little they could take with them, find passage on a crowded steamer, and keep track of five young children—and you might see the hardships of this time in their lives.

In the fall of 1901, Jonathan returned to China.  Nine months later, Rosalind and the children (ages ten months to eleven years) were able to join him. Their two month journey was filled with trials, and through it Rosalind Goforth “learned what it meant to be carried through each day by Divine enabling.” Mid the stifling, crowded train ride to the coast, the children were exposed to whooping-cough. Reaching Calgary, they waited four days for a second train, then suddenly had only a half hour to get to the train station. Upon finally reaching the steamer, Mrs. Goforth discovered that three of her children had contracted whooping-cough.  For most of their journey, this missionary went with little sleep, taking care of her sick children.

At long last, Shanghai was in sight; and soon, the entire family would be together again.  But this reunion was not to be.  Upon arrival, Mrs. Goforth discovered that her husband had typhoid and was over a thousand miles inland. They took refuge in the home of some friends for a week where  Mrs. Goforth lay in a private room, trying to rest from the journey and prepare for what lay ahead.  “As promise after promise from God’s wonderful Word was laid hold on, peace came; I RESTED and learnt by experience the truth of these words, ‘Underneath are the everlasting arms’” (Deuteronomy 33:27). That promise is what gave Rosalind Goforth strength to overcome.  The everlasting arms of God have been sustaining His missionaries for centuries and will continue to do so until the trumpet calls us home!

The Everlasting Arms

Sometimes in life we find ourselves in the midst of a series of events perceived as misfortunes.  Often, however, God intends for these times, when it seems everything goes wrong, to bring us closer to Him.

Such was the case for Rosalind Goforth in the summer of 1900.  She and her husband, Jonathan, had been ministering to the Chinese people since 1888, when the first of the “hurricane of horrors” struck.  After previously losing three precious babies, seven-year-old Florence went to be safe in the arms of Jesus.  While the presence of God was there to sustain, the pain was still very real. Only a few months following, the Goforth family was forced to flee China because of the Boxer Rebellion.  Picture this missionary family hurrying to gather what little they could take with them, find passage on a crowded steamer, and keep track of five young children—and you might see the hardships of this time in their lives.

In the fall of 1901, Jonathan returned to China.  Nine months later, Rosalind and the children (ages ten months to eleven years) were able to join him. Their two month journey was filled with trials, and through it Rosalind Goforth “learned what it meant to be carried through each day by Divine enabling.” Mid the stifling, crowded train ride to the coast, the children were exposed to whooping-cough. Reaching Calgary, they waited four days for a second train, then suddenly had only a half hour to get to the train station. Upon finally reaching the steamer, Mrs. Goforth discovered that three of her children had contracted whooping-cough.  For most of their journey, this missionary went with little sleep, taking care of her sick children.

At long last, Shanghai was in sight; and soon, the entire family would be together again.  But this reunion was not to be.  Upon arrival, Mrs. Goforth discovered that her husband had typhoid and was over a thousand miles inland. They took refuge in the home of some friends for a week where  Mrs. Goforth lay in a private room, trying to rest from the journey and prepare for what lay ahead.  “As promise after promise from God’s wonderful Word was laid hold on, peace came; I RESTED and learnt by experience the truth of these words, ‘Underneath are the everlasting arms’” (Deuteronomy 33:27). That promise is what gave Rosalind Goforth strength to overcome.  The everlasting arms of God have been sustaining His missionaries for centuries and will continue to do so until the trumpet calls us home!

Preserved in a Pillow

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“The words of the Lord are pure words…Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalms 12:6-7).

With a crash the door flew open as Adoniram and Ann were enjoying a meal together. Without invitation, a Burmese police officer barged in and growled, “Mr. Judson, You are under arrest!”

The Judsons landed in Burma on July 13, 1813. After mastering this new language, Adoniram began translating the Bible into Burmese. Ten years’ work had gone toward this Burmese Bible when Judson was dragged from his home that summer day.

Amidst the appalling filth and torturous guards, Adoniram lived in the prison Let-Ma-Yoon for almost two years. His heart was heavy with the thought of his precious manuscript. He knew the authorities would go to his house and take or destroy what they pleased. They surely would not spare that Burmese Bible.

One day, Ann came to see him with a lumpy pillow. She had rescued his translation and concealed it inside a pillow. Months passed, and one day the prisoners were marched to another death prison. Adoniram spent six months there, wondering again the fate of the Burmese Bible.

Finally, Adoniram was released. At last he began the long-awaited journey home. There, lying on the table, was the precious Burmese Bible. Praises to God flowed from his heart as he tenderly stroked the manuscript and heard the story of God’s preservation of the invaluable translation.

After the prisoners were marched from Let-Ma-Yoon, the guards ransacked the prison for any possible loot. Upon finding such a lumpy pillow, a guard had disdainfully tossed it aside. Later that night, Maung Ing, a faithful convert of Judson’s, went to the prison to search for any relic of the missionary. He found the pillow and carried it home, not knowing of the treasure encased inside. Adoniram’s heart swelled with thanksgiving. The Burmese people would have a Bible they could read and understand. God did indeed preserve His Word, and He always will.

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Semper Fi

Jerry became a marine at age seventeen, and the people back home in Michigan thought he was a Christian. He had made a profession of faith at age twelve, but his life showed little evidence of salvation. One evening, Jerry and three other marines planned to go to town and get drunk. A corporal, however, needed a truck driver, and Jerry had to stay on duty.  On their way home, his buddies hit a bridge abutment, and two were killed.  Later, Jerry requested a transfer to Okinawa, a staging area for Vietnam, but that move was canceled because a new plan to marry Barbara developed. A marine friend, who also wanted to go to Okinawa, took Jerry’s place on the plane which crashed, killing all on board. Jerry was actually saved in 1967 after leaving the Marine Corp and while attending a Bible college. Barbara, his wife of 40 years, was raised in the home of a godly Baptist preacher and was saved by the same marvelous grace at age fourteen.

They served the Lord in various ministries, including pastoring for seven years. Nevertheless, they were not content to stay in the U.S. when the need is so great on the foreign field. God led Jerry and Barb, along with their three children, to Baptist Bible Translators Institute for specialized missionary training.  They labored for seven years in Papua New Guinea and established three churches, including Mt. Hagen Baptist Church which has also started other works and supports many missionaries.

In 1990, God led the Thomas’ to Costa Rica. Again, their training at BBTI helped them learn another new language and culture. God has used them there to establish churches and train national leaders in a Bible seminary. A recent prayer letter tells of new opportunity.

“Although our friends Victor and Minor are still in a local jail, their “blues” have turned out to be a “blessing.”  Their brother, Johnny, invited us into his home to counsel with a family member who has tried committing suicide three times.  We had a tremendous chance to share the Scriptures with Marjori and her husband, Kiki.  At present, she seems to be doing better, but please continue to pray for her mental/emotional stability and for Kiki’s salvation.  This situation ties in with a recent e-mail from Crossroads Baptist Church, Ashland, KY, asking us to consider starting a church in San Antonio de Belen because they had a recently-saved church member moving back to Costa Rica who was willing to open her home as a means of beginning a church there.  San Antonio de Belen happens to be the very place where Marjori and Kiki live.  Also, another family we had contact with in the same area needs a Baptist church to attend.”

Jerry, like much of the missionary force today, is over 60 years old.    He and Barb don’t use their age as an excuse to come home but are    instead beginning another church. Neither have they allowed serious health problems to stop them. As grandparents, they no doubt would cherish the luxury of being near their grandchildren; but neither does that desire draw them away from their field of service. In this day of short term mission work, and when many missionaries seem to find good reasons to leave their field, we salute the Thomas family, holding them up as examples to the younger generation of missionaries. God give us many more just like them!

Spring 2006

An Unexpected Opportunity

We plan to use Thailand’s religious freedom as well as its proximity to closed countries to serve as a hub for ministry in S.E. Asia. Part of our plan for Thailand has been to systematically and strategically “sow” down different regions by tract distribution. We now have nearly five hundred students in the Bible Correspondence School. Our goal is for God to raise up some men who can be trained and who will later establish Independent Baptist Churches that are self-financing, self-governing, and self-propagating.

Recently our ministry has taken on a new dimension as weekly trips are now being made to a Hmong refugee camp in Petchabun province, five hours away. The Hmong people were a nomadic tribe of farmers and began a never-ending quest for land that took them throughout China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. They began life in this country in refugee camps, having fled persecution in neighboring countries. They believe the Thai government will soon forcefully return them to Laos. Once there, the Lao government will surely continue their brutal attempt at ethnic cleansing.

The general physical state of the Lao Hmong is very bad with 6,000+ refugees living on the side of the road. They are hungry and in great physical need. Metropolitan Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, Texas, began a relief organization to provide funds for giving the refugees rice. This humanitarian aid, while not the focus of our ministry, has been a tremendous testimony of Christ’s love and has helped to give us a hearing among the people.

I started teaching the Bible to a group of 12 Hmong men, and the numbers continued to grow. These refugees have little to do day-to-day and are hungry for the Word of God.

In September we were approached by 110 men who claimed they wanted to become Christians. At the same time the Christians that I was discipling responded to the teaching on the local church, leadership, and the Holy Spirit. They then requested that we start a church. We decided to officially begin a church. We were able to baptize 15 leaders and start the Nam Kao (White Water) Baptist Church with this group. The church has been growing rapidly since then. It now has 150 baptized members. The average Sunday service has around 250 people (not including 100-150 children).

Please pray as we continue to bring the hope of the glorious gospel of Christ to these people. The Hmong are not wanted by their own country (Laos), by Thailand, or by the United States; however, Jesus Christ died for them and He wants them to be His children.

Winter 2006

An Unfamiliar Solution

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Most people would rather live with a problem they are familiar with than try an unfamiliar solution.  This mentality is akin to the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.

Do we Fundamental Baptists have any problems when it comes to missions?  I would say we do.  However, let me be quick to say I think we do more for missions than many other groups. I don’t profess to know or have all the answers, but I would like to list a few problems and suggest a solution to them: a solution that, for the most part, has not been tried by our camp.

A Problem of Incomplete Obedience

Jesus told us to preach His gospel to every creature and to all nations. We understand that the Bible use of the word “nation” is not political boundaries but different ethnic groups. We are not reaching all these groups; in fact, we are reaching very few. Our missionary force is concentrated in a few countries, reaching those who speak trade languages.  Reaching the nations requires missionaries to learn ethnic languages also. The problem causing our disobedience is that our missionaries do not know how to learn these languages—they can learn only if there is a school or teacher. The sad fact is that there are probably 5,000 languages with no language schools. It certainly is not pleasing to Christ that we are overlooking a large portion of the world because we are students but not learners. The unfamiliar solution is a program that converts students into learners and trains missionaries to use linguistic and language learning tools to learn any language in the world.

A Language Learning Problem

Learning a new language as an adult is not easy. Many rule out missionary service because they have convinced themselves they are no good at languages: perhaps they failed high school Spanish or French. Some purposely choose English-speaking countries; but in some of these countries where the “official” language is English, there is very little English spoken, and outreach is limited to the “educated” class. According to Dr. Tom Brewster, author of Language Acquisition Made Practical, during the early 90’s almost all the missionaries in Hong Kong, with the exception of the Mormons, did not speak Cantonese but were preaching in English. He further stated that of about 300 missionaries to the Navajo Indians, only 6 of them made any attempt to learn the language. In many countries, missionaries preach through an interpreter.  I ask you,    “If the pastor of your church could not speak English, but preached to you each week through an interpreter, how long would you continue attending that church?” Another practice is trying to reach people in a trade language who have very limited understanding of that language. All the above-mentioned problems make for an incomplete, ineffective communication of the gospel. This familiar problem has an unfamiliar solution: a school that trains missionaries to learn languages and learn them very well.

A High Drop Out Problem

There are many factors that would cause a missionary to leave his field prematurely. Probably the most commonly given reason is sickness. Pray for your missionaries, for they do face serious health threats on many fields. However, very often an underlying problem is the inability to adapt to the new language and culture. Language and culture shock  can actually cause sickness! Often the missionary does not even realize what is happening, but he is frustrated, irritated, and discouraged. He may feel guilty because he almost hates the people he is there to love! He and his wife may conclude that it is pointless to stay. Defeated, they leave and live with regret and guilt all their years.  Culture maladjustment is a familiar problem; and again, there is an unfamiliar solution. The solution is a training program directed by experienced missionaries using proven techniques that train people to be culture learners. Instead of being overwhelmed by the strange new culture, the missionary develops understanding and appreciation for it. When culture shock appears—and it will—he accurately diagnoses it and applies the cure.

Can We Baptists Change?

The fact that we have problems related to missions is not debatable. Our biggest problem, however, may be that we are afraid to try an unfamiliar solution. Doesn’t it make sense for a  church and its missionaries to try this “new” approach (that some have been using successfully for 50 years)? If it works (and we know it does) the missionary learns languages correctly, he learns and adjusts to cultures, he communicates the message of God with little or no syncretism, and his training serves him well on the field for many years. What are we content with: the familiar problem or the unfamiliar solution?

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Dare to Dream

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Faustino, an Indian from the Tlapaneco tribe located in the mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, had lived outside his village among the Spanish-speaking people for several years. God in His goodness saved this young man, and he attended a Bible institute. During this time, Brother Don Fraser, the founder of the Bearing Precious Seed ministry, challenged the Mexican students to reach those who have never heard the message of salvation in Christ. God gave Faustino a burden for his family and his people and a desire to take the Gospel to them. A young missionary, George Anderson, who was especially interested in reaching tribal people, was invited to go with him. Pastor Paul Henderson, an excellent photographer from Bowie, Texas, was asked to join the group to capture on film the entrance of the Gospel into this remote Indian village. Faustino and the Americans were very well received into the village, along with the message they brought.

George not only made this initial trip, but he also went back on a more permanent basis to minister to these people. He tried to teach them God’s Word in Spanish, but their understanding of this language was very limited. Their language and culture was Tlapaneco. Brother Anderson had graduated from a prominent Baptist college that taught him many helpful things.  None of his courses, however, included how to learn a language. He, like any other moderately intelligent person, could sit in a classroom and be taught Spanish; but he didn’t know how to learn a language.  Of course, these Indian people had no language school, no teachers, and no books. Two things became apparent to this missionary: 1) Spanish was not going to work, and 2) his Bible school and language school had not taught him how to learn a language, let alone a culture.

George thought that surely there must be other Baptist schools that teach missionaries the necessary language learning skills. He inquired and found there were none. Jesus commanded us to take His Gospel to “every creature” and preach “not where Christ was named,” but in practice we Baptists had only been taking the Gospel to the creatures that had language schools. Brother Anderson did learn that there are some non-Baptist groups that train their missionaries to learn languages and cultures.

A plan began to form in his mind, and George dared to dream. He dreamed of a school that could teach Baptist missionaries how to learn languages, especially those without language schools (probably 5,000 languages).  He stepped outside Baptist circles and went to the New Tribes Mission training for two years. With their blessing, he took what they taught him and began the Baptist Bible Translators Institute in September 1973, in the Sunday school classrooms of his home church in Fort Worth, Texas. That church no longer exists, but the missionary training program he began does.

My wife, Mary, and I were in that first class, along with two other families. In 1974, the school moved to Bowie, Texas, where it continues today. The invaluable preparation that we received at BBTI was a great help to us, as it has been to many graduates over these thirty-two years. It was a difficult decision in 1999 when we were requested to leave our work in Mexico and return to BBTI to lead the school into the next century. However, the same dream that George Anderson had lived in our hearts too; and we felt the call of God to return.

I’m sure George believed that pastors by the hundreds would send their missionaries to be trained at BBTI and that one day there would be a need for BBTI training camps around the United States and even in foreign countries. Surely everyone would get on board! That, unfortunately, has not happened to the extent that George envisioned. Nevertheless, over the years some pastors have sent their missionaries to BBTI; and the specialized preparation has been a great help to them. We continue to inform God’s servants of what is available to them. We declare without apology that no Baptist missionary should go to the foreign field and attempt to learn a new language and culture without the type of training that we offer. It makes absolutely no sense to us that anyone would attempt to do the most important work in the world without the best possible preparation.

Over the last thirty-two years this specialized training has undergone some changes. A few courses have been eliminated, and others have been added.  The program has been made shorter but more intensive. Still, the basic goal remains the same: train the missionary to learn any language and culture in the world—and learn it very well. We encourage you to visit our website and/or request a free catalog and CD presentation. You will understand better how each course helps the missionary in some definite way. We invite you to share our dream of well-trained missionaries, and to work with us to make this dream a reality.

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