940-872-5751|info@baptisttranslators.com

“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

Read More >>>

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

Read More >>>

“Is White Boy Christian?”

Mel Rutter 1916-1999

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

Read More >>>

Pedal to the Metal

Jordan, Ishmaela, Elroi, Neima, Alicia

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

Read More >>>

Resurrendered

Kyle and Elisabeth Burchwell

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

Read More >>>

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

Read More >>>

The AI Missionary

Satire: a literary work in which vices, follies, stupidities, abuses, etc. are held up to ridicule and contempt. (Collins Dictionary)

I feel it wise to warn the reader that I have employed the literary tool of satire in this article. Please do not read if you do not understand or appreciate it.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay. We should not fear it, but rather use it to further the Gospel. Perhaps someone could invent an AI powered robot that could be carried by a drone to any place on earth. If a drone can deliver a missile with bombs, it could deliver a missionary with Bibles. We might call this an Artificial Intelligence Missionary Substitute (AIMS). It could have either male or female features and be constructed of light-weight plastic with a soft surface to imitate human flesh. Just think of his possibilities! Instead of a human missionary slipping and sliding for hours up and down the muddy mountain trails of PNG, AIMS could arrive quickly without muddy feet. He would need no visas, and there would be no countries closed to him. He could be programmed to speak any number of languages with a voice showing compassion, sympathy, or humor. He could even shed a tear at the right time.

Of course, Mr. AIMS will not fool the natives. They may be uneducated, but they are not ignorant. However, while a real missionary would be much preferred, the people may be intrigued and listen to Mr. AIMS recite the Gospel message. Isn’t an artificial missionary better than no missionary? The important thing is for people to hear the Gospel. Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:18, “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” As long as there are conversions to Christ, what difference does it make who does the preaching? The great missionary statesman Oswald J. Smith said, “You must go or send a substitute.” Well, Brother AIMS will be our substitute.

Mr. AIMS would have many advantages over a traditional missionary. No one could scare, insult, or discourage him. True, he would be uncaring, artificial, and heartless, but his AI words might display something like compassion. With facial recognition capability, he could recall the name of everyone he talks to. He would never be tempted to abandon his mission, and he could last many years. His defective components could be replaced. The original manufacturing cost would be high, but to get a real missionary on the field and keep him there, even for a short time, costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. AIMS’ cost will come down when mass produced, and the quality will also increase. Money is not really a problem with God’s people for the most part. We are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. Whereas it is almost impossible to persuade people to even consider being missionaries, AIMS would have no struggle with surrender—he would simply go. Parents will rest more easily, knowing that the chances of their children going to some strange, dirty place where people eat bugs are much lower. Parents and grandparents should be happy to pay for more robot substitutes. And the few spiritual souls who desire to serve the Lord can do so in our stateside churches. We could keep our best and brightest ministers right here.

Mr. and Mrs. AIMS would never need a furlough or leave the field to care for aging parents. Sickness would never cause them to depart prematurely from the mission field. There would be no interpersonal conflicts with other missionaries or national pastors that end the missionary careers of many. Lust, pornography, or any type of immorality would never tempt them. They could appear to live together as husband and wife, but no time would be wasted on romance or conversation. The two would get along perfectly with zero chance of divorce. AIMS would never take a day off; he would be all business. He would not be lazy. He could move about and talk to multitudes without any rest. It would cost almost nothing for housing. A tool shed would suit him fine. With no children to raise and slow him down, Mr. AIMS could dedicate his time to the recitation of the Gospel message. In the unlikely event that AIMS would become damaged beyond repair, his drone could simply deposit him in a dumpster.

Jesus commanded us to lift up our eyes and look on the harvest field of lost souls (John 4:35). AIMS’ computer would have all the statistics about the Bibleless languages and the unreached people groups. He might even be able to program himself to go to the most spiritually needy places. Jesus also commanded us to pray for laborers (Matthew 9:38), but that was before AI. Now we could pay for what we were told to pray for.

As churches adopt this new idea, they might engage in a healthy competition to see who can buy the most substitute missionaries. They could hold conferences to raise money. The cost would be minimal because there would be no need to provide meals or motel rooms for AI substitutes as it does for human missionaries. AIMS does not eat, and he would not know what to do with a love offering. Real missionaries constantly request prayer. There would be no need for church members to spend time praying for AIMS. Who prays for a robot?

Okay. Enough of this foolishness. This facetious satire is not intended to amuse us but to rebuke us. Thank God for those who give generously to support the work of missions, but we cannot buy missionaries. There never has been and never will be a missionary substitute. God’s Plan A is for redeemed people to go and communicate His Gospel to the lost. He has no Plan B. Yes, technology is helpful, and we should use it, but it will never replace the missionary. God is still saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Where are those who will say, “Here am I; send me.”?

Read More >>>

Teke of Congo

The Teke are one of over five hundred groups of Bantu people. They live in the central plateau of Africa where they grow maize, millet, and tobacco. The tribe’s name comes from their occupation of trading; teke means “to buy.” They also hunt and fish.

Teke traditional dress is fashioned from the dried leaves of rafia, a native palm tree. Kaolin, a white clay commonly called china clay, is used for face and body painting.

The primary religion is reportedly Christianity, but the Teke also practice their African traditional religion involving communication with spirits and ancestor worship. Carved fetish figurines serve as daily protection and as an aid to success. When you see a carved wooden mask from Congo, it is most likely Teke. These masks are used in traditional dancing ceremonies at weddings, funerals, and initiations. These masks also denote the wearer’s social and political identity. The tribal chief is the religious leader. As such, he is a highly respected decision maker. He keeps the peace within the tribe and performs traditional ceremonies to ensure its safety.

There are numerous groups of Teke, and each speaks a distinct language. Very few of these languages have a Bible, though some have Bible portions and translation work has begun in others. The Nzikou, and Tsaayi Teke, with a combined population of 451,000, have no Scripture.*
*Joshuaproject.net

Fall 2024

Read More >>>

Hands to the Work

Carrie Mae Whaley

Carrie Whaley was blessed to be born and raised in a Christian home. She made a profession of faith and was baptized at age four. As an eleven-year-old homeschooler, she was assigned to write about her salvation. Like many who are saved at a young age, she had serious doubts about the validity of her salvation experience. She could not remember what she prayed; she only remembered her baptism. Carrie shared her doubts with her mother who then explained salvation to her. Carrie prayed, asking Jesus to come into her heart and save her. This took care of her doubts for a time, but they returned and stayed with her through her teen years. Had she simply said words to have a salvation experience to write about for her homework requirement? Did she pray because it was what was expected of her? The doubts drove her to her Bible where she learned the meaning of and received the assurance of eternal salvation. Strangely, vivid details of bedtime devotions in her brother’s room came back to her from her experience and prayer at age four. Her mother confirmed what Carrie remembered.

Carrie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at Western Carolina University and worked as a nurse for seven years. She loved her work but became burdened for the foreign Deaf when she met Dr. David Bennett, director of Silent Word Ministries International. All Carrie knew about the deaf language was the alphabet she had learned from a coloring book at age seven, but at his invitation, she joined a group taking a trip to Liberia and Ivory Coast, Africa.

Upon Dr. Bennett’s suggestion and the blessing of her home church, Carrie attended BBTI. Her pastor described her as a faithful, hard-working church member with special musical talent. At BBTI, she proved to be an excellent student. After graduation, she worked diligently to raise financial support to serve the Lord in Liberia, Africa, and left for the field in February 2024.

She wrote recently, “The honeymoon phase is over, and it is not all sunshine and roses, but I am still having the time of my life!” She is adjusting well to her new country and its language. Pray for Carrie. Her valuable teammate, Monique, was forced to return to the states for cancer treatment, and her future is questionable. Carrie is busy conducting Bible studies and teaching sign language to a group at her church as well as planning a missionary internship/training program. She is making slow but sure progress reaching the Deaf. She is working with BBTI graduates Bruce and Amanda Stewart to prepare a deaf Christmas drama that should reach the large deaf community in Monrovia. The problem is that
Bruce and Amanda live five hours away!
Carrie says that the people are usually friendly, but it is difficult to distinguish between those who are really interested in God’s Word and those just looking for a handout. The well-intentioned generosity of foreign aid organizations has produced many who ask the missionaries, “What do you have for me?” Carrie reports that spiritual warfare there is almost tangible. Even some church members practice witchcraft on Saturday night and then worship God on Sunday. Because of their works-based salvation mentality, they want to placate God so He will give them what they want. They try to “cover all the bases” with both God and Satan. This is not to say, however, that there are no true, godly people; it is just difficult at first to be sure who they are.

Liberians, hearing and deaf, need missionaries! BBTI students, Kyle and Elisabeth Burchwell, are surrendered to go and plan to depart next summer. Could God be calling you to labor there? If you are interested in Carrie’s internship program or just wish to send encouragement, you can contact her at: carrie.whaley@swmi.org

Fall 2024

Read More >>>

A Small White Chapel

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

Read More >>>

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!”

Read More >>>

Who Follows their Son?

                   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

Read More >>>

It Began at BBTI!

 

             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.

Read More >>>

Roglai of Vietnam

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?

Read More >>>

Volunteers for Jesus

“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?”

Read More >>>

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

Read More >>>

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.

Read More >>>

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

Read More >>>

Pontic Greeks, Turkey

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.

Read More >>>

Leadership and Servanthood

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

Read More >>>
Cindy Stacy
Missionary to Zambia

Cindy Stacy is not another Mary Slessor. She does not trudge alone through the African jungles facing the danger of lions, cannibal tribes, and pythons. (She does need to avoid contact with black and green mambas and other venomous snakes). Much of what she does as a missionary in Zambia is what she did for many years in New Mexico.

On March 24, 1964, Cindy was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Eight years later, she was born again at Temple Baptist Church. After graduation from the Temple Baptist Christian School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University.

Cindy joyfully served the Lord in her highly active church, Gospel Light Baptist, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. She taught in the Christian school for twenty-three years. Why did she not stay where she was comfortable and safe? She was drawn to Zambia because she saw a much greater need there. Of the 13,800,000 people in this Southern African country, half are under the age of fifteen. Cindy saw wide-open doors and opportunities. A church-planting missionary family needed her experience and expertise. Though most of Cindy’s peers are willing to serve the Lord in the United States, few of them want to go overseas. However, Cindy was willing to serve outside her comfort zone. Instead of asking, “Why should I go?” she asked, “Why should I stay?”

Mission work requires preparation. Once Cindy’s church commissioned her as their missionary, she began presenting her plans to other churches. Knowing full well what children need, she began asking God’s people for school supplies to take with her to Zambia. They responded generously to the need. Cindy also began saving for passage and setup expenses. A single missionary may require a smaller amount of monthly support, but plane tickets, visas, housing, furniture, and vehicles are expensive. Cindy worked diligently. Seeing the benefits of BBTI’s Advanced Missionary Training, she arrived for training in August 2014, graduated in May 2015, and left for Zambia in January 2017.

English is not the first language of Zambian young people, but they need to learn it. Cindy teaches grammar, reading, and ESL classes to the youth. She has Thursday and Friday evening Bible classes for neighbor children and conducts a successful Children’s Bible Hour on Saturdays. Cindy enjoys teaching her Sunday school class of seventy-eight children as well as discipling ladies.

Missionary work is not simply teaching people but training people how to teach other people. Through the Solid Rock Bible Institute, Cindy is training two young ladies to be future teachers. Though they are not allowed to have their own class in the church before they graduate, they have begun a neighborhood Bible class on their own. One lady asked Cindy to teach her four children to read. Instead of teaching the children, Cindy trained the mother to teach her own children. The team wants the young people to have Bibles, but they do not simply give them out. The children must earn their Bible through the Faithfulness Campaign which requires church attendance and Scripture memorization.

While church and school duties keep Cindy very busy, she still finds time for her cat, dog, and vegetable and flower gardens. Zambia, like many places, has its share of difficulties, and Cindy must share those difficulties with the people she loves. Often there is no daytime electricity, and water is very scarce. Prices have increased by seventy-five percent, and, of course Zambia was plagued by Covid-19. Nevertheless, Cindy is very content and does not want to be anywhere else! She extends this invitation: “If you’d like to come work in Zambia, you can teach the two-to-seven-year-old children. I will give you thirty children, chairs, a room, the curriculum, a helper, and all the hugs you’ll need for the rest of your life.”

Winter 2022-23

 

 

Read More >>>

Team Zambia

February 28, 2023 No Comments
Cindy Stacy
Missionary to Zambia

Cindy Stacy is not another Mary Slessor. She does not trudge alone through the African jungles facing the danger of lions, cannibal tribes, and pythons. (She does need to avoid contact with black and green mambas and other venomous snakes). Much of what she does as a missionary in Zambia is what she did for many years in New Mexico.

On March 24, 1964, Cindy was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Eight years later, she was born again at Temple Baptist Church. After graduation from the Temple Baptist Christian School, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University.

Cindy joyfully served the Lord in her highly active church, Gospel Light Baptist, in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. She taught in the Christian school for twenty-three years. Why did she not stay where she was comfortable and safe? She was drawn to Zambia because she saw a much greater need there. Of the 13,800,000 people in this Southern African country, half are under the age of fifteen. Cindy saw wide-open doors and opportunities. A church-planting missionary family needed her experience and expertise. Though most of Cindy’s peers are willing to serve the Lord in the United States, few of them want to go overseas. However, Cindy was willing to serve outside her comfort zone. Instead of asking, “Why should I go?” she asked, “Why should I stay?”

Mission work requires preparation. Once Cindy’s church commissioned her as their missionary, she began presenting her plans to other churches. Knowing full well what children need, she began asking God’s people for school supplies to take with her to Zambia. They responded generously to the need. Cindy also began saving for passage and setup expenses. A single missionary may require a smaller amount of monthly support, but plane tickets, visas, housing, furniture, and vehicles are expensive. Cindy worked diligently. Seeing the benefits of BBTI’s Advanced Missionary Training, she arrived for training in August 2014, graduated in May 2015, and left for Zambia in January 2017.

English is not the first language of Zambian young people, but they need to learn it. Cindy teaches grammar, reading, and ESL classes to the youth. She has Thursday and Friday evening Bible classes for neighbor children and conducts a successful Children’s Bible Hour on Saturdays. Cindy enjoys teaching her Sunday school class of seventy-eight children as well as discipling ladies.

Missionary work is not simply teaching people but training people how to teach other people. Through the Solid Rock Bible Institute, Cindy is training two young ladies to be future teachers. Though they are not allowed to have their own class in the church before they graduate, they have begun a neighborhood Bible class on their own. One lady asked Cindy to teach her four children to read. Instead of teaching the children, Cindy trained the mother to teach her own children. The team wants the young people to have Bibles, but they do not simply give them out. The children must earn their Bible through the Faithfulness Campaign which requires church attendance and Scripture memorization.

While church and school duties keep Cindy very busy, she still finds time for her cat, dog, and vegetable and flower gardens. Zambia, like many places, has its share of difficulties, and Cindy must share those difficulties with the people she loves. Often there is no daytime electricity, and water is very scarce. Prices have increased by seventy-five percent, and, of course Zambia was plagued by Covid-19. Nevertheless, Cindy is very content and does not want to be anywhere else! She extends this invitation: “If you’d like to come work in Zambia, you can teach the two-to-seven-year-old children. I will give you thirty children, chairs, a room, the curriculum, a helper, and all the hugs you’ll need for the rest of your life.”

Winter 2022-23

 

 

A Lifetime of Missions

January 17, 2023 No Comments
Charles V. Turner in 2021

Charles V. Turner was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1934 and born again in 1951 at a summer camp ministry of Marcus Hook Baptist Church in Pennsylvania. It was at this church that he dedicated his life to the work of missions in 1952. The following year, he enrolled at Columbia Bible College and graduated in 1957.

Classmates of Charles were Wanda Sifford, Mary Lou Pruitt, and Joshua Crocket. Charles married Wanda and they served the Lord in Papua New Guinea as missionaries with New Tribes Mission. Joshua married Mary Lou, and they were home missionaries helping struggling Native American churches.

Charles was busy in 1957. He finished Bible College, took the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) course in Norman, Oklahoma, got married, and began training with New Tribes Mission (NTM). No sense wasting time when you know what God wants you to do! During summer vacation of 1959, while still students at New Tribes, the Turners returned to Norman to re-take the SIL training.

In 1960, after six years of formal training, the Turners were sent by Marcus Hook Baptist Church to Papua New Guinea where they served until 1980. First, Charles and Wanda learned the trade language, Tok Pisin. Then they learned the unwritten language of the Sinasina tribe. Applying the linguistic skills, they learned at SIL and NTM, they developed an alphabet, giving the language a written form. They produced literature and taught the people to read. In 1975, they completed the translation of the New Testament. After several years of use in the churches, Brother Turner and the church leaders revised and improved the Sinasina scriptures. For twenty years, Charles and Wanda spread the Good News, baptized converts, taught literacy, and began four or five churches and a Bible institute. In recent years, the work has flourished, and many more churches have been established in the Sinasina area. According to family members and medical experts, Wanda should never have gone to the mission field because of a heart condition. However, she did go and was a good missionary/linguist. In 1975, Wanda had open heart surgery, and then returned to the field.

In 1980, the Turners returned to the NTM training center where Charles taught Bible translation, linguistics, and language and culture learning. He began writing the book Biblical Bible Translating. In 1982, they transitioned to Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI). They took the BBTI training which was a review that prepared Charles to teach the same courses at BBTI. In 1991, he became the director of BBTI and served in that position until 2005.

Wanda passed away in December 1994. Later, Charles married Mary Lou, whose husband, Joshua had died a few years earlier. Mary Lou took the BBTI training and served the Lord and the BBTI students. She went to be with the Lord in November 2020.

Charles desires to visit the Sinasina people again; pray that his health will allow it. He currently serves the Lord as a BBTI trustee, a deacon at Truthville Baptist Church in Truthville, New York, and a teacher in their Christian school. Servants of Christ may change locations and job descriptions, as Brother Turner has, but when he signed on, it was for a lifetime of service.

Fall 2022

 

A Wise Investment

August 19, 2022 No Comments
Joe and Lindsay Risinger are 2019 BBTI graduates. Their children are Joseph (6), Abbie (4), and Titus (1).

It was August of 2019 when we began living in a village in northern Uganda where we could not understand a single word of our neighbors’ heart language. The language they spoke during their growing up years is the same language they use to ponder deep thoughts, and it was nothing but meaningless noise to our foreign ears. This local, tribal language called Lugbara was one that we were warned would not be an option for a foreigner to grasp. No language school exists [although Lugbara is spoken by 1.7 million people]. Because it is tonal, the most subtle change in one’s tone profoundly alters the expressed meaning.
God called us to these people, therefore we felt it prudent to take whatever steps necessary to understand their culture and communicate in their heart language. For months we would go out every single day, notebook in hand, and use the language acquisition tools we were given at BBTI. Under the shade of a mango or avocado tree while our three-year-old and one-year-old played on a papyrus mat with the African children, we carefully transcribed words and phrases to commit to memory afterwards.

What was their reaction? Absolute fascination! They could not fathom why this family would come from America to learn their language and do life with them. They were overwhelmingly humbled by our desire and anxiously supported our effort. The most frequent question was “Why? Why are you here? Why are you learning our language?” I explained, “Our plan is first, to learn the language, and second, to help people understand the truth of God’s Word.”

There is a mosque in our village which half of our local community attends. The Imam (leader) of the mosque is a man named Agobi. The only language he speaks is Lugbara. I met Agobi during our early months on the field but had very little ability to communicate with him. The Lord gave me a burning desire to share the Gospel with him. Our surface relationship was maintained for some time until two years later when he invited me to his home for tea. My heart was full as I was able to sit in his home and share, in Lugbara, the simple, powerful truths of who Jesus truly is. We pray he will one day turn to Christ.

The preaching of the cross and the hope we have in Christ is well worth any amount of language learning effort if it causes a single lost man to become more tender to such a message. By striving to speak the language of these people, a powerful statement of sincerity resonates in their hearts and minds. Every Lugbara person we encounter is met with an immediate connection and highly effective bridge to the Gospel because of the ability to speak their heart language. I cannot think of a better way to invest our time during these first few years on the field than learning this language.

Summer 2022

I Surrender All

June 25, 2022 No Comments

Elisabeth on her last birthday

Tom and Barbara Needham were farmers, and they went to Cameroon, Africa, to teach the people better farming methods. There a missionary led them to Christ. They returned to Iowa, sold the farm, went back to Cameroon as missionaries in 1991. Their daughter Elizabeth, the fifth of seven children was two years old at the time. There she grew up and served the Lord with her family. She learned Pidgin English and Fulfulde, the language of the Fulani Muslim people, as well as sign language. Elizabeth was homeschooled and was saved at age six. At age twelve at summer camp, she was memorizing the words to the hymn their group was about to sing. “All to Jesus I surrender. All to him I freely give.” She realized that it was not true of her, but she immediately surrendered all! Suddenly she had a burden to reach the lost.

Cameroon is divided into two parts; one speaks English and the other French. The Needhams worked in the smaller English-speaking section until forced to move to the French side because of violence that arose in 2018. Elizabeth is currently learning both French and French Sign Language.

Elizabeth graduated from the Baptist College of Ministry in 2012 and then returned to Africa. She and three of her sisters attended BBTI from 2019 to 2020. She was an excellent student and a blessing to all each day. Elizabeth’s childhood friends named her Sangle which means “joy,” and to this day, she wears a perpetual smile. She returned as a missionary to Cameroon in January 2021.

Through her church, Elizabeth ministers to women and children, but God is especially blessing her outreach to the deaf. Here are a few testimonies:

“One deaf man who trusted in Christ last week said, ‘I want my wife and all my deaf friends to hear this same preaching.’ He invited us back the next Saturday to preach to all the deaf that he could gather but was disappointed that none of them came. We taught him how to share the Gospel with others and arranged to meet him again next Friday to meet his wife and other deaf friends. Another deaf man who was a Jehovah’s Witness also trusted in Christ two weeks ago after Synthia and I had witnessed to him multiple times. He came to church with two friends and really enjoyed it. He is still holding to his connection to the JWs, trying to decide which one he will follow. Another deaf woman told me, ‘I have gone to church many times, but I have never heard before what you have told me today about Jesus.’ She was so surprised and amazed to hear that Jesus died to take away her sins. Today I stopped by to give her a Bible. She was so happy! Charnelle, another deaf woman I have reached out to came to church last Sunday. She told me afterward, ‘I do not understand anything in the church that I have been attending. I just sit and stare at the pastor until he is done. But here you interpreted for me, and I could understand. I want to come back next week.’ Charnelle’s deaf husband came to me with one of the tracts I had given her. He told me he is a believer and said, ‘This paper is so true…I want to gather all my deaf friends in my house on Saturday and explain to them all what I read in this paper, and I am going to invite them all to church on Sunday.’ One very tall deaf man with large hands stood in front of the rice shop where he loads and unloads 50 kg bags of rice. He meekly listened to the Gospel and asked questions. Then he prayed a sweet, simple prayer, ‘Jesus forgive me. I believe in you.’”

We praise the Lord that He allowed us to have a small part in a great work in Africa. But what if Elizabeth had not surrendered all? Most missionary kids do not return to the mission field. Thank God Elizabeth did!

Spring 2022

Under the Radar

February 21, 2022 No Comments
The 10/40 window covers Africa and Asia between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator. The world’s most unevangelized countries are located in this rectangular area. Because it includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, it has also been called the “Resistant Belt.”

Several BBTI graduates that we must not identify serve in countries of the 10/40 window. Missionaries are most needed where they are least welcome, and we rejoice that they are declaring the Gospel in places controlled by atheists or religious fanatics. Because many of these countries have laws against proselytizing or even distributing Christian literature, missionaries must operate under the radar. We must be especially careful not to expose them as missionaries; our carelessness with social media or the internet could cause them to be expelled from their country or worse.

Brother C—— and his wife S—— were recently expelled from a large Muslim country. They are working and praying for visas to return. In the meantime, they are conducting Bible studies with their people by Zoom.

T—— and his wife C—— live in the Middle East and are currently helping individuals who are escaping from the Taliban. They are helping these desperate souls with food and of course, a Gospel witness. Their young son does not want the Taliban to be killed because he does not want them to go to hell.

P—— and L—— have worked very hard learning the language in their Communist Asian country. He was able to preach and teach over twenty times this last year, and L—— has also taught several lessons. C—— and K—— have worked in the same country for many years. C—— is busy teaching in a secular university, preaching in secret church services, and helping with a Bible translation project.

J—— and K—— work in a different Communist Asian country. They too have learned a difficult, tonal language. They have endured a severe lockdown, but they get out to visit people as much as possible without getting into trouble with government officials.

R—— reports that she is making good progress learning her new language. Her country is not closed, but she plans to work on a Bible translation project for a large people group in a neighboring Muslim country that is very unfriendly toward Christians. This means that R—— will need to learn two languages. We are praying for others to join this project in the days to come.

K—— and his wife Y—— have been in the states taking care of necessary family business, but they should be back in their country by now. Brother K—— is working hard to learn the language while Y—— already speaks it well. Their country is not closed to missionaries, but they hope to reach another nearby country that is very closed.

J—— and N—— desire to return to their field. They thought they had all the necessary paperwork together only to learn that the rules had changed, and they needed to show proof of the COVID vaccine along with their visa application. The next possible date to submit their visa request is in January.

C—— and B—— want to return to their Communist country in Southeast Asia to continue their language learning. Pray their new visas will be issued soon.

It seems to be the COVID restrictions that are hindering J—— and T—— from returning to their ministry. God has been using them there in a very special way, and the enemy does not like it!

S—— and M—— are doing unusually well raising their support, but the Communist country where they originally planned to work is completely closed. So instead, they are looking at Thailand. We will keep them unnamed because they might go to the Communist country in the future.

Winter 2021-22

August 23, 2021 No Comments

Darkness and Death

Sam & Mary Beth Snyder (BBTI 2015 graduates) Tommy (age 10)
Leland (age 7)
Bethany (age 5)

To many in our world, sickness and death are never due to natural causes but always to some evil activity of spirits. People make sacrifices to protect themselves from sickness, to insure the fertility of the land and the women, or to bring the rain. There is usually a shaman or witch doctor who is the expert in communicating with the spirits. The spirits tell him or her what remedy is needed for healing or who is guilty of placing the curse that caused the sickness.

This is the world that a missionary comes to and the culture that he must understand and contend with. The following narrative was written by Mary Beth Snyder, who serves with her husband, Sam, in the remote mountains of Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG).

We have heard the hopeless sound of wailing off and on this past week, for the family across the road lost a son, a brother. Today, Leland said it reminds him of the man in Pilgrim’s Progress who was in a cage yelling, “No hope!” The young man who died, electrocuted in Lae, had adamantly opposed the mission, and Sam remembers it well. His father is a papa graun (landowner) who has consistently shown interest in gaining material possessions and may be involved in witchcraft. The young man who died has been mostly away from the village for the past several years, and it is sad to know that he was so close to the Gospel in the past but rejected it. We went over to be with family and friends this afternoon and sat on the ground with the grieving. A young child coughing with the ever-prevalent kus (mucus) and the dirtiness of it all is a stark reminder that the ground is cursed, full of disease and death. Tears dripped down my face.

Our Papua New Guinean surroundings boast abundant natural beauty. While hearing tropical birds sing and enjoying occasional butterflies floating by banana trees in the midst of lush mountains surrounded by misty clouds, I can imagine what the paradise of creation may have been like. Reality sets in when I hear the cries of children in the clinic, when I assist mothers in childbirth, when pouring rains drench the clay-like ground making it hard to grow food, and when our feet are habitually coated in mud. Today, the curse was more evident than other days as I sat and watched our friends sobbing, wailing, and falling on the casket. Actually, it is a blessing that there is a casket. This young man died in a coastal town many kilometers from here, and it took over a week to fly his body back to our airstrip. Sam then drove it here in the ATV. Another haus krai (funeral) I attended several years ago involved the typical practice of people wailing over and hugging the dead body.

We have heard reports that Covid is hitting hard in the towns the past two weeks. On top of that, its spread is even more inevitable because of the large town gatherings to honor the recently departed Grand Chief Somare. As I watched people hug and sob face-to-face today, the nurse in me saw how easy it is for sickness to spread. We customarily shake hands with those who offer their hand, make sure we wash our hands well when we get home, use vitamins and oils, and pray for protection from disease. Our good friend and only believer in that family had just returned with his dead brother’s body from a major town, and we shook his hand. Some things are just too culturally important to shun, for after health teaching is done and customs don’t change, it is best to avoid stumbling blocks. One consolation is that the temporary mourning tent, church building, and clinic are all airy.

Reminders of the curse are everywhere the past few weeks. Another elderly man, the papa graun of the mission property took another wife. He has had multiple wives in the past and many children, but he has not taken care of them well. Before our arrival, he made a profession of faith, but he has not attended church for a while now, blaming it on a sore leg. His wife and daughter attend church regularly. It is sickening to find out that he had his eye on a young girl from another village and that he and her family went through with the arranged “marriage.” It is child abuse. He must feel that he is powerful enough to take or buy what he wants, no matter the cost to others. It is sickening and infuriating and has been heavy on my mind this week. While I battle with anger, I really do pity him. How many sermons has he heard? How many verses has he listened to? How many chances has he had to follow the light? Yet, he seems to delight in darkness. He also lives almost across the road from the church buildings. Incredibly sad. Marriage is sacred and the first institution God ordained, and, of course, our enemy attacks it in any way he can.

After the children and I were back home from visiting the haus krai, a man, carrying an old lady who had been brutally bitten by a pig, came to the clinic. The pig unexpectedly bit off many of this poor woman’s fingers. The nurses gave her an injection of pain medicine, and Sarah drove her in the ATV to the small hospital at the airstrip. Tommy quickly mentioned that it could be that an evil spirit had entered the pig. Witchcraft is a reality in some situations.

In PNG, it is a common belief that grief shown at a death can assure that the dead spirit will not be angry, but instead, will bring blessing on the living. The Bible teaches that when we die, our spirit goes to heaven or hell; it does not linger around the village. Do our believers not understand that, or are they wailing to simply show their grief culturally, or do they wail because they realize the man was not a believer?

Sam is getting over a respiratory virus. His nose has been bleeding off and on, which could be from the infection or because he was hit there several months ago by an angry man who came up behind him when he was working on the road. God protected Sam and others and the situation was finally resolved. This morning, a woman came to the clinic with a severe knife wound to the back of her head, inflicted by her husband. She was returning up the mountain from the haus krai and was attacked by her jealous older husband when she did not hand over enough money she was supposed to have made at market. Later in the day, someone came running and said that when they were digging the grave at the village about a mile from here a man fell into the hole and was injured.

Our children are not completely sheltered from violence, anger, greed, decayed wood breaking and causing a bridge to collapse, nor from the sting of death. Though the sadness is a little sobering for our children, it has opened up good discussions on sin, sickness, Satan, and salvation. We can enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, but it is groaning.

While we see some encouraging progress in the lives of several believers, in the Bible Institute, and in the growth in new church music, Satan is not content to lose a foothold here. Spiritual oppression is evident. We are in a war. But we know Who the Victor is, and we are on His side. Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. As I recently taught in Sunday School, Jesus is more powerful than Satan and his demons. This is evidenced by Jesus’ sinlessness and victory in trials, by His performance of many miracles and casting out of demons, and by His death and resurrection. He has crushed the head of the serpent and will ultimately cast him into the lake of fire. Jesus is more powerful than witchcraft. That is what we need to be talking about in our houses at night.

Satan is the father of lies and delights in destroying lives. It can seem hopeless at times, but we are not without hope. We rest in the work that only the Spirit of God can do, and we continue to give out His Word. We are here for His glory and because of His grace. He is the Light of the World. He gives eternal life: joy in this life no matter the trial, and everlasting life with Him in heaven. Those who live for the things of this world sadly only have an imperfect ground to enjoy for a short time.

White Harvest in a Dark World

June 8, 2021 No Comments
Josh and Rebecca Florence with Abigail, Ruth, Titus, and Josiah

Papua New Guinea is the world’s second largest island and the home of over 850 languages and people groups. In many ways it is a very beautiful country, but with its superstitions, witchcraft, vengeance, violence, and religious confusion, it is also a very spiritually dark place. Fortunately, it is considered a Christian nation with complete religious freedom, and many missionaries are taking advantage of the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Christ to its people. Among these are Joshua and Rebecca Florence, 2012 graduates of Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI). On an eight-week survey trip in 2010, God broke their hearts for this dark place and showed them that Papua New Guinea was their place of service.

The early lives of both Joshua and Rebecca were blessed by godly parents, Baptist churches, Sunday School, Christian education, youth groups, summer camps, and mission trips. Rebecca was saved at age five, and Joshua, who was adopted into a Christian home at age six, made a final and effective profession of faith at age fourteen. At age seventeen, he announced his call to preach and his desire to be involved in fulltime Christian service. He graduated from Pensacola Christian College (PCC) with a Bachelors’ degree in Bible and youth evangelism and then earned a Master’s degree. It was there at PCC that he met Rebecca who became an RN, earning her Bachelors’ degree in nursing.

The Florences arrived at BBTI with baby Abigail. Later, Ruth, Titus, and Josiah were added. They continued raising support on weekends while students and finished deputation after they graduated. They survived a serious automobile accident in Tennessee without injury but totally ruined their car. However, they drove through a giant redwood tree in California with no injury or damage to their car! (Missionaries on deputation have many experiences, some wonderful, some not pleasant at all. Pray for missionaries!)

They arrived in PNG in February 2014 and live in the Western Provence city of Kiunga, a port city on the Fly River. They have established a church there, and in June 2020, they began a new church in Ningerum, located two hours north. They also began the Western Baptist Bible School which currently has ten male students. Ten pastors represent the beginning of ten churches and probably many more in the days to come! Students study tuition-free but are required to work about twenty-five hours each week developing the school campus. Joshua and the men cut the trees in the jungle and mill the lumber.

The Florence family faithfully serves in a place of spiritual darkness. They must be covered daily with the armor of light as good soldiers in spiritual warfare. God is blessing with many souls saved and lives changed. They are bringing the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people and reaping a field that is white unto harvest. Thank God they are there! Pray for thousands more like them to go to thousands of other places and shine that light on those sitting in darkness and damnation.

Spring 2021

Kamea Literacy in PNG – Formerly Unwritten Language

February 1, 2021 No Comments

Cherith began literacy work among the Kamea in 2009 as a single woman. Today, she continues that ministry along with her husband, Jason Ottosen. She wrote the following report of their ministry during the early days.

The four Kamea primers were finished, and I, Cherith, was introducing and testing them in local villages where they had never seen their language written. Two men, Nicodemus and Lazarus, immediately became immersed in the excitement of reading the primers. I started them both in primer one and left to visit some other villages. When I came back several hours later, they were still reading. They made it to primer three before they headed home.

As the day wore on the women got closer and closer to me. Eventually, I was able to pull out the primers and explain that the purpose of the primers is to teach them to read so that they can read the Bible. At first, they did not respond. But then I started reading to them and asked them to help me make corrections if I said anything wrong. Page after page, they got more interested, delighted in the black and white drawings and thrilled that I was speaking their talk. Every time I stopped they would say, “anta fi”(some more). They finished my sentences and often would retell the stories to new ladies walking up.

That night as we sat around the fire, Rosalyn, the pastor’s wife, spoke with tears in her eyes, “The men will learn how to read, my sons will learn to read, but who will teach the women to read their Bibles?” As she continued, I thought through a typical Kamea woman’s day—work the garden, carry heavy bilums, fetch water and firewood, fix dinner, care for the many children, do laundry, etc. Pray the Lord gives us a way to implement reading for the ladies that will make it achievable. Before heading down the trail the next morning, I sat with Rosalyn for about a half hour and told her that she could learn to read. When I opened the primer, an irreplaceable smile swept over her face. We worked through the first five pages, and if you had asked Rosalyn, she would have told you that she was learning to read.

Winter 2020-21

Whiskey Bottles in the Window

November 10, 2020 No Comments

On May 10, 1968, the pastor’s wife and another lady from Beacon Hill Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, were visiting new arrivals in their area. The house they planned to visit had whiskey bottles in the front window. The intended message was “Bad people live here; don’t mess with them.” The residents, Robert and Linda Huddleston, had bought the house and recently moved in. They had met at the Player’s Lounge where Linda was a bartender. The church ladies considered skipping this house, but they didn’t. Instead they won Bob and Linda to Christ!

Bob was born and raised in Oregon. He served as a Korean language specialist in the United States Air Force and was also trained in data processing. Linda, born and raised in Dallas, Texas, was a high school dropout but later earned her GED at Baptist Bible College (BBC) in Springfield, Missouri, where she and Bob prepared to serve the Lord on the foreign field. While a student at BBC, Bob began Maranatha Baptist Church in nearby Richland. Some of the missionary students from the nearby linguistic training school of New Tribes Mission (NTM) attended their services. The NTM people told the Huddlestons about the many unreached, Bibleless tribal people of the world, and God began to burden their hearts to reach them. At NTM, they met Baptist missionaries George and Sharon Anderson. The Andersons had left Mexico to attend the NTM Boot Camp and Language School with the stated purpose of learning all they could from NTM so they could begin a similar school to train Baptist missionaries.

That school, Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI), began in September 1973 in Forth Worth, Texas. Bob and Linda were in the first class along with the Andersons and two other families. Early in 1976, the Huddlestons went to Colombia, South America, and began learning Spanish. Their BBTI training, especially the phonetics, helped them to speak the new language much better than most foreigners. Their goal was to work with unreached jungle tribes, but unfortunately, the communist guerrillas were making major inroads and controlling the jungle areas. The Huddlestons were allowed to stay in Colombia but were forbidden by the government to work in the jungle. They began churches in Villavicencio and the Llano (plains). They also began a Bible institute. During the beginning days of their ministry there, they adopted a Colombian baby girl whom they named Jody Lynn. After approximately ten years in Colombia, Bob and Linda were denied visas and were forced to leave. Jody became a US citizen at age nine.

The Huddlestons did not quit serving the Lord; they just changed locations. For the next ten years, Bob pastored the Trinity Baptist Fellowship Church in Phoenix, Arizona. During those years, Bob finished his BA and got his MA and CPE. After that, he became a chaplain in the Texas State Prison system. His bilingualism was a great help in these places. Linda also was hired by the prison to work in the mail room. All prison correspondence, entering and leaving, must be read by prison officials, and her ability in two languages was especially useful. During his tenure in the prison system, Bob began pastoring a church in the East Texas city of Jacksonville. There he taught the people why we hold to the Authorized Version of the Bible and established a faith promise missionary giving program that still continues. Bob stepped down from the full-time pastorate in 2009. He is a Trustee of Baptist Bible Translators Institute and continues to preach and serve the Lord in East Texas, witnessing in both English and Spanish as the Lord gives him open doors. The Huddlestons are helping to home school their ten-year old granddaughter. It has been over fifty-two years since they kept whiskey bottles in the window!

Fall 2020

A Postage-Stamp Call

July 17, 2020 No Comments

Nathan Fritz Family

Nathan Fritz was born into a Christian family. At age six, his father, Rocky, became pastor of First Baptist Church in Amboy, IL. Even though he heard the Gospel over and over, it was not until age twelve that Nathan truly believed on Christ as his Saviour. Tina knew nothing about Jesus until age eight when her mother first took her to church. It took Tina several months to understand her need of salvation, but when she saw herself as a lost sinner, she trusted Christ.

Nathan became interested in various countries through his hobby as a philatelist. His church supported many missionaries, including the Mumfords in France. (They served there for fifty years!) Brother Mumford, Nathan’s pen pal, sent stamps from various places, among which was a place unknown to Nathan, Cape Verde. He had no idea where this country was, but he made it a point to find out. Nathan learned that Cape Verde is a group of fifteen islands located off the western point of Africa. He now wonders why the Portuguese explorer, Dinis Dias, called it “Verde” (green). Maybe it was green in 1445, but today, with only ten inches of annual rainfall, it is anything but green. Although it is located nearly four hundred miles from the African continent, the sandstorms from the Sahara Desert cause many problems for the people of Cape Verde. As Nathan’s interest in the country grew, so did his burden for the people. Their lives are dominated by African and Roman Catholic superstitions. Several of the islands have no gospel witness.

Cape Verde was a strategic station for Portugal’s African slave trade. Portuguese involvement in slavery continued into the 20th century, but world-wide slavery to sin continues until this very day. The Fritz family is working to end spiritual slavery in Cape Verde by extending the invitation of Jesus Christ. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). They proclaim, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

Nathan and Tina grew up playmates and competitors in Bible quizzes. Tina became the church pianist, and they worked together in children’s ministries. Nevertheless, they did not become interested in each other until Nathan’s junior year at Crown College where he majored in missions. He graduated in 2006, and they were married a month later.

When they arrived at BBTI in 2016, Nathan and Tina had four beautiful children: Andrew, Lydia, Ruth, and Grace. Anna was born just before Christmas 2017, four months before they left for the field. Sent by their church in Amboy, IL, and aided by Baptist International Missions Inc. (BIMI), they are completing their first two-year term in Cape Verde. They are learning Portuguese, the official language, and then will learn the common Creole language. Nathan preached his first sermon in Portuguese after eight months. He teaches in a seminary and also in a chronological Bible study. Both he and Tina conduct individual Bible studies. God allowed Nathan to take part in distributing the New Testament to 13,000 school children, putting God’s Word in nearly every home on the islands of Fogo and Brave.

As the Fritzes neared the end of their Advanced Missionary Training at BBTI, they said, “We couldn’t imagine going to the field without the many things we have learned here.” Later they wrote, “We are hard at language study.  I cannot begin to tell you how much we have used all the knowledge you tucked in our toolbox” (July 2018). “We were just saying AGAIN last night how much BBTI prepared us for being overseas.  Thank you both SO much for your investment in our lives” (April 2020). Pray for the Fritz family and for the many more like them that are needed right now in Cape Verde!

Summer 2020

Copyright © 2026 Baptist Bible Translators Institute | All Rights Reserved | Site Powered by Silver Bullet Web Solutions