When Jesus commissioned His disciples to go to the ends of the earth with the gospel, He told them that they had to begin right where they were—at home. Things haven’t changed in the two millennia since He spoke those directives—if we are going to teach all nations, we have to also include our own. In fact, one of Delron’s earliest memories is a discussion with his mother about his feeling that he might someday be a missionary. His mother’s wise response was that he would have to begin at home first. Even though he had that wise counsel as a foundation, his heart was always so oriented to the nations that he actually got angry when a prophet once spoke over him that he was to have a significant impact on America. Yet, the United States of America is a nation and is therefore included among the “all” nations we were directed to teach.
Actually, we have been actively involved in ministering to our own country all our Christian lives. Delron recalls that he began serving as a children’s church leader as soon as he graduated from children’s church himself and that he served as a Sunday school teacher and youth leader through his high school years and was actually teaching the adult Sunday school class by the time he was in college. While in college, he helped found the Full Gospel Student Fellowship, a ministry that soon spread from his alma mater of North Carolina State University to an additional twenty-one other secular college campuses. Upon graduation, he gave two years of full-time service to travel to these various campuses to teach Bible studies and to lead conferences for the college students. Eventually, he entered South Eastern Baptist Seminary where was able to help birth a charismatic prayer and Bible study fellowship.
After completing his seminary education, he was chosen as dean of Dr. Lester Sumrall’s World Harvest Bible College, which later became Indiana Christian University. Over the twenty-five years that he held that position, Delron also assisted Dr. Sumrall with researching and editing of his books and as associate pastor of the church that Dr. Sumrall pastored as well as fulfilling his roles as teacher and administrator of the Bible school. Later, he joined Dr. Sumrall’s son, Stephen, as he founded his own ministry. In this new position, Delron served as associate pastor and director of the ministerial fellowship.
Since relocating to Colorado, Delron has become active in two ministries based in the city—Charis Bible College and Every home for Christ. At Charis, he teaches several classes each term in addition to assisting with the school’s missions program by leading several student mission teams each year on shirt-term missions to Europe and Latin America. At Every Home for Christ, he is assisting in developing new discipleship curriculum and in training the EHC leaders in nations around the world.
Peggy has also had an active ministry including leading ladies’ cell groups both in Indiana and in Colorado and directing the Women’s Care-N-Share ministry at our church in Indiana. She has also taken an active role in prison ministry both in Indiana and in Colorado. In addition, she taught at the World Harvest Bible College and Indiana Christian University and is now serving as an adjunct faculty member at Charis Bible College. She also speaks at women’s conferences across the country in addition to hosting her own annual Daughters of Destiny conference in Colorado Springs. Her Women for the Harvest book has proven to be a tool for transforming women’s lives and thrusting them into new dimensions of ministry.
Jeremy, our youngest son, serves as head of our Media Resources Department, with responsibilities including designing our book covers, producing documentary videos of the ministry, and overseeing the production of books, CDs, and DVDs. He also assists with managing the website. In addition to his work for Teach All nations, Jeremy has also shown great spiritual leadership at school where he served as a member of the Senate and a leader of the Men’s ministry.
When Delron was in Niger, the top Christian leaders told me that they didn’t want him to come back and hold future seminars. You can imagine how that made him feel–until they finished their sentence, “until we can find a way to get your materials into print for our pastors.” One of the most significant functions of our ministry while at home in the States is the continuation of the publishing ministry. TAN’s literature ministry is beginning to have an international impact as illustrated in a letter from a pastor in Kenya who received some teaching manuals, “Indeed, I am amazed by the great insight God has given you as I go through this material. You have indeed shared with me although we are far from one another. May God continue to identify with you in all good undertakings.” When a brother in Nigeria ordered materials, Delron offered to bring them to him on my next visit to the country. However, he wanted them shipped rather than having to wait for next year’s conference. When Delron explained that the shipping would equal to the cost of the materials, the gentleman responded that he was willing to pay for the postage and even asked for priority shipping so he wouldn’t have to wait to get his materials.
Top leaders in Nepal have asked that the messages from the recent pastors’ conference be transcribed and released as a book in Nepali. Even though we were able to bless over a thousand pastors and leaders in the conferences on this mission, we are still just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of the many pastors and leaders whom will be reached by the printed version of these lessons. Because of the scarcity of biblical teaching materials in Nepali, the available materials are highly treasured and are shared widely among the leaders. About half a dozen Nepali titles are already in circulation in the country. When Delron was in South Africa, one of the Christian leaders from Burundi requested permission to translate and print some of Delron’s books in his mother tongue as well as in French which is spoke throughout much of central Africa. Presently, translation work is in progress in Spanish, Hindi, Thai, Burmese, Portuguese, Sinhala, and Tamil as well as additional work in Nepali. In addition to the translation work that is currently in progress, Delron’s articles are featured in a monthly English-language Christian magazine in Sri Lanka and in a Taegu magazine in India. God had given us wonderful opportunities to constantly teach all nations through the printed page even when we do not leave Colorado!
One cost-effective tool that the Lord has given us is the use of Internet to communicate the gospel without the cost of airline tickets or even printing. We encourage you to visit the site each month to read the monthly lesson, check out our reports on recent missions, and find our travel schedule so you can pray for us during our trips. Here’s a comment from one of our visitors, “I just read today’s article, and I have a smile the size of Texas on my face right now.”
One other area of our States-side ministry involves raising finances to support special projects in areas where we do missionary work—such as our scholarship fund that helps upcoming leaders to get good solid Christian educations and the building program that has helped to build Christian schools in Zimbabwe and Nepal.
