Deserving of Reward
It is our distinct privilege to publicly honor our missionaries who have reached certain significant milestones in their ministry. During the 2023 May Fellowship meeting, the following were awarded:
30-year award
Rex and Jan Harmon
Rex and Jan Harmon were approved as BBFI Missionaries to the field of Jamaica in September 1993 and are sent by the New Heights Baptist Church in Tulsa, OK.
According to the Harmons: When God called us to Jamaica, we never dreamed it would be so much less than the paradise we expected. Quoting Amy Carmichael, “It was not what we would choose, but it is indeed the best that God could choose for us.” God opened the door for us to serve Him in one of the worst areas of the capitol city of Kingston. God has taken great care of us through many challenges, and we have complete trust in His ability to continue to care for us. We love to share what God is doing, because it honors and glorifies Him. We believe God’s people should realize the wonder working God of the Bible is still working wonders today. We are thankful for all the churches that we are serving our Lord within Jamaica.
Don and Kathy Mingo
“When looking back over our thirty years of missionary service, several words come to mind; obedience, adventure, suffering, redirection, and gratitude. Obedience in following God’s leading in our lives regardless of the hardships. Missionary life is also daring and adventurous. From Hiking the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, to viewing wildlife in Africa, or sipping a cup of tea in India as a caravan of elephants pass by, missionary life gave us adventure that few experience; the greatest adventure being that of leading someone to Christ. Suffering, however, marked and continues in our journey. Even now, we’re learning to view our sufferings through the reflection of Christ’s Cross, learning that by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53
Redirection also describes our missionary ministry. Many times, God’s redirection proved quite interrupting to our lives. God has a way of doing that, you know. From the United States to twenty-plus years in South Africa, to pastor in Northern Minnesota, and then back to BBFI Missions as Missionaries to our Missionaries, our lives have many turns. Obedience, adventure, suffering, and redirection mark our lives, but there’s one more word, and that is gratitude. Kathy and I are grateful to those who told us about Jesus. For those who’ve assisted, supported, and loved us over the years. Most of all, we are grateful to God, our Heavenly Father, for to Him goes all the praise, honor, and glory for anything and everything accomplished in our lives.”
Arlen and Lana Payne
Arlen and Lana Payne were both saved at a young age. They met in the cafeteria at Baptist Bible College and married at Cherry Street Baptist Church in 1973. They graduated together from Baptist Bible College in 1974.
After teaching in Christian Schools for 15 years, Arlen and Lana were called to minister to the Seminole Indians in 1990. They were approved as full-time BBFI missionaries at the May Fellowship meeting in 1993. Their sending church was First Baptist Church of West Hollywood, now known as Hollywood Community Church.
Their first work was at the Hollywood Seminole Reservation where Bro. Payne became the Pastor of a Seminole church that had fewer than 10 in attendance. After 15 years, the church had grown to 100 people, was debt free and had a new building. The church was turned over to a Native American Pastor. In 2005 they moved to the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation located in the Florida Everglades where they are currently serving.
Paul and Chelli Sudbrock
Paul & Chelli were approved as BBFI missionaries to Germany in May 1993. According to Chelli: In 1995 we arrived in southern Germany and began learning the language. We spent several years learning from other missionaries and filling in for them so that they could take much-needed furloughs. In 1998 we moved to Wittenberg and began helping missionaries in Berlin while holding Bible studies in our apartment. In 2003 God gave us a church building and we have been blessed to be able to serve there ever since. In an effort to be all things to all men so that he might see them have a personal relationship with Christ, Paul has coached baseball, learned to play the guitar, taught German as a Second language to refugees, shuttled teens and refugees to meetings and appointments, been camp counselor, school chaplain, and field trip advisor. He has taught shop class, visited people in nursing homes, hospitals and orphanages, helped people build homes, barns, and cars, filled sandbags and scooped water out of basements. We have been on call for the German heart for the past three decades and now as we enter the empty nester phase of our lives, we are not cutting back on ministries, but rather expanding and opening new doors to mentoring and coaching other missionaries and German Christian workers. We are excited to be able to open our hearts and home to full-time Christian workers in need of a listening ear and some rest. Our hope is that by investing in the next generation of German laborers, the Gospel will continue to be proclaimed here long after we are gone. Here we stand and we plan to continue doing so for as long as the Lord will allow.
50-year award
Jerry and Sherry Daniels
Jerry & Sherry are 1971 graduates of Baptist Bible College. The Daniels were approved as BBFI missionaries to Kenya in May of 1972 and arrived in Nairobi Kenya, January 24, 1974.
Their three years in Western Kenya saw great blessings from the Lord in that they were able to start six churches, and a Bible Institute with a dozen pastoral students. After their first furlough, they moved to Nanyuki, a key town in North-Central Kenya. God richly blessed the ministry in this area over the next 45 years with almost 200 churches planted, a Bible College with six satellite campuses, orphan ministries, and four Christian schools. The Bible Institute has grown with a current enrollment of over 280 students. Many of the graduates are pastoring churches and evangelizing remote areas of the country.
“It’s almost a cliché to say that all the blessings in one’s ministry are due to God’s amazing power and for His glory. But, in our case it is especially true because we have always viewed ourselves as rather ordinary missionaries, who arrived in Kenya at the beginning of a great harvest time of souls.”
