John Bailes, USA Director

The United States of America has long been a fertile mission field. The Native American Indians were the first to be reached with the Gospel of Christ on this continent. It was a hard life and a difficult task, but there were those such as David Brainerd and others who accepted the challenge and made it their mission. Generation after generation has brought about more and more changes around the world, which has in turn resulted in people coming from far and near to find refuge in this place called America. Thank God for those who have seen the need to establish Bible believing churches with a burden to reach lost souls. The call of missions has sounded out from these pulpits over the years and we can now read the testimonies of those who answered that call and went from America to labor in other lands around the world.

 One would think with so many missionaries being sent out from America that there would be no need for missionaries here. However, with every year that passes, America becomes an even greater mission field. Dr. David Woods in his book “The Jerusalem Factor” states, “Since 1900 the number of churches in the U.S. in proportion to the population has declined 43%. Today, 44% of our population is considered unchurched.” One may ask, “Why are we failing to reach the unchurched population of our generation since we have so many good churches here in America?” America has become a very diverse culture. We have people from all over the world with many different language groups. As a result America is a greater mission field than ever before.

Home Missions Department began in 1975 — God led BIMI to get involved in mission work here in America in 1975. This new department became the responsibility of Dr. Frank Rosser. He had worked in Central America for a number of fruitful years and then was asked by Dr. Tom Freeney, the General Director at that time, to serve as his assistant. In addition to his duties as the Assistant Director, Dr. Rosser helped men plant churches here in the United States. Hundreds of churches were planted through what he called the “temporary missionary program.” God has used those churches to assist in starting other churches.

In 1987 Dr. Rosser began to have some health problems. It was during this time he recommended that I assume the duties as the Director for Home Missions. I had been assisting Dr. Rosser for over four years. God has blessed and given us some very fruitful years. We have seen many churches planted and established. There has been a great priority placed on world evangelism by all of these churches. For example, there were three churches planted in northwestern Pennsylvania. Those churches were soon accountable for supporting over 50 missionaries. The foundational work of a church should be to evangelize at home and in the regions beyond.

God is doing some great things in Jersey City, New Jersey — Three years ago I received a call from a pastor friend in New Jersey wanting to know if we had a missionary who could take a small church in Jersey City. I put him in touch with our missionary Ken Love who had started several churches and had helped others with similar needs. He had never worked in the inner city and Jersey City is just that, with people from every nationality. God dealt with his heart and the hearts of the twelve remaining people. Needless to say, in these three years great numbers of souls have been saved and baptized and others have joined the church. Trinity Baptist Church has reached a high of 300 in attendance and is giving $500 a week to missions. Their general offerings have gone from less than $200 a week to over $2,500 a week. They now support 24 missionaries. God has greatly used Ken and June Love to re-establish this church for His glory. Pray with us for the right man to assume this pastorate and continue this good work.

Churches are being planted in the Northwest — Several years ago I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake City, Utah, with our missionary Neal Wheeler. During our nine-day visit I learned much about the history of Mormonism and experienced what it was like to knock on doors in Salt Lake City. Brother Wheeler has since returned to Utah. After working for one year assisting another pastor, he planted the Liberty Baptist Church. He has been faithful to knock on 500 doors a week and God has given him a nucleus of people. The church is located in downtown Salt Lake and is just south of the Mormon Temple Square. Neal has some unusual stories to tell about his church planting experience. Liberty Baptist Church is reproducing itself by supporting other missionaries. They now support seven missionary projects or families.

In June of last year Jimmy and Beverly Cox packed up everything they owned and moved from Leesburg, Virginia, to Clark Fork, Idaho. Jimmy had worked in construction before going to Bible college and becoming the Assistant Pastor of his home church. A group of fifteen believers wanted to start a church and had started building. When the Coxes arrived, everything was expedited and worship services were started. These believers had previously been attending a church 30 miles away in Montana. I went there for a missions conference in April 2000. Besides having 57 in attendance on Sunday morning, they committed themselves by Faith Promise to give nearly $300 a week to missions. They committed themselves to support five missionaries. The amazing part is that Clark Fork has only a population of 200 people.

Tracey and Martha Jones moved to Whitehall, Montana, in March of 1999 and started the Whitehall Baptist Church. They were able to get the use of an old feed store and 24 chairs for their first service. They passed out flyers all over town. When it came time for the service to begin, nobody was there but the Jones family. Then little by little they came trickling in until every seat was filled. Many of these people have now been saved and are being discipled. The church body has been organized and these new Christians have committed themselves to give just over $100 a week for missions above their tithe.

Hispanic Ministries in America — In the spring of 1996 Roger Blevins returned home from Spain after placing the church (they had started nearly eleven years earlier) under the leadership of a national pastor. They were praying for God to show them just where in Spain He wanted them to start their next church. It was during that time the Lord began to show them that He had other plans: “plans that would take us far away from Spain where we had served for more than fifteen years.” Roger said, “As we prayed for God’s will, He made it very clear that our new field of service was to be to the exploding Hispanic population in the metro area of Atlanta, Georgia. God directed us to Conyers, Georgia, just thirty minutes from downtown Atlanta where we are reaching some of the more than a quarter of a million Hispanics living in and around Atlanta. God is blessing! God has given us more than fifty souls saved since we started the work here about three years ago. Our prayer is that God will raise up more laborers to harvest souls within the ever increasing Hispanic population right here in the USA!”

Other USA Ministries - Dr. Robert McKeever and his wife Linda have been working in Willimantic, Connecticut, for about three years now and are ready to transfer the leadership of the Faith Baptist Church to a new pastor. The church was chartered in April with 34 members. The new pastor is a graduate of The New England School of the Bible where Dr. McKeever teaches missions. The church is currently seeking to buy a building and they need $16,000 to make the $60,000 down payment. Pray that God will provide this soon. During a recent missions conference they took on the support of two additional missionaries, bringing their total to ten.

Manuel and Stephanie Gregory are church planters to the Washington, DC, area. They are very active in COEBA (Conference On Evangelizing Black America) and have planted a church in Silver Spring, Maryland. The New Testament Baptist Church is now in a building program and they have committed to give $75,000 annually through Faith Promise for world evangelism.

Missionary Steve Fox has been faithful to minister on the Salt River Pima Maricopa Reservation in Mesa, Arizona. Steve and Teresa work with the Creek, Navajo and the Apache-Yavaphi Indians. They live on the reservation near the church and their people. Indian work is very difficult due to the lack of trust they have for the white man and his words. There are hundreds of locations where missionaries are still needed to reach the Native American.

Joe Esposito went to Long Beach, California, to reach the 50,000 Cambodian people in that area. He is now reaching other Asian groups as well as Hispanics. God has used Joe and Mary to do a very unusual work among a very needy people. The Pacific Baptist Church (formerly the Cambodian Baptist Church) has been responsible for getting many young teenagers off the streets into a training program that has led to salvation, baptism and service for the Lord. The cost of operating a church in a high real estate section of our nation can be a struggle. Praise God for men like Joe Esposito who will undertake such a task and not shrink from it.

We have many more missionaries serving in various places across our nation and staying faithful to what God has called them to do. We thank God for each of them and regret that we cannot mention all of them. Just remember when you are tempted to think of missions as only a foreign endeavor, remember that “missions is not geography; missions is people.”

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

KIRK & KATHY HICKOK -  BRAZIL
CHRIS & CHRISTINE HILMER -  CANADA
HAROLD M & BRIDGETTE HOLDBROOK -  GHANA