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A New Opportunity
by Dr. James Kennard
been far away from home. Satan will see to it that they will have
opportunities to sin, but our missionaries are there to get them
to Jesus and give them an opportunity for Christian love and
fellowship with other believers.
Fourth, our vision is to get PEOPLE involved. These are our
missionaries who are willing to give their lives to take the
Gospel to our military. It has been my privilege to be a military
missionary now for almost 30 years and to rub elbows with
these fellow laborers and I can say that they are some of the
greatest servants of the Lord I know anywhere. They are
dedicated, diligent, and devoted to ministering to our military
and reaching them for Christ. We pray constantly that God
will burden the hearts of many more young people to take the
Gospel to our military.
Fifth, our vision is to see the POTENTIAL involved. God is
working through these military ministries around the world.
Almost in every candidate screening committee meeting at
BIMI (there are two each year), we have someone who has been
influenced through the ministry of military missions. The best
“fishing hole” for future servants of God that I know will be
found in our military churches. Bible colleges and Christian
schools would surely benefit by “courting” these military
ministries for potential and prospective students.
What a great work and an opportunity to serve the Lord! I
think of Military Missions as one of the most exciting ministries
out there today. When we invest and get involved in this great
work, we are going to see it reproduced over and over, again and
again. Young men and women will be saved and many will go
into Christian service. Let us join together in prayer for those
who are laboring to minister to our military around the world.
That is my vision for Military Missions.
EFFECTIVE PREACHING
by Mike Pinson
From the beginning of my military ministry until present,Dr.
Jeff Alverson has been greatly used of God to encourage me,
my family, and countless servicemen and servicewomen in our
military churches. For several years, Dr. Alverson was the main
speaker for our annual missions conferences at Faith Baptist
Church in Dettlebach, Germany, and at Calvary Baptist Church
in SHAPE, Belgium. God used him to teach many soldiers the
Faith Promise concept, and even my own children developed a
real burden for missions under his preaching. He continues to
be a blessing to our present church, the Berean Baptist Church
of Ellenwood, Georgia. I am positive that God will continue to
use and bless the military ministry of Dr. Jeff Alverson.
My wife, Gail, and
I were accepted as
missionaries with
Baptist International
Missions, Inc., in
July 1961. We spent
seventeen years on
the island of Oki-
nawa, Japan. While
working with the
nationals on Oki-
nawa, I was burdened
for the US military
personnel stationed
on that island. The
Lord opened the door
James & Gail Kennard
for us in August 1974
to pastor the Maranatha Baptist Church (a military church).
Again the Lord gave us a new open door in April 1980—BIMI
asked me to serve as Military Director for Baptist International
Missions in charge of all military ministries.
The Military Ministry of BIMI has continued to grow. Over 50
churches outside of military bases around the world have been
established. Our goal has been to start a Baptist church outside
every military base in the world that does not already have one.
After our tenure as Military Director, more than 80 missionaries
serve with the BIMI Military Ministry around the world. They
have started churches in 16 countries.
In June 2014 Dr. Jeff Alverson became the new Military
Director, and I became the Military International
Representative. For some time now, Gail and I have wanted
to become more involved in the lives of each of our military
missionaries. We have prayed and sought God's leading in
this direction. This new opportunity will allow us to do more
to help our missionaries and will enable us to stay longer on
the field with them. We will also be able to relieve some of
them so they can come home for a furlough. The military is a
unique ministry in that one is constantly dealing with a rotating
congregation. Because of my experience through the years
with military churches, we have the opportunity to give great
assistance to new BIMI missionaries in the following areas:
raising support on deputation, establishing military churches
on the field, and by assisting and training them on the inner
workings of the military.
New opportunities bring new challenges. Our expanded minis-
try will be an extra cost for us due to plane travel expenses con-
stantly on the rise. We are going to need your faithful prayers
and support as we continue this ministry. Gail and I are excited
to see how the Lord will use us in the future as we move into a
new phase of serving him in our military churches here in the
United States and around the world.