Lottie Moon Offering Blesses Ohio Missionaries, Spreads the Gospel

My wife Barbara and I became missionaries with the International Mission Board (IMB) over 34 years ago in Benin, a French speaking West African country. Benin is known as the birthplace of voodoo and its 54 people groups desperately need to know the Creator God, Jesus Christ. We were privileged to see scores of churches planted and thousands come to Christ once they heard and embraced the gospel.

During the first five years of our ministry in Benin we were working with a handful of Baptist churches helping them establish a student ministry because over 50% of the country was under the age of 25. 

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) helped us provide student retreats and camps which resulted in churches being planted. National partner leaders were mentored and discipled to lead that work which allowed us to see where we should serve the Lord next in Benin. 

My family and I began praying about which unengaged and unreached people group we should target for church planting. The Ayizo people, numbering about 400,000 with little to no evangelical churches, was where we sensed the Lord’s direction to go.

On a vision trip among the Ayizo, I encountered a man who stepped out of his mud hut, thatched roof dwelling. I told him we were there to tell him about the Creator God. His response stunned me. He said, “We know there is a God, we know that he has a plan for our lives, but we just don't know who he is.”  

That was the invitation I was looking for. Who else would go and tell these people that there is a God that loves them, a God of whom they had never heard? Many were won to Christ and churches were planted but still there were scores of other people groups that needed the gospel.

We received an invitation to travel several hours north of where we lived to work with our partners to reach another people group. One day we had our LMCO vehicle loaded with volunteers and local Baptist partners as we sought to reach a remote village and another unreached people group. As we traveled down the red clay, dusty road we saw a man with a machete in his hand running towards us through the tall corn fields. When I saw him chasing us, I was a little anxious, but Barbara said, “No, we need to stop and see what he wants.”

He had seen the “Baptist Mission” sign on the side of the truck and asked if we could come to his village to start a church. We found out that he was not a believer. 

One of our partners accepted the challenge to return with him to his village and led him and seven family members to Christ. Once again God was gracious, and a church was planted. That happened simply because we had been provided with a vehicle through LMCO and were in a place where God had prepared someone to hear the gospel. 

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering continues to have a huge impact on missionaries serving with the IMB and on me and my family personally. Your giving allows us to serve the Lord without wondering how we can carry out the ministry that the Lord has given us.

There are still people groups, villages, and countries with little or no access to the gospel and your giving provides Southern Baptist missionaries with all the resources required to learn a language, have a home, use transportation, and share the good news with people who have never heard. Please continue to give so that others may hear.

Editor’s Note: - IMB Missionaries Jeff and Barbara SIngerman call Ohio home. They recently retired from the IMB after more than thirty years on the field. They are members of First Baptist Church, Kettering.

Learn more about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering by visiting imb.org/LMCO