Who is at Fault?

By Chris Matthews, Director

We have seen a drastic reduction in the number of missionaries going to the field since 2020, and churches now struggle to find missionaries to support. We are losing more missionaries off the field than we can send to replace them. Too few are going, and of those who do, many return prematurely. Faced with these challenges, it is past time for us to assess the situation and take corrective action.

It is said that anybody can find a problem, but it takes leadership to find the solution. Let us dive into the problem and then start the conversation on some possible solutions.

Who is at fault? Was it COVID and the tightening hand of world governments that resulted from that season of time? Is it that the church is failing to promote missions and urge its members to consider missions as the primary call of the New Testament? Is it the family unit that is willing to give its finances, prayers, and well wishes to others but not willing to send its children and grandchildren?

COVID certainly had its damaging effect. Most governments around the world tightened their grip on their people. While we were busy arguing about whether a person should wear a mask or not, the governments were tightening their control in many more pressing ways. Some countries have used COVID-19 as a reason to expel foreigners from the country and have been reluctant to allow them back in. Visas in many countries are for shorter periods and more challenging to obtain. Nevertheless, some countries, seeing the detrimental effects of not welcoming foreigners, have opened their doors wide, allowing tourism, business, and even missionary work to flourish. We are not of this world, and it is not the governments that determines where we go as missionaries. It is time that we shrug off the excuses and get to the biblical mission, which is missions.

It is also possible that our churches took a lackadaisical approach to missions for a season. Just a few years ago, pastors received many calls and emails from missionaries, and they had to weed through and determine which missionaries they would accept and which ones they would refuse. It seemed that many were going, and so possibly the urgency to see folks sent from their church diminished. I believe it ought to be the goal of every church to fulfill the Great Commission beginning near them at what we might call their “Jerusalem and Judea,” then to the people in foreign places that maybe are not so easy to love in their “Samaria,” and to the unreached people groups in their “uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It seems that we can allocate labor and money for almost anything we want to accomplish in the church, other than sending missionaries. How do we fix this? I certainly do not have all the answers and would be a fool to assume I have the answers for every individual church, but here are some suggestions.

Beginning with the youngest ages, as we tell the Bible stories of people who went and served God, we can encourage our children that God will send them to do a great work for Him if they are willing. We could stop using negative statements, such as “not everyone is called to the pastorate or to be a missionary,” and instead tell every person that they have a calling. They are commanded to go. Going honors God, allowing us to trust in the promise found in Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” God will order our steps, which will provide both the place and methodology if our feet are surrendered.

We must preach the truth to our people that the Gospel requires us to go and share it with others so that they might be saved. Yes, it ought to be to our neighbor and our coworkers, but it also ought to be simultaneously to the uttermost parts of the earth. We must realize and preach that God does not just want our prosperity but also our person to go overseas.

Families need to awaken to the great opportunity of missions and to the high calling that it is. I do not have a biblical command to be a doctor, lawyer, electrician, laborer, etc., but I do have a command to preach the Gospel to every creature. Our families ought to be on their knees together, praying that the Lord would allow them and/or their children or their grandchildren to go and preach the Gospel where it has not yet been proclaimed. Faithful worship at the house of God ought to take precedence over the worship at the stadium that many families seem to see as a priority. Let us cheer and shout when family members share the Gospel with a friend or somebody they meet along the way. I would rather my children be in the most dangerous place on earth and in the will of God than living at ease with riches and glory but without the presence and approval of God.

It is time that in every Christian setting, missions be our first priority. If you believe this to be extreme, then it would be a good time to consider the commandments given in the New Testament. The four Gospels all end with a Great Commission to go and preach the Gospel. Acts begins with the admonishment to go, and Romans asks the questions “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” The New Testament is written by men who went, preached, suffered, and died for the sake of the Gospel. It is time that we live for the same cause.

Who is at fault? Certainly not God! He is the Lord of Harvest, and with his help, we must find solutions and make corrections.

Fall 2025

A non-native English speaker thought that “thanks for nothing” was a nice thing to say to a person who tried to help you with something but were unable to succeed. So instead of saying, “Thanks anyway,” she would acknowledge their effort by saying, “Thanks for nothing”!

From Fluent to Clueless

by Tricia Paulichen

Marco and Tricia Paulichen serve in Uruguay

You do not realize how much of life you take for granted until you become a missionary.

Back “home,” you knew how everything worked. Paying bills, getting groceries, tracking down deals? Routine. Booking a doctor’s appointment, navigating paperwork, following traffic laws? Second nature. You knew how to handle emergencies and navigate social situations without thinking twice.

Now, imagine waking up on another planet.

Suddenly, nothing makes sense. The strange one-eyed blue aliens around you speak only gibberish. Their rules are different. Their systems are foreign. What used to be simple tasks now become monumental obstacles.

That is what it feels like to move overseas. You are still an adult, but your brain turns to mush, and you function like a toddler… and often, you are treated like it. Most people back home have no idea.

“When we cross cultures, we leave behind parts of who we are and must rebuild a sense of identity in a new place.”
– Sarah Lanier, Foreign to Familiar

You were once articulate, but now you speak like a caveman with confidence issues. Your ability to communicate determines your independence, and in the early days, you have none. You avoid conversations out of fear, but that slows your progress. The frustration builds—knowing what you want to say but being unable to express it—until you find yourself nodding along just to end the interaction.

Grocery shopping, once effortless, becomes a scavenger hunt. Baking soda? Only sold in pharmacies. Molasses? Available, but in greenhouses as fertilizer. (No kidding.) Opening a bank account requires stacks of notarized documents, multiple visits, and an abundance of patience.

Even something as basic as using a public washroom can go hilariously wrong—like walking in, only to realize, too late, it is being used by both genders as an election voting booth. (Yes, really.)
No one tells you these things outright. You learn through experience, sometimes painfully. And when you misstep, you might never understand what you did wrong. It is trial and error, and each attempt brings a new complication.

Contrary to popular belief, missionary life is not all fun and adventure. Sometimes, it is just exhausting.
You expect an adjustment period, but no one tells you how deep the exhaustion runs nor how long it lasts. Even after months or years, the challenge of culture shock still sneaks up on you. You miss the ease of shopping, the rhythm of daily life, the comfort of blending in. Building relationships takes effort and, even then, you often feel like an outsider. As my immigrant father-in-law often said, “Once you leave your birth country, no matter where you live, you’ll never fully fit in again.”

So why do we do it?

That reality is hard to explain. But underneath the exhaustion is a deeper sense of purpose—one that keeps you going, even when you feel clueless. At first, every day feels like a battle. But slowly, you change. One day, your brain is not fried by 2 PM. Life gets easier. And eventually… you adjust.

Fall 2025

Desire for Missions

by Janelle W.

A younger Janelle dressed
for a mission conference

My childhood was saturated with God’s Word and biblical instruction. I believed on the Lord Jesus as a child and since then have desired to serve Him in foreign missions. I dreamed of being called to Africa. While in Bible college, my eyes were opened to unreached and often avoided nations shackled and blinded by Islam. I volunteered to go and bring light if God would allow.

Through the years, God has given me the opportunity to minister short term in several countries around the world which further strengthened my desire to go where “Christ has not been named.” After each trip, I asked God if He wanted me to return and serve in that country.
I was unsure if and when the Lord would allow me to enter into foreign missions, so I determined to help prepare the next generation of missionaries under my influence. For the last several years, I have had the amazing opportunity to teach God’s Word to children in our church, school, and community.

In the last few years, God opened the door for me to take a trip to the Middle East and another to North Africa. I was able to see firsthand the lack of access to the Gospel. I watched people react to hearing the truth spoken in love. I met young believers who have had a fraction of the exposure to the Bible that I have and how they have endangered their lives to receive more truth. I saw people waiting for light.

After my trip to North Africa, I began praying about the possibility of taking God’s light there. While teaching through Hebrews 11 in my Bible class over several months, God confirmed in my heart that this was the step of faith I needed to take. It is impossible to please God without faith. God is pleased when we believe that He will do what He said He would do. When Abraham was called to a place he could not see, he believed God and obeyed. He believed that God WAS able and WOULD keep His promises. Philip left a city in revival and ran to the desert at the Spirit’s leading. He opened his mouth and shared Jesus with one man that would reach others in Africa. God desires that all people come to Him in faith, and I believe that God can use anyone … including me.

Would you pray with me that God would send laborers to North Africa? Jesus told us to pray for laborers and He told us to go! God wants all of us to be involved. How could God use you to change someone else’s story for eternity?

Winter 2025-26

Apostle to the Indians

by Joyce Reed

John Eliot was born in 1604 near London, England. We know little about his early years, but he received a degree from Cambridge University in 1622.

He became connected to the Puritans while serving as an usher in the grammar school of Rev. Thomas Hooker, where he saw the power of godliness in their lively vigor and service. John soon devoted himself to the ministry of the Gospel with the Puritans. However, the Puritan persecution by the Church of England was so great that they emigrated to America.

John, along with three brothers and three sisters, arrived in Boston on November 4, 1631. It was a very harsh time for them, but they made it. John entered the ministry there that year at the age of twenty-seven years. That same year, John married Miss Hannah Mumford. They would eventually have six children. He was called as pastor of the church in Roxbury where he would pastor until his death nearly sixty years later. John never received more than three hundred dollars a year for his service, but he considered himself rich. He was indeed rich in God’s blessings.

He longed to reach the poor Indians with Christ’s salvation message. However, he had to, first, gain their confidence and learn their most difficult language. It took him almost two years with the aid of a Pequot Indian named Cockenoe to do this, but the red men became devoted to him. The medicine men hated and persecuted him, but John was set to serve God among the Indians. He did this and still served his white congregation. In 1660, three thousand, six hundred Indians had become Christians.

John believed in the work of translating the Bible into the “heart language” of the people. He devised an alphabet for the unwritten Pequot language. With Cockenoe’s help, he translated the Bible into Pequot. In September 1661, the New Testament was printed, and two years later, the whole Bible was completed. This was the first Bible printed in America.

In John’s later years, he could no longer “go” to the Indians, so he asked church families to send their negro servants to him. Thus, he also became known as the founder of the Christian missionary work to the negroes of America.

Missionary opportunities lie at our very doors. John Eliot’s life teaches us to just go and do God’s will: reach the lost with the Gospel of Christ both near and far. Look what Christ can do through one life sold out to Him!

Winter 2025-26

Birwa of Zimbabwe

No Birwa photo available.
This Sotho man is from a related ethnic group.
Photo: Source: Steve Evans – Flickr
Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

The Birwa, numbering 165,000, live mainly in the Bobirwa Subdistrict of Zimbabwe with smaller populations in Botswana and South Africa. They migrated from Transvaal (a pre-apartheid former province of South Africa) between the 16th and 17th centuries.

Main industries among the Birwa are agriculture, animal husbandry, and tourism. The soil of the Bobirwa Subdistrict is fertile. However, farming is difficult due to the inconsistent rain of the semi-arid climate. Tourism is increasingly important and is enhanced by the wildlife of the many national parks in the area. Tourists also come to experience the regional culture. Birwa crafts, foods, dances, and traditions are preserved at cultural festivals and the Bobirwa Cultural Center.

Although some Birwas call themselves Christians, most Birwas practice traditional beliefs of animism. Animism, the oldest pagan religion, is a belief that all things, both living and non-living, possess a soul. Respect for spirits and veneration of ancestors is an integral part of Birwa life.

Ethnologue.com classifies Birwa as “a stable indigenous language … [which] is thought to be used as a first language by all in the ethnic community.” There is no Bible in Birwa, no Jesus film, no Gospel recordings, and no Christian radio broadcast.

Tourists visit the Birwa people for a short time to get. Pray that missionary Bible translators will go there to stay and give!

Winter 2025-26

New Challenge

Steve Schnell was born in 1965 in Nebraska to a Roman Catholic family. He tried to be a good Catholic, confessing his sins to a priest and observing the sacraments. He joined the Navy in 1986. He led a sinful life until a fellow sailor confronted him with the Gospel of Christ. He trusted Jesus and became a bold witness. His buddies tried in various ways to tempt him back to his former lifestyle, and he got in “trouble” with his superiors for his bold witness for Christ.

Margie was born in Pennsylvania. Her family roots run deep in the Old Order (Horse and Buggy) Mennonite religion. A friend was killed in a highway accident which made Margie consider death and eternity. Her older brother was saved, and influenced greatly by his witness, she trusted Christ in 1986. Steve met Margie in Tennessee, and the Lord impressed Steve that she was to be his wife. Steve felt he needed the approval of her father, but his friends told him he did not have a chance. He was nervous but passed her father’s test, and they were married in April 1991.

Their plan was to settle down on a farm, work hard, serve God in Tennessee, and live a wholesome life. That plan was challenged by the call of the multitudes living and dying without Christ with little or no chance of hearing the gospel. The Schnells attended New Tribes Bible Institute for a time and also received extensive Bible teaching at their church.

The Schnells graduated from BBTI in 1996. In 1997, with the sponsorship of their church, they became missionaries to Cambodia. The Khmer language was Steve’s first experience at learning a new language, but it was Margie’s third language. With the Advanced Missionary Training (AMT) skills acquired at BBTI, they learned Khmer without attending a language school. They communicated the message of Christ to the Khmer people for several years, started indigenous churches, translated much Christian literature, and produced a radio program that continues today.

The Lord led the Schnells back to BBTI in 2011, and Steve’s experience in the Asian Buddhist culture became a valuable addition to our Culture Class. He has also taught Ethno-musicology and Chronological Bible Teaching. Outside of the classroom, his building skills have been an invaluable help. Margie has cared for students’ children so mothers could acquire the AMT along with their husbands.

It would seem that BBTI cannot function without the Schnells; but it must. Paul received the Macedonian vision, and the Schnells have received the “Slovenian vision.” Peter Marshall, after his first heart attack, was questioned by a friend if he learned anything from his health scare about overworking, and he replied, “Yes, I learned that the Kingdom of God goes on without Peter Marshall.” And the Schnells know that BBTI will go on, too! The 2.126 million people of Slovenia need the Schnells more than BBTI does.

Slovenians are friendly toward Americans. It is a beautiful country with a great part of the Alps in the northwest. Even though the cost of living is somewhat lower than in the USA, it is higher than at BBTI. This means the Schnells need to raise more support. They are currently visiting churches, asking for the prayers and the financial help of God’s people. Pray for an open door to Slovenia for Steve, Margie, and eighteen-year-old Joel who is a current student at BBTI. Their first challenge will be language and culture learning. It has been twenty-seven years since Steve and Margie learned a new language. Pray as they meet this challenge. Thank God for people that will take on new challenges and prove again the faithfulness of God.

Contact info: schnellfamily8@gmail.com

Winter 2025-26

Real Missionary Communication

by Chris Matthews, Director

It is easy to forget that the partnership between churches and missionaries is not merely financial—it is a partnership for the sake of souls. The missionary labors in the field so that churches can reach their fields. When communication between them becomes mechanical, the partnership begins to lose its vitality. The Great Commission was never designed to be carried out by individuals working in isolation. It is a shared work, with each contributing to the same spiritual goal: the salvation of souls. When communication thrives, the partnership flourishes. When it withers, the work weakens.

Modern missions often lose that personal touch. Churches give, missionaries write, and the relationship can quietly slip into a business arrangement—efficient, polite, and lifeless. The missionary’s letter becomes a report to donors, and the church’s offering becomes a bill to pay. The warmth of fellowship is replaced with the status quo of obligation. But missions is not a commercial transaction; it is a spiritual partnership. The missionary is not a contractor hired to do evangelism on behalf of the church. He is a representative of the church, extending the church’s reach to places its members cannot go. Likewise, the church is not a customer demanding results; it is a co-laborer sending reinforcements into the battle.

True missionary communication breathes life back into that relationship. When missionaries write with sincerity and transparency, sharing not only their victories but also their struggles, the church learns to pray more specifically and to care more deeply. A simple line like, “Please pray for strength,” may mean much more than physical fatigue—it may be the missionary’s quiet way of saying, “I am discouraged, but I am holding on.” Churches that read between the lines, that listen with spiritual ears, will hear the heartbeat of their missionaries and respond with compassion and prayer.

Likewise, churches must learn to communicate back. A missionary who spends months or years overseas may go long stretches without a single personal note from supporting churches. He may faithfully send letters, photos, and updates, yet hear little in return. A short handwritten letter, a kind email, or even a message from a Sunday school class can make a tremendous difference. It reminds the missionary that he is not forgotten—that his partners at home are praying, watching, and rejoicing with him. Real communication is not one-way. It is not the missionary always speaking and the church always reading. It is conversation, fellowship, and mutual encouragement.

The danger of purely transactional communication is subtle but profound. When churches expect constant excitement or visible results, missionaries feel pressured to perform. Reports become polished highlights instead of honest reflections. The numbers may look good, but the soul of the message is lost. Some missionaries begin to feel that their worth depends on how impressive their letters sound or how quickly they can produce measurable outcomes.

For communication to be real, it must be relational. Churches can cultivate this by praying for specific needs rather than general ones. When a missionary mentions an upcoming event, sickness, or ongoing struggles with government paperwork, a church that takes time to pray and follow up afterward becomes a personal part of that story. The church and the missionary share the journey and later the victory. It has never been easier for such communication to take place because of the technology we use daily. When churches and missionaries learn to communicate in this spirit, both sides are enriched. The church gains a living awareness that missions is a living extension of its own ministry. The missionary, in turn, draws renewed strength from knowing that his partners are not distant financiers but fellow soldiers who stand beside him in prayer. That is the essence of real missionary communication: shared joy, shared sorrow, shared work.

If the church views missions as a distant department, it will lose its heart for the world. If the missionary views churches merely as sources of funding, he will lose his connection to the body that sent him. But when both see themselves as “labourers together with God” (1 Corinthians 3:9), the lines between sender and sent blur into one united effort. The church becomes present on the field through communication, prayer, and giving; the missionary extends the church’s witness into places unknown. Communication becomes communion.

Real missionary communication is not paperwork; it is partnership. A partnership should have unity within it because of a shared mission and purpose. It is not “us and them,” but us together seeking the salvation of lost souls and planting churches to train believers to carry on the same purpose.

Both missionaries and churches need to develop ways to foster genuine and personal communication. Missionaries should certainly care deeply for the churches supporting them: “And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you” (2 Corinthians 9:14). And likewise, the churches should show care in ways that go beyond financial support. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, aways in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now” (Philippians 1:3–5).

Winter 2025-26

I have been filling the pulpit where needed, and last Sunday I preached in Marianna. I met with one of the elders before service and meant to ask him if he also had a list of the preachers who would be preaching. But instead of saying “predicadores” (preachers), I said “pecadores” (sinners). I had just asked for a list of the sinners! I knew instantly I had made a mistake, when the elder replied that we don’t need a list because “somos todos pecadores” (We are all sinners.). —Rick, Bolivia

Banda of Central African Republic

The Banda, numbering 1,317,700 are the largest ethnic group in the Central African Republic. They live in hamlets of scattered homes under the leadership of headmen. Men hunt and fish, and women gather wild foods and cultivate crops of maize, cassava, peanuts, sweet potatoes, yams, and tobacco.

The Banda are woodcarvers, crafting both general use and ritual objects. They are best known for their large slit drums. Slit drums, lacking a drum head, are played by striking near the slit and produce a resonance within the drum chamber.

There are eleven Banda subgroups in the Central African Republic, each of which speaks a distinct dialect. Many groups have at least part of the Bible, but the Banda-Banda Ndi speakers, numbering 167,000, are still in need of a translation.

Catholicism was introduced during the French colonization of the late 1800s, and Protestant missionaries arrived in the early 1920s. Islam has grown to 8% through both immigration and conversion. “Christianity” is the dominant religion. However, many Banda also practice their traditional beliefs of animism and sacrifice to ancestral spirits who are believed to have the power to destroy or to save. How can they know the truth without a Bible?

Spring/Summer 2025

Go and Serve

I was born into a Christian family. One day, when I was ten years old, my relatives gathered all the kids in their living room. We sat down and waited. Then my cousin got up, stood behind a chair, and began preaching a sermon… AS A YOUNG TEENAGER!!!! I was blown away! It had never crossed my mind that a young person could be a preacher. From that moment forward, that is what I wanted to be.

Months later, our new church had its annual missions conference where thirty-five missionaries presented their works. The fellowship hall was filled with missionary displays representing the need in all corners of the earth. I was attending the Christian school and in every class a missionary told of their field and their burden to reach it for the Lord. Again, I was blown away. From that moment forward, I wanted to be a missionary.

That desire remained all through junior high and high school. I began college, majored in missions, and was burdened for many places. I graduated with a strong burden for India but had no peace about going anywhere.

I got married and the Lord very clearly moved me to a church in Kentucky. No paid position. Not even a promise of a position. Just a clear, “Go and serve.” So, we went. After five years, the Lord opened the door for me to take a paid position at the church, and I continued the roles I had already been filling. During this time, God gave me a lot of perspective and matured me.

During another missions conference, two years later,the Lord again stirred me. I told another staff member, “Pastor better stop preaching on missions or I’m going to the mission field!” Four months later, I knew very clearly that God wanted us in missions. When I approached my pastor, he said, “That’s wonderful! Where?” I looked at him and said, “I don’t know.” He replied, “That’s ok. If you don’t have a Where then pick a Who.” He began to list some quality missionaries, but I said, “Honestly God has already put someone on my heart.” (It was a cousin I was sitting next to on the floor when I first saw a young person preach.) Missions was on his heart as well but he had not yet confirmed it with the Lord. My pastor sent me to talk to him, and He told me he had been asking the Lord for a partner. Through prayer, God soon confirmed that we were to take the Gospel to Iceland as a team.

Spring/Summer 2025

What Cost! What Blessings!

Hardship would have been an appropriate middle name for Laura Hardin. Born in Calhoun, Nebraska, on September 28, 1858, Laura’s life of hardship began at four years of age. Her father, Even Hardin, enlisted in the Civil War in 1865, leaving his wife and five small children with no food or money. They endured a terribly cold winter with almost nothing to eat. God sent help, but the times were rough.

Around eight years of age, Laura checked out a missionary book from the Methodist Church. Her mother explained to her the need to tell the world about Jesus. Laura told her mother she would like to do that someday. God heard her heart and provided greatly so she could. One night, at a revival, she was saved! Her missionary desire grew strong.

God molded Laura in the fires of hardship that well prepared her for what she and her future husband would face on the mission field. Through an Indian uprising, a prairie fire, a freezing night alone on the prairie, a tornado, diphtheria, and typhoid, God prepared her. When crops failed and there was no money for her education, she questioned if she had been wrong about God’s call to her for missions. A well-meaning friend had mentioned that maybe it would not be so hard if God was really calling her to go. How many preparing for the mission field have let the devil so easily steer them from going? We must all realize that when hardships come, it is no indicator of whether God’s call is real or not. How tragic it would have been if she had listened to wrong advice!

On September 28, 1883, Laura set sail for Burma. In 1886, her fiancé, Arthur E. Carson, arrived. He was appointed to open a work among the Chins, who had never had a missionary. Laura and Arthur were married immediately. They soon left for the Chin people, going beyond civilization where no white woman had ever been. They faithfully served through daily hardships and sacrifices until God called Rev. Carson home on April 1, 1908. He had served faithfully for twenty-two years. Laura served for another twelve years before failing health forced her to return to America.

What if Laura had given up on her call because it was too hard? About ninety percent of an entire people group numbering nearly three million might not have ever heard the Gospel. This couple believed ALL hardships and sacrifices were endurable to give the Word of Life to people in their own language and to uplift the souls in darkness to God’s marvelous Light. Hardship and sacrifice come with every worthwhile venture. To what greater venture can we give our lives than to the fulfilling of Christ’s commission?

Source: Laura Hardin Carson, Pioneer Trails, Trials and Triumphs
Photo Source: HathiTrust Digital Library.

Banda of Central African Republic

Spring/Summer 2025

“I Plan to Die There”

God’s plans and ours do not always coincide, but you must admire missionaries who plan to stay for life! Wil and Trina Muldoon are of this group. They went to the mission field much later in life than most; Wil at sixty-three, and Trina several years younger. Theirs is not a comfortable place but a remote coastal village called Baimuru in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Wil describes their quarterly supply run to the capital: “We travel only by dinghy in our area. When heading into Port Moresby for supplies, we spend an hour going down river to the Gulf of Papua, and then 4 hours on the sea to arrive in Kerema, the closest place we can connect with a road to continue our trip to the city (another six to eight hours). The village grass airstrip has not been open for several years.”

Their village has no electricity. The Muldoons have a generator, but it is very expensive to operate and requires transporting barrels of gasoline ($5.94 per gallon) and a lot of prayer and ingenuity to keep the thing running! How did they arrive at such a place at that time in their lives?

Wil left Vietnam addicted to drugs, disillusioned with religion, and without purpose in his hippie lifestyle. He went west for a simpler life, learned the farrier trade, traveled in a mule-drawn wagon, and also worked as a cowboy. Then, a missionary to the Navajo Indians gave him the Gospel! Everything changed. He attended Bible college, married Trina, and became a missionary to the West and native Americans. Later, he founded a church in Wyoming which he pastored for sixteen years. He was comfortable.He spoke the language and understood the culture. The church was prospering. He could have stayed there.

But he learned from PNG veteran missionary Matt Allen that people in two dozen villages in his area were begging for missionaries to come start a church. But Wil was too old. Or was he? Matt said, “No! Men with age and experience are what we need. Get over here!” So, the Muldoons began at BBTI in 2010. They raised support and left for PNG in September 2012. God led them to a remote, abandoned mission station with fifteen acres of land. They have since developed a unique training program.

Poorly educated, ministry-minded people come as family units and live at Baimuru Baptist Bible Institute (BBBI). They plant and live off of their own gardens and hope to sell extra food for spending money. They work on the property to pay their tuition. Both husband and wife study. BBBI is not a one-size-fits-all program. It is designed to meet the needs of the worker. For instance, they offer a one-year course that includes preparation for Sunday School teachers, youth workers, and invitation counselors. Others will complete two or three years of intensive Bible study and practical training. This is a very heavy teaching assignment for two people, one of whom is seventy-five years old! Besides classroom study, Wil accompanies students to conduct evangelistic and teaching meetings in surrounding villages. God has blessed. Pastors and workers are in places where they are greatly needed. The current pastor of the Baimuru Baptist Church is a 2016 BBBI graduate.

After eight years in PNG, the Muldoons took a seven-month furlough in the States. Wil’s last words to me then were, “I plan to go back and die there.” However, if God gives them life, after this class concludes, they desire to take one more furlough so they can hug their children and grandchildren, meet their new grandchildren, and report to their faithful supporters. But Wil and Trina do believe that Baimuru is where they will be buried. Let’s pray that it will be many years from now! A book should be written about them—probably never will be. But God is keeping the record!

“He’ll Figure it Out”

Raymond, the director of a mission agency and a graduate of Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI), was explaining to a pastor why his church members, Jack and Linda, who planned to be missionaries, needed BBTI. The pastor was not seeing the point. Raymond had spent many years in Africa, and he knew the arduous task facing this young couple, and he also knew how much BBTI had helped him and his wife. Raymond asked the pastor how this couple was going to survive and succeed. The pastor’s reply was, “He’ll figure it out when he gets there.” Unfortunately, most new missionaries are going ill-prepared and trying to figure it out. Experts in the fields of linguistics and anthropology have gone before us and figured out many mysteries of language and culture. Wouldn’t it be wise of us to draw on their expertise? We explain our Advanced Missionary Training (AMT) to every prospective missionary who will listen; all agree that better preparation would be a good idea. Unfortunately, they almost invariably add, “But I need to get on the field quickly. The program takes too long.” Because Jack and Linda’s pastor had never communicated in a new language and culture, his natural thinking was to get on the field ASAP and just do it!

Suppose you took your car to an auto repair shop and found that the mechanic had a few tools but no experience or instruction on their use? He had not attended mechanical school or worked as an apprentice. But he assured you that God wanted him to be a mechanic, and he would lift the hood and figure it out. You would limp down the street to a different shop. Would you want a haircut at a barber shop or beauty salon if you learned that the operator had only watched a video on hair cutting, knew nothing about sanitation procedures and laws, had never been taught or tested, but said, “Sit down and I’ll figure this out as I go”? Suppose you went to a financial advisor to invest your hard-earned money only to discover that this advisor had never been to business school, had never studied finances, and knew nothing of the workings of Wall Street. He may be a Christian and believe God is leading him into the investment business, but if he says, “Leave your money with me; with God’s help, I’ll figure it out,” you might decide to use that money instead to build a house. You find a man whose motto is, “My name is Chuck, I have a truck, and I’m called to construct!” But he has never studied carpentry, plumbing, electrical, heating or A/C. He knows nothing about city codes or building permits. You might decide to rent a little longer or look for a trained contractor. Does Uncle Sam give a recruit a uniform, a rifle and some ammunition and say, “Go fight the bad guys; you’ll figure it out when you get there.” No, our government has better sense than that! “… for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” (Luke 16:8b).
Yet we dare send a precious young couple, one in a thousand, to a strange new country to learn an extremely complicated language and culture with no specialized training in linguistics, cultural anthropology, or cross-culture communication! It is unreasonable to expect them to almost miraculously deliver a totally new message to heathen people blinded by Satan for centuries. Should we give Jack and Linda plenty of money, a pat on the back, a hardy “God bless you,” and send them out with the most valuable message known to God or man and expect them to just figure it out when they get there? The men that collect the trash on Tuesday receive training before they put on that florescent yellow vest!

Jack and Linda graduated college and took a few missionary courses, but they acquired no linguistic tools, skills, or instruction in actual language learning. Their church is convinced that they cannot fail because they are spiritual, dedicated, intelligent, and truly called by God. But the fifty percent of Baptist missionaries that returned prematurely before successfully communicating the Gospel were all of these things, too! Yes, some must return prematurely because of permanent problems, but over seventy percent of early departures are for preventable reasons. Those reasons are often related to (but seldom attributed to) language and culture challenges. Apparently, they failed to figure it out.

The pastor probably argued that his missionary couple needed to concentrate on raising support to arrive on the field quickly because people there are dying without Christ. Nine months at BBTI seemed too long and just not worth the time it required. During Raymond’s time on the mission field, he watched many fellow laborers leave when they could have stayed. He saw them struggle and leave, never understanding the culture because they simply did not know how to study it. And he knew that pre-field training would have made a difference. He wanted Jack and Linda to figure it out in the classroom and then thrive on the field.

Raymond explained that Jack and Linda need not discontinue deputation but could continue presenting their burden in the hundreds of mission-minded Fundamental Baptist churches in Texas and Oklahoma. He told them that BBTI has a good reputation with the churches and that being students there would open doors for them. He told them of the tuition-free training and the very low housing fee for a fully furnished house on BBTI property. Raymond was able to explain many benefits of pre-field training, and fortunately, the pastor was convinced! He sent Jack and Linda to BBTI.

After graduation, they arrived on the field and immediately began applying their training. They learned a complex language where no language school even existed. Within a couple of years both Jack and Linda could speak that difficult language well. (Jack’s cousin Mike also attended BBTI and is now speaking a new language on his field.) Maybe Jack and Linda would have figured it out without specialized training—but maybe not. They chose not to take that risk.

Spring/Summer 2025

One day I went to the grocery store to buy cat food. I was excited to use my Ilokano language skills, and knowing makan means “food” and pus means “cat”, I asked the employees, “Ada ti pusa nga nakan? (Is there cat food?)” They responded, “Oh, no, sir. We are out of stock.” I looked around, surprised that such a large grocery store had no cat food. My wife, a native of the area, had a good laugh when I told her what had happened. Instead of asking for kanan ti pusa, “food for the cat,” I had asked for “food of the cat,” or cat meat! — Jonathan, Philippines

“Is White Boy Christian?”

It was 1944 and WWII was still raging. Twenty-eight-year-old Mel Rutter and his battalion were sent to New Guinea to hunt for Japanese soldiers. After they arrived and were awaiting permanent orders, they had a lot of free time on their hands. These American soldiers had much uncertainty and fear in their minds and hearts. Being far from home, family, and facing certain death at any moment fostered a mindset of “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you die.” Sin was rampant: liquor, gambling, cursing, and obscene stories were the norm.

Mel, a young Christian, was saddened by such sin against His Lord and Saviour. To get away from it, he began walking, and before he realized what he was doing, he was deep into the jungle! In 1944, it was not safe to wander into the jungles of New Guinea where cannibal tribes still lived. Suddenly, his fears took shape in the form of a native cannibal standing right before him saying, “Hubba, hubba,” in broken English. Horror washed over Mel as he saw the filed-down, pointed teeth in the smiling face of this cannibal. Then Mel noticed the Book tucked under the cannibal’s arm. Never had his soul been so stirred and thrilled! This ex-cannibal was carrying a Bible! He looked at Mel, grinned with those pointy teeth, and asked, “Is white boy Christian?” Only God could orchestrate such a Divine appointment as this. Mel’s heart was greatly impressed by this humble ex-cannibal— a REAL missionary out telling anyone who would listen about becoming a Christian!

Back in America and years later, after attending two seminaries and pastoring three churches, Mel and his wife surrendered to missions. They sold all their belongings and went to Mexico. Two years later, they returned to Dallas where they taught missions for a year. Next, they went to Chile, South America. A year after that, they went to Costa Rica and attended language school to extensively study the Spanish language. Mel and his wife Dorothy then went to Peru, South America, and worked with Peruvians and the Quechua Indians for a number of years before returning to the States for health reasons.

In 1961, Mel and Dr. James W. Crumpton founded Maranatha Baptist Mission. At one time, it had one hundred twenty-five missionaries serving in eighteen countries and at home. For thirty-nine years, Mel was an international representative of Maranatha Baptist Missions. He died on December 30, 1999.

Have you had any Divine appointments? Is God moving you toward missions? Are WE fulfilling God’s Great Commission? Oh, that the love of Christ would fill us and overflow to the uttermost creature!

Winter 2024-25

Pedal to the Metal

Jordan Kurecki and Alicia Ramirez arrived at BBTI in 2017 and could not have come from more different backgrounds. Alicia was homeschooled and raised in a Fundamental Baptist church. She learned to play the violin, interpret for the Deaf, and be an EMT. Jordan came from a totally non-religious broken home in the Chicago area. He attended public school and learned early to play with alcohol, drugs, and a wicked lifestyle. A friend invited Jordan to a Baptist church when he was nineteen. After a time, he trusted Christ. Alicia made a profession of faith in Christ at age four and later, at age fourteen, received assurance of salvation. It took the same grace to save a good girl as it did to save a bad boy! Jordan graduated from Fair Haven Baptist College and Alicia from Faith Bible Institute.

At some point, they noticed each other in our classroom, and the rest is history. At times, we wondered if they were too distracted by each other to hear what was being taught, but apparently not for they have put what we taught them into practice in Uganda. Jordan wrote, “BBTI has made a huge impact in the way I look at missions and has equipped me with a skill set to reach people that many would consider too difficult or impossible to reach!” Here at BBTI, Jordan learned about the Nubi people whom he is targeting. They are a Bibleless Muslim group of Uganda numbering thirty-four thousand.

Jordan and Alicia were married in July 2019 and later that year visited Uganda. They were sent by Park Gate Baptist Church in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and began deputation during COVID, the worst possible time. They persevered, making thousands of phone calls and emails. At first, only one in five churches they visited took them on for support, but as they neared their goal, the churches saw their determination, and that ratio improved. They traveled in an old car, and little by little dumped about $6,000 into repairs until the transmission finally quit. It was then that a brother in Christ loaned them a nice car to drive. He “just happened” to buy it on a whim but did not need it. During deputation, Jordan began to study advanced courses in Hebrew and Greek in preparation for Bible translation.

While at BBTI, Jordan met a Nubi man on Facebook who is somewhat of a leader among his people. When they arrived on the field in February 2023, this man introduced Jordan to many people, and he had favor with them—for a while. Later, after he began church services, a large group of angry Muslim men raided a service and beat two of the Christian leaders, one quite severely. Jordan was treated roughly but not injured. The honeymoon was over! Threats and abuse of the church leaders continue. Nevertheless, Jordan and Alicia continue learning the Kinubi language, becoming proficient after less than two years. (There is no language school or professional teacher; they have learned by applying what they were taught at BBTI.)

In May 2023, Jordan discovered a small group of Nubi speaking believers who attempted to translate the Bible into Nubi but had given up because they did not know how to proceed. Jordan has organized and trained a translation team of five Nubis. Recently, they had to dismiss a team member for bad behavior. The man has become a real enemy, trying to extort money from Jordan, threating physical harm and exposure of the team to the Muslims who bitterly oppose a Bible in their language. He would like to get the Kureckis expelled from Uganda. Nevertheless, they plod ahead, making very good progress. There is no time to waste. Despite serious bouts of malaria, threats, and the hardships of missionary life, Jordan and Alicia push the pedal to the medal and move forward!

Winter 2024-25

Resurrendered

I was privileged to grow up in a Christian home. After my salvation at the age of four, the Lord called my father to preach. He left his career and moved our family to North Carolina to attend Ambassador Baptist College. His example of faith and obedience continually challenges me.

Growing up at a Bible college afforded me many privileges. At an early age, I encountered the idea of serving the Lord with my life in ministry. When I was twelve, I gave my life to God at a summer camp. I did not know anything about ministry, but it made sense that if Jesus was willing to die for me, I should be willing to live for Him. My mother did all she could to encourage this decision, and men and women of God from yesteryear were often the assigned topics of reading assignments and school reports. Missionaries became my heroes. Two years later, I told the Lord that I would do anything and go anywhere for Him, including following him to the foreign field as a missionary.

Being around a Bible college, however, was not always positive. My father was a deacon at a church whose pastor was a college staff member. The pastor disqualified himself and split the church. The spiritual damage caused by this scandal led me to turn my back on God and the ministry. I renounced my surrender and charted my own course.

After high school, my parents pressured me into taking a one-year Bible course at Ambassador. I was bitter, miserable, and under constant conviction, knowing that I was running from the Lord, but He continued working in my heart. That semester, God put me through a series of events that brought me back to the place where I realized that a life outside of God’s will was not a life I wanted to live. I rededicated my life to the Lord, changed my major to Missions, and began to seek and follow God’s leading.

When the time came for my missions internship, I chose to pursue several opportunities that piqued my interest and prayed for the Lord to give me guidance. He closed the doors on all of them. Then, through a series of Divinely orchestrated circumstances, he steered me to a unique opportunity in West Africa to minister in Ghana, Liberia, and the Ivory Coast. On this trip, the Lord burdened my heart for Liberia. Afterwards, he confirmed this calling to my wife and me through answered prayers and further opportunities. We are excitedly anticipating our first term in Liberia next year.

Winter 2024-25

Nubi, Uganda

In the 1880s, the governor of Southern Sudan was driven from his country into Uganda. He and his soldiers were given protection from the British in return for their service. This group of Muslim soldiers and their descendants eventually became known as the Nubi people. In the 1890s, the British awarded the Nubi soldiers land in Kenya.

There are an estimated 20,000-40,000 Nubi people living in Uganda today and about 16,000 living in Kenya. The primary language is Nubi, a language heavily influenced by Arabic. There is still not a standardized writing system, though the work is in progress.

Although most Ugandan tribes work as farmers, the Nubi are employed as soldiers, drivers, merchants, or craftsmen. The Nubi staple diet is posho (thick corn flour porridge) in the north, and matoke (boiled and mashed green plantains) in the south. They eat a little goat or chicken when able to afford it. For dress, they have largely adopted a western style of dress, except for Jummah Day (Friday) when they wear the kanju, a Muslim robe.

Despite living in Uganda, a nation that primarily practices some form of Christianity, 99% of the Nubi people are Sunni Islam. Their beliefs date back to the early 1800s, when the Ottoman empire conscripted their ancestors to serve as soldiers and forced conversion to Islam. Islam is a foundational part of Nubi identity. Men are required to attend “Jummah”, the Muslim weekly service and prayer. Some will attend ancestor shrines after attending the Mosque, and some will visit a witch doctor, but they continue to claim Islam as their primary belief. Most East African tribes experience relatively peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians. However, when a Nubi accepts Christ, he is often exiled from the Nubi community. (See Pedal to the Medal in this issue for news about a Nubi Bible.)

Winter 2024-25