Asia Archive

Have you ever heard one of these? “Put your money where your mouth is!” Or, “That’s where the rubber really meets the road!” Or a personal favorite, “Your talk talks. Your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks!” What all of these have in common is obvious. Sometimes many say they are going to do something, but few actually end up following through when the stakes are at their highest.

The question might arise, “What can our folks, who have many years of experience in the Lord’s work, do now to be productive in missions?” The following are just a few of the many areas where our seniors can be involved:

In 1959, two missionary ladies visited a small village in the foothills of the Himalayas. On that day, Ruth Montgomery experienced an emotional heart-felt affirmation, leaving no doubt that God had directed Bob and her to that place of great need. After Ruth and her friend spent the day teaching the Bible and presenting the Gospel, the village women, now so curious about this strange message, asked when they would return. Ruth, knowing that the snowfall would prevent them from making the fourhour trek, had to tell them that they could not resume their teaching until after the spring. One of...

Children are usually never told not to serve God. But often, by default, they are never provided with opportunities to serve God. While we never say, “Children are not important to train,” our lean emphasis on training children states this truth quite clearly. “You’re just kids,” we tell them through our lack of concern. “Don’t worry about serving God now. You’ll have plenty of time to give to God once you have grown up.” Yet in reality, children often please God in their service more than adults do.

We arrived in Iloilo City in October 1977 and shortly afterward started a Bible study in our apartment. Most churches are started as a result of Bible studies, and in April 1978, Iloilo Baptist Church was started. This past April the church celebrated its 31st anniversary. Iloilo Baptist College began with a goal of starting churches.

Biblical School of World Evangelism (BSWE) majors in missions1 because missions is the passion of First Baptist Church. The reason our church is passionate about missions is because God is. A vibrant healthy church is an incubator for missionaries, encouraging the development of what it models. Such a church contributes much more to the training of missionaries than it may realize. After seven years of training students for missions at BSWE, one thing is conspicuous to me – it takes more than three or four years to “make a missionary.” If the church6 does not doher job in modeling spiritua...

In the early 1970’s, my pastor, Rev. Howard Nelson, had a burden to reach Communist Russia and Eastern Europe with the Gospel. At that time, most mission boards called that part of the world closed, but the Bible says, “... Go ye into all the world ...” (Mark 16:15). Pastor Nelson believed that if God gave the command, He would provide a way to accomplish the task.

Let’s take the bottom line first. After researching three large fundamental mission boards, all with over 1,000 missionaries on the field, my long-felt assumptions proved true. All three boards gave almost word for word this quote: “Seventy-five percent of all missionaries on the field today (their missionaries) believe that God laid missions on their heart by the age of twelve!” They knew by twelve that God wanted them to be a missionary some day.

In dealing with young people and their future, it is important not to force our desires as adults upon them. Young people need the counsel of those that are older than them, but they need to be taught to seek God’s will from Scripture. The thought of God searching for someone to fill a need is found often in Scripture. Young Samuel was called by God in the Temple. The prophet Isaiah surrendered to God’s will when he saw the greatness of God and the lowliness of himself. Young David took a step of courage and faith when he ran to meet the giant Goliath. Esther was put in the position she was...