Roy Seals, South American Director

From its early days, BIMI has had missionaries that have focused on fulfilling the Great Commission in South America. In fact the first South America Director BIMI had, Dr. Roy Ackerle, grew up in Bolivia and served as a missionary for many years in Latin America. Needless to say, Dr. Ackerle was highly effective in his promotion of the this needy field.

As in most continents, South America challenges today’s missionary task force with a variety of ministry opportunities. The saturated population of metropolitan cities of South America represents our greatest needs. Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are both listed in the ten largest cities of the world. Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru and other Latin American capitals cry out for a large number of additional missionary personnel. Because life in these large cities can be so complex, adaptation is extremely challenging, even more so than adapting to life in remote areas. We urgently need a generation of young missionary personnel who will dedicate the balance of their lives to ministering in these vast cities that have millions of people.

While there is a need for the cities, yes, there is still a great need in the remote tribal regions that still exist in South America. At the moment, our tribal outreach in Southern Venezuela offers ample opportunity for the hearty missionary who is not afraid of committing himself to a life of sacrifice and hardship so that Indians in the dark Amazonian jungle can hear the story of salvation. The present outreach with the Yekwana Indians has resulted in a need to initiate an aviation ministry to help us expand our outreach to scores of unreached villages. A medical ministry is also needed to help us maintain healthy missionary personnel and minister to Indians who are plagued with tropical disease. Just as Jesus regularly ministered to the physical needs of the people in His day, which in turn opened doors for spiritual work, we are looking for those medical and health personnel who are willing to give up a lucrative salary and lifestyle in their homeland and use their skills to assist the missionary effort in South America.

As in each field where BIMI ministers, evangelism and church planting are essential. Our Missionaries are fulfilling these ministries in nine of the thirteen countries in South America. As a result, today there are churches in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela.

This has been and continues to be the goal of our missionary activity. Churches in Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia that were started 25 - 35 years ago are now under stable national pastoral leadership. These churches fulfill their obligations in supporting other pastors. Then, as a result of proper Bible teaching on evangelism and the fulfillment of the Great Commission, many of these churches support other Latin American missionary personnel which is evidence of a church that has grown to reproductive maturity.

It is exciting to observe the Faith Promise commitments of the members of “Star of Bethlehem Baptist Church” in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, each year as they celebrate their annual mission conference. Although poor themselves, their faith and commitment as Christians motivate them to be a church that actively participates in worldwide evangelism, much like the churches of Macedonia that Paul gives testimony of in I Corinthians chapter eight.

Bible Schools have been started in many of these countries thus enabling our missionaries to effectively train national leadership to occupy ministry positions. Often times the nationals dedicate themselves to ministry training at great sacrifice, yet the end results make this ministry highly rewarding. Additional missionary help is needed in regard to these ministries. If you feel God leading you into this type of ministry, please contact us concerning more information on specific ministry possibilities.

Camp ministries have also been highly effective in South America. These camp ministries are not just summer opportunities, rather ministry opportunities that are carried out in each month of the year. Through the sacrificial giving of many, God has provided for two large camps in Venezuela and Bolivia. The camp in Bolivia has been completed while the camp in Venezuela is still in the developmental stages and can use your help if you or your church group would like to organize a work group to help out in these strategic ministries.

Deaf ministries have been started in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. The longest running BIMI deaf ministry in Latin America is in Peru. Through the efforts of the missionaries committed to reaching the deaf, several deaf churches have been started which now function with their own deaf pastors. Efata, a large deaf school in Lima, educates and evangelizes over 100 deaf boys and girls. The same pattern is being established in Ecuador in the thriving deaf ministry that has been started there.

Radio stations have been established in several remote towns in the Andes Mountains of Peru, which in turn reach thousands of mountain people who would never be reached by individual missionary personnel. This highly effective ministry can be expanded if we have the personnel that will give their lives to such a task.

Literature distribution ministries have been very effective in every field where we have missionaries. From Gospel distributions to discipleship ministries, the use of literature has proven to be one of the most effective tools for any missionary in any Latin country.

We praise the Lord that at this time every country in South America is open to missionary activity. We invite you to partner with us in striving to reach our goal of adding 30 additional families to our missionary presence in South America during this new decade.

Someone gave...A Life was saved

When Clint and Rita Vernoy went to Chajudana to work deep in the Venezuelan jungle with the Yekwana Indians, they went without any contact with the outside world. It soon became apparent that they needed a Ham radio. We raised the funds so that this purchase could be made.

Clint installed his ham radio and antenna on a Friday. Early Sunday morning, a young Indian girl in labor could not deliver her baby because it was in a breech position. She and the little baby would soon die without medical intervention. Clint used his newly installed radio to call for an emergency medical flight by MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) personnel. A few hours later the young Indian girl arrived at a clinic where Venezuela doctors performed an emergency C-section. As you can see in the photo, both the young Indian mother and child are alive today because someone gave so that a missionary could have an important piece of equipment.

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