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
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: [email protected]
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.
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!”
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.
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 [email protected] if you would like them to present their ministry to your church.
The O’Connors desire to serve the Lord on the foreign field. For now, however, they want to invest their time and talents in the preparation of missionary students at BBTI.
146,000 Roglai people (whose language is also called Roglai) live in the Vietnamese coastal provinces of Khanh and Ninh Thuan. Evangelical Christianity among this people group is estimated at 12%. Due to persecution, an accurate estimate of evangelistic churches is difficult to assess.
Since there is no Roglai Bible, pastors and leaders study the Vietnamese Bible and speak its truths to the congregation in Roglai. They long for a faithful Roglai Bible. A church will not be strong without it. A group of capable young men are forming a translation team to address this need. Some team members will translate; others will do a back translation for accuracy’s sake. Some older men are wisely included as counselors.
The missionary involved has participated in these men’s ministry training and preparation for the translation work. He is confident that they are godly, capable men of good character. The missionary’s involvement will be as an adviser only, as he believes God would have the work be led and completed by nationals. They are beginning with a Gospel tract before proceeding with the Gospel of John.
God is raising up His army of Light Bearers from many places. In this case, it is an indigenous undertaking. Countries such as Mexico, Korea, and the Philippine Islands are also sending out faithful witnesses. Will you pray for the Roglai translation team?
“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields…” —John 4:35
The gospel song writer W. S. Brown wrote: A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true! Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the Captain. We will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, American men by the thousands volunteered for military service. For many it would mean the ultimate sacrifice. Some who were too young even lied about their age to join. Would to God that we had young men today with this same spirit who would volunteer to serve in the army of the Great Commission! The young patriots were saying to Uncle Sam, “Let me go!” It seems young men today are saying to our Captain, “If you want me, make me go.”
If we were to ask one hundred men in a Bible college why they are there, they would tell us they are preparing for the gospel ministry. If we were to ask how many are planning to exercise their ministry outside the borders of our country, the number would be extremely low, perhaps only two or three percent. Does that seem just? Only one out of forty people born in the world will be born in the US. We make up a small part of the world population, but we seem to get more than our share of the preachers. It is true that there is a great shortage of pastors right now in America. Pastors are leaving the ministry at almost the same alarming rate as missionaries, and fewer are entering the ministry. We cannot deny that we need Christian workers here, but neither can we ignore the commandment of Jesus to preach the Gospel to every creature and to all nations. We ought to be very disturbed about our failure to obey this order.
If we were to ask young Christians, including those in Bible schools, why they are not planning and preparing for missionary service, their answer, almost without exception, would be, “God has not called me.” Many even say, “I am willing to go if God calls me.” Friend, why not prove your willingness by volunteering? Would it not please God if we would follow the example of Isaiah and say, “Here am I; send me”? What could possibly be wrong with volunteering to do what Christ has commanded us to do? Saul of Tarsis who became Paul the Apostle had a supernatural experience, but no one since then has had such a calling. A good way to know if missionary service is God’s will for you is to volunteer for it!
Perhaps you should get on your knees and honestly volunteer to go to the foreign field, then get up and immediately begin to prepare and move in that direction. Lift up your eyes. Start asking God where you should go. Get information. Look for open doors. Discuss it with your pastor. Get a passport and visit some mission fields. The “willingness” of God’s people is not getting the task done. Some are honestly willing to go, but they have often heard, “You must be absolutely sure you are called, or you better not go.” Unsure what this calling looks or feels like and without clear Bible verses that explain it, they hesitate to declare that they are called. Perhaps they are waiting on God when God is waiting on them.
Robert served in a South Sea Island country for many years until forced to return to the states to die of cancer. He spent his remaining days pleading for more missionaries. Men would tell him, “Brother Bob, I need a call to go.” To which he would say, “Give me your phone number; I will call you!” Another brother named Mark heard Robert say this, and he volunteered to go to the mission field. Some mocked him and said, “Mark, you cannot volunteer; you must have a call.” He applied to a mission board, but they were reluctant to accept him because he was only a volunteer and probably would not stay long on the field. He told them, “I may someday doubt that I was really called, but I will never doubt the fact that I volunteered.” They accepted him, and he spent three and a half decades as a missionary in Africa until bad health forced him home. A single lady named Rebecca heard Brother Mark give his testimony. She was interested in foreign missions, but had always heard, “Wait for a call.” Rebecca told her pastor of her desire to volunteer for missionary service. He said, “Okay, do it, and see if the Lord stops you.” God did not stop her!
We encourage people to volunteer to serve in the church nursery or mow the grass. We can volunteer to win the lost in our town or anywhere in our country. But we must not volunteer to go and win them in foreign countries? Does that make sense? Is there any scripture that forbids volunteering? Why can we volunteer for any occupation except full-time service for Christ in a place where few or none are serving?
You may ask, “What if God does not want me to be a missionary?” In that case, God can use your church to hold you back. You may be disqualified because of mental or physical inability, poor health, inconsistent Christian living, addictions, or your age might be a prohibiting factor. (Under eighteen might be too young, and over seventy might be too old). It probably would not be right to lie about your age to join up! Maybe we are too afraid of making the mistake of going when we should stay. Which do you suppose would be the greater error: going when we should stay or staying when we should go? If we go when we should not, it merely costs time and money. However, if we stay when we should go, a group of lost heathen will never hear about Jesus!
“A call for loyal soldiers comes to one and all; soldiers for the conflict, will you heed the call? Will you answer quickly with a ready cheer? Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?”
After dismissing his congregation, a missionary in Germany went to the back door to greet people as they left. He greeted each member with a handshake and smile and told them, “Gutten nackt.” They realized that he meant to say “Gutten nacht” meaning good night, but grinned or snickered because he had actually said good naked. The preacher was greatly embarrassed when a member at the end of the line corrected him. —Christine
Our language tutor was teaching us to pray in the Indonesian language. We write out our prayer for his review and then read/pray them before class begins. My wife was thanking God for his mercy, but omitted an “h” sound in the middle of the word. She thanked God for his spider webs instead! —D.C.
When our language helper, Lilee, asked me what kind of meat I like to eat, I attempted to say “kai kap muu kap NGUA” (chicken and pork and beef). But instead, I came up with ‘kai kap muu kap NGU” (chicken and pork and SNAKE)! Lilee gave me a funny look and replied in English, “Really?!” –K.R, Laos
Photo Source Anna Diamantopoulou/Flickr Licensed/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The Pontic Greeks quite possibly heard the Apostle Paul during his missionary journeys. This people group considers themselves descendants of the Argonauts, who set sail looking for gold and silver. Because of their desire to seek treasure in other lands, this group of Greeks eventually settled in Northeastern Turkey with the majority settling around the Black Sea.
During World War I, when the country underwent an ethnic cleansing, almost 250,000 Pontics were able to flee back to Greece. However, when they arrived, those that lived there could not understand their language. It had evolved into words and sounds that could not be understood because of the influence of the nations that had surrounded them before their dispersal. Today, this dialect of the Greek language is considered endangered as their descendants become more assimilated in the regions in which they live. Yet the Pontics want to keep their language and traditions alive. They try to pass down their traditional poems, songs, dress, and dances to their children. However, their brightly colored traditional dress cannot cover their spiritual darkness.
Though many profess to be Christians, they have no true knowledge of the Gospel. Some practice Greek Orthodox traditions, and others have converted to Islam. Because there is no Scripture in their language, a people who may have once been exposed to the truth are now living in spiritual darkness.
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.
A Christian could not invest his life in any occupation more valuable than translating the eternal, living words of God into a language in which it has never existed. The Great Commission cannot be fulfilled without a Bible. With modern technology, Bible translation should be easier and faster than at any time in history. Not long ago, a Bible translator typed and retyped the New Testament twenty-five times before it was ready to print. Despite digital technology, it is still a very difficult work. It requires proper spiritual, physical, mental, intellectual, and linguistic preparation. Praise God that some see the need for Bible translation and are expressing a desire to engage in this worthy work, and we do not want to discourage them. However, they must “count the cost” and be aware of the long-term commitment required and the endurance needed to overcome many obstacles. While each language and place have their special challenges, you can be sure that the work of Bible translation is not easy anywhere.
The prospective translator must understand the futility of beginning without the proper training in linguistics and translation principles. Bible translation must be done right! To spend fifteen years producing a New Testament, only to discover that the people cannot understand it or do not accept it is tragic, but it has happened. Good, well-intentioned people with sound doctrine do not necessarily produce good Bible translations.
A BBTI graduate, who we will call Fred Jones, works with an unreached people group in a dangerous and restricted part of the world. He compares his efforts to translate the Bible for this ethnic group to pushing a rope uphill. Not all places will seem as impossible as Brother Fred’s. His is probably a worst-case scenario, but there is an enemy with many wiles who wants to stop all Bible translation. Fred attempted to reach part of this group who lives in a country controlled by godless atheists. The leaders hate Christianity, and they sometimes hate the ethnic people who will not give up their cultural and linguistic identity. After a time, Fred was forced to move to a neighboring country and work with another part of the same group. However, the situation there is not much better. First, he must have a reason to justify being in the country, and “missionary” is not one of the options. He must operate some type of business or offer a skill that would benefit the country. The government of the second country is controlled by a religion that opposes Christianity, and those in power also hate the ethnic group that Fred loves. After a few years, the government began to practice genocide against Fred’s people. Men from his neighborhood disappeared; some were reported killed and others imprisoned. When Fred and two other foreign workers bought food for the wives and children of the missing men, they were accused of aiding terrorists. Two of them were jailed, but Fred escaped before being arrested. Nevertheless, he is determined to return and with God’s help push the rope further up the hill. Yes, there is political and religious opposition, but Fred is proving that it can be overcome.
The Bible translator must expect to push the rope up a steep linguistic hill. Unless the major language is English, he must first learn the trade language and then the heart language of the people group. The first language is difficult, but the second one is often much more complex, without a language school to attend. Since the second language Fred needed to learn had never been written, he had to learn it without books and teachers, develop an alphabet, and write the words in the correct morphological and syntactical order. Thankfully, Fred and his wife learned these skills at BBTI.
It is always difficult to move God’s Word from one language to another. It can be painstakingly slow. The missionary translator should never attempt the task of Bible translation without the help of native speakers, but it is challenging to find them. There may be no Christians among the group, and even if there are, they may be afraid to help. Sometimes, helpers will only work secretly.
The Bible translator must go and live where people do not have a Bible, and usually that means living in inhospitable places. Places where translation work is needed can be unpleasant, difficult, and sometimes dangerous. Primitive living conditions require enormous amounts of time and energy to accomplish simple daily tasks. (No hot showers or electric range!)
Consider Fred’s wife. She must be as tough as he is. She raises her children and homeschools them under the same conditions. She, too, must learn both the trade language and the heart language of the people group. She must learn to understand and love a people that are sometimes hard to love. At BBTI, Fred’s wife received the same pre-field training as Fred. This enables her to learn and cope with the culture and analyze and learn the language. She can communicate and teach women that may be culturally off limits to Fred. They make a good team.
Bible translation usually proceeds slowly. Often it is put on the back burner because of all the other work that the missionary must do. He needs to evangelize those around him and teach them the Word of God, even though it does not yet exist in the language. He must work at his business to retain his visa and good standing with the government. Some supporters may question why he is not winning the multitudes and establishing churches reported by other missionaries in other places. He must report to them and explain why he is not producing the same results.
As we pray for laborers for God’s harvest field, let us also pray that many of these will labor in the work of Bible translation. Pray that our homes and churches will produce soldiers of the Jones’ caliber equipped for God to send. Pray for laborers who can patiently endure the spiritual, mental, and physical hardness required to accomplish the task and push the rope up a steep hill!
Although we had been in Laos just a short time, I thought I was making progress in learning the language. So, when our six-month old daughter needed a vaccination, I felt confident to take her to the clinic. I tried to tell the nurses that she needed a sakjaa, meaning “shot of medicine.” But I accidentally said she needed a supjaa, meaning “cigarette.” She is a little too young to start smoking! — KR
W. Vernon Miller was born deaf to hearing parents in December 1932. He did not learn sign language until the age of eighteen when he enrolled at Gallaudet University, a school for the Deaf in Washington DC.
One Sunday, Vernon heard a strong missionary challenge. He struggled all night about surrendering his life. The next morning, he appeared at his pastor’s door, with a packed suitcase! His pastor marveled at Vernon’s commitment but wondered what kind of missionary a deaf man could be.
In 1968, Vernon arrived in Peru as a missionary serving with Baptist International Missions, Inc. Then, as today in many foreign countries, the Deaf were isolated, ignored, and uneducated. They lived and died with little or no hope of hearing the Gospel. The Deaf were usually hidden away by their families because of a Catholic belief that any physical defect was a judgment from God. It took several years for Vernon to find deaf people whom he could serve. Finally, he located a few deaf children. They knew no sign language, nor could they read or write in any language. Therefore, Vernon began a small school for deaf children in the village of Chosica. The children were first taught sign language. Later, primary school subjects were introduced. Woodworking and other manual trades were added. Amador, a Peruvian national, was sent from his local church to assist Vernon. When Vernon married Velma Carlsberg, a deaf widow, she discipled ladies and became a mother figure to the children.
After a radio announcement of a school dedicated to the education of the Deaf, many families brought their deaf children. The locale in use was too small, so the work was moved to a slum area of Lima called El Salvador, where a nice piece of reasonably priced land was obtained. Vernon named the flourishing work Efata, meaning “be opened” from the account of Jesus healing a deaf man. In time, a church was started. The school expanded, and a home for deaf children was established. Eventually, higher training was offered to prepare deaf young people as pastors and pastor’s wives to go from and to the deaf community. From this foundation, deaf couples have gone throughout Peru, Ecuador, and other Latin American countries to establish deaf churches.
Vernon and Velma retired in 2000. Vernon passed into the presence of his Savior six years later. The work today thrives under the leadership of Missionary Joe Kotvas.
Vernon Miller is recognized as the person who brought sign language to the Deaf of Peru, bringing them not only out of the shadows of society but also into the light of the Gospel.
Part of the application process for enrollment in our Advanced Missionary Training program is a recommendation from the pastor of the applicant. Doug and Lisa Nispel applied for enrollment at BBTI in 2014. One question we ask the pastor is, “What is the applicant’s greatest strength?” For Doug, he answered “faithful” and for Lisa “compassionate.” We found the pastor’s description of them fully accurate. As students, they were a constant joy to us, along with their two daughters, Abigail and Elizabeth. They worked diligently both in the classroom and during our afternoon Work Detail.
Doug was a bus kid. His parents sent him to Red Lion Bible Church and his grandmother paid for him to attend the Christian school until the sixth grade. He heard the Gospel many times and was saved at the age of eleven. Doug lived for God for a time but became tired of feeling like an oddball and not having any friends. He decided to go his own way. As is always the case, this led to some poor choices. Even as a preteen, he began using the marijuana and alcohol that he had access to at home. However, God did not give up on Doug. When he was nearing the age of twenty, his father was gloriously saved. The booze and drugs left the home, and his father began serving the Lord. (Today he has a truck stop ministry). This had a convicting influence on Doug, and at the age of twenty-one, he surrendered every area of his life to God.
Lisa was raised by good, religious parents in a Methodist church. Then came the day when the pastor distributed to all a copy of the Good News for Modern Man and announced that it would replace their Bible. Her father had enough discernment to leave the church, and the family began attending Red Lion Bible Church. Lisa was led to Christ by a faithful Sunday School teacher who used the Wordless Book to teach the Gospel. Lisa’s father and mother began a bus route. Together, they serve faithfully in that ministry until this day.
The Nispel family arrived at BBTI in 2015 with the desire to serve the Lord in Romania. They continued raising support as students and graduated in 2016. In March 2017, less than a year after graduation, they arrived in Timisoara, Romania, and began learning the new language and culture.
A big part of the Nispel’s ministry is training believers in evangelism. They serve primarily in five or six Baptist churches, helping with outreaches and training the believers to use different methods of evangelism and tract distribution in outdoor and public settings. People are receptive and willing to listen but slow to trust Christ. Doug and Lisa look for outreach opportunities such as carnivals or festivals. They incorporate the use of Christian films in their open-air meetings. In the summer, they assist several different Baptist churches in vacation Bible school outreaches in places where there are thus far no churches.
When the Iron Curtain was torn down in the early 90s, Gospel seeds were sown in Romania and other Eastern European countries. It produced a great harvest for people who were hungry for prosperity and freedom. Thank God, that many missionaries went. Sadly, many stayed only a short time. There is, no doubt, a great need for new, church-planting missionaries in Europe, but there is also a great need for missionaries such as the Nispels who will take up the unfinished task of training believers to reach others.
Compassion took the Nispels to Romania, and faithfulness keeps them there!
The Wasa are the largest ethnic group in the Western Region of Ghana with a population close to 300,000. The Western Region is tropical with an annual rainfall of sixty inches and is known for its production of cocoa, rubber, and palm oil. Other industries include fishing, animal husbandry, lumbering, and gold mining.
The Wasa face many challenges. The areas where gold is mined are damaged by erosion that causes flooding and ruins the land for farming. Also, many Wasa living in poverty mine gold illegally. These small, unregulated operations use chemicals and heavy metals that contaminate drinking water. A second challenge is the Wasa language. Some of the older Wasa fear its demise. In an effort to modernize, children are punished for speaking their language in school. “English is a global language. Practice it now!!!” is written on at least one schoolroom wall.
Another challenge is the great spiritual need of the Wasa. Although their primary religion is listed as Christianity, its form is Non-Evangelical Protestantism which focuses more on social issues than a personal faith in Jesus Christ. Only Biblical teaching can correct this erroneous teaching, but there is no Bible in Wasa. A translation has reportedly begun. Will you pray for the Wasa and for those that are translating God’s Word for them?
Our call to the mission field started when a ministry in Romania, supported by our church since the early 1970s, asked if anyone wanted to help on a construction project. I did not have any vacation time, a passport, or even a way to financially go. I told the Lord that if he would provide the way, I would go. He did provide! While in Romania, I passed out tracts and churches invited me to preach. After that trip, I knew the Lord would eventually have me go into missions but did not know where or when. I knew I needed to wait on the Lord to show me where he wanted me to be and when I was to go, so I remained active in our home church by serving in the bus ministry, jail ministry, nursing home and anywhere that I could help.
I met Lisa in 2001. On our second date, I told her that I believed the Lord would have us on the mission field, and that if she were not willing to go, we should not continue our relationship. Being close to her family, she did not automatically say yes, but did say she would pray about it. That night, sitting in her car before going into her third shift work, she looked up at the sky and thought of all Jesus had done for her. At that moment, she knew. If missions was what the Lord had for her, He would help her through it. Lisa let me know she was willing to go, and we married a year later.
I had been going to Romania on mission trips every two to three years since the year 2000. In 2007, while on one of those trips, I realized that I was ready to stay. The desire in my heart to be in Romania was honestly more than the desire to be in America. I became sure of the call to go. I tried to schedule meetings and look for a mission board, but every door I tried was shut. I waited on the Lord, asking Him to open the door and make it obvious when it was time to start the deputation process. In 2012, the Lord answered that prayer in specific ways, showing us it was time for me to quit my job and go on deputation. We started full-time deputation with little support, but God answered prayer and provided a place for us to stay. I knew God would take care of my family.
In 2014, the Lord led us to BBTI to prepare for the mission field. It was hard to wait on the Lord to open doors in his timing instead of mine, but God’s timing is best. He used our lack of support to prompt me to contact churches in other states and keep me in America long enough for missionary training. At the right time, he gave us the support we needed, and we went to Romania.
We cannot overestimate the value of a missionary. Humanly speaking, he is the only one standing between a group of people and Hell! If a missionary leaves the field prematurely, he is often discouraged and feels that he has failed the Lord and those people who believed in him. He, his church, and his mission agency should be asking some questions: What went wrong? What could have prevented it? And what should we do now? A missionary that we know well worked with his wife and children in a very remote mountain village, accessed only by plane or helicopter. Alone, they faced a very frightening experience and were in imminent physical danger. Almost miraculously, they were rescued by helicopter. They returned to the States very traumatized. Their pastor—the one who should care most—spoke with them for less than one minute and then apparently wrote them off as quitters. Talk about adding insult to injury! What they needed was a thorough debriefing with caring, competent counselors.
Gospel Furthering Fellowship (GFF), under the direction of BBTI graduate Rodney Myers, specializes in proper preparation for the mission field. This includes a strong recommendation that the missionary acquire Advanced Missionary Training at BBTI. They also offer help and debriefing, not only for their own members, but for any Baptist missionary. Consider the words of GFF Missionary Care Director Chris Luppino in his article, The Crisis that Few are Talking About:
The closing challenge of Jesus to His disciples in Mark 16:15 is clear, compelling, and challenging. They were to take the Gospel to every living person in every corner of the world. It is Jesus’ commission to the Christians of every generation during the church age. He highlighted one of the challenges to fulfilling His command in Matthew 9:37 where He said, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.”
In comparison to the need, the number of laborers (missionaries) is small. In the face of the challenging task of cross-cultural evangelism and church planting, many of the laborers are weak. The inherent weaknesses are amplified by the fact that missionaries are often sent woefully under-prepared. The director of our mission was challenging a pastor with some of the difficulties the missionary that his church was sending was likely to encounter and with the need for him and his wife to be properly prepared. In response to a list of the challenges that the missionary could reasonably be expected to face the pastor replied, “He will just have to learn as he goes along.” [Fortunately, that missionary couple did attend BBTI and are now successfully learning a tribal language that people told them is impossible to learn!]
Once laborers are sent, they are often neglected. If they “crash and burn” or just quietly go away (leave the field), the ridicule, blame, and scorn is usually targeted at the missionary. They are labeled as quitters, not being “tough” enough, not being made of the right stuff, or being a John Mark. We have no words to describe the sending church, sending pastor, or sending agency that let them down. If we are going to take the Gospel to each living person in every corner of the world, we must do better…much better! The crisis that few are talking about is missionary attrition. A 2017 survey of 745 former missionaries cited a lack of missionary care as the number one cause of missionary attrition.
Gospel Furthering Fellowship is an Independent Baptist mission service ministry. We do not send missionaries or start churches. GFF serves churches that send missionaries to start churches. We come alongside churches and missionaries by using our experience and expertise to encourage and promote long-term missionary service among unreached people groups. Churches have a biblical mandate to intentionally, not accidentally, produce career missionaries. We are honored to serve them as they seek to do so.
We at home cannot possibly understand what a new missionary faces. He is concerned about the children’s welfare and education. Culture stress is often overwhelming. The pressure he feels from his supporters to produce results may derive from his own mind, but it is there, nonetheless. The missionary is tempted to take shortcuts and minister before learning the language. When language learning suffers, he eventually realizes his inability to effectively communicate. Why didn’t someone warn me that this language and the hearts of these people would be so hard? This dear man of God and his wife may question their spirituality. Surely, if we were right with God, we would love these people! Missionaries may feel reluctant to share with anyone, including their pastor, what they are going through. After all, they told him and a bunch of others what they were going to do. They never entertained a thought of failure. The pastor needs to exercise his gift of discernment, read between the lines, investigate, and be sure that his missionary family is indeed doing well. Even if he does not suspect a problem, a personal visit might be a great encouragement to his missionary family. It is the work of the church to get missionaries to the field. It is also the work of the church to keep them there. If they return early, it is the duty of the church to love and welcome them as the heroes they are. The church should attempt to restore and resend them. Compassionate care, not criticism, is needed.
On June 7, 2014, Stephen A. Metcalf, a faithful church planter and evangelist to Japan, passed away. He ministered in Japan for forty years with his wife Evelyn and their five children. However, Stephen did not always want to be a missionary to Japan.
Stephen was born on October 23, 1927, to George and Bessie Metcalf. The Metcalfs were missionary translators in Taku (now Dao-Gu), a mountainous Lisu village one weeks walk from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. At a young age, Stephen learned to fluently speak English, Mandarin, and Lisu. In 1934, when he was seven years old, his parents took Stephen to join his sister Ruth at a boarding school in Yantai. Except for Christmas visits, Stephen grew up in Yantai and rarely saw his parents.
By 1937, World War II was imminent. The Japanese invasion of China did not affect Stephen until 1942 when he and his schoolmates were imprisoned. Sickness continually plagued the filthy, cramped attic where the nineteen young men were initially quartered. Hepatitis A and a raging fever nearly killed Stephen, but God miraculously spared his life. As he lay weak and alone, his conscience convicted him of his sins. Overwhelmed, Stephen confessed His sins and believed that Jesus Christ died and rose again for him. In the following months, Stephen’s faith grew through missionary biographies that fellow inmates lent him. By the time Stephen was moved to the Weixian internment camp, God had taught him perseverance, faithfulness, and thankfulness. However, Stephen struggled to learn forgiveness.
Who could blame Stephen for despising the Japanese? His circumstances appeared to justify his attitude. Over two-thousand men, women, and children were confined within the sixty-acre internment camp. Sanitation was deplorable; water was inadequate; food was rationed; and medical supplies were scarce. Self-preservation was the daily mode of life. Individuals who retained ethical and religious convictions were either admired or scorned. Yet one such man’s godly character influenced others in Weixian.
Eric Liddell, famous Scottish Olympic gold medalist and missionary, chose Christlikeness over self-centeredness. Of all the prisoners, he easily could have demanded his rights and misused his influence. At the pinnacle of his athletic career, he left Scotland to be a missionary teacher in China. Instead of evacuating the country with his family in 1941, Liddell remained. He firmly believed that only faithful obedience honors God, despite any personal cost. Even in Weixian, Liddell continued obeying God as he served his fellow prisoners.
In 1945, just months before World War II ended, Stephen heard the words that impacted the rest of his life. During a Bible study on Matthew 5:43-48, Liddell taught: “When you hate, you are self-centered. When you pray, you are God-centered. Praying changes your attitude. It is hard to hate those you pray for.” Listening, Stephen was deeply convicted. He realized Liddell’s personal obedience to the Truth had changed his attitude toward the Japanese guards. God used Liddell’s testimony to break Stephen’s unforgiving heart. Together, the men began praying for their captors.
Days later, Liddell approached Stephen with a pair of patched running shoes. Stephen’s own shoes were completely worn, useless protection against the winter temperatures. Unconscious of his friend’s personal sacrifice, Stephen gratefully accepted them. Only weeks later did Stephen realize that he was walking in Liddell’s shoes.
One month later, tears stung and blurred Stephen’s eyes as he gazed down at his shoes. He tried to steady himself under the weight of his friend’s coffin. Though a brain tumor silenced Liddell’s earthly voice, his words echoed in Stephen’s memory. As he reflected on Liddell’s life, Stephen’s grief suddenly turned to resolution. At that moment, before God, he vowed to go to Japan as a missionary after the war.
Liddell’s obedience influenced Stephen’s obedience. Years later, in 1952, Stephen recalled Liddell’s words again as he began his life-time ministry in Japan. He no longer wore Liddell’s physical shoes, yet he daily walked in Liddell’s spiritual shoes. Both men’s obedience resulted in countless Japanese salvations!
When we obediently live the Truth, others will believe the Truth. Obedience reveals Absolute Truth which powerfully transforms lives for eternity. Through His own obedience, Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets, demonstrating that the Word of God is Truth. His obedience to the Father’s will changed men’s eternal destinies (John 5:30, 6:38)! Christ set the example for us (Phil. 2:8; Heb. 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:21). His obedience cost Him everything. Likewise, obedience will cost us everything. Nevertheless, Christ’s obedience commands and compels our own obedience. We have a choice. We know the Truth. Yet Truth without obedience will never save a lost and dying world.
Christ wore the shoes of obedience, and He commanded us to follow Him. Obedience is a personal choice in response to a personal command. Though initially individual, our choice is eternally influential. Will we obey the Truth? Will we walk in Christ’s shoes? Will others walk in our shoes?
On June 7, 2014, Stephen A. Metcalf, a faithful church planter and evangelist to Japan, passed away. He ministered in Japan for forty years with his wife Evelyn and their five children. However, Stephen did not always want to be a missionary to Japan.
Stephen was born on October 23, 1927, to George and Bessie Metcalf. The Metcalfs were missionary translators in Taku (now Dao-Gu), a mountainous Lisu village one weeks walk from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. At a young age, Stephen learned to fluently speak English, Mandarin, and Lisu. In 1934, when he was seven years old, his parents took Stephen to join his sister Ruth at a boarding school in Yantai. Except for Christmas visits, Stephen grew up in Yantai and rarely saw his parents.
By 1937, World War II was imminent. The Japanese invasion of China did not affect Stephen until 1942 when he and his schoolmates were imprisoned. Sickness continually plagued the filthy, cramped attic where the nineteen young men were initially quartered. Hepatitis A and a raging fever nearly killed Stephen, but God miraculously spared his life. As he lay weak and alone, his conscience convicted him of his sins. Overwhelmed, Stephen confessed His sins and believed that Jesus Christ died and rose again for him. In the following months, Stephen’s faith grew through missionary biographies that fellow inmates lent him. By the time Stephen was moved to the Weixian internment camp, God had taught him perseverance, faithfulness, and thankfulness. However, Stephen struggled to learn forgiveness.
Who could blame Stephen for despising the Japanese? His circumstances appeared to justify his attitude. Over two-thousand men, women, and children were confined within the sixty-acre internment camp. Sanitation was deplorable; water was inadequate; food was rationed; and medical supplies were scarce. Self-preservation was the daily mode of life. Individuals who retained ethical and religious convictions were either admired or scorned. Yet one such man’s godly character influenced others in Weixian.
Eric Liddell, famous Scottish Olympic gold medalist and missionary, chose Christlikeness over self-centeredness. Of all the prisoners, he easily could have demanded his rights and misused his influence. At the pinnacle of his athletic career, he left Scotland to be a missionary teacher in China. Instead of evacuating the country with his family in 1941, Liddell remained. He firmly believed that only faithful obedience honors God, despite any personal cost. Even in Weixian, Liddell continued obeying God as he served his fellow prisoners.
In 1945, just months before World War II ended, Stephen heard the words that impacted the rest of his life. During a Bible study on Matthew 5:43-48, Liddell taught: “When you hate, you are self-centered. When you pray, you are God-centered. Praying changes your attitude. It is hard to hate those you pray for.” Listening, Stephen was deeply convicted. He realized Liddell’s personal obedience to the Truth had changed his attitude toward the Japanese guards. God used Liddell’s testimony to break Stephen’s unforgiving heart. Together, the men began praying for their captors.
Days later, Liddell approached Stephen with a pair of patched running shoes. Stephen’s own shoes were completely worn, useless protection against the winter temperatures. Unconscious of his friend’s personal sacrifice, Stephen gratefully accepted them. Only weeks later did Stephen realize that he was walking in Liddell’s shoes.
One month later, tears stung and blurred Stephen’s eyes as he gazed down at his shoes. He tried to steady himself under the weight of his friend’s coffin. Though a brain tumor silenced Liddell’s earthly voice, his words echoed in Stephen’s memory. As he reflected on Liddell’s life, Stephen’s grief suddenly turned to resolution. At that moment, before God, he vowed to go to Japan as a missionary after the war.
Liddell’s obedience influenced Stephen’s obedience. Years later, in 1952, Stephen recalled Liddell’s words again as he began his life-time ministry in Japan. He no longer wore Liddell’s physical shoes, yet he daily walked in Liddell’s spiritual shoes. Both men’s obedience resulted in countless Japanese salvations!
When we obediently live the Truth, others will believe the Truth. Obedience reveals Absolute Truth which powerfully transforms lives for eternity. Through His own obedience, Christ fulfilled the law and the prophets, demonstrating that the Word of God is Truth. His obedience to the Father’s will changed men’s eternal destinies (John 5:30, 6:38)! Christ set the example for us (Phil. 2:8; Heb. 5:8; 1 Pet. 2:21). His obedience cost Him everything. Likewise, obedience will cost us everything. Nevertheless, Christ’s obedience commands and compels our own obedience. We have a choice. We know the Truth. Yet Truth without obedience will never save a lost and dying world.
Christ wore the shoes of obedience, and He commanded us to follow Him. Obedience is a personal choice in response to a personal command. Though initially individual, our choice is eternally influential. Will we obey the Truth? Will we walk in Christ’s shoes? Will others walk in our shoes?
“Satan knows well the power of concentration.” Do we? Do we dare to focus on Christ with such genuine intensity that His glory is our only motive and consideration for every choice we make?
In October 1876, John Ruskin, a famous English painter and severe art critic, consented to evaluate a young woman’s artwork. Astonished by her exceptional portrayal of artistic elements and principles, Ruskin immediately offered to train the artist. As time progressed, he declared that she was a rare talent destined to become one of the century’s greatest English artists.
The young artist, Isabella Lilias Trotter, was born on July 14, 1853, to an affluent family in London. Her godly parents intentionally instilled spiritual truths in her life which blossomed following her salvation. Lilias’s love for art was matched only by her passion for ministry. When faced with a choice between the fortune and fame of an artistic career and a simple life of service, Lilias chose to relinquish her rights to her talent and follow Christ. In 1879, she journaled: “Are our hands off the very blossom of our lives? Are all things—even the treasures He sanctified—held loosely, ready to be parted with without a struggle when He asks for them? It is a loss to keep what God says to give.”
After she surrendered her life and talents to Christ, He opened His way before her. At a mission conference in 1887, Lilias clearly knew that God wanted her to go to Algeria, North Africa. The following year, she moved to Algeria where she ministered to Arabs until her death in 1928. Although she worked closely with North African Mission, the ministry never accepted her as a missionary because her heart was weak. However, Christ was Lilias’ focus; nothing could dissuade her obedience. For the next thirty-nine years, she faithfully ministered to Algerian women and children through Bible studies, prayer meetings, and literacy classes. Her artistic and literary talents enabled her to write and translate many tracts, parables, Christian literature, and Scripture portions into both classical and colloquial Arabic. During her later ministry, Lilias and her team pioneered work among the Arab Sufi mystics in the Southlands of Algeria. When her weak heart left her bedridden, she continued writing. The famous hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” was inspired by Lilias’ booklet Focussed, in which she wrote: “Dare to lay bare your whole life and being before Him, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His glory.”
Lives are legacies, yet only Christ-focused lives leave legacies of faithfulness. Focused lives fearlessly follow Christ without hesitation at the cost to oneself, family, friends, or ministries. “Christ—Christ—Christ—filling all the horizon. Everything in us: everything to us: everything through us. ‘To live is Christ.’—Amen.”
Is our focus changing our lives? Do we dare?
Quotations from A Passion for the Impossible by Miriam Huffman Rockness
Isaac McCoy was born in Fayette, Pennsylvania, in June 1784. He was the son of a Baptist preacher who, as incredible as it sounds, did not believe in evangelizing. Isaac and his father argued over this, but Isaac was not afraid to stand for the truth. He became a missionary to the Native Americans. Before moving west to the wilderness of Indiana and Illinois, Isaac pastored a church for seven or eight years. His first missionary assignment paid him $500 per year, and he worked with the Weas, Miamis, and Kickapoos in Indiana. He later worked with the Pottawatomie tribe in Michigan.
McCoy used education as a tool to evangelize children. In 1820, he moved to Fort Wayne and opened a school with ten English pupils, six French pupils, eight Indian pupils, and one African pupil. By the end of the year, he had thirty-two Indians living in his own home as members of his family! A year later, he reported that he had forty-two pupils. In 1822, he began a temperance society and made his first trip to Washington D.C. to plead for fair treatment for the Native Americans. Our government was shamefully famous for making and breaking treaties with the Indians They stole their land, relocated them, and viewed them as something less than human. However, Isaac McCoy did not see the Indians this way. He loved a people that others despised.
For many years, McCoy served under federal appointment as a commissioner, surveyor, or teacher among the Native Americans. On a trip to Washington [believed to have been in 1829] to report on his exploration, he visited the Mission Board in Boston. He found them making pleas for missionaries to Burma (Myanmar), Africa, and other countries, but not to the Native Americans. Not everyone shared McCoy’s burden to reach them. Some believed that the Indians would soon die out; therefore, they believed there was no need to evangelize them.
In 1828, McCoy preached the first Baptist sermon ever heard in Chicago. In 1832, he was present in the organization of the first Baptist church in the Oklahoma Territory. He was instrumental in the founding of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Kansas City, Missouri, where he lived until 1842. At that time, McCoy moved to Louisville, Kentucky and established the Indian Mission Association. On a return trip from Jeffersonville, Indiana, he was exposed to severe weather which resulted in a serious illness that caused his death on June 21, 1846. His dying words were, “Tell the brethren to never let the Indian mission decline.” It was said of him, “The American Indian never had a better friend than Isaac McCoy.”
There was no headstone for Charlotte Rowe until her name was uncovered among the missionaries appointed by American Baptist International Ministries during research as it prepared for its 200th anniversary.
Charlotte White Rowe was the first woman missionary to be officially appointed from the United States by any denomination or agency. Charlotte was born in 1782. Her early life was marked by sadness. She was orphaned at age twelve and widowed at twenty-two. She moved to Massachusetts where she was saved and joined First Baptist Church of Merrimac.
In 1813 Charlotte moved to Philadelphia and joined the Sanson Street Baptist Church. There she met and joined Charles and Phoebe Hough who were going to Burma to help Adoniram Judson with printing work. She applied to the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions in the summer of 1814. After much discussion, the majority consented to her approval but then said they did not have the funding to send her. She pledged her own small estate to the work and left for India. The next year, the mission society’s new ruling forbade the appointment of single women missionaries.
After four months at sea, Charlotte and the Houghs landed in Calcutta and traveled to Serampore. It took two months for them to arrange shipping for the printing press and supplies to Burma. During that time, she met missionary Joshua Rowe, a widower with three small boys. They were married and Charlotte stayed in India with her new family while the Howes went on to Burma.
Charlotte’s first task was to learn the local language, Hindi. She was a remarkable linguist and learned so quickly that she soon began establishing schools. It wasn’t hard to get native teachers for the boys. To get teachers for the girls she had to hold classes and train the women first. Her resources were limited so she began writing schoolbooks in Hindi.
After only seven years of marriage, with six children and a busy and thriving ministry, Joshua Rowe died. Charlotte was only financially able to continue for an additional three years. She traveled to London in hope of being appointed by the British Mission society, only to find that they, too, had established a ruling against single women missionaries. She then worked to raise passage back to the United States where she ran a boarding school with the help of her twin daughters until the girls died, one in 1851 and the other in 1852. Charlotte died in 1863 at the age of eighty-two and was buried beside her twin daughters in an unmarked grave.
“I am but a mere instrument in God’s hand . . .” —Charlotte Rowe
“The love of Christ banished the terrors of the law.” Those were the words of John Geddie concerning his salvation at age nineteen in 1834. He tirelessly preached this same message of Christ’s love as a missionary in the New Hebrides islands for twenty-four years.
John was an avid reader; his favorite subject being stories of mission efforts and the desperate need of the Gospel in unevangelized areas. After completing secondary school at Pictou Academy in Nova Scotia, he studied theology. Small and slightly built, he was often referred to as “little Johnnie.” While at seminary, his health became so poor that he was told to give up his studies. He promised the Lord that if his health were restored, he would go as a missionary to a heathen land. On March 13, 1838, he was ordained and began pastoring a church on Prince Edward Island.
During his time as pastor, he promoted foreign missions which was a new idea to the colonial churches. Up to this point, they had sought financial aid for their own work, but had not considered sending out missionaries. It took several years and many pleas, but a mission society was finally formed. John and his wife were the first missionary volunteers. Their destination was Aneiteum, an island in the New Hebrides where people practiced cannibalism.
The Geddies arrived in New Hebrides in 1848 and soon felt the reality of their situation. They were on an island, surrounded by people from whom they had much to fear and whose language and customs they did not know. Geddie wrote, “We have His promise, at whose command we have come hither, ‘Lo, I am with you alway.’”
Their first task was to learn the unwritten Aneiteumese language. Then they began to print materials and teach the people to read. After three years and much labor, John had won a total of ten people to the Lord. Several times, while walking the trails, spears and clubs were thrown at him. He once faced an angry crowd of men who threatened to kill him for interfering as they strangled a young widow to death that she might “join her husband in the afterlife.” He unwittingly violated some cultural taboos and made the chieftain angry. But eventually the message of Christ’s love penetrated the hearts of the people and hundreds turned to the Lord.
As people were saved and their lives changed, John began to teach them and send them out to other islands with the message of the Gospel. People came from all over the region to see what had happened in Aneiteum. One group even brought a pig in the hopes they might use it to purchase a teacher to take back to their village. When John Geddie died on December 14, l872, a tablet was placed behind the pulpit of the church in Anelcauhat which reads: In memory of John Geddie, D.D. When he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here, and when he left in 1872, there were no heathen.”
Allen Gardiner paced up and down the street, ashamed to go into the bookshop and ask for a Bible. He had thrown aside his religious upbringing at the young age of fourteen for the rowdy life of a sailor, but now he needed answers. The letter that arrived, telling of his godly mother’s prayer for him before her death, struck his heart with a desire to read the Book that he knew held life’s answers. Secreted with the newly purchased volume in the quiet of a Chinese temple, Allen Gardiner came to faith in Jesus Christ.
With an earnest drive for missionary work, Gardiner went to South Africa in 1834 to win the Zulus to Christ. Although they were notorious for savagery, he brought about peace between the warring tribespeople and opened the door for missions among them. When war broke out between the Dutch settlers and the Zulus, it became impossible to continue the work, and he set his face toward South America.
As he traveled through the continent of South America, seeking to work with the native tribes, he was repeatedly thwarted by governmental regulations, Jesuits, or lack of funding. He also sought to go to New Guinea but was told, “You might as well try to instruct the monkey as the natives of Papua…they’ll never be any different.” Gardiner retorted, “They are men, not animals, and they are included in our Saviour’s command to preach the Gospel to every human being.” Though access was denied him, he did not give up.
He turned to Tierra del Fuego, knowing there was no government or religious system to deny his entry. Two previous attempts to land there had taught him that the Fuegians were violent and thieving. His team, totaling seven men, arrived in December of 1850. The mission began to fail the moment it started. Part of their supplies were left on the ship that landed them, and most of the rest was stolen by the Fuegians who also drove them from the coastline. The men took refuge in a nearby area but were unable to find enough food to survive. One by one, they starved to death. The scheduled supply ship returned twenty days after the last entry in Allen Gardiner’s journal.
Their death created worldwide headlines. Most condemned their “folly and failure” in the venture, but it stirred the heart of the church. A new mission team was sent and, after much turmoil, succeeded in winning many of the Fuegians to Christ.
Twenty years earlier, Charles Darwin had stated that it was “completely useless to send missionaries to savages such as the Fuegians, probably the lowest example of human race.” Darwin later saw for himself the difference the Gospel had made. He was astonished at a people so changed physically, mentally, and spiritually that he not only stated his belief in the regeneration of the people but contributed to the South American Missionary Society during the rest of his life.
“I looked my guard over. He wore two belts of cartridges, a dirk knife and carried a rifle with a bayonet . . . I prayed, ‘Lord, you can handle him better than I can. You just put the fear of God in him and make him leave me here alone.’ Then I began staring at the guard as though I might eat him if he got too close. He began to get nervous; he twisted his hands and walked to and fro. In a few minutes, he started off. When he was about fifty yards away, he raised his rifle and cocked the hammer. I was looking at the shooting end. I could only pray, ‘Lord, if you don’t want him to kill me, just don’t let him pull that trigger.’ The Lord answered, for the bandit started off down the trail.”1
Born in north central Texas in 1885, the eldest son of a ranching family, Rex Ray learned early to work hard, to persevere regardless of his circumstances, and to hold to his responsibilities “come wind, come weather.” His father unexpectedly died at a young age, and Rex, at only fifteen years old, took over the responsibility of caring for his mother and younger siblings. Rex resisted the Gospel message as a teenager and entered college at the age of twenty intending to be a successful businessman. God had other ideas. Rex was saved during a revival meeting in a Baptist church. Later, after spending a week going to the cornfields every night to pray, he answered God’s call to the mission field.
Rex and his wife, Janet, served the Lord in China through the waves of turbulent attacks by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and takeover of communism in 1949. During that time, not only was Rex kidnapped by bandits, but he also ran blockades to provide supplies to the mission hospital and survived air raids and bombings. He buried his five-year-old daughter on the field. Through it all, he preached. Up and down the rivers and through the villages, thousands of precious souls heard the Gospel of Christ as he desperately gave the message of Christ while the doors were still open to do so.
When the doors to China slammed closed, Rex and Janet (their children now grown) answered the call to take the Gospel to war-torn Korea.
This only scratches the surface of what happened during Rex Ray’s forty-eight years on the mission field. His passion for the Gospel and his love for the Chinese and Korean people speak from every page of his autobiography.
In a letter to the Foreign Mission Board, published in the September 1928 Home and Foreign Fields, Rex Ray said, “Oh, that our voices could be multiplied into thousands to help rescue these millions who are lost, lost, lost! The Spirit of God is moving the hearts of the heathen. Oh, that He would awaken His children in Christian lands to the crying needs of this great harvest field! If Christian America fails to deliver God’s message to the lost of earth, what shall we answer the Master as these poor souls turn away from the gates of Glory into outer darkness?”
The anticipated knock at the door came suddenly. The rumors were true. The Communists had arrived to arrest them.
John and Betty Stam had met each other in a prayer meeting for China. Their friendship grew into love, but their applications for mission work put them in different corners of the country. Believing God’s work should come before human affection, they committed the matter to the Lord. Through a series of events, Betty ended up in Shanghai, the very place John had been stationed. Within two years, they were engaged, married, and had a newborn baby, beautiful little Helen.
On this particular day, a loud knock came at the door, signifying the Communists’ arrival. Although they had been warned, it was too late for the Stams to flee. The Communists barged into their home, demanded all their money, bound John, and took him to their headquarters. They later came back for Betty and baby Helen.
In a letter which John was allowed to write to China Inland Mission, he said, “We were too late. The Lord bless and guide you. As for us, may God be glorified, whether by life or by death.”
Taken twelve miles on foot to Miashea, the location for their execution, the Stams spent the night in the home of a wealthy man who had fled to safety. John was chained that night, but Betty was given enough freedom to tend to the baby. The next morning, they were led to the execution site. When asked by the postmaster where they were going, John replied, “I don’t know where they are going, but we are going to heaven.” They were both executed by beheading in front of a terrified crowd.
The Christians in the city fled to the mountains and stayed in hiding for two days. A Chinese evangelist, Mr. Lo, ventured back into town, but the people were too fearful to tell him who had been executed. After much effort, he discovered it was the very missionaries he had been working with and that their baby had been left behind.
Mr. Lo searched the house where the Stams had spent that last night. It had been ransacked, but during his search he heard a soft cry. Baby Helen had been left in a sleeping bag by her mother along with a few supplies and ten dollars. That money was used to finance the trip that carried her to safety. Helen was taken to a missionary in another city, and today she lives in the US with her husband and family.
“I would I had a thousand lives that I might give them to…China.” —Lottie Moon
Lottie looked all around her to see that the people whom she loved so dearly were starving to death. She didn’t have much to give them, but what she did have, she gave. But now Lottie’s health was failing; her weight was down to fifty pounds. Fellow laborers felt it was time for her to go home. At the golden age of seventy-two, she boarded a ship headed for the United States and home, but she never made it out of Asia. On Christmas Eve 1912, Lottie Moon died on board the ship in the harbor at Kobe, Japan.
To some, this woman’s dedication was a miracle. If you were to ask her relatives if they thought she would die for Christ, they would have scoffed. Lottie Moon, at the height of four feet three inches, was an unruly child, full of mischief and rebellion. She made it a point to make a mockery of the Gospel and her family’s Baptist faith.
While Lottie was in Virginia attending Albemarle Female Institute, a local Baptist church hosted a revival meeting. Some of Lottie’s friends invited her to go, but she refused. They got together to pray for her by name, and God answered. She went to one of the services to appease those friends but had no idea what was about to occur. That evening, when she could not sleep, Lottie fell to her knees and trusted Christ as her Saviour. Her family noticed an immediate change in her.
Lottie’s sister, who had already served in China, pleaded with Lottie to consider overseas service. This, coupled with God’s leading, took Lottie to China where she would serve Him faithfully until she died forty years later. She became one with the Chinese; she learned their language, dressed as them, ate as them, and poured her very life into them.
Missionary men could not minister to women in China; only women could reach Chinese women. One way in which Lottie evangelized them was by taking little tea cakes or cookies to them. That got the attention of both the women and the children! They called her the Cookie Lady and listened to her. She traveled many miles to witness and proclaim Jesus. As a result of her faithfulness, hundreds of converts came to Christ. She pleaded with the churches in the States to send more laborers and more funds to help with the much-needed ministry in China, but they could not see the burden as Lottie saw it.
Lottie lived, worked, breathed, and died in the service of her Lord. She is an example of what a true servant of the Lord is; one willing to sacrifice everything and leave all to follow Christ. What an example for us to follow! He is worthy of our all!
Lavern and Evelyn RodgersA bomb wrestled through the air, while the loud cracks of the blast set homes ablaze. The people of war-torn Japan sat in the darkness of an uncertain eternity. Soon after, former Navy man Lavern Rodgers and his wife, Evelyn, arrived with the good news of the Gospel.
In 1945, Lavern Rodgers first heard his Macedonian call through the exhortation of General Douglas MacArthur who, quoting Matthew 5:44a: “Love your enemies,” made the appeal for 15,000 missionaries to come to Japan. Lavern Rodgers knew that in order to follow God’s call on his life, he would have to replace his personal hatred for the Japanese with God’s love for them. He wrestled with the Lord. Would he do the unimaginable and go tell His enemies about Christ? Knowing he could never win a fight with God, he surrendered.
To prepare, he attended Bible Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where God spoke to him through a quote from William Carey: “Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.” With these words ringing in his ears, he and his wife, Evelyn, took the rocky boat voyage to Japan in September 1950. After thirty-three days, the Rodgers finally arrived in the bombed out city of Yokohama. Even Shizuoka, the city where they began their first work, was 60% destroyed. In the midst of these depressing surroundings, they kept their eyes on Jesus.
The Lord opened up amazing opportunities for church plants to begin. They were able to start churches in nine different cities between 1950 and 1967. Lavern Rodgers said that “Planting churches is like planting trees. They are foundational to a Biblical ministry. These are our trees.” But building a church in post-war Japan was not going to be an easy task. He and his friends had to tear down buildings and reuse the scraps to build their first church in the city of Shizuoka. This was a great lesson for the Japanese people, because it taught them to use what God provides.
Many young Japanese would soon attend the services. A girl named Sachiko Saigo Yasuba described the church as having a warmth and brightness she had never experienced. As a struggling wife, she came looking for pity but instead found a warm greeting from Evelyn Rodgers who took her by the hand and showed her the Romans Road. Sachiko was amazed to learn that she did not know God. This was the reason she had so much trouble and wrong in her life! Overcome with the knowledge of her sin, she wanted to throw herself on the Lord and no one else. With open arms, she received the Lord as her Saviour that day, and all the darkness became light.
Lavern Rodgers is ninety-three years old and still resides in Japan. He once said, “There is nothing more rewarding in life, than going where God’s finger points.” Will we go where God’s finger points us? Or will we, like Jonah, refuse to go? We must spread the message of Jesus, for only His light can vanquish the darkness!
There was no headstone for Charlotte Rowe until her name was uncovered among the missionaries appointed by American Baptist International Ministries during research as it prepared for its 200th anniversary.
Allen Gardiner paced up and down the street, ashamed to go into the bookshop and ask for a Bible. He had thrown aside his religious upbringing at the young age of fourteen for the rowdy life of a sailor, but now he needed answers. The letter that arrived, telling of his godly mother’s prayer for him before her death, struck his heart with a desire to read the Book that he knew held life’s answers. Secreted with the newly purchased volume in the quiet of a Chinese temple, Allen Gardiner came to faith in Jesus Christ.
