ABWE VIP's -
Where are they now?
(Excerpts from letters written by VIP's themselves.)
VIP's: These initials usually stand for very important people.
They also stand for Very Involved People, which is accurate for
the VIP's on these pages: former career missionaries who have retired
from active ministry with ABWE.
Retired? Don't think rocking chairs and shuffleboard. Where are
these VIP's now?
- Dick and Cathy Durham. Dick joined ABWE in
1953 appointed first to India, then to East Pakistan. Unable
to gain entry into either
of those countries, Dick and his family detoured to the Philippines,
where they stayed on. Dick eventually became the president of
the Baptist Bible Seminary and Institute in Tay Tay, outside
Manila.
Cathy taught and served as the Dean of Women. In recent years
the Durhams have served in various capacities at Cedarville College.
But when word came that a host and hostess were needed at Doane
Rest in Baguio, they signed on for extended Short Term service
in the Philippines.
- Link and Lenore Nelson. This doctor and nurse
couple spent 35
years in the Philippines, mostly at the hospital they helped
start in
Malaybalay. Since "retiring" 10 years ago, the Nelsons
have made 14 short-term trips to Africa, Asia, and South America,
filling in for ABWE doctors on furlough ministries. Five of the
14 trips were to Link and Lenore's "home field" in
the Philippines.
- Jackson and Thelma Moore, who spent from 1959
to 1994 in Brazil, now have outreach ministries to both Spanish
and Portuguese speakers
in Winston-Salem, NC. Jackson witnesses to Spanish speaking residents
in a local mobile home park. Thelma led a woman from São
Paulo to Christ through the Won By One correspondence course,
leads a group in praying for MK's, and has extensive contact
with families
learning English as a second language through her substitute
teaching in the local school system.
- Mel and Romilda Cuthbert's career
with ABWE began in Brazil, migrated to an administrative position
in the ABWE office, and
now includes
international interim pastoral service. Since "retiring" in
1993, Mel has pastored two congregations in his homeland of Canada,
another in Portugal, and is currently serving at the Tyndale
Baptist Fellowship in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol, England
until June
1999. Sunday services for this church are held in the Doddington
Parish Hall where the chairs, pulpit, sound equipment and other
supplies have to be set up each week. Prayer meeting is held
in Tyndale Chapel, built in 1890, where one of Spurgeon's preacher
boys pastored. This summer, a Holiday Bible Club met at the chapel
and in four tents to accomodate the 130 children who attended.
Near the chapel is the church where William Tyndale preached
in
the early 1500's while he translated the Scriptures into English.
- Sophie Jenista and her late husband Frank
served with ABWE in the Philippines, Australia, and Papua New
Guinea until his
death
in
1984. Since that time, Sophie has made repeated trips to the
Far East, often speaking 50 times a month to seminary students,
Sunday
school teachers, and other leadership training groups. Her
outspoken witness to even casual acquaintances and fellow passengers
means
that Sophie is always surrounded by her mission field.
Many
former career missionaries are not able to go overseas, but
they certainly are not sitting idle at home. Like Ruth
Conant, they minister in nursing homes, day care centers,
and in Sunday
school. They teach English, participate in visitation, direct
VBS
and AWANA programs, sing in the choir, provide special music,
preach, lead Bible studies, sit on church committees, and
pray fervently
for the salvation of souls.
Each year at the Missionary Enrichment Conference the "retirees" put
on a special program under the direction of Frank Jertberg. Frank
and his wife Doris were missionaries in Brazil for 39 years. In
1991 Frank was appointed by the ABWE Board to head up a department
called Post-field Interpersonal Ministries (PIM). Under this department
is a network caring for missionaries who have retired from active
service with ABWE, career missionaries who resigned before retirement
age, and missionaries who once were with ABWE, but are now in other
ministries. Frank, and others working with him, keep in touch with
these people, pray for them, and help as needed.
In addition to their other service for the Lord, each year the
Post Field Interpersonal Ministries donate a gift to Pre-fielders
whose financial accounts need help. We thank the Lord for the legacy
of ABWE's retired missionaries and their ongoing ministries around
the world.
The VIP'S who attended the 1998 Missionary Enrichment Conference
sang the Spafford and Bliss hymn, "It is Well With My Soul," and
added this verse:
'Till then we shall work-there are millions of souls
Who wait for the message of light;
Press on! Do not faint! We shall all meet our goals,
For the Lord is our strength and our might.'
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