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 17^th, 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 29^th 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.”