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by Alan Bradley
When a person is serving in his local church
and the Lord calls him to be a missionary, as
great as that is, it can be quite a scary thing.

He may think on one hand, “God
has given me a direction for my life,”
but then on the other hand he may
think “Which way should I go?” I
remember long conversations with
God, trying to convince Him to use
someone else and to just let me serve
in my local church. “God, I have a
good job and I am happy here!” This
went on for a year. For one miserable
year, I said, “Not so, LORD.” Well, I
guess it was more like “Not so, lord.”
Then one day I remember reading Proverbs
3:5–6: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths. From that point forward it
was no longer “Not so, lord,” but it was “What’s
next, LORD?”
My wife and I began to meet with our pastor
and pray about what our next steps were to
be after surrendering to the call to missions.

We also met with a couple of very well trusted
men of God—men who had much to do with
missions. We decided through prayer and
counsel that Bible college was a good place
to start. We began to pray about what to do
concerning a mission board. I met with men
from three different boards and began to seek
God’s guidance. Time and time again He laid
Baptist International Missions, Inc. (BIMI),
on our hearts. I could not count it more of a
blessing that He did. Allow me to share with
you some of the reasons why we believe God
wanted us to partner with BIMI.

28 BIMI has a proven track record. We are
brand new to missions. We have never been
to a mission field and never planted a church.

We did not want our mission board
to learn with us as we learned from
the field. The Lord used a veteran
missionary sent from our sending
church to remind us of the rich
heritage that BIMI has had over the
last 60 years. With the combined
God-given wisdom of the leadership
of BIMI, we just knew that God had
done some great things in their lives
and we wanted them to share those
experiences with us. We wanted
them to come alongside us through the tough
times of deputation and on the field. God has
not failed us in this regard. Everyone at BIMI
has been so encouraging—all the leadership
and the other missionaries. We are blessed to
be a part of an amazing missionary family.

BIMI has a passion to plant churches. We
believe that the way we will see this country
and the world turn to God will be through local
New Testament Baptist church plants. This is a
vision that is shared with BIMI. BIMI mainly
partners with missionaries who are church
planters. We believe that scripturally the way
that we saw God use the Apostle Paul to model
modern missions is through church planting.

With thousands of missionaries on the field
through the years and with so many churches
planted and so many won to the Lord, we knew
we wanted to be a part of the BIMI Church
Planting heritage.

BIMI has promised to remain faithful. We
live in a day when so many church leaders are
trying to change the way “church looks,” to



bring in a new crowd. Sometimes these leaders
will compromise on their doctrinal stances
to keep some of that new crowd coming each
week. We wanted a board that would not
only hold us accountable but also would be
held accountable themselves when it comes
to compromise. Many things about the local
church are not scriptural and can be changed
with the blink of an eye. Puzzling enough, it
is those things that often cause the most issues
within a church. However, if someone starts
preaching a new gospel, we have an issue! BIMI
church planters are held accountable before
God and to the Mission for what they preach.

My standards are the same as BIMI’s: the Bible
version I use, if I have ever been divorced, how
we dress in and away from church, and the type
of music we listen to. These are all important
issues to us, and they are important to BIMI.

For us “Why BIMI?” was easy after seeking
the guidance of God. There were no concerns
with current practices and no doubts about
beliefs and convictions. Every missionary no
matter where he is geographically still adheres
to the same policies and the same doctrinal
statements and still serves the same God and
points to the same Jesus while walking in the
God-proven Old Paths. W
I absolutely love the fact that as a missionary
on deputation calling and emailing pastors,
once I tell them I am with BIMI, I have just
told them everything about me doctrinally.

Home with the Lord
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints (Psalm 116:15).

Roger Blevins
(68) went Home to be
with the Lord on Thursday, April
14, 2022. Roger and his wife, Kay,
joined BIMI in 1979 and served in
Spain until 1997. Roger established
a church and a Bible institute while
in Spain. In 1997, the Blevins
moved back to the United States
and worked with Hispanics near
Atlanta, Georgia. BIMI asked Roger to become
the South America Director in 2007. He served
in this capacity until 2020 when his Missionary
Status was changed to ARM (Assistance and
Relief Missionary).

In 2008, a tragic accident nearly took Roger’s
life. The doctors said he had “a less than one
percent chance of survival.” He miraculously
survived his injuries and continued to serve
the Lord but now from a wheelchair. When
many would have given up, Roger steadfastly
served his Lord, making trips to South
America to be an encouragement to the South
America missionaries. Please be praying for
the Blevins family.

William (Bill) Craig (73) went Home
to be with the Lord unexpectedly from a heart
attack on Thursday, February 24,
2022. Bill and his wife, Terry,
were approved as missionaries
with BIMI in July 1974. They
arrived in Japan in 1976 with
their two natural children. They
adopted their first child in 1978
and over the years, they adopted
20 children. Bill was committed to the Lord’s
leading and to the work in Japan. He and his
sons started several churches in the farming
communities. Theirs has been a unique
ministry in a place that is one of the most
difficult to minister.

Number 2, 2022
BIMI 29