by James G. Smith – BBFI Associate Mission Director
We want to invite our readers to look back, look now, and look forward. Depending on your age and your DNA, you will be drawn to one of those vistas more than the others. But at least a glance in each direction will probably be a good thing for each of us.
On this amazing 60th anniversary of the BBFI, we can truly look back to 1950 with a sense of wonder at the humble and ambitious beginnings. Our history is well known to most of the readers of Global Partners. We will not now go into the minutia of the now famous and sometimes fabled meeting in a hotel in Fort Worth 60 years ago this month. We have some very good historians among us. We would highly recommend our readers to make themselves available to the writings and thoughts of men like Jimmy Combs, Mike Randall, Keith Bassham, Billy Hamm, and David Stokes.
The idea for this Global Partners started germinating in a fast-paced interview at a restaurant in Springfield with Missionary Lavern Rodgers. It was encouraging to catch his excitement for the future of the work in Japan. Then, in some moving reports received from missionary kids and grandkids, we were able to catch a glimpse of missionary life six decades ago. Finally, in some extensive email correspondence, we were able to sense the satisfaction that comes from a life of service to the Lord. Let us REMEMBER!
REMEMBERING – Past
As we look back to remember, our desire is to focus some attention on some unsung heroes who were our first global partners.
From what we have been able to ascertain, there were 22 adult missionaries in five different countries that would be immediately identified with the Baptist Bible Fellowship.
China – Fred & Effie Donnelson
Japan – Ike & Jane Foster, Olson & Leila Hodges
Philippines – Lavern & Evelyn Rodgers, Frank & Elsie Hooge, Alvin & Clara Marsden, Elmer & Daisy Gullion
Mexico – Harold & Connie DeVilbiss, Jim & Joey Smith, Georgia Webb, Bessie Milican, Wanita Milligan, Jean Kinard
If we have erred in our count or our identification, we apologize… and we would welcome your corrections. (jsmith@bbfimissions.com) Some of our original missionaries were missionaries who were already identified with the World Fundamental Baptist Missionary Fellowship. All of them were identified with their sending churches and pastors. Those pastors who would join together to begin this new movement would bring along with them their own missionaries. Some were not identified immediately but over the course of the first year or so. As information was scattered around the world and processed by our missionaries, they each made the decision to become BBFI missionaries.
To our knowledge, none of these men and women were perfect — although my mother was probably the closest! These missionaries had some of the same strengths and weaknesses of their pastor counterparts in the U.S.A. There was a sense of urgency. The war was over and the renewed interest in eschatology had changed the way ministry was perceived and executed here and around the world. Personal evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and pastoral training were important.
The first missionaries did not sign any agreements. They did not fill out any financial or work report forms. They didn’t even have an official mission director until the summer of 1951. They were not provided with an extremely efficient service center. There was a lot of good will. They were fewer and they trusted more. There was a sense of excitement and risk as families signed up to depend on this new movement.
Of that original group, it is exciting to report that Ike Foster, Lavern Rodgers, Harold and Connie DeVilbiss, and Georgia Webb are still active missionaries with the BBFI. We are happy to be able to share with our readers some information on some of our first global partners.
Fred & Effie Donnelson – China
by Richard Logan
Fred and Effie Donnelson, along with their children, Paul and Lois, went to Hangchow, China, in 1932. Their ministry began at Central Baptist Church, a work started by Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Sweet. Mr. Sweet had recently passed away. The Donnelsons worked alongside Mrs. Sweet to continue the ministry of the church and the Christian Academy for children. At the same time, Fred Donnelson also started over 20 countryside churches.
The Donnelsons were forced to leave China three times because of war. They spent 18 months as prisoners of war during World War II. They were forced to leave China in 1949. When the Baptist Bible Fellowship began in 1950, Fred taught missions at the new Baptist Bible College. In July of 1951, Donnelson officially became the first mission director of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. Effie was the dean of women at BBC for 20 years.
Ike & Jane Foster – Japan
by Paul Foster
Isaac (Ike) Foster was saved at the age of 17 when Art Wilson came to Emporia, Kansas, to hold a tent revival. God called him to preach, but Ike wanted to be a farmer, ignoring the call. While taking his large plow horses to the barn, out of nowhere a cloudburst spooked the horses and they ran with Ike caught in the reigns. As they dragged him through the field, he told God that if He spared his life, he would preach. Immediately the horses stopped running, Ike put them in the barn, and has been preaching ever since.
Ike attended Bible Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth where he met and married Jane Dilmore. They were approved as missionaries to Japan in May of 1948. Ike traveled to Tokyo to set up a house. Jane arrived in July and the Hodges arrived in August of 1948. The Rodgers arrived in May of 1950. They started two churches and had planned to start a third when a letter was received from the states that would change Ike’s life.
After the Korean War, W. E. Dowell sent Ike a letter along with $300 asking him to go to Korea to see if he could find a group of Baptists that Dowell had heard about. When Ike arrived in Korea, he saw people with no food and buildings in shambles. In October of 1952, God touched Ike’s heart and called him to return to Korea as a missionary.
Because the Fosters could not have children, they adopted a girl in 1954, to show the Korean people that girls were not to be second-class citizens and that they were as important as boys. They named her Kay. In 1957, they adopted a boy and named him Paul. Today, Kay is a pastor’s wife and Paul is a church planter in Oklahoma.
Ike purchased an old graveyard in Seoul, built coffins, and dug up and moved the bodies to make room for the first church building and home to be built in March of 1955. Ike dissembled old U.S. army barracks for the lumber and built Korea’s first Bible Baptist Church and his home, which are still being used today.
The Foster’s ministry has been a fruitful one, pioneering both Japan and Korea for the BBF. Jane went home to be with the Lord in August of 2006 and was buried in Yeachon where they started a church in 1955. At 86 years old, Ike continues to teach in the Bible institute, preaches regularly, and has translated numerous books.
Lavern & Clara Rodgers – Philippines
What fun to sit with Lavern Rodgers just hours after his arrival on this continent from Japan. First order of business is to choose something off the menu. It doesn’t take as long as I would have suspected for an 82-year-old. Anything Mexican. Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, and now living for 60 years in Japan, it is reasonable that he would want “anything Mexican.”
The four original missionaries to Japan teamed up and God blessed their individual and corporate ministries. The Fosters were first to arrive in Japan, followed by the Hodges, the Rodgers, and the Marsdens. When the BBF started in May 1950, all of them declared themselves BBF missionaries and the work of the Baptist Bible Fellowship of Japan was off and running.
There are now 88 churches and 250 Bible college graduates. The Rodgers’ fifth church was started 41 years ago, Chofu Baptist Temple. Chofu has started five more churches. They give $200,000 a year to missions. They have 42 people in full-time ministry.
There are 18 totally supported Japanese BBF missionaries scattered throughout the world. They can be found in Peru, Okinawa, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Uganda.
As exciting and satisfying as it is to talk about the details of 60 years ago and all that has happened since, Lavern Rodgers wants to focus on the future. He is now retracing his steps in the churches that have begun under his ministry. His key verse for this time of his life is Mark 1:38, “And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.” He is encouraging each church to take the gospel to “the next town!”
Georgia Webb – Mexico
I came to Mexico in 1948 as a missionary of some churches in the Missouri and Kansas state fellowships. The BBF didn’t exist yet, of course, and I was never an official missionary of the WFBMF. Soon after it came into being, both the BBF and WFBMF wrote all of us on the field, inviting us to be their missionaries. My sympathies were with the new group, so I accepted their invitation. After several in the BBF kept asking me when I was approved, I finally said, “You didn’t approve me. I approved you!”
I had finished a semester and a summer session of evening classes and a year as a full-time student at Midwest Bible and Missionary Institute in St. Louis (which later moved to Kansas City, uniting with the Kansas City Bible College to become Calvary Bible College) when my pastor from Lawrence, Lloyd Willson, recommended I meet with Pastor Wendell Zimmerman in Kansas City about opportunities in Mexico.
Pastor Zimmerman suggested that I should go on to Mexico right away, that he was supporting a national pastor, José Bueno, who needed help with the children’s work. I guess at 21 you think you can handle anything, even taking charge of children’s work when you had only taught children four or five times! The Lord soon gave me His assurance that He did want me to go on to Mexico and after a little more than one month of deputation, I came to Mexico the first week of November of 1948. And here I am still!
I worked in several different cities in the early years. In 1955, James L. Smith asked me to come to Mante every two weeks and teach in the institute there. Believe me, I had to study a lot, but I managed to keep ahead of my students!
I was involved with the institute in Mante and helped start and build up the new church and missions in other nearby towns until 1970, when I moved to Querétaro. There I joined Marvin and Rosalie Hooge and a group of workers who had just finished at the Bible institute. Our purpose was to start a new work in this fanatically Catholic city.
We started the Spanish language school in the early days of 1971 with the purpose of helping new missionaries going to Spanish-speaking countries. Although the school closed in 1992, it was a fruitful ministry over the years.
Georgia Webb’s autobiography, More than a Dozen, is available through the Tribune.
Bill & Louis Logan – China
by Richard Logan
Bill and Lois Logan began their ministry in Shanghai, China, in 1946 alongside Lois’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Donnelson. Bill and Lois worked with the Donnelsons to establish Shanghai Baptist Tabernacle and worked to rebuild the country churches that had been ravaged by war. Because of Bill’s passion for radio broadcasting, he and a radio team from Shanghai Baptist Tabernacle produced over 50 programs a week.
After they were forced to leave China in 1949, they continued their ministry in Taipei, Taiwan. Several members of Shanghai Baptist Tabernacle fled China and also settled in Taipei. Shortly after the Baptist Bible Fellowship began in 1950, the Logans were among the first missionaries to be approved by the new movement.
Taipei Baptist Tabernacle was chartered in April of 1953. There were five other churches started from the ministry of the Taipei Tabernacle. Bill continued his radio ministry in the Shanghai dialect to minister to those who had relocated to Taiwan and to reach those on the Mainland of China. Soon his ministry extended to television broadcasts.
In 1968, Bill and Lois moved to Hong Kong to begin a new work. They began a rooftop elementary school as a means of entry into Hong Kong and later established Faith Baptist Church.
In 1979, Bill, along with his son, Richard, began Video Bible Studies International to produce Bible study materials in Chinese to assist in training Christian pastors and workers.
Bill passed away in May of 2002. Lois still lives in Springfield, Missouri. Richard continues to work with their video ministry, working closely with Taipei Baptist Tabernacle and other missionaries needing assistance with video production.
Jim & Joey Smith – Mexico
by Leonard Smith
James L. Smith graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles in June 1944. Two days later, Jim married Helen Josephine (Joey) Darling at First Baptist Church in Tucson, Arizona. They immediately traveled to Oklahoma to attend the Wycliffe Summer Institute of Linguistics, and on August 31, 1944, they crossed the border at El Paso, Texas, to begin a lifelong ministry in Mexico. After studying Spanish at a university in Mexico City, they went to the west coast of Mexico and began a ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators working with the indigenous peoples, the Guarijios, in Arechuyvo, Chihuahua.
Jim felt led to leave Wycliffe in 1948 to begin the ministry of preaching, evangelism, church planting, and training of pastors among the Spanish- speaking Mexican people. In 1950, their sending pastor, Wendell Zimmerman, became part of the Baptist Bible Fellowship and Jim was adopted into the Fellowship as one of the original missionaries already on the field.
In the summer of 1951, Zimmerman propose to the Smiths the ministry of a Bible institute. The family moved from Alamos, Sonora, to Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, where Jim was instrumental in establishing, directing, and teaching in the Baptist Bible Institute until the summer of 1959.
In the summer of 1960, after a year of furlough, the Smiths moved to the city of Chihuahua in the state of Chihuahua. In the two years that they were there, Calvary Baptist Church was founded. From Chihuahua, they moved to Tucson, Arizona, where the ministry emphasis shifted to making constant trips south into the state of Sonora, Mexico, holding Bible conferences, evangelistic meetings, and pastor training seminars. Joey passed away in September of 1987 and Jim died in October of 1991.
Jim and Joey had five boys and five girls. Of the ten children, nine are still alive, all of them faithful to the Lord, active in ministry in their local churches. Leonard and Richard are BBFI missionaries in Mexico, Jim is an associate mission director with the BBFI, Mark is pastor of Grace Community Church in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Barbara Johnson is on staff at Ocean View Church (formerly Midway Baptist Church) in San Diego.
REJOICING – Present
To give a broad view of missionary activity within the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, Global Partners did a brief survey to a hand-picked group of missionaries in different parts of the world, of different ages, in different cultures, and with different backgrounds. We think the results are intriguing. We were most interested in this part of Global Partners to show the present work of BBFI missionaries and cast a vision for future work of BBFI missions.
Our present ministry is …
Tim and Barbara Downs, Côte d’Ivoire/Belgium
Currently, we’re involved in a new church plant in Bruges, Belgium, while at the same time, we have four church planting teams on the ground in Côte d’Ivoire with whom I am in daily contact. I also make periodic visits for training and encouragement. There are also 24 churches in Congo with whom we keep in touch for prayer, encouragement, and training.
Jim and Laura Hutchinson, Russia
We are working with a church plant with several Bible studies running and planned to begin.
David and Cherie Green, Taiwan
God has led us to partner together with my parents, Dave and Terri Green, as well as BIMI missionaries Jon and April Flowers. My father has been a great help for us in transitioning to life here in Taiwan and allowing us to work together. Many times it is hard for missionaries to work so closely together, especially when they are related. We are working together to reach the people in Taichung County by working toward building indigenous churches! With a current average rate of 15 years to bring a church to the stage of indigenous, the work is obviously very slow.
Lance and Melanie Gotcher, Philippines
While we have been on furlough, our church staff has been able to help launch our newest church plant — Sumulong Baptist Church – Laguna/ Calauan. This church was started in January 2010 with relocated families whose houses were completely washed away during Typhoon Ondoy. There are already 3,000 families in this area with the potential of housing 10,000. God has blessed us with two small houses to meet in at the present time.
Sumulong Baptist Church currently meets in three locations, but we exist as one church. Our auditorium seats 200, but we have been averaging over 850 in weekly attendance.
We also have two other churches that have been started out of our ministry — SBC – Makati and SBC – Eldorado. El Dorado has already started its second location and is averaging 200 in attendance. It was started in 2006.
Steve and Jenelle Swann, Bulgaria
Our present ministry is working with the church I started ten years ago. Although I have assisted other churches in their start-up, most of my time has been spent with Mladost Baptist Church. Beyond working to build a strong church, I have invested my time in trying to develop Bulgarian leaders from within the church. My prayer is that one day one of the men in the church will step up and take over as the pastor. The current statistics say that it takes around 20 years to build a selfsupporting church here in Europe.
Max and Debbie Harmon, Peru
Right now we are working in a new church plant in La Molina, a middle-class area of Lima. We just celebrated our first anniversary as an organized church. It functioned as a mission work for a few years ahead of the organization.
With our loan fund we have helped 70 churches with land purchase and/or construction projects.
Vladimir and Debbie Lukyanov, Russia
As church planting missionaries we are working with several churches in our region. Along with the Williams family we are preparing future church leaders to grow God’s work. A missionary in a small work has to wear many hats nowadays and be a pastor, bus driver, soulwinner, counselor, builder, friend, designer, and even an accountant or a doctor. Although it is hard to juggle so many responsibilities sometimes, my main ministry now is of a preacher to our congregation and a teacher at the Bible institute where we train our leaders.
Leonard and Susie Smith, Mexico
We are spending most of our time with a new church plant. It is in the beginning stages of taking the congregation from a Bible study to a church. We meet during the week in four different areas of the city in people’s homes where the hosting family and neighbors meet together for a Bible study. One evening a week is dedicated to teacher workshops. Then on Sunday we all meet in a home (the garage, actually) for Sunday church services. We are also working with the other churches that we have had a part in starting over the years as needed and as time permits, with special meetings like Bible and mission conferences, evangelistic services, teacher training seminars, etc.
Some missionary methods that we currently use that have changed over the years are…
Tim and Barbara Downs, Côte d’Ivoire/Belgium
From my perspective, most changes in missionary methodology have come as a result of technology. The assimilation and dissemination of information has formed a new paradigm for teaching and training. Communication that was unimaginable 20 years ago is the norm today. The idea of working in two countries would have been impossible. We never even had a hope of having a phone in Kinshasa and now we have instant communication via several different media. Truly amazing! Another significant change for us in the BBFI has been the rethinking of “closed” fields. It thrills me to know that we are having a part in reaching behind closed doors.
Jim and Laura Hutchinson, Russia
I’ve noticed in our own ministry that one of the more effective modes of evangelism is simply getting to know the people on a personal level. Spending time with individuals cannot be overlooked. As a church, we have been out on street evangelism with no significant, tangible results. The best results we have seen have been from one-on-one interaction.
David and Cherie Green, Taiwan
I have been around evangelism my entire life. Most evangelicals believe in the Great Commission, but many times we have fallen short of completing it. Yes, we see people saved and we see them baptized, but one thing that seems to have been lacking until recent years is a push toward discipleship! Of course, it is time-consuming, and sometimes overwhelming, but in a culture with absolutely no form of Christian influence, it is absolutely vital to disciple those who trust in Jesus Christ. We have a bilingual 16-lesson discipleship program that has been a great source of growth in the lives of young Chinese believers.
Lance and Melanie Gotcher, Philippines
Church planting. We have used rented facilities and unique locations to start church plants. We feel that no idea and almost no location where it is impossible to start a new church service. We have had the mindset in the last few years to try to reach the people where they are, including outreaches through our children’s ministries.
We have also been more active in feeding hungry children in our area through our church outreaches and MANNA Feeding Centers. This has resulted in many people receiving Christ and many people being added to our churches.
Steve and Jenelle Swann, Bulgaria
I think that the way of keeping in contact with supporters has changed over the years with email, Skype, Facebook, and other Internet applications. Another thing that has changed is that more people are getting involved in mission trips and helping missionaries. This has helped in that mission awareness is up and people pray more and are more excited about missions. We have had several groups come over and help with our summer VBS and they have been a blessing to our church and to us.
Max and Debbie Harmon, Peru
Contacting churches and pastors via email, cell phones, and computers.
Vladimir and Debbie Lukyanov, Russia
We used to be able to easily rent the empty meeting halls, which the Communists erected for the sake of atheist propaganda. We were turning them into houses of prayer where the message of the gospel echoed off of the rafters. In time, the people gained access to more than they ever had in their lifetimes, and our “free” offerings blended into all that became available. The Orthodox Church has replaced the Communist party to hinder the work of the Lord, blocking the rental of these still-empty halls.
In addition, Russian missionaries of the past worked primarily by themselves. Recently it began to change. Even despite 11 time zones that separate many of us, we are able to leverage tremendous talents by collaborating and working together on discipleship materials, translation, coming together for fellowship meetings, and serving side by side. Jeff Williams, our families, and I are working as a team, which allows us to use our strengths and compensate for our individual weaknesses.
Leonard and Susie Smith, Mexico
What I have noticed is that the big “what, why, and how” we do ministry has basically not changed, but there have been some adjustments to present-day needs and opportunities. In the early years of our ministry, well-attended evening services were the norm. The city was smaller. Transportation was not an issue. However, with the alarming rise of slaughtering drug cartels and the violence that has overtaken much of Mexico, particularly cities like Culiacan, there has been a visible reduction of all nightlife. People are reluctant to leave the safety of their homes to wander through the city, including going back and forth to church. Hence, Bible studies in various homes through the week have become a viable alternative for those who are unable or reluctant to attend on a Sunday evening.
Much of the city has free Internet. People have computers. Everyone has at least one cell phone. Technology has arrived. With that we have found some of our methods of communication have had to be expanded to include this technology.
One of our churches is experimenting with live streaming on the Internet, and they don’t even have their own church building yet. They meet in two rented houses that are right next to each other. Technology has made some things easier or more difficult, depending on our expertise or lack thereof.
RENEWING – Future
This is how we see our ministry in ten years…
Tim and Barbara Downs, Côte d’Ivoire/Belgium From the beginning, our objective has been to stimulate indigenous church movements. We thought that it would be in Congo alone, but God has moved us twice, and we have kept the same objective in view. In ten years, we foresee the church in Bruges as a force for change and a leader in the hope of uniting Baptist churches across Belgium and Western Europe. In Africa, the next ten years should see an exponential growth in church launches and further development in training methods.
Jim and Laura Hutchinson, Russia
In ten years, we hope to have several churches planted and have several people for each of those churches attending the Bible college we are developing. Our desire is that those students will either be called to take over the church plants we have already started or be sent to start other churches in other parts of Russia. Our ultimate dream is to send our nationals to other countries as missionaries. This could be greatly effective, especially since they have access to other countries that we as Americans would never be able to get into.
David and Cherie Green, Taiwan
In the next ten years, I pray that God will allow us to plant another new church. There are scores and scores of towns with no true churches established to reach Chinese. There are so many opportunities, so few laborers. I also hope that God will open the doors for an English outreach and summer program that will reach the many elementary-age students. The current church plant we are working with is within three blocks of three large elementary schools! What an awesome opportunity! We are praying and hoping to begin a ministry where teachers in America can come over during their summer break and take part in a summer English day camp outreach for children, as well as singles that would want to step out by faith and be used by God in an amazing way.
Lance and Melanie Gotcher, Philippines
I see my ministry in ten years… planting more churches and handing our main church over to a national pastor. We are working on plans to plant churches throughout Metro Manila and in the surrounding areas and other islands in the Philippines. We would love to help start or plant 50 churches over the next ten years. We are helping train young men in our Bible college at this time and developing men on our church staff to be able to accomplish this goal. Eventually, we would like to help plant a total of 100 churches in the Philippines during our time here as missionaries.
Steve and Jenelle Swann, Bulgaria
We have spent considerable time working on children’s ministries. I would hope that in ten years, we will begin to see these young people grow up and become spiritual leaders. The lack of committed Christians in churches here is depressing and at the only theological seminary in Bulgaria there is not one Baptist man studying for the ministry. In ten years, we hope to have some young Christian men who are willing to go out and start churches.
Max and Debbie Harmon, Peru
La Molina Church functioning on its own with a national pastor and supporting many Peruvian missionaries in and out of the country.
Hopefully visiting loan fund recipients full time and encouraging them to start churches out of their churches.
Vladimir and Debbie Lukyanov, Russia
To produce fruit there is no substitute for sowing. By laying the framework of biblical evangelism now we will reap if we faint not. In ten years, we plan to do pretty much the same thing — more sowing of God’s Word, discipling our members to be the best they can be for God, and sending out men and women from our churches to start new works. Although methods will undoubtedly change, with more Christian men and women our goal is to start many small churches in surrounding county seats and towns.
Leonard and Susie Smith, Mexico
What Susie and hope and pray the Lord will allow us to accomplish is based on part vision, part reality, and totally dependent on God’s will, leadership, and provision. We would like to continue evangelism, discipleship, and the planting and development of more local churches. Working with, through, and alongside our Mexican brethren has always been my strategy, and the Lord willing, will continue. I envision an active role in preaching, teaching, training, mentoring, counseling, and encouraging our pastors, teachers, and church members in the ministry.
The Future of BBFI missions?
by James G. Smith
As we have seen the past and present, allow me to offer some suggestions as to the future of BBFI missions. Eli Harju once introduced me as “a prophet and the son of a prophet.” He was joking. I have never been accused of being a visionary. But in my position as an associate director in the Mission Office, I have begun to feel the general pulse of our movement and maybe I can glimpse into where we are headed.
All of us are much more aware of all that takes place around the world because of the communication technology that has exploded and is exploding in our lifetime. We can see the methods of ministries that are different than our own. Some of us will choose to embrace some of those methods. Some of us would rather choose to criticize or even demonize them. How many of those methods will we adopt as our own as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission in our lifetime? Allow me to offer some questions regarding our future.
Will our pastors and missionaries…
…adapt multi-site or multiple campus ministries?
…adapt incarnational pastoral ministries?
…become more involved with the suffering of the people around them?
…concern themselves more with the sexslave trade that is rampant?
…become more involved with addictions recovery?
…adapt “short-cycle church planting” ministries?
Will we…
…see more “church in a box” ministries?
…be frightened away from ministries in isolated villages?
…be frightened away from hardcore innercity ministries?
…slack off of evangelism to focus more on member care?
…slack off of discipleship to emphasize evangelism?
…sacrifice integrity or purity for the sake of expediency or personality?
…see technology play a greater role in our Fellowship churches and mission stations around the world in ten years?
There are lots of questions facing us, but not so many answers.
I do believe that we will become more aware of the significance of geography and culture, blending the complexities of the good news and the host culture. It is obvious that all pastors and leaders and Christians desperately need to understand the cross-cultural aspects of the communication of the good news.
I also believe that Christian living includes accurate identification with people and deep understanding of their culture. But it goes farther. Incarnational living always includes sacrifice. In Romans 9, Paul said he would be willing to be accursed if it meant the salvation of Israel. What are we willing to sacrifice so that others can know the Truth?
We can look around and see different methodologies in place that will probably make their way into our ministries in the near future. But more important than technical or methodological advances is our philosophical growth and our theological steadfastness. We must continually embrace that philosophy that characterized our blessed forefathers — the idea that the winning of the lost and the establishment of biblically sound churches was worth every effort and any sacrifice.
Nothing could be more important than fulfilling God’s will in my life and my ministry. Therefore, I should always be alert to His leadership. The ministry is not an occupation in which we are trained once and for all. Upon entering the ministry, we did not receive a binder with all the possible answers to any conceivable question.
The common requirements for effective ministry both now and in the future are love, trust, and obedience. We love our Savior. We trust our Creator. We obey our Lord. We must love God above all else. We must love the people to whom we minister. Seems pretty trite and maybe unnecessary to say that. But in fact it may be the most important line in this issue of Global Partners. So I will repeat it. We must love the Lord God above all else and we must love the people to whom we minister.
We celebrate what we remember from the past 60 years. We acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the present ministries of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, and we absolutely rejoice in the prospects of an ever-increasing and ever-more-effective ministry in the time allotted us.
One of the awesome attributes of our true and living God is His immutability. The Scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But the BBFI is not. There are some things that cannot be changed; that should never be changed. But in a world that is obsessed with progress, development, and technology, change in methodology and organization is inevitable. Let us prayerfully and lovingly march into the future that is now.