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Introducing | New CAMP BIMI Director
It is a privilege to introduce to you BIMI’s new CAMP BIMI Director, Jason Ritchie. Jason, his wife,
Mary, and their family have done an amazing job serving as missionaries in Mongolia. In an answer
to much prayer, God has used many different circumstances to confirm this ministry transition.

Along with the full-time responsibilities of directing CAMP
BIMI, Brother Ritchie will also be serving as BIMI’s Assistant
Candidate Director. After taking a short time to adjust to his
new roles, there will be increased responsibilities in the future
for Brother Ritchie, which will include recruiting, preparing,
and mentoring potential and new missionary candidates. I
rejoice that God has given the Ritchie family this opportunity
to use the experiences they have gained on the mission field to
invest in the next generation of missionaries.

— David Snyder BIMI President/General Director
By Jason Ritchie
CAMP BIMI Director & Assistant Candidate Director
In 2002, I returned from a short-term missions
trip to Mongolia with many questions. The
unexpected and unlikely opportunity of this
trip to Asia had challenged my comfortable
assumptions regarding God’s will and left
my heart burning with a new desire. The
realization that someone must go and reach
these lost souls was eventually answered by the
Holy Spirit’s call, “I am sending you!”
It was even more unlikely that I filled out an
application for CAMP BIMI. Even as my pen
scratched out the requested information, I
wondered, “Why should I go to camp—isn’t
that for kids?” To a single 25-year-old already
busy with a career, going to camp felt like a
major distraction from more important things.

What I needed were concrete answers to the
questions I had about my new calling.

The brochure I received with the application
assured me that CAMP BIMI was the place
to “find where I fit in missions.” Having
6 BIMI Number 1, 2023
participated in the program, I can say that this
is true.

During my time on campus in the beautiful
hills of Tennessee near Harrison Bay State Park,
I found myself with teenagers, college students,
and career people from different backgrounds.

We enjoyed practical training sessions,
passionate messages from the Bible, helpful
skill building exercises, joyful music, uplifting
fellowship, and fun cultural experiences.

Suddenly, I had at my fingertips a wealth of
information on mission work, both the principle
and the practical. That and an opportunity to
learn from and rub shoulders with veteran
missionaries and field directors from around
the world formed one of the pivotal experiences
of my life. However, the most wonderful
discovery of all was that at CAMP BIMI I met
Mary, my soulmate and fellow adventurer in
the work of God, and we have been following
the Lord together ever since.