Valor in Venezuela

Sandy’s parents, Missionaries Dale and Nelda West, served in
Guadalajara, Saltillo, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, from 1958 to 1998.
For thirteen years they had an orphanage. The orphans were part of the family and serving the Lord was a family affair.  Definitely a people
person, Sandy thrived in this atmosphere of work and fun. She still
plays her accordion, sings, and cooks for a crowd! 

Melvin was saved when he was in third grade. Melvin is serious about serving his Lord. And Melvin is a man of action who knows both what he needs and how to go about getting it. He was a forty-eight year-old widower when he decided he needed a wife to help him serve God on the mission field—and the most efficient way to find her was the internet. Theirs was a most unusual meeting! They simultaneously discovered each other’s bios and essays on a Christian website, and Sandy (also forty-eight and widowed), after a lot of prodding from her father, prayerfully responded. God has forged a strong marriage, filled with humor and mutual respect.     

Melvin had previously done short terms of missionary helps service in various countries, but now he wanted to serve full time. He knew he needed help in language learning and Melvin-like, researched his
options. He chose BBTI as the school best suiting his needs and
enrolled in 2003. Sandy studied alongside, encouraging him as he
determinedly forged ahead.

The focus of the Morris’ ministry in Venezuela is preparing men and
women for the spread of the Gospel and establishment of new churches.
It is an especially important strategy in view of the country’s political instability. Sandy builds lives on a day-by-day basis as she teaches kid’s clubs, prepares materials and trains teachers, helps cook for the men’s retreats and family camps, and contributes to the music program. Melvin excels in many skills and has been able to build Bible school facilities, develop their campgrounds, and procure the equipment for and set up a printing ministry. He teaches alongside Pastor José in the church and Bible institute.

Pray for Melvin’s and Sandy’s ongoing health needs; they are far from their doctors. Pray for their protection; they have been robbed at gunpoint and their home has been repeatedly burglarized. The one-year renewable visas they recently received are an answer to over seven years of prayer, proving the door is still open. The Morris’ choose to stay in spite of the risks involved, saying, “The future of the  Venezuelan church is at stake; as long as  the government allows us to come and go we should be able to continue preaching, teaching, and training the nationals; if we have to leave at some point in the future, they will be better prepared to lead the churches and establish new ones.”

Fall 2007

They Sought Means

by Brian Johnson

The Johnson family, like the men in Luke 5:18 who bore the sick of the palsy, have used great creativity in seeking to reach souls for Christ.

Sept. 2000 – Correspondence Course

Each week that passes, we find more responses in our mail box from people who want to enroll in our home Bible study courses. I believe that this will be an effective tool to reach people for Christ. We are placing an ad about these free courses in our largest circulating newspaper.

June 2001- Medical Outreach

We had a medical team here in Utena. The doctors saw a total of fifty-seven people who are now new contacts to follow up on. Several Lithuanian Christians witnessed to those waiting to see the doctors, and there were five professions of faith.

November 2002 – Music Festival

We hosted a “music festival” for the Independent Baptist Churches of Lithuania with seventeen church groups participating. We advertised in the local paper, we hung posters all over the city, we handed out invitations, and God blessed us with just over fifty visitors. We were able to preach a clear presentation of the Gospel and give each visitor a packet of literature.

May 2003 – Lithuanian World Music 

This is a seven-day festival filled with traditional musicians and singers. It is estimated that there will be an excess of 100,000 people attending. We designed a new high quality tract for this festival. It ties together the Lithuanian’s tradition with their need for the eternal Savior.

July 2003 – Baseball Clinics

I have recently found out that many young people in Lithuania have a desire to learn and play organized baseball. We recently held six baseball-training clinics, and they were a huge success! We were able to gather 135 kids and teach baseball basics as well as preach the Gospel.

June 2004 – Winning the Lost

A recently-saved young man is really excited about telling others about his Lord and Savior. He has led at least three other young people to the Lord and has had several visitors with him in church meetings. 

December 2005 – Canvassing

Since canvassing the city of Zarasai with literature in late August, we have had a new woman named Jolanta faithfully attending the services. She trusted Jesus as her Savior on November 6th and was baptized the following Sunday.

March 2006 – Giving to Missions

The members of Utena Baptist Church have been giving sacrificially to missions for just over four years. They currently support one Lithuanian missionary and also help finance the work in Zarasai. Last year they gave nearly $900 USD to missions, and this year they have made a commitment to give just over $1,500 USD. This is a large step of faith for these people; they are excited about mission work!

Summer 2007

Worth the Trouble?

Colin was nineteen years old when he met with his pastor in his study and realized he was trusting a false assurance instead of the Savior. Sandi, encouraged by an older sister, responded to the invitation at church when she was ten. Colin and Sandi have spent their lives taking the news of their Savior to other places.

        After Colin’s graduation from Midwestern Baptist College, the couple worked four years in Mexico with senior missionary Ralph McCoy. Returning for furlough, they recognized they needed specialized training in order to minister to tribal people and attended Baptist Bible Translators Institute.

        The Lord sent Colin, Sandi, and their four children to the Philippines where they contended with trials such as a serious auto accident, amoebas, cobras, and Marshall law under Pres. Marcos in 1981. When their home flooded, Sandi wrote of her discouragement, “I wanted to throw in the towel and head back to a normal life, but the Lord gave me the verse in Romans 8:18; and it really broke my heart, because I forgot it was worth the trouble.”

        And it was: they planted a church in Bayugan, teaching the people to work to buy land and build their building, and Colin put his BBTI training to work by translating the books of John and Romans into Cebuano. The church went on to establish several more churches, and the translation work was carried on  by Filipino pastors who completed the rest of the New Testament.

        The Christensens were in their forties when they arrived on their third field of service and began the study of Hungarian. It proved to be their toughest language yet; and Colin, a gifted linguist, wrote of it, “There are 14 written vowels and no allowance for ‘sluffing’ through on pronunciation. You must be right on the money or they won’t know what you’re talking about as you’ve probably said another word.”

        In Hungary, they’ve worked in two cities, pursuing church planting through many ministries: city-wide distribution of scripture, Friday night English/Bible study classes, revival and evangelistic campaigns, summer family camps, rest home services, and separate monthly meetings for men, women, teens, and children. In true BBTI spirit, the Christensens are always ready to help others. Colin drives an hour to teach in another missionary’s Bible college and has also filled in preaching when someone else needed a furlough.

         Fun-loving Sandi found it hard to adjust to the Hungarian people’s reserve.  Colin explains another obstacle, ecumenicalism. “Because most churches were persecuted under communism, they want to stick together in joint services, etc. Since 55% claim to be atheists, they feel that anyone who believes in God is a ‘Christian.’ Winning souls to Christ has been slow, but very rewarding as people see their need of becoming born again.” Is it worth the trouble? The Christensens say yes!

Spring 2007

Committing Unto Faithful Men

Dan and Jennifer Olachea are sent out by the Central Baptist Church of Ocala, Florida. Dan grew up in the home of a Baptist pastor and made a profession of faith at an early age. In his teen years, when doubts about his salvation surfaced, he settled the matter by reaffirming his faith in Christ. Jennifer’s mother was saved as a result of door-to-door soul winning, and shortly after her salvation, she led six year old Jennifer to Christ. What a blessing to be saved as children and raised in godly homes!

Dan graduated from Clearwater Christian College, majoring in English, and Jennifer graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in communication disorders (speech therapy). Both are skilled musicians and excellent students.

The Lord directed the Olacheas to Uganda, East Africa, and they attended BBTI in the fall of 2001 where they received specialized training for the task God was leading them to do.  Their plan was to work with the two and one-half million Banyonkore people, who speak a Bantu related language called Runyankore. They especially wanted to give the Runyankore language a faithful translation of God’s word based on the Greek Textus Receptus. There is a translation in this language, but it is unacceptable to the Bible-believing Christians because it is based on a corrupt text. (Many Bible translations being done today are based on the same Greek text that underlies such English Bibles as the RSV, NASV, NIV, and the so-called “Bible” of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Most translators today also use an inferior method that results in a paraphrase rather than a formal Bible. Thank God for a few people like the Olacheas who believe that God’s people deserve better!)

The Olachea Family set a steady course toward Uganda, arriving there in January of 2005.  The official language of Uganda is English, and many people speak it fairly well. However, they also have over 40 other languages, and all people need God’s word in their native tongue. Dan has been working with men in a Bible institute, training them in Greek and Bible translation principles and preparing them to be Bible Translators. The men are excited about beginning this revision work. Pray for Dan this year as he guides these faithful preachers through the difficult task of moving God’s word from one language to another. There is a good possibility that they can work on the Runyankore Bible and two other revision projects at the same time!

Pray that God will continue to allow this wonderful family to meet their Bible translation goals as they serve God in many other capacities such as preaching, music, prison outreach, Bible institute teaching, deaf ministry, and door-to-door visitation. 

Food for the Spirit

We came to Cambodia in 1998 and are involved in Church planting, Bible teaching and translation. Our dream has been seeing indigenous churches established that could and would carry on the work of evangelizing. We planned to start in the provincial capital of Kampot. Beginning in the major urban centers seemed like the best plan. While we believed strongly in indigenous principles, to labor all these years and still see nothing significant in Kampot city left us tempted at times to try and buy land, buildings, or give financial aid. God never allowed us the freedom to go down that road, but rather God had us wait for Him to work in the hearts of the Khmer.

Responsiveness seemed to be in the countryside where we have seen a few small, fragile churches started. Aside from the areas we were working in, other small assemblies that were not the result of our labors would come and ask to study the Bible with us. They too were from rural villages, and they were like sheep without a shepherd. We invited them to study with us, taking care how we taught. We tried from the very beginning to instill love and wonder for the Word of God so that they could feed themselves. They would say, “You give food for the spirit instead of food for the flesh.” Since we did not give handouts or aid, some met with us only a few times. We did not forget that God’s Word never returns to Him void and that it accomplishes what He wills, but we wondered if there would be much fruit from the time spent teaching all these groups.

At first we did not see what God was doing. Little by little He was opening the eyes of a few small churches. Some were churches we saw planted and some were from the areas that only received teaching. When a Cambodian society of Christians tried to threaten, bribe and cajole all Khmer Churches into joining under their banner, these few dirt- poor village preachers opened their Bibles to show  why they would not and could not compromise.

These little churches are small and far from perfect, and it is still early to tell for sure, but it appears we have the beginnings of a few indigenous churches. They are taking what they have been taught and are teaching it to others. They are learning to trust God and to serve Him through personal sacrifice, without thought of compensation.

The way has not always been easy. Many times we felt like throwing in the towel, but the never-changing Word of God always pointed the way ahead. We don’t know if the churches mentioned in this report will be there a year from now. That is how fragile things are. This is a Buddhist country and is a territory still held firmly by the enemy. The thing we need most is prayer— fervent prayer of the righteous. Pray for these churches and for us, that we will all be strong in the Lord and learn to walk with Him by faith.

Fall 2006

I Have an Idea!

In our missionary-minded churches, many children feel called to be missionaries. Some may be drawn by the adventure of missions, others may feel sorry for the poor, hungry children in other countries;  no doubt, some genuinely love God and want to do His will. As these children grow into adolescence, they should become more serious and mature in their dedication to Christ and His great commission; sadly this is rarely the case. Many allurements such as boyfriends and girlfriends, cars, jobs, education, etc. become more important than lost souls on the mission field. Often the call to missions is not nurtured by parents, peers, or pastors.

God gave Michele Bass a burden for missions at a young age; her godly parents and church encouraged it, and as she matured, the desire to be a missionary increased. Growing up, she had access to good missionary books, and the Bass home was always open to visiting missionaries.

Michele heard of Baptist Bible Translators Institute at age fifteen and knew she wanted to attend. In the Lord’s good timing, she did attend and graduated in 2003. Upon graduation, she spent a month in the Huastecan Mountains of Mexico putting into practice the language and culture-learning skills she had learned. She improved her Spanish and learned much of the sound system of the Náhuatl Indian language. Later that year, Michele made a trip to Thailand and Mongolia.

In the fall of 2004, Michele joined the BBTI staff and did an excellent job teaching Phonetics, Morphology/Syntax, and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). I am convinced that she believes in the work of BBTI as much as any of us and has done her utmost to convince new missionaries to avail themselves of this training opportunity. She is constantly thinking of new ways to promote the school or improve it to more effectively train God’s servants. Numerous times she has said to me, “Brother Rex, I have an idea!” I may jokingly say, “Oh no, what is it going to cost this time?” However, her ideas are always good, and we have implemented several of them. For instance, Michele took the initiative to conduct a class for MK’s to prepare them for their difficult transition to the foreign field. She thought of making a mosaic of the world in front of our new multipurpose building, and that has become a reality. The beautiful missionary posters that are now available at VictoryBaptistPress.com were her idea too! Thank God for people with new ideas!

Besides her training at BBTI, Michele is also a graduate of Faith Bible Institute and the intensive medical training EQUIP.

If it were up to us, we would keep Michele here at BBTI indefinitely, not only because she is so valuable to the work and has great ideas, but also for her sweet, godly spirit and her musical talent. However, her heart is on the mission field, and we would not discourage her from going. After all, that is our sole purpose, to train workers for the foreign field. God has burdened her for the South Pacific country of Vanuatu. She will teach women and children under the authority of veteran missionary Philippe Pinero and help in their health clinic. Pray for her. She will have to learn French and Bislama, and then perhaps other languages later. Michele is sent from Park Meadows Baptist Church in Lincoln, Illinois, and her pastor is Dr. S.M. Davis. I know that once on the field God will give her more insight concerning ways to improve our missionary training program, and I will receive a letter or phone call saying, “Brother Rex, I have an idea!”

Summer 2006

Semper Fi

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

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

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

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

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

Spring 2006

An Unexpected Opportunity

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winter 2006