See Pictures of the Sidler's ministry
by Steve Sidler as told to Barbara Tucker
Missionaries Steve and Nohemy Sidler’s burning desire is to be in the center of God’s perfect will. Following God’s leading has taken them to some unusual and unexpected places. A verse that has meant a great deal to the Sidler family is Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
The Lord’s guiding has led the Sidlers to the town of Quinta Sueno in Haina, outside the capital city of the Dominican Republic. This is where Steve and his wife, Nohemy, and two children, Angela Maree (7) and Michael Alexander (5) live. Being a part of God’s plan in Quinta Sueno has brought Steve immense joy and satisfaction, just as when he ministered to Spanish-speaking people in the Chicago area, and Washington, D.C. suburbs.
Not that the journey has always been easy. Steve explains, “Our first Christmas in the Dominican Republic we were robbed at gun point in our bedroom on December 23. We moved from that location the next day and really have never fully recovered from the experience of that terrible night.”
Personal safety is just one of the challenges that they have faced in the D.R., but, fortunately, learning the Spanish language has not been one of them. Nohemy was born in El Salvador, Central America, and was raised in a Christian home. Her mother was a secretary in a Baptist church in El Salvador and later immigrated to the U.S. Nohemy met Steve in the early 90s at Independent Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, where he was serving as pastor of the Spanish church ministry. (IBC is the home church for both Steve and Nohemy.) Steve learned Spanish in high school and through working with a Spanish ministry at Hyles-Anderson College in Hammond, Indiana. He was approved to go to the Dominican Republic after completing deputation, not being required to attend language school.
While language acquisition wasn’t a barrier for the Sidlers, the deputation period presented some obstacles. “Our deputation experience took two and one half years,” Steve recalls. “We had a rough time when our daughter was born in June of 1995 with a serious medical condition. She had three surgeries during our deputation travels. Many churches were never able to meet Nohemy or Angela because of this. I traveled alone a lot, which was difficult for the family, but there were many joys and victories along the way.”
In August of 1996, Steve, Nohemy, and Angela arrived in the Dominican Republic. This was a long way from Steve’s birthplace at Andrews Air Force Base in southern Maryland. Steve was raised by his mom and stepfather and was exposed to the gospel through the bus ministry of Independent Baptist Church. In March of 1982, a member witnessed to him, and he received Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Soon afterward he surrendered to full-time ministry but not to missions. In his mind, missions equaled living in a hard, isolated, destitute country. Places like India loomed large as somewhere he didn’t want to go. Eventually he accepted that God’s will for his life was missions to wherever the Lord would send him.
After graduating from Hyles-Anderson College, through Dr. Pat Creed’s encouragement, he began to pastor the Spanish ministry at Independent Baptist Church in Clinton. He did so for six years. In February of 1994 at a missions conference at Independent, Missionary Clint Vernoy of Venezuela asked the following question: “Let’s suppose that tonight you know that you are in the will of God, serving Him where He wants you to serve. What if He told you that tomorrow He wanted you to go somewhere else? Would you be willing to go?” That pointed question only echoed the frequent encouragement on the part of Dr. Creed to consider serving on the foreign mission field.
Brother Vernoy continued his message from Romans 15:19-21, which says, “... I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation. But as it is written, to whom he has not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand.” During that message the Lord let Steve know that He wanted him on the foreign mission field in a Spanish-speaking country.
During a missions trip to the Dominican Republic in 1994, the Lord confirmed to Steve that He wanted him there. Nohemy had some decisions to make also. Steve and Nohemy were engaged to be married and the Lord was dealing with her about His call to the mission field during the same conference. She made her decision to be a missionary, not knowing that God had called Steve as well.
Living on the mission field for the past six years has presented a number of challenges and adjustments for the Sidler family. Living conditions were not only inconvenient, but unpredictable and dangerous. Utilities were, and still are, unreliable, and the possibility of being a victim of crime is very real. Steve explains, “We had high expectations of having a church running between 100 and 200 within the first year, but that did not happen. After the first year, Dr. Creed preached a special meeting, which was well promoted and prayed for. On that day, two people showed up — a four-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy. It was very discouraging.”
Steve had to learn that he sows the seed, but God gives the increase. “After six years things have really changed! The church has grown from such small beginnings to an average attendance of 150 on Sundays. God has called 17 young men to preach, and a good number of them are preparing to serve the Lord in the Bible Institute that was started 2 and 1/2 years ago in the church.” Upon graduation, Steve plans to help them plant local churches in the Dominican Republic and beyond. Steve and his family love the Dominican people and have found their ministry there very rewarding.
One exciting and rewarding answer to prayer concerns their facility. The church was started in a small house that was 20’ X 20’. Conditions were cramped. On the third anniversary of the church, 945 people showed up. Two-hundred people were packed like sardines inside and the remainder were looking in from outside. There was a desperate need for an adequate facility in which to meet. God answered prayer. Supporting churches and friends from the U. S. formed work crews and gave offerings to meet this need. The Lord has provided the first floor of a 30’ X 70’ concrete building, with plans for adding a second and third story. Steve wants to thank each church and individual who has helped make this possible, especially Pastor Mike Creed and the dear friends at Independent Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland.
When asked what he wanted BIMI supporters and WORLD readers to know about his work, his first message was, “I would like them to know that there is nothing better than knowing you are where the Lord wants you, doing what He wants you to do. I never thought that we would be as happy as we are here. We are having the time of our lives.” Steve adds, “It is great to have a wonderful woman at my side who loves me and my two precious children. God can use you to serve Him wherever and doing whatever He would have you to do. Pray that the Lord will protect our family, that our children will be saved, and for me to put my role as a father and husband before that of a pastor and missionary.”
Steve, Nohemy, Angela, and Michael are planning a ten-week furlough in the summer of 2003. Their most pressing ministry needs right now are a new van to replace their 1987, non-air-conditioned van and about $25,000 to finish the second floor of their new church building. But these material possessions are only adjuncts to the Sidler’s real heartbeat: “Please continue to pray that folks would be saved and that God would call faithful men into the ministry.”
