Condensed from articles written by Debra Crawford

The temperature had already inched up to 110 degrees. It was only 8:00 in the morning, but the CLAIM team (Christian Laymen Assisting International Missionaries) had been up since 4:00 a.m. This was Papua New Guinea in January, and the team would work until about 11:00 a.m. when lunch would be served. The worst of the heat came after lunch, but the team would take a break until 4:00 p.m. and then begin work again.

As the name states, this team of workers were here to assist three missionary families.The Jim Stackhouse family, the Lewis Guthrie family and the Jim Staggs family are all involved in the ministry of Lae Baptist Bible College. The CLAIM team was building a dormitory for single male students at the college.

The college was started by BIMI missionary John Owens and has been operating for 15 years. For the first 14 years, classes were taught at Calvary Baptist Church in the evenings. In 1990 an old village chief, who had previously refused to sell his land to the missionaries because he did not want them in his village, donated 22 acres to Baptist International Missions, Inc., for the Bible College. The old village chief had received Christ. His gift demonstrated the change God had made in his heart. The only condition he set was that the missionaries build a Baptist church on the property. Thus Markham Valley Baptist Church was constructed. The church remained on the campus until 1993 when they relocated to adjacent property.

Presently, on the campus compound, there is a three room classroom building, a cook house, three duplexes for married students and their families, the staff carpenter’s house, two missionary homes, a dormitory for single male students, a small house that had been started for the campus caretaker and a sawmill. In 1997 the first classes were taught on the new campus. The construction plans for the near future are to build a staff house and close in the bottom for dorms for single female students. Also it is planned to close in the area under the classrooms to provide space for a library and recreation room. Our team poured the footers for a third missionary home which the staff carpenter will be working on soon. There is still plenty of room on the property for future growth.

All of the teachers for the college are volunteer missionaries and pastors. The average attendance per year is about 60 students. Over the 15 years the college has been in existence, 99 students have graduated. Many of them are now pastoring churches. Some have gone back to the remote islands around the mainland and some into the bush and highlands. Most of the women graduates are now pastor’s wives and Sunday School teachers.

The school year runs from February through November with a break in June. The classes are held in the morning, and the students do work on the college campus in the afternoons in order to earn money to buy food, which they cook in the cookhouse on campus. Most of the students are extremely poor. Many do not own a Bible and cannot afford to buy books. The missionaries make copies of the pages of the books so that the students will have the material to study.

Papua New Guinea is not conducive to evangelism as it is a very mountainous country, and there are very few roads outside of the cities. The capital city of Port Moresby, for example, only has roads that extend approximately 20 miles outside of the city. From the city of Lae, the second largest in the country, there is only one road that leads to the highlands. There are many tribes in the bush and in the highlands that still live a very primitive lifestyle. As a result of the terrain and the poverty, transportation is a major problem. Consequently, some of the churches hold their morning service, take about a 15-minute break, and then have a second service because the people would not be able to go home and return for an evening service. Some of them have to walk for miles to get to church.

Lae Baptist Bible College is of utmost importance to the evangelizing of the entire nation of Papua New Guinea, as many of the students come from the outlying islands and the bush. After graduation, most of them return to their home villages to preach and teach the Gospel. Evangelism and discipleship are taught both in the churches and the Bible College. When tracts are available, they hand out up to 20,000 a month.

Crime is very prevalent in the cities. The criminals are called “rascals.” There are often uprisings and riots in the cities and on some of the surrounding islands. Police use armor-piercing bullets that penetrate walls to quell these rascals.

There are six churches in Papua New Guinea that have been started by BIMI missionaries. Some of the missionaries involved in establishing these churches are no longer in Papua New Guinea, but the churches are still thriving. Collectively, they facilitate approximately 1,000 members.

Calvary Baptist Church is located in the town of Lae. John Owens established it over 20 years ago. He also started the Lae Baptist Bible College. Victory Baptist Church is also located in Lae and was started by Missionary Lewis Guthrie 16 years ago. Gabensis Baptist Fellowship is located in a little mountain village of the same name. It is a new church, but God is working there. Jim and Carol Stackhouse started this church, and all of the members were saved under their ministry. All of these churches now have national pastors or are moving in that direction.

With the proper facilities at the college, more students can be accommodated. This will result in more pastors, teachers, pastor’s wives, and Sunday School teachers being trained to reach their own people that the work of God can be multiplied in Papua New Guinea.

Lewis and Shirley Guthrie have been in Papua New Guinea for 16 years. All of their children are grown. They have recently adopted two national girls whose parents died when they were very young. The girls are 13 and 11.

Jim and Carol Stackhouse have been in Papua New Guinea for ten years. They have five children, three of whom live with them in Lae. Jim is the president of the Bible College.

Jim and Nancy Staggs have been in Papua New Guinea for about three years but have been in Lae for only one year. They also have five children.

Debra Crawford was a part of this CLAIM team. She has completed Candidate School and is on deputation to return to Papua New Guinea.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

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.

Richard & Elizabeth Conrad -  JAPAN
David & Marilyn Cook -  USA
Douglas & Michelle Cook Jr -  MILITARY - GERMANY