, ,

A Meeting of the Faithful

By Holly Meriweather

Meetings get a bad rap. Consider advertisements, for example, that characterize them as  conference rooms full of bored people yawning as they listen to a leader drone on and on.  

This scenario causes us to assume the worst about meetings, particularly the kind described above. However, in the most recent meeting I attended, there were exciting and encouraging reports, tears, laughter, music, prayer and praise . . .    

It was anything but a boring meeting.

The 2024 BMA National Meeting held at Chateau on the Lake in Branson, Missouri, was more like a family reunion. And just like any gathering of that sort, it included disagreements. But mostly it was and always has been about our people, how we can better serve them and what their needs are, plus answering questions, and building relationships. 

It’s what your Lifeword and BMA Global personnel do at both the Global Ministry Center in Conway, Arkansas, and at National Meetings and conferences.

For Lifeword and BMA Global personnel, we pinch ourselves that we have the honor to serve in that way. (And – fun fact for your information – although both ministries share a building, we have few opportunities to hang out! So the National Meeting is a chance to do so.) 

But the most important aspect of the National Meeting is how God is glorified through and because of it. He is a missional God who clearly tells us in Scripture that we are not to keep our Christianity and salvation to ourselves. We all have that mandate: Go into the entire world and share the transformational power of the gospel. 

We’re ALL called to do just that, and the missionaries, church planters, and leaders who attended the meeting are the heart and soul of our association. What a blessing to see and visit with those who left their fields of service and traveled from all over the world to the National Meeting. Those bi- and tri-lingual (or more) missionaries enjoyed the fellowship and had an opportunity to visit with their brothers. Hearing other languages than English, which most of them can also speak, was a beautiful sound. And it is to those pastors and missionaries, that we offer our prayers and blessings.

The Legacy Missionary honoree ceremony was definitely the highlight of the meeting. Full disclosure here . . . Margaret Anderson and I were involved in planning and implementing the service, so maybe I’m biased. But seeing the Gibson family, especially the widow of Bill Gibson, in addition to David and Shelley Dickson receiving their legacy awards was particularly memorable. And certainly it’s the least we can do for those who served for decades both at home and abroad.

God is further glorified through those missionaries who obeyed the call to serve. In my interviews with them and their families, there is one common remark:  When they say, “We’re going home,” they are referring to their mission fields. And it wasn’t long after I began my job – first at Lifeword, now at BMA Global – that I understood that I wasn’t “working.” I was serving. It was a radical change and gave me a whole new mindset.

For me, the National Meeting is a family reunion, not the boring meeting scenario I led with. I have long since gotten over my shyness about approaching missionaries, church planters, or leaders and asking questions about how they serve. So at the next National Meeting, thank one of them then ask about their field and how they serve. Here’s a suggestion: Many of our BMA people have intentionally “adopted” missionaries they have heard about. Just a thought for those of you who desire the blessing of knowing these servants.

See you at the 2025 National Meeting in Waxahachie, Texas!

(Please don’t hesitate to contact me at holly@bmaamerica.org with any questions or concerns. If I can’t help you for some reason, I promise I will put you in touch with someone who can.) 

/0 Comments/by
, ,

Since 1950, BMA missionaries have been sent to foreign fields, leaving a legacy of faith, perseverance, and obedience to the call to serve. Sometimes those fields are fraught with danger, but the men and women of the BMA are more likely to run into the fire rather than away from it. Why? Because that’s where the lost souls are.

Such is the case with 2024 Legacy Missionary David Dickson, whom God protected when bullets were flying. 

Dickson’s parents were from Arkansas but relocated to California where they raised their family until David was fifteen. Ironically, Shelley’s family lived in California just fifteen miles from the Dicksons without ever meeting. The Dicksons moved back to Arkansas when David was fifteen and David finished high school in Walnut Ridge then began attending CBC (Central Baptist College). Shelley enrolled at CBC two years later David and the two began dating. 

His Story

David was saved at nine years old and called to preach at thirteen. But he didn’t consider mission work until John and Shirley Ladd sent a letter inviting CBC students to spend the summer with them in Nicaragua. David signed up, and that first trip led to a second one as a six-week summer volunteer. After the first trip to Nicaraugua, he knew the mission field was God’s direction for his life but wanted to confirm it. When the second trip ended, he was sure of the Lord’s calling and had been all his life. 

Her Story

Shelley’s father was a pastor, and she was saved in fifth grade as he preached a revival service. During the sermon, her aunt sitting next to her realized she was under conviction, so the two of them went outside where they talked about salvation. After the service, her father joined them and led her to the Lord. Then while attending church camp in Gary, Texas, at fifteen she felt the Lord calling her something but told her she would have to wait. When she met David at CBC she realized that God had not revealed his will to her until she met David, which was the Lord’s plan all along. 

Nicaragua

Once the couple understood God’s call on both of their lives, they were ready to get to their first mission field: Nicaraugua. Shelley attended CBC for just one semester and David wanted to drop out of college and get there faster, but CBC President Wassell Burgess encouraged him to finish his degree. Six months after their marriage in 1971, they left for Nicaragua, where Paul Robinson and John and Shirley Ladd were serving when the Dicksons arrived. 

Three of their children were born during the seven years they served there and quickly learned the Spanish language that all their children can speak fluently. At the time, there was peace in Nicaragua, no open warfare in the country. In 1977 the Dicksons moved back to the States, and he spent eleven years pastoring in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas. 

While there, he realized that pastoring in the States wasn’t for him. 

The year after they returned to the U.S. all missionaries had to leave and the communists took over the country. For David and Shelley, it would seem like in just about every country they served, there was tension and unrest.   

El Salvador 1978-1979

The Dicksons dealt with the communist takeover of El Salvador and anti-American sentiment the entire year they served in El Salvador. They witnessed people shot in their doorway, bodies lying in the middle of the road, a peace-corp worker compound burned to the ground, and hostages held for a night because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The communists were against any charity, because they would rather the people suffer and join the rebellion. One night, David and Shelley went to dinner at the home of a recent convert who worked for a charitable organization. Their children were with a babysitter at the Dicksons’ home. When the man’s house became surrounded by the military, their babysitter took the Dickson children to her home for the night. Intimidation was their motive, so in the morning it was all over. 

During the day nothing happened, but after dark, violence erupted and even the police wouldn’t go out after dark. 

Despite the danger, the Dicksons remained in El Salvador because God was blessing the church and bringing lost souls to Christ. Because of the constant nighttime gunfire, however, the children slept in David and Shelley’s room until the morning when everyone began going to market and living life as normal . . . until one final incident: 

While watching a nighttime news broadcast, the family heard gunshots and saw that in front of their house the president’s brother – who owned a bus line – had parked his buses, which the guerillas often torched. To prevent them from doing so, guards on the buses began shooting.

David’s son was with him in the living room as a guard was shot in their doorway. 

They left El Salvador two days later. 

The year after they returned to the U.S. all missionaries had to leave and the communists took over the country. For David and Shelley, it would seem like in just about every country they served, there was tension and unrest.   

Honduras 1980-1991

The Dicksons were in Honduras for eleven years as the Garifuna story, chronicled by many BMA writers through the years, continues to unfold. It has resulted in effectively winning a people and language group to Christ, and it all began with a trip to the beach in 1980.

David heard two boys speaking in a language he had never heard, and as a curious linguist, he spoke to them in Spanish, asking them questions about where they were from. In the next months and years, and with the help of professional linguist and translator Lillian Howland, David developed a relationship with the Garifuna that continues to this day. After years of learning a language that had never been fully translated or written down, the Garifuna hailed him as a hero when they once ridiculed and spat on him. 

Ricardo Herrera was among those who ridiculed David’s efforts to share the gospel and  vigorously opposed his wife’s conversion. In a rage, he went to the church with harmful intentions, but instead received new life in Christ. Ricardo became a church leader, even naming one of his sons after David. Sadly, the son died. Garifuna traditions for a proper wake include liquor and vulgar dancing to keep the ancestors happy, but Ricardo refused to allow either one. People warned him that no one would attend the wake, and without mourners, the spirits would come and take away more family members. But he told them, “They can come and take each of my children one by one and I still won’t participate.”

Brother David says, “It’s amazing to see what happens with a culture after an entire generation has heard the gospel. The adults now in church are the first generation of Garifunas to be raised in church. Seeing stable marriages and kids raised to serve the Lord  means there is no more influence of spiritism, and animistic beliefs are longer celebrated.” At first, David was ridiculed, now people yell out “God bless you!” when he walks down the street. 

Guatemala 

The Dicksons left Honduras in 1991 and served in Guatemala for a short period. It was not a fruitful time, and they never understood why God led them there. It was a time of discouragement and complete lack of visible fruit. However, while in Guatemala, they were able to work with the Garifunas there. The Dicksons left Guatemala in 1993 and went back to the States with no idea what was next.

Puerto Rico

After leaving Guatemala, David and Shelley thought that was it . . . No more mission fields. But Missions Director Don Collins told them they had not lost confidence in David and to find out what God wanted them to do next. He suggested that because of his linguistic skills, maybe David could learn Russian since the Cold War was over and missionaries were able to share the gospel there.

So they went to Russia to see Bill Gibson, who was in Czech Republic and struggling to learn the language. The two men cried together in frustration without resolving the issue of where to serve, but Bill told David about his son who lived in Puerto Rico and was an assistant manager at a WalMart in Costa Rica. Bill, Jr. told David that he couldn’t find a true Baptist church, so the Dicksons went to Puerto Rico to plant a church and discovered an entirely different church-planting experience.

They had never been part of a church of primarily middle class people. On every other mission field, David was the wealthiest and most educated. But in Puerto Rico, the church was made up of doctors, lawyers and teachers. Soon after they arrived there, WalMart transferred Bill, Jr., but within six to seven years, the church was running 700, and for two years in a row, they baptized over 100 people. Really neat to be involved in what God was doing. To minister to people who challenge you intellectually was interesting. 

The Dicksons served in Puerto Rico for fourteen years until God led him to leave the church in Puerto Rico. Normally, pastors don’t leave a church when all is well, but when David was diagnosed with his first bout of cancer, he didn’t feel like he could give the church all it needed. He was 59 and felt the Lord saying,”It’s time to go.” It had been the most successful time of ministry in his life, so to step away was difficult and didn’t make sense. 

He told the Lord, “I don’t know how you’ll beat this (cancer), but if you want me to leave, I’ll do so, but don’t let me doubt this decision.” For the next ten years, he served as Regional Coordinator of Latin America, a perfect way to serve the countries he was so burdened for.

/0 Comments/by
, ,

Honoring our legacy missionaries is a priority for BMA Global. And whether deceased or alive, learning from their lives and ministries is important to their incredible legacies. Through family testimonies, archived articles, and ministry partner stories, understanding the ongoing work in their former fields impacts future generations.

Bill and Jeanette Gibson are BMA Global’s Legacy Missionaries for 2024. 

William L. Bill Gibson was born January 17th, 1942 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a family of farmers. He and his wife Jeanette were the same age, and when they were young, their families farmed within five miles of each other, attended church together, and saved at an early age. Later on, Bill began picking Jeanette up for church services every Sunday at Big Creek Valley in Jonesboro where Bro. G.E. Jones pastored.

Bill graduated from high school in 1959 and attended CBC for one year but dropped out to join the National Guard. He trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, then Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, while Jeanette went to Jonesboro Business College for a secretarial degree. They were married in 1961 and Bill began farming with his father while Jeanette worked in the office of a local attorney.

Not long after that, however, God called Bill to ministry, and he returned to CBC to complete his studies. Like many “preacher boys” at CBC, he pastored a local church while there, Fairview Baptist in Violet Hill, Arkansas. After graduating in 1966 he began pastoring Bethel Baptist in Forrest City, Arkansas, then served as a missionary pastor at Fellowship Mission Church in Wichita, Kansas. It was there that he felt the call to missions work in Costa Rica.

First Mission Field: Costa Rica

Bill then travelled to Costa Rica to visit missionaries Duane and Francis Heflin to see the country and seek their counsel. The visit confirmed his calling, so in 1971 they bought a Volkswagen bus and named him “Herbie.” On September 29th of that year, Bill, Jeanette, nine-year-old old Bill, Jr. and four-year-old Monica loaded the van and began the journey to San Jose.

The journey was a long one, especially for the children. But the trip was made easier when Francis Heflin gave Jeanette the idea to give the children a present to open on each day of travel. It wouldn’t be the last time that the Heflins spoke into their lives as they continued their love and care of the Gibsons for many years. 

Some of the best missionary stories are about a family’s travel to a new mission field, and the Gibsons’ story is no exception. On the way to Costa Rica, Monica became ill in Mexico City and had to to see a doctor. While she recovered for two days at a hotel, Bill junior enjoyed the hotel and pool. Two famous wrestlers were also staying there, and one of them was professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, who taught Bill, Jr. how to swim.

Attending language school was the only training offered to new missionaries in that era, so Bill and Jeanette spent their first year in Costa Rica at language school in San Jose while the children attended school with their Spanish-speaking peers. Over the years, the Gibson children were always part of their ministry. Bill preached, Bill, Jr. led singing, and Monica helped in Sunday school. They also built relationships with Costa Ricans by handing out flyers and inviting everyone they met to church. Even the children participated. During one of those outreaches when Monica was five years old, she handed a lady an invitation, but the lady said, “No thank you. I’m Catholic”, to which Monica replied, “That’s OK.  Anyone can come to our church!”

Bill was known for his genial nature and never-meet-a-stranger attitude. He willingly met people’s needs on the mission field, loading up Herbie the little Volkswagen, and going anywhere he was needed. If someone said, “I need you to go to my family’s hometown up in the mountains”, the family would load up and head to the mountains to meet their needs. If someone said, “I want you to go talk to my family” or “we would like a church”, he was faithful to meet with them. In addition to planting churches during their twenty years in Costa Rica, they also established a Bible Institute

By the time Bill and Jeanette left Costa Rica in 1992, Bill, Jr. and Monica had already graduated, moved back to the states and were married with children of their own. Herbie, the Volkswagen bus, stayed with the Heflins.

Currently in Costa Rica, there are thriving churches in the cities of Tibas, Santa Ana, Villa Colon, La Mora, Naranjo, Villareal en Santa Cruz de Guanacaste due to the missionary vision and diligence of the Gibsons.

Second Mission Field: Eastern Europe: Czech Republic

After the Berlin wall fell and communist countries opened up, Bill was one of many missionaries who seized the opportunity to share the gospel with the unreached. So in 1992, the Gibsons left Costa Rica for Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia), basically moving from a friendly Latin culture to a cold, unreceptive one. The Gibsons had a hard time with the Czech language and the people weren’t responsive, but Bill met a man named John, and that one contact has kept the work going. 

To the States Then Back: Honduras

In 1994 the Gibsons returned to Jonesboro where Bill began pastoring Cottage Home Baptist Church. Five years later, Bill was asked to serve in the country of Honduras as Bobby Bowman was retiring from his work at the BMA Bible Institute there. Bill and Jeanette moved to Honduras where they served as administrator of the BMA Bible Institute in Sula, as well as church planter from 1999 to 2007. 

Final Mission Field: Chile

In 2007, Bill and Jeanette moved to Santiago, Chile, where they planted Metropolitan Baptist Church. One of the first people Bill met in Santiago was Pablo, their water delivery man and neighbor. He was also a pastor, and when he saw Bill’s Bible, they hit it off immediately. The Gibsons began attending the church Pablo pastored then worked together to plant a church. Pablo’s son and another young man have gone farther south in Chile to plant churches where Pablo, Sr. and his wife Miriam now serve now 

The Gibsons returned home to Jonesboro in 2012 when Bill was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He died on October 29, 2015.

The Work Goes On: Multiplication

When missionaries start a work and plant a church, there are many unknowns. Regardless of the preparation, location, and fervent prayer for success, there is always the question, “Will this plant take root?” Bill was perfectly fitted by God to be an encourager and exhorter and give sound advice to everyone he knew, particularly if there was a question about ministry. When Bill’s son-in-law, Randy Stimach, told Bill, “I’m afraid God is calling me into ministry”, Bill replied, “Well don’t be afraid. Just do it!” Those who served with him said he was always direct and to the point but loving and caring to everyone he met, never missing an opportunity to share the gospel.

Former missionary Phil Knott served with Bill in Costa Rica for many years and tells the story of the two of them handing out flyers to invite people to church for a week-long revival. When Costa Ricans heard they would also be fed, even more people came to help. Bill was footing the entire bill himself, and after the entire week, he had spent a lot of money. One person was saved during the revival. Always the optimist, Bill looked at Phil, stuck his thumb in his belt loop and said, “Whew! That was an expensive soul!”

Monica said, “My dad would have died on the mission field if he could have. At his funeral, letters came in literally from people around the world talking about the impact that both my parents had on them  They truly fulfilled the Great Commission.”

/0 Comments/by
,

God is In Charge in Haiti

By Michel Poirier, Missionary to French-speaking Africa

So many are asking, what about Haiti? How is it? How (are) our churches?

Here (is) what I hear: From Pastor M___ in Port-au-Prince: 

“It is not easy but God is in charge.” That’s what he tells me every week. 

For us in Quebec, Canada, we hear the pain that the people go through. If a person have to go to get food, they have to pay a toll in order to travel on the street from one place to another. In other word, if a person have to go on many streets they have to pay each time, if not they cannot go, or they get robbed. Sometimes they get shot from (an errant) bullet, and sometimes they get kill just for the (fun of it).

People are living just one day at the time, not knowing what will happen during the night. The school are almost all burn down, some hospital are invaded by the gangs who shoot patient if they feel like it, even the police are under attack and kill and cut into pieces, as a show to the other policemen. The two prison are broken down, the penitentiary of Port-au-Prince and the one at Croix des Bouquet are empty and 6,000 prisoner are at large and terrified the population of Port au Prince. The gangs are more equip than the police of Port-au-Prince. 

Most people in America dont know what is it to sleep with one eye and one ear open. If you have been on a mission trip with me in Haiti, you probably know what I mean. At another occasion we have two church family in Port-au-Prince who received the visit of a gangs, and have been asked to feed them, but the family did not have any food to give them, so the leader of the gangs told them, that they will be back the next day and if they dont have a meal prepare for them they will kill them all. 

As I receive the message I send money to the family and the gangs came back and they were satisfied and let the family alone for now. 

As for any support that come in for Haiti, it is sent to them the next day to the people that are in charge of distribution. Another question (people ask) is can they get food? Yes, but for a certain amount (of money) for protection from the gangs. 

The gangs have 80% of Port-au-Prince (under) their control. Almost 2 million people are suffering of hunger every day, and it is a battle for them to survive. The airport is close(d), there is no plane flying in or out of Port-au-Prince. The only airport to fly out is through Cap Haitian in the North of Haiti, and it is 10 hrs of difficult drive to Port-au-Prince. For anyone who want to go to Port-au-Prince from Cape Haitian, it is very dangerous because the road are control by the gangs. 

Now concerning our two churches; they are under God’s protection, they are asking to pray for them for God’s provision and protection on them and that souls might be save through the situation. 

I try to give you the information that came to me this week, but every couple days new info new prayers request comes in.

Put Haiti on your prayers list if you didn’t already.

Brother Michel & Ruth 

pasteur.poirier56@gmail.com

/0 Comments/by
,

Pastor Appreciation Day All Year Long

My husband John and I have the privilege of visiting pastors all over the world. It’s one of those “pinch myself” kind of honors we do not take lightly. When we’re abroad, we visit Americans and national pastors and in both cases, these men, these servants, work hard and serve their churches in every area, no matter what the job description says.

Recently my pastor called to make sure our Bible study class knew about a death in our church family. He went on to briefly mention food and the likely timetable of the funeral, etc. It was your basic heads-up . . . but it got me thinking, “What does my pastor deal with – maybe every day – that is outside his “job description” and that he might never mention to church members? It’s not like he’s keeping something from us. We can trust his judgment on certain matters, but I just wonder about his “caseload” if you will.

In many areas of the world, pastors are also construction workers and build their own churches. Some pastors make a living as fishermen, farmers, teachers, and translators. But what do they really deal with that is difficult and heartbreaking?

I know that pastors in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Myanmar deal with constant war and religious hostility. Those in wealthy countries like France, the United States, and Canada must handle the effects of complacency, progressivism, and gender issues. Pastors in Nepal, Thailand, and Papua New Guinea must undo a works-based belief system. And pastors in Central and South America labor against the poverty, corruption, substance abuse, and polygamy that destroys families.

You might say that these are extreme issues or not problems for pastors where you live, but I think that both worldwide and at home, pastors deal with some very real and difficult things we’ll never know about. Perhaps some of those issues are personal, painful, and private.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that pastors need our prayers, not our criticism; our understanding, not our complacency; our willingness, not our excuses.

I don’t know about your pastor, but mine works hard. He’s at church hours before most church members and hangs around long after the last person leaves. He shakes hundreds of hands and knows who’s new and who’s sick. He’s there for concerns, counseling, and crying. He knows when a new person steps through the door, and he knows who’s hurting.

And the same thing is true for our pastors around the world who have church under a tree, sitting cross-legged on a dirt floor, or while officials look for unlawful gatherings.

So tell me about your pastor, brag about him, let him know you are praying for him. And consider Pastor Appreciation Day all year long.

/0 Comments/by
, , , ,

How Then Shall We Serve

By Holly Meriweather

Soon after I began “working” at the BMA Global Ministry Center, I learned that I was actually “serving” instead. First at Lifeword then at BMA Missions (now BMA Global), I have served the people of the BMA for ten years. And I learned how to do it from the people with whom I interact every day. 

The broader picture of what that means has forced me to change my thinking. We are all meant to serve by sharing the gospel to the whole world. But for a long time, I thought that mandate was for the missionaries whose names I memorized at GMA meetings. Boy, was I wrong! The best examples of servants and servanthood come from our missionaries but also from ChangeMakers around the world that you will likely never see. 

How these co-laborers serve all over the world looks very different and is intertwined with their own cultural contexts. My husband John and I have had the honor of visiting many areas of the world to see first hand their ministries, encourage them, and have face-to-face conversations. We come back with pictures and videos and souvenirs but also with a ground-level view of their ministry and a greater understanding of that unique context. 

Although there is sometimes a language barrier, meeting and interacting with those ChangeMakers all over the world has been a special privilege. They are co-laborers building relationships and working to plant churches. They are better able to reach their own communities. Many were once in darkness about who Jesus is until someone shared the gospel. They are servants who bring people to Christ.

What that “serving” actually looks like is far different from what I imagined forty-five years ago when I memorized the names of BMA missionaries. 

In most parts of the world, worship services are much livelier and louder than in the States.  (Whatever you’re imagining, multiply it by one hundred!) Every country I’ve been blessed to visit has more from-the-heart worship than the American church. 

At a baptism service in the Middle East, each new convert gave their testimony, then the celebration begins: The whole congregation stands to their feet and sings the entire salvation song loudly with whoops and hollers. No way you can keep from tearing up, smiling and clapping. Same thing happens with the next new believer. Then the testimonies, singing, and clapping begins again. 

In the Spanish-speaking world, the Philippines, and Africa, many churches are open-air with flat out dancing and loudly miked-up musicians telling the whole area, “It’s Sunday morning! Come worship with us!” (In comparison, we don’t even go across the street to share the gospel and invite our neighbors to church.)

The comfort level of churchgoers all over the world is also very different. In Africa, church is the ground beneath your feet and the tree above you with no concern about time or  temperature. No one has a watch or strictly adheres to any schedule. 

In rural India, church is a small tarp suspended above a crumbling concrete floor, men and women separated and shoes off. The worship leader holding the microphone just a few inches away from the “congregation” turns up the volume just in case the neighbors can’t hear that church has started. Worship also includes dancing by girls young and old. 

Church is a celebration, and churchgoers don’t seem to care about their comfort level, whether it’s too hot, too cold, too loud, or too long. 

In stark contrast, the Myanmar church is a quiet indoor meeting of fewer than five people or whatever new government-restricted number officials decide. Someone is stationed at the door in case officials are looking for small gatherings that might be church meetings. If unlawful activity is suspected, worshipers are ready to hide songbooks and give an explanation for the meeting. Sometimes, they are hauled to jail. Because it’s a closed access country, I have never witnessed their worship, but the stories I read make me shudder.

Across the world, I have seen Christians serve others, share Jesus, and sing a joyful noise in ways that we complacent Americans would never consider. For our ChangeMakers, It’s just how they serve God and serve others.

/0 Comments/by
, ,

Care Givers for Our Missionaries

By Holly Meriweather

I hope you all are aware of BMA Global’s Missionary Care team and Director Jonathan Montgomery’s efforts to serve our missionaries. If you are not, let me give you just one example of what it means to those who serve around the world, sometimes in closed- or creative-access areas. 

The following is from Missionary Milan Bulak:

“Thank you for your ministry and prayers!

I am grateful to share all this (an article he wrote) with you and hope that it encourages you. As we move to another season (of ministry) may we all press on to do the work the Lord has prepared beforehand for us to do.

I am thankful for every BMA ministry, member, and church. I am a product of BMA missions as I was baptized, discipled, educated, and sent to serve by BMA. I have never been a member in different church than BMA. The Lord is using our association in a mighty way and I praise Him for that. 

I want to also thank Larry and Tammy Wood, our missionaries, for their help and love.

Holly, I hope this is not too muchEmoji. 

May the Lord bless you,

Milan Bulak

BMA Czech Republic

Central Europe”

Brother Milan was responding to my request for an article, which he sent to me in the same  

correspondence. I shared it with Jonathan and the rest of the BMA Global team, of course. But although he would not take ANY of the credit, it is Jonathan who has worked hard to not just be in touch with our missionaries but to understand and follow up on all their needs. 

Jonathan says, “The heart and focus of our Missionary Care ministry is to come alongside our missionaries with the aid, encouragement, and support they need to better allow them to carry out the mission of God. Missionary Care also strives to prepare, equip, and minister to BMA missionaries so they can be fruitful in both life and ministry.”

Recently, Jonathan has developed a new initiative of recruiting 250 missionary supporters to become Care Givers. For the ongoing growth of Missionary Care, he needs monthly supporters, which will provide encouragement and support for our global servants who minister internationally and stateside.

If you would like to donate to Missionary Care, click on the link below to give through the secured giving page of BMA Global. Your missionaries appreciate the support, and our care team is grateful for your help as we serve those who are serving others.

https://app.securegive.com/BMAMissions/main/donate/category

/0 Comments/by
, , ,

SOAR Conference Still Going Strong

Originally concepted by the forward thinking of two men with a heart for teenagers, a new BMA-sponsored conference called SOAR (Sold Out And Radical) debuted in 1990. Yes, that was 33 years ago, for those of you who now have gray or graying hair and grandchildren! Bobby Tucker and Donny Parrish could hardly have imagined that SOAR conference would continue to be not only a powerful, life-changing event but also a recruitment tool for missionaries, pastors, and ministry leaders.

While many conferences come and go, SOAR has stood the test of time. It even survived Covid! Why is that? Maybe it’s the draw of what used to be the “midnight meeting” for VSM trips, or the simple fact that teenagers are happy to be away from their parents, or even that they get to meet other young people from all over.

Whatever the reason, God has blessed SOAR conference, and it is still a can’t-miss summer event for youth leaders and students who attend BMA (and other) churches.

So please pray for SOAR 2023 that teenagers would listen to the messages, music, and testimonies, surrender their lives to Jesus, accept the call to ministry, and be changed forever through the power of the Holy Spirit.

What is your SOAR story?

/0 Comments/by
, ,

What Actually Do We Do at Lifeword and BMA Global?

Have you ever wondered what we actually DO at “the Missions office”, now BMA Global? What about Lifeword? Have you ever wondered how they’re able to share the gospel via the  flawed and controversial social media world? 

If you come visit us on an average day, you’re likely to see a meeting in progress (impromptu or scheduled), someone packing for a conference or trip, a Zoom call in progress, and pretty much everyone using their computers. A fairly average office atmosphere, but what are we  really doing?

And more importantly at the highest level, what are we “doing” for God’s kingdom work? Both Lifeword and BMA Global have a set of guidelines to which they adhere, and they are always self-evaluating, restructuring, and praying for God’s guidance to do so. 

BMA GLOBAL

At BMA Global the values and actions that guide all they do, their approach to serving missionaries all over the world, are expressed in the following five statements displayed prominently on the wall in their downstairs wing:

  1. Motivated by the mission of God: To make his glory and love known to every nation, tribe, language and people
  2. Discipleship-based multiplication: To see the multiplication of believers and churches through discipleship
  3. Local church driven: To affirm that local congregations are both the source and the goal of multiplication
  4. Indigenous missions: To fulfill the mission of God according to indigenous principles aimed at sustainability and reproducibility
  5. Holy Spirit-led risk: To seek God and follow his leading in a courageous manner 

SEND – We mobilize churches and people to the mission field through 

·         Short-term missions

·         Student missions

·         Medical missions

·         Christmas shoeboxes

START – We plant churches that plant churches with 

·         U.S. church planters

·         International missionaries

·         ChangeMakers

SUPPORT – We provide care and support for leaders and churches through 

·         Healthy Church Solutions

·         Missionary Care

·         Training

LIFEWORD

Lifeword’s value statements are similarly displayed, but in paragraph form, in their wing upstairs:

“Lifeword produces biblically sound, culturally relevant gospel programming that is Great Commission focused and marked by excellence and creativity. Our ministry promotes an attitude of integrity and accountability along with kingdom partnerships and ministry indigeneity. We strive to be servant leaders, respecting our teammates, leading by example, and loving a lost world.

“Lifeword provides Christ-centered programming through local and mass communication media to make disciples of Jesus and fulfill the Great Commission. We are dedicated to helping local churches share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their community through the effective use of media.”

That “ministry indigeneity” means that programming originates with the many Lifeword partners around the world in almost 150 languages. The content doesn’t mean much if it’s produced by Americans instead of in the heart languages of people with whom the gospel is shared.

2 MINISTRIES – ONE MISSION

In the same way, the BMA is “global”. The emphasis is on church planting, making disciples and equipping and sending disciple makers all over the world map. 

Two ministries. One mission. 

So the answer to what we do is this: God didn’t give the responsibility of sharing the gospel around the world to a missions agency or a media ministry. He gave it to the local church.  Those of us who serve at Lifeword and BMA Global help you carry out God’s mission through our missions and media efforts.

If you’d like to understand the specifics of how we do that, please go to the websites and Facebook pages of these ministries for more information, then choose a contact number to be connected to us.

We serve and equip you, our people and churches, to fulfill God’s mission.  

/0 Comments/by
,

2023 BMA Meeting: Missionary Focused

I don’t know how you would rate it, but from the point of view of those who serve you at the Global Ministry Center in Conway, the 2023 BMA National Meeting was a great success. But even more important, God was honored. 

Since I began attending national meetings ten years ago, they have always seemed like family reunions. I enjoy seeing and catching up with friends. I love getting to know new pastors and their wives. I’m encouraged by the commissioning service. But I will look back on this meeting as my favorite, probably because I’m a little biased. 

You see, the people of Antioch are my church family and have been my entire life, more than five decades. But I didn’t attend with my parents. Early on, it was my church family who were the hands and feet of Jesus to a little girl who walked to church. They taught me, they made sure I was involved in GMA, and they pointed me to Jesus. 

At GMA meetings I began to understand what it meant to be a missionary and that I was also called to be one. I learned that my church was part of an association that was all about God’s mission and sending missionaries. Just like many of you, I memorized their names and locations, and decades later when I began serving the BMA and saw Jerry Kidd walking through the building, I was starstruck. My daughters, also GMA girls, had the same reaction.

So grateful to God for my BMA family.  

We were very encouraged by those of you who took the time to visit us, tour the Global Ministry Center and, in many cases, meet us for the first time. An added bonus was certainly the presence of our American missionaries and a dedicated time to meet them. As James Schoenrock told me, “Our missionaries added great flavor to the conference. It was a blessing to see them in one space.” 

At one point during the missionary meet-and-greet, I stopped for a moment to take a mental picture of the scene and very nearly lost my cool, becoming emotional at the thought of the great sacrifice of our missionaries and their dedication to sharing the gospel. Instead of giving in to tears, I just thanked God for their calling and willingness to go. 

We are a relatively small association of churches, but our seventy-three-year missionary legacy has borne fruit in sixty-five of the world’s countries through our ChangeMakers. In languages we can’t speak, they share the gospel, make disciples, plant churches, and multiply. 

What a blessing to be part of sending missionaries in the U.S and to the world through BMA Global. 

/0 Comments/by