In the Baptist Bible Fellowship, missions is not just an abstract concept. Because of our personal interaction with our missionaries, “missions” is about actual people and real-life stories.
Recently, I was in the Philippines visiting my mother who was seriously ill. During our time at the hospital, a couple of Bible College students were among the many visitors. One student got my attention because he was from Zambia, Africa. His name was Christopher and I asked him to tell me his story.
Christopher was from a troubled home in Zambia and one day a missionary from the Philippines came to his town. He went to listen to this Filipino missionary and heard the Gospel and accepted Christ. When he expressed a desire to go into the ministry, the missionary told him his story. He had come to Christ because of the church-planting e orts of American missionary Boyd Lyons. When he felt a call to ministry he enrolled in the Bible College led by Boyd Lyons. His suggestion was for him to go to Manila and enroll in that same college.
When he arrived in the Philippines he received a scholarship thanks to churches in the United States who help support the Bible College. He
did not have any money to support his daily needs. A couple of Filipino believers met him and heard about his situation and felt led to provide monthly support to help him get through school. Christopher told me he plans to complete his education and return to Zambia to plant more churches among his people.
What we have in this Fellowship is a powerful force for the spread of the gospel. We must keep our focus on this vision for worldwide missions.