To most, accidentally swallowing a penny doesn’t seem to be consequential, but to Craig Lingo, at the tender young age of five, he feared it could lead to his death, so he wanted to prepare for eternity before going to bed that night. After telling his father about it, without finding consolation, Craig felt it was time to put his trust and faith in Christ as his Savior since he had considered the idea for several weeks. Soon thereafter, his parents, Joe and Alta Mae Lingo, who had been actively serving in the church, felt the call to the mission field and surrendered their life to serving in Chile.  Craig and his four siblings spent most of their upbringing involving themselves in the ministry. Craig preached his first sermon at age thirteen but didn’t feel his own personal call until as a junior in high school when Lavon Waters, missionary from Uruguay, preached a revival in Chile. Having fully surrendered his life to be used by God, he soon entered Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO in 1966.

Fran, who also grew up in a Christian home, attended Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, MI with her family. Being too timid at age eight to publicly acknowledge her need for a Savior, she accepted an invitation from a friend to attend a VBS at her church where she went forward and received Christ into her heart.  Right away she felt the desire to tell others and went home and told her younger brother all about it who then experienced his own salvation the next day. At age 15, during youth camp, she knew God wanted all of her life and she surrendered to full-time service. In January of 1967, she entered Baptist Bible College where she completed the Missions Course and met and fell in love with Craig.  They were married in June of 1969. Upon their graduation in 1970, they moved to Lufkin, TX working under W.W. Luster at Central Baptist Church to start a Spanish work.

Upon completion of their internship, and with a burden for Colombia, they were approved in 1971 as the only BBFI missionaries, at the time, to the field of Colombia. When they first arrived on the field in 1973, the country was 98% Roman Catholic. There were many challenges during their first term, as they knew no one, yet they started from scratch the first Independent Baptist Church in Bogota, helped form the legally recognized Association for Independent Baptist missionaries, directed the newly formed Bible Institute, and assisted in starting another church by providing families from their own church.

Colombia has never had a time during the last 100+ years that it wasn’t dangerous to be there. Craig and Fran encountered their first experience with terrorism when, in 1975, a car bomb went off about one and a half blocks from their church.  When they realized that no damage had been done to the church building, while other neighbors were left with sweeping up glass, they knew God’s hand of protection was on them. Craig’s conclusion was — If God does not open a door for you to walk through, then you better not leave the place He has called you to. There was never anything (that occurred) that made sense compared to the calling they had.

During their second term, Craig took on additional responsibilities translating and publishing Sunday School materials into Spanish all while personal trials grew as well.  Losing what would have been their only daughter Elizabeth at three days old due to a congenital heart defect, which would be their first personal heartache that God would later use in their ministry, they were prompted to take an extended health furlough during which Craig taught missions for one year at BBC.

In 1985, God enabled them to return to the field for their third term where they assumed responsibility for a small group of believers in La Castellana, a suburb of Bogota. The Lingos saw many blessings as this group went on to establish a strong Baptist church. He purchased and renovated property for the church, developed discipleship ministries, was active in leading the Independent Baptist Association of Colombia, encouraged and counselled national pastors, and purchased a farm with plans to develop it into a camp. Yet the trials flourished as well with a significant rise in extreme violence in Colombia during a time when many lives were in danger. Craig wrote of those times:

“In the late 1980s, Pablo Escobar and a group of drug lords called Los Extraditables issued a threat to kill five Americans for every person extradited to the United States. Mission agencies called their missionaries and many boarded flights out of the country. People were praying for us, and since we felt no direct threat, we decided to stay in Colombia. As I headed home from driving a missionary friend to the airport, I asked myself, ‘Craig, are you doing the right thing?’ Just then, the cassette I put in the radio began playing Amy Grant’s ‘Angels Watching Over Me.’ Immediately God’s peace flooded my heart! When I memorized Philippians 4:6-7 in my Sunday school class as a six-year-old boy, I had no idea how helpful those verses would become all these years later! After the drug cartels came the guerrillas and the paramilitary organizations. We (as a country) have never known peace!”

However, while the country was dealing with the warring factions, Craig also told the story of when a paramilitary group came to their camp with the intent to set up base camp operations. The military leaders were boldly told that they would need to leave as that area had been (self) declared as a neutral zone. To defy ruthless leaders like this would normally have invoked certain death and harm yet through God’s protection, the military group left.

During a severe drought in the country, Craig provided to the villagers free water taken from the well that had been drilled on the camp property. Others were fleecing residents by charging for their water, but Craig and his coworkers gave free water even to those who had been part of the communist party. A few years later, when other pastors around were being killed, Craig sensed God’s protection around them. He later learned that God had used the head guerilla leader to declare their camp a safe zone because they had given them water.

In late 2000, the Lingo’s prayer letter included this message:

“About three weeks ago a radio message from one of the guerrilla commanders was intercepted. According to the news, he stated to the regional commanders that evangelical pastors were a threat to the guerrillas because they were infiltrating their ranks and there were guerrillas who were deserting. He declared that the message they preached was incompatible with their revolutionary doctrine and therefore they should be considered military objectives. Since that time, we have received information that pastors in the northern part of the country have been driven out of their churches and that it is forbidden for them to meet even in homes. These are difficult times here. However, there is a bright side to all of this. It would be a terrible tragedy if our message had no effect. The fact that the gospel is a threat, even to the extent that they feel like we must be silenced, is one of the greatest proofs of its power. What military might nor peace processes cannot do, the gospel can. We have stated all along that Colombia’s only hope is the transforming power of Jesus Christ! Please pray that God will fill all of us with holy boldness even in the face of threats like these.”

When the first Bible Institute graduates received their diplomas, Craig and Fran felt like they were finally reaping what had been sown for many years. They often began using the term “this is a God thing” to describe the many challenges they faced which would require God’s hand in seeing them accomplished. “Cartel bombings, random murders in the neighborhoods where we lived, the kidnapping and assassination of fellow missionaries by guerrillas, a child in our church catching a stray bullet while playing in the park” all became common occurrences. The Lingos knew they could not teach their people to be brave and faithful if they themselves left at the first sign of danger. “The message you give with your life is stronger than what you say,” Craig would assert.

That message was embraced by a young man named Jonathan. One Sunday while Jonathan was going home from church, he encountered three members of his former gang. They were high on drugs and began beating him leaving him with a stay in the hospital from two stab wounds. The following Wednesday, though he was in great pain, he came to their first planning session for the upcoming evangelistic camps. “He went from being a gang member, to believer, to volunteer, to suffering persecution for the gospel’s sake. That is quite a journey for a young man whose life had no direction, nor any place to belong, less than a year ago.”

Cultural challenges there in Colombia were met with biblical foundations such as the need to train men for scriptural leadership within their home as opposed to Latin America’s matriarchal dominance. Common law marriage was prevalent with more than 40% of all couples living together. Yet within their church, a high value was placed on marriage when Colombians saw the difference Christ made in their lives.

After two unsuccessful attempts at launching a training program for new national pastors, an apprentice program was developed where their churches would select the best candidates to go through the program with the church paying half their salary. The remainder of their salary was covered by scholarship funds which Craig raised with the help of BBFI churches. To prevent the students from forming a dependency over the course of two years while the candidates finished college, the money given through BBFI decreased as the Colombian churches were able to increase their support until they were able to support them as a full-time pastor.

Craig was convinced that in order to see real fruit, he had to target the next generation of youth. Youth camp every year was a productive place where those in the apprenticeship and discipleship programs could gain practical experience. Craig’s goal was to see at least 20 men trained as national pastors before they completed their mission in Bogota. But camp efforts went into overdrive when in 2004 the Rawlings Foundation purchased property in Colombia to develop a youth camp. Craig and his team of 17 churches hosted as many as 11 events (with over half of them being evangelistic) at the camp sharing the good news of Christ with over 5,000 campers and 1,400 volunteers in one year. The results have been a ‘God thing’ with as many as 9,000 souls being saved over recent years.

During one of the first evangelistic camps that were held, they had 336 lost campers in attendance. “They were very rowdy, especially the guys. No matter how hard we tried to screen for drugs, they managed to slip some through. So we had to deal with several cases of substance abuse, theft and gang fights. On the opening night it was pretty obvious that there was very little interest in the message and some kids were pretty difficult to control and only 40 kids made professions of faith. God drove us to our knees! When a person would walk through different areas of the camp, he would find groups of volunteers on their knees begging God for a breakthrough.

Before the evening service on Sunday (the final night), the camp director called for a special meeting. We set in place contingency plans to deal with those who were disruptive. When the service started, it was obvious that there was a completely different atmosphere. God took over and no contingency plans were needed! When the invitation was given, many young people raised their hands for salvation. After the counselors dealt with them, 95 had accepted Christ! It was a pretty amazing turnaround, which goes to prove that the battle we fight is not against flesh and blood, but against all of the forces of darkness!”

Craig was known to say, “God often does more work in us than through us.” That challenge to remain faithful never took on a more personal perspective than when Craig was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a disease which is not easily detected, yet turned up during an evaluation for another health matter. But as he had done many times before, Craig knew the best approach was to get alone with God and earnestly seek His direction and peace knowing that God would work all things together for his good. Thankfully after a six-month rigorous treatment, the cancer went into remission. Upon the oncologist’s declaration that he was “in the clear”, they quickly made plans to return to Colombia and the people they love.

Just prior to leaving America, Craig and Fran were awarded a 50-year globe award from the BBFI to commemorate their faithful service. Fran would later declare that “these 50 years of service have not been about the faithfulness of Craig and Fran. It has always been about HIS faithfulness.”

Craig and Fran soon learned that God had other plans. Due to a weakened immune system, Craig was unable to recover from an illness of Covid pneumonia and passed away July 18, 2021. Craig saw most all of his life and ministry goals fulfilled, seeing 120 (instead of 20) go through Training, as well as his desire to die and be buried in Colombia where his heart remained. Fran, being supported and cared for by her loving church family, desired to stay there as a BBFI missionary and “continue to serve the same God who has been so faithful to me for so many years.” Fran still finds great joy in being a part of the teaching staff at the Training and Discipleship School where she can counsel and invest in those who are coming along behind her.

God has accomplished thus far in Colombia through the ministry of Craig and Fran (in sequential order):

• An established eight-week Discipleship course for new believers
• A four-month Academy to teach basic doctrines for volunteers
• A four-year Bible Institute for those wanting to go into ministry
• An Apprenticeship program which prepares Institute graduates for pastoral ministry

Fran still clings to their life verse which has been proven throughout their ministry:

“Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1 Thess 5:24

-by Jill Wolf