Episode 206

We’ve interviewed many missionaries in the Removing Barriers podcast, but today, we have the opportunity to interview a different kind. This missionary is not called to a specific country or to a specific group of people, but instead is called to minister to missionaries themselves. Dr. Bud Steadman joins us to discuss his missions board and his work as a missionary discipler. What does that mean? Well, listen in as we discover what he and his wife do, how they do it, and how their roles help shape the efforts of missionaries throughout the world.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, about four years ago, I became convinced that we needed the next generation of leadership, and we had the right guy in the wings. Dr. Ben Sinclair and he became our new executive director. My wife and I still very healthy, very strong as far as our ability to travel and minister and the board asked me to take a new position. Called missions mentor.

[Jay]

Thank you for tuning in to the Removing Barriers podcast. I’m Jay and I’m MCG. And we’re attempting to remove barriers, so we can all have a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

This is episode 206 of the Removing Barriers Podcast. And this is the 22nd in the series of “on the mission field”. And in this episode, we’ll be going on the mission field with missionary Bud Steadman. To. Well, you’ll find out.

Bro Steadman, it is a pleasure and welcome to the Removing Barriers podcasts.

[Bro. Steadman]

Thank you. It’s a great joy to be with you and excited about sharing a clear view of the cross. Love your theme.

[MCG]

Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for placing us in your busy schedule.

[Jay]

Hi, this is Jay. MCG and I would like for you to help us remove barriers by going to removingbarriers.net and subscribing to receive all things, removing barriers. If you’d like to take your efforts a bit further and help us keep the mics on, consider donating at removing barriers.net/donate, removing barriers. A clear view of the crop.

[MCG]

All right. Well, let’s start by learning a little bit about you. Tell us about yourself, your ministry, you’re calling whatever you feel comfortable sharing with the Internet.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, it’s a blessing to be able to tell what Christ has done in my life. I often tell folks that I was an unsaved descendant of the Scotch Irish of East Tennessee when, at the age of 10, I was invited to a vacation Bible school program at a local church. I heard the gospel and was wonderfully safe. I was from an unchurched background. My family didn’t go to church and so I wasn’t really raised in the things of the Lord. But I came to Christ and my teenage years had the opportunity to grow, though I was in a denominational church that was not very strong, and when I was in my senior year of high school, I discovered that I was a biblical fundamentalist and I left the denominational church and joined the Independent Baptist Church in our town there in Kingsport, TN. And then prepared to go away to Bible College to prepare for the ministry. And the Lord has allowed us to be since college and full-time gospel ministry for most of our adult lives. As a pastor, my wife and I serving in pastoral ministry and then for the last 16 years, we’ve been serving with Baptist World Mission. And it’s a joy to serve missionaries and to be involved in the Great Commission.

[MCG]

Yeah. Out of curiosity, how did you figure out you were a fundamentalist or whatever? Whatever term you used it?

[Jay]

That was my question. I was going to ask that.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, I had a full scholarship to a denominational college and I was in that denomination. I’ve been saved and brought up through that as of course not with my family being involved, but I had a pastor that was a good man and I found out that denominational college where I was headed for the ministry, that they had cigarette machines in the dormitories and it caused me to really question the issue of the holiness of that particular denomination. And through the scriptures I didn’t know what the word fundamental meant. I didn’t know what a separatist was, but through the scriptures I’ve discovered the importance of the holiness of God and being faithful to him. And I cried out to the Lord and the Lord directed me eventually to become an independent Baptist.

[MCG]

Alright, cool.

[Jay]

Now, in the introduction, MCG left us hanging in terms of where on the globe are you serving as a missionary? We’re going to give you the floor to explain what kind of missionary you are and what exactly you do as that type of missionary.

[Bro. Steadman]

Sure. Well, for many years I was a senior pastor. I pastored 2 churches, one in Raleigh, NC, and then one in South Bend IN and when I went to South Bend, I was there at Community Baptist Church for 13 years aboard at Baptist World, which is made-up of 32 pastors from around the country, asked me to join and be one of the board members. I did that and our board has about 300 adult missionaries serving in 51 countries and the function of the board members is to, you know, create policy, handle finances to serve supporters of the missionaries while we’re doing pastoral ministry. Of course, the mission agency had a home. Office and has a Home Office in Decatur, AL. And that’s where our executive director, who at the time was Doctor Fred Moritz, was serving and the staff there in the Home Office of about 15 folks who served the. Missionaries well during the time that I served on the board as a pastor, there were folks on the board that decided that I was the next guy. When Doctor Moritz retired. So about 18 years ago, they came to me and said we would like for you to be our next executive director. So I surrendered to that. Eventually, for 14 years, I was the executive director.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

Which basically meant for about 200 days a year. My wife and I were on the road preaching conferences, recruiting missionaries, helping churches with their missions, programs, and the other time I was in Decatur, AL, overseeing our office staff. Of the 15 people who are there, handling visas and finances, those kinds of things. Well, about four years ago, I became convinced that we needed the next generation of leadership. And we have the right guy in the wings. Doctor Ben Sinclair. And he became our new executive director. My wife and I still very healthy, very strong as far as our ability to travel and Minister and the board asked me to take a new position called Missions Mentor. And basically it’s the same thing that I did as the executive director for all those years, except in a non administrative role. So 200 plus days a year. We’re on the road preaching conferences, we visit missionaries on the foreign field at the request of our mission, we really do whatever is necessary. So I’m kind of a hybrid between an evangelist. And a missionary and a pastor, basically helping churches get their missionaries to the field and then helping those missionaries be successful on the field. That really is is. What we do?

[MCG]

Well, well, you say you got saved one year 10. Yes, I have learned that I should not ask the lady this, but since your gentleman, I can ask you this. How long has the Lord known you?

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, I am 71 so I have been saved for 61 years.

[MCG]

Wow.

[Bro. Steadman]

It was July of 1964 that I came to Christ, and it’s been a wonderful, wonderful time in my life. God led me by the hand through those years of difficulty. When I was in the denominational church and brought me to a position of being a biblical. And our ministry, I mean over the years has been wonderful. My college experience was wonderful. Pastoral Ministry was wonderful. We love doing what we’re doing. We have three adult children who are all three serving the Lord and six grandchildren who are being trained for Christ. So yeah, I was sharing with my son yesterday. He’s.

[MCG]

Amen.

[Bro. Steadman]

Just last weekend was voted in as the senior pastor of the Tri-City Baptist Church in Westminster, Co had been there eight years as an associate and I told him I said, you know. God saved a little boy that started smoking in Tennessee when he was 5, and that was me. I grew up in a rough background and God changed me and he’s still working in my life and it’s been a wonderful experience. But I reminded my son that even though he was raised in a Christian home, he had to be born again.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

In the same way, and the God has been changing him, and now he’s a very godly pastor, raising his sons for the Lord. So it’s just been wonderful serving the Lord that there is nothing greater in life than to know him and to make him known. And it’s a privilege.

[Jay]

Me, man. Let’s go back to your role as the missions mentor 200 days out of the year. You are on the road. You’re preaching at conferences, and you’re helping missionaries get to the field. You’re helping churches get their missionaries to the field, but you also visit the missionaries on the field and provide support. What kind of support do you provide for the missionaries when you visit them on the field?

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, when I was in an administrative role, our administrators at Baptist world are required to be on the field once every three years at least, with each of our missionaries. So each of the administrators have about 60 missionaries that they serve, and so that keeps them very active. And as the executive director, I was involved in that helping them regularly. We do several trips a year now. We go at the request of the administrators. We don’t take their place, but really it’s a two track experience. I tell folks that ministering to our missionaries is like the two rails of a train track. One rail is encouragement, the other one is accountability. And if you take either of those rails away, the train will not. So when we go to the field, we spend a lot of time loving the missionaries, loving their kids. You know, we take them out to their favorite restaurant, whatever that looks like in the country they’re in, we spend, you know, a period of time with them preaching their churches go, soul winning with them. We do a lot of encouragement, but we also sit down with them and say, tell us what you’re doing. How are you fulfilling your role as a biblically sent and supported missionary? So we hold their feet to the fire, but we do it with a lot of love, and that’s really the 2 tracks that we use and encouraging. And helping.

[MCG]

Well, alright, so you’re with Baptist world mission.

[Bro. Steadman]

Yes.

[MCG]

Give us a job description of the missionary that Baptist World Mission is looking for.

[Bro. Steadman]

2 words Church planter Baptist World is a church planting agency. We believe very strongly that the core of New Testament missions is the planting of churches now. That means that people need to be 1 to Christ. People need to be discipled they need to be trained and organized into a local assembly.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

So church planting really is evangelism, discipleship, leadership training, all of the above. But the end goal is when a missionary is finished that there is a national church led by a national pastor, so that if the missionary has to leave the field, that work can go on and thrive. And so really the idea of the church planter now, that doesn’t mean that there are not team members in the church plant. Some people ask about the role of missionary ladies. I am so thrilled that we have several single missionary ladies who are part of church planting. Teams, they’re not the leaders, they’re not the guys that do the preaching, but they do a lot of training of women and working with children and they’re a very strategic part of a church planting effort. So we are a church planning agency.

[Jay]

It sounds like some of the challenges that these missionaries face when they’re trying to plant churches and all of what comes with that presents you with just many opportunities to be a unique blessing to them, which I think every missionary can use that encouragement, that sort of support. So is that something that you would say is the best reason for any missionary? To consider partnering with Baptist world.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s the best reason. There are several wonderful mission agencies out there, but I would say Baptist world is unique for several reasons. Number one, we are as strong separatist agency, we believe in biblical holiness. We believe that we’re to be distinct from the world and that really the churches that are planted on the mission. Fields should be churches of godliness, so you know that’s a very important principle. We also are an agency that does not use the Field Council model. Some of our sister agencies that are good agencies choose to use a field. Council, which means that all of the missionaries on a particular field organize and they elect a leader that is over that entire field. We think that that creates an artificial authority in place of the sending church. And so we don’t have field councils. Every missionary that comes with Baptist world is accountable. Biblically to their sending church and their supporting church. Is and then by contractual agreement, they’re accountable to the administration of Baptist world. So we feel that that gives the missionaries a great liberty to work with their sending church and do what they’re sending. Church wants them to do rather than becoming a bureaucracy that would Lord over the missionary from. America.

[MCG]

Hmm, so if I’m reading you correctly, who’s over the missionary is the sending church. Meaning that pastor of that sending church and they are also would be accountable to Baptist World Mission.

[Bro. Steadman]

That is correct. You know, the Bible is very clear that churches, plant churches, churches and missionaries, acts Chapter 13, the church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas, and when they came back, they were accountable to the church at Antioch. And they had a relationship with a lot of other churches as well. That gave to them on a periodic basis. But in acts chapter 15 you find that Paul on his second missionary journey goes back to the churches in Asia Minor that have been planted. They’re called churches. They’ve been established, they have leadership, and he goes back to strengthen them. The word the King James uses as confirm. But it’s a Greek word, which means strengthen them. So Paul came alongside those churches.

[MCG]

Right.

[Bro. Steadman]

That were already established to help them by strengthening them and things that they were not quite ready to. And that really is the function of a mission agency. We never want to take the place of the local church or the sending church, but all of our administrators are former missionaries, and they have expertise, and they can go alongside a church or a missionary and help them with things that they may not be able to do, for example. If a missionary has, let’s say, 40 supporting churches. And all forty of those churches are sending money to that missionary. That money needs to be handled according to IRS regulations, and most churches don’t have a person on their staff that can devote themselves full time to handling correspondence and money from 40 different churches for each missionary. So we do that we come alongside. Help the church is that way. Most churches are not set up to handle issues of visas and governmental guarantees to foreign countries. They’re not set up for emergency evacuation of medical personnel. I mean, we’ve done medevac flights for our missionaries on the very same day that they came down with a life threatening disease and a church just isn’t. Set up to do that on a a spur of a moment basis, so the agency never is to take the place of the sending church. As far as the. Quality. But we do have a contractual authority based on our policies and the agreement with the Church and the missionary that allows us to have authority and to serve the missionaries in that way.

[Jay]

You know, it’s very interesting that you say that, Brother Steadman, because. When the churches that we read about in the Bible were sending out missionaries, the IRS wasn’t a thing, and medevacs weren’t a thing. And with the progression of. Time technology, progress in medication and medicine. These are things that missionaries and churches actually have to think about. And so how did this idea of a missions mentor come about? Like, was it something where a bunch of men got together and saw a need on the landscape of missions and church planting? Or was it something like someone had a great idea when they were in the shower? When did the Lord Burden you with the idea and the need for a mission? Mentor.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, really, I think the question is a little broader about why the mission agency and in our circles, the origin really goes back to a guy that you would know by name, William Carey. He was a Baptist in England and he was going originally to the islands of Tahiti. That’s where he wanted to go. The Lord directed him and he ended up in India. And so he basically said to some of his pastor friends, you know, I’ll go down into The Cave where the heathen are. If you’ll hold the ropes. So they organized there in the area north of London, a missionary society for William Carey. And that was from the Baptist point of view for modern missionary history. That really was one of the earliest onsets of that. And so from that, you know, the understanding was that there are things that the missionaries needs from his supporting churches that some people may not be able to do in one church. So churches. We’re working together as far as the missions mentor role. You know, when I knew that we needed to bring on the next generation of leadership, our new executive director is in his late 40s and I think he’ll be able to give Baptist world, you know, 2530 years. If the Lord continues to give him help and. Strength. But you know, coming up toward the age of 70, you know, I knew that we needed new leadership. But I also knew that I wanted to be engaged in what God had called me to do. And I was thinking about the role of what we already did and mentoring people and the Lord just, you know, brought the word to my mind. I talked to some of our board members about it, and they loved the idea. But you know there is a better word for what we’re to be doing than mentor. It’s called discipleship. And, you know, really emissions mentor is a mission discipline.

[MCG]

Mm-hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

And you know, we just chose to use an alliterative MM instead of missions discipler, but it really is the core of what we’re all to be doing. You know, we’re to be mentoring our family. We’re to be mentoring in our church. We’re to be making disciples and training people. And so it is that role.

[MCG]

Yeah, man, I’m curious in what direction you will go with this, brother Steadman, so. Currently we are reading the book giants of the Missionary Trail with all boys and interesting enough, my second son who didn’t like the last book we were reading scientific truths of the Bible. He didn’t like that book for some reason, but recently he told me how much he loved giants of the missionary trail and we just read about Henry.

[Bro. Steadman]

Yes.

[MCG]

Not. And you mentioned Tahiti and stuff like that.

[Bro. Steadman]

Yes, yes.

[MCG]

Of course, we called those men, William Kerry, Henry Knott and all these men. You know, giants of the missionary trail who are the giants of today.

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, there are a lot of them. I’ll give you a couple of my personal heroes who’ve recently gone to be with the Lord. But you mentioned, Henry, not. I often am preaching on acts 18. You know where they were to go into the outermost part of the Earth. I’ll ask the congregation, where is the uttermost part of? The Earth and who was the first missionary? As far as we know, to take the gospel there, and the answer is if you plug in the coordinates of Jerusalem, the uttermost part of the earth is the furthest place on the planet from Jerusalem, and that is a group of islands north of Tahiti called the Tubal Island group. And interestingly, Henry Knott.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

As far as we know, was the first missionary to take the gospel there around the year 1800. And so, you know, as far as we know, of course there’s a lot that we don’t know in the last 2000 years.

[MCG]

Alright.

[Bro. Steadman]

Because God was building his church and there were people going places. I mean, Patrick of Ireland was not a Catholic. He was a true gospel preacher. So, you know, there have been people preaching the gospel for a long time. But as far as we know, Henry Knott was the first person to get to the uttermost part of the earth with the gospel, and it took 1800. Years now we can be on a plane in a couple of days and be to the 2 by island.

[Jay]

Umm.

[Bro. Steadman]

So there is no excuse today for not getting the gospel into all the world. My personal heroes. I’ll share a couple of them. I actually wrote an article recently for our Mission family on one of these three that I’ll mention. But the first one is Doctor Darrell Champlain. Darrell Champlin went to be with the Lord a few years ago. He was a missionary in Africa.

[Jay]

Absolutely.

[Bro. Steadman]

And then during the Simba rebellion of late 1960s, he had to leave, went to Surinam, South America, which is on the northeast coast of South America, not far from Antigua. And he began to plant churches there. He had several sons who were also missionaries there. Doctor Champlin was a giant of the missionary trail. He’s been with the Lord now, just a few years. His wife still lives there, in the jungles of Surinam with her. Son.

[MCG]

Hmm. Wow.

[Bro. Steadman]

Doctor John Dreisbach was a missionary in Africa. In his later years. He was on the administrative staff of Gospel Fellowship Association missions located there in Greenville. Tremendous medical Doctor Who was also a church planter. You know, a great illustration of using medical missions. But understanding that even a doctor. Is to be a church planter and then I wrote an article recently about Darlene Diebler Rhodes. I don’t know if you’re familiar with her. She wrote a book called Evidence Not seen. She and her husband were missionaries in Papua New Guinea and during World War 2 they were captured by the Japanese and incarcerated. Her husband died. She survived the prisoner of war camps.

[Jay]

Yes.

[Bro. Steadman]

She came out of that, married another gentleman. They went to Australia, did a great work for the Lord there, and then about 20 years ago, I was preaching in Greenville, SC at Mount Calvary Baptist Church. Church and my good friend there, Doctor Mark Minnick said to me after the service. He says someone wants to meet you and we walked to the back and here is this little tiny lady who is not too far from heaven, and he introduced me to Darlene Diebler Rose, who was attending his church. I was dumbfounded. I mean, you know, I’ve read her books. She’s one of my heroes.

[MCG]

Wow.

[Bro. Steadman]

With a I know I probably stammered and stuttered.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

As I met this lady, she’s with the Lord. Now, but there are those kind of people we have them with Baptist world. Today we have young missionaries. I think of many of our young missionaries that are in difficult places serving the Lord and they really are giants of the missionary trail.

[MCG]

Yeah, man, that’s wonderful. Their tenacity, that Henry not showed. You know, we just finished and it took him 20 plus years before he got his first convert. Yeah. After many missionaries that were with him left. And the child of war and not getting supplies and everything. So.

Definitely.

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, a lot of people don’t understand that those early missionaries, especially the places like where Henry Knott was like John Payton, who is in the New Hebrides. I read in John Payton’s biography that when he landed there and the natives told him they were going to kill him and eat him, you know, that would make you pretty nervous as a new missionary landing on a field. Where you thought you were going to be the appetizer for their next feast, and John Payton had to work through that to get victory over fear. In his biography, talks about some of the panic attacks he had. But you know, God gave them that victory and the victories in Christ, and he’s still alive today and he’s still giving victory to his people.

[MCG]

Hey man.

[Jay]

OK, now in our world today, some people would classify missions as a, you know, a missions trip where you go for about a week, maybe 2, and you see what’s happening. It’s like a little mini vacation with some Bible sprinkled on that. But when we read about these giants, the ones that you’ve described, Henry Knott, William Carey, it’s hard. And demanding work, but it’s a blessing and it’s wonderful. Work, and perhaps some people considering the mission field may want to consider a few things before they actually step out onto foreign missions. What are some of those things that you think that potential missionaries should think about what their actual aim should be before they set foot onto a mission field?

[Bro. Steadman]

That’s a great question and the answer is in acts Chapter 13, which is the record in the book of Acts of the first two full-time vocational missionaries, Paul and. It says in that text that they were serving the Lord in the church at Antioch, and they were called so God calls full-time vocational missionaries to give their life to New Testament missions as they are serving the Lord in their local churches. You know, I have no problem with young people. To our in Christian colleges who want to go to the mission field, you know, announcing their call. But at some point, they’re going to have to have practical experience in their local church. Mm-hmm. And winning people to Christ, making disciples. And so we really encourage, you know, local church internships. We encourage our missionary candidates to get some practical experience before they go to the field, but the really big issue is the call of God. Doctor Darrell Champlin, who was a tremendous preacher. If you and the listeners who wanted to go out and hear his famous message on the Internet called love with shoes on, it’s absolutely. An amazing story, but he would say that there is a difference between a burden and a call. You know, every time I see a missionary presentation, I get a burden for that field. I mean, I see the country, I see its beauty. I see the people, their beauty. I see the need. And boy, my hearts burdened. But a burden is your heart response to what your eyes see, by the way. That’s a good reason for short term missionary trips is for people to lift up their eyes and look on the fields. That’s biblical, but New Testament missions is rooted in God calling people not just a burden, but a call from God. A call is the external voice of God.

[MCG]

All right.

[Bro. Steadman]

Speaking to the heart of his child acts, Chapter 13, calling them into full-time vocational missions and when God calls Doctor Champlin used to say, a burden can fail. But a call will chase you to the end of the world because it’s God calling. And so I think the big issue is #1A missionary needs to know that God has truly called them to the mission field and also acts chapter 16. We find there that Paul and Silas had a call to a location. So there is such a thing as being called to a location. Permissions, so you need to know your call, but then #2 you need to get the practical experience so you can do on the mission field what you’ve already done experientially in your local church here in the United States.

[MCG]

So Brother statement, this question is not fully baked in my mind yet, so I don’t know if you gotta understand it, but how can we take that burden because many more are burdened than are called. How can we take that burden and make a change for local evangelism because we see a lot of folks going off on missions. And they come back. But it never seems to materialize into a change in local evangelism. It reminds me of the song stirred, but not change. How can we get to the point of change and not just being stirred?

[Bro. Steadman]

Right. You know, really the key I believe is the local church and to a great degree, it’s the pastor, you know, when you send your folks to the foreign field and they come back, stirred and excite. What you do is you get them involved in local ministry. You know those people need to understand, number one, if God doesn’t call them to the foreign field, they need to do what is being done on the foreign field in their local church. They should be doing that anyway. I mean, you know, missions is at home is abroad, but #2 if God does.

[MCG]

Right.

[Bro. Steadman]

Call them to the foreign field. They need to be prepared. And trained in their local church for ministry on the local field. You know there is a problem to some degree with a concept of the romance of missions. There’s a book that was written years ago by that very title, the Romance of Missions. Well, there is something really unique about an exotic culture.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, people with a different skin tone, different language group, different food. You know wild animals. There’s something uniquely exotic that stirs our imagination. But the romance wears off very quickly. When a person goes to a mission field and they’re not called.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

It’s over very quickly and they don’t last. And so it’s good to lift up your eyes and look on the fields of other countries, but boy, you need to understand that we’re to be doing the same thing at home. So I think the key is the.

[MCG]

Yeah.

[Bro. Steadman]

Pastor and the local church.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[MCG]

Hmm. So you mentioned what is necessary for foreign missionaries. If you’ve been called in foreign missionary, does that change any? If you’ve been called someplace within the US, which, by the way, has a great need as well?

[Bro. Steadman]

Absolutely same principles are true. You know, we make a distinction and I think rightly so with, you know, the difference between our church and a missionary. And so let me talk about that distinction and then I’ll try to erase that distinction in a sense. But, you know, sometimes pastors and missionaries. They’ll say things that are really dumb, like they’ll get up an emissions conference. And they’ve got 3 or 4 missionary families there that they want to take on for support, and then they’ll say something like this. Well, everybody’s a missionary. And if you say that, then I would say, well, why don’t you support everybody? Why are you just supporting these three people? And the answer is because in the New Testament, what we refer to as a missionary. To someone who is sent by their local church. Church to a different location, a different people group. Often a group of people that do not have a New Testament church that haven’t heard the gospel and they’re sent away from the local church for the purpose of going to that location and planting a New Testament, church, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. So there’s got to be a clear distinction. That we’re not all missionaries. We’re all Christians, and we should all be evangelizing. We should all be discipling. But there is something in the New Testament that we call a New Testament missionary that is sent away from their local church with support for the purpose of replicating that local church now. That being said, we need missionaries in the United States. That missionary may be in the next county. They may be in the next state, they may be in in California. As a matter of fact, we’re given that model in X18 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the other most part now.

[MCG]

MHM.

[Bro. Steadman]

The problem that we have within our fundamental Baptist circles sometimes is because people view America as a Christian nation. Is they don’t think about home missions. You know, they think every town in the United States has a good fundamental Baptist Church, but all you have to do is go out. West. All you have to do is go to the inner. Cities.

[MCG]

Right.

[Bro. Steadman]

All you have to do is go to the ethnic conclaves. I mean, there are places in Florida. Where there are large Haitian groups where there is a great need to plant a New Testament church among those people, and so the need is here as well as abroad and that’s why we have missionaries in the United States with Baptist world that are. Flanders.

[MCG]

Yeah, if you have any in California, we gave California to Mexico anyway.

[Bro. Steadman]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know, my son Nathan is pastoring now in Denver, Co and it’s become a very liberal state politically. And he was talking about that with me recently said, you know, dad, there’s a little bit of a scary element in raising your children in a state where, you know, the states, not family. Friendly anymore?

[MCG]

All right.

[Bro. Steadman]

A little scary, I said. Nathan, don’t ever forget that every one of our Baptists world missionaries are in countries where there is danger. Sure. But God has called them there to plant churches and so don’t ever run away from a dangerous place when God has called you to that place to serve because God has put us here for that purpose. And so yeah, we need churches all over California. But you know, the Bible Belt, North Carolina is becoming less and less.

[MCG]

All right.

[Bro. Steadman]

Evangelized, though there are pockets. Of strong Christians. But even in the South, South Carolina, there are places with the influx of immigrants where churches are needed. It’s really quite amazing.

[Jay]

Yeah, that’s amazing to think about considering those states are typically defined as part of the Bible Belt, an area of the country that used to have a strong evangelistic and church presence, and now we’re seeing that perhaps these things are being.

[Bro. Steadman]

Right.

[MCG]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Thing to to weaken a bit. So I want to go back to what you said. Sometimes a pastor or a preacher will stand up and say ohh, everyone’s a missionary. And of course not intending to create any sort of rifle there. But to say that would make understanding of mission just a little bit more difficult. Little things like that. If everyone’s a missionary, then why are we sending these folks? Why do we even need missions? And you could see how that thought process. And continue. What are some of the things that you think are happening in US churches that make your job and missionary jobs more difficult?

[Bro. Steadman]

Right. You know, I think there are a number of things. And so I’ll talk about, you know, I’ll critique. Ourselves that you know what I call the good, balanced, fundamental independent Baptist churches. Now let me say there are some independent Baptist churches that are not balanced. There are churches out there that are, well, I don’t go to those. OK. But I’m talking about churches that are biblically balanced that I have an understanding of what the scriptures.

[Jay]

Right. Right.

[Bro. Steadman]

Age. They’re orthodox. They’re evangelistic. They’re disciple making churches. But you know, sometimes it’s easy for those churches. That’s to leave the responsibility for missionary accountability to the agency and, you know, really, the missionary is to be accountable. First of all to their sending church. I just had a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine recently who runs a Christian counseling center. And they have a lot of missionaries who come there. For counsel, and I reminded him, I said your ministry is good, but don’t ever let yourself. Think that you take the replace of that pastor of that missionary, of that sending church because biblically that pastor and that sending church is the frontline of accountability for that missionary. So when churches and pastors say, ohh, let the mission agency do it, or let some counselor help the missionaries. And they do not accept the responsibility for encouragement and accountability. It doesn’t go well. Doctor Ben Sinclair, our new executive director, wrote his doctoral thesis that became a book called Missionary Partnership. And I would encourage. Everybody to go out on Amazon and get the book and read it. It’s tremendous. So book on missions, philosophy, but basically his emphasis is that being a missionary is a partnership with the local church that God has called you from to go to the mission field. And so if churches don’t understand that partnership role and don’t assume their responsibility. It really makes it harder for the mission agency.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we actually interviewed Doctor Ben Sinclair some time ago in the same series on the mission. So if you want to listen to that, go back a few episodes. So the US culture at one point probably could say it was more of a extracted 2 culture where, you know, there was a fear of God. Everybody kind of know. And when we say God, we actually mean Jesus Christ, the God of heaven. But the US and even the world, they are kind of speeding towards acts Chapter 7. Do you? How do you prepare your missionaries for this change? Because you even alluded to it. A lot of folks are coming into the US and they may not be church, so we are having a lot of people who are more like the Greeks of actress and 17 how do we prepare missionaries for that?

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, I think the key is having strong churches. And let me just back up and say a word about what’s happening in the United States. We just had the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International annual meeting. It was held at Maranatha Baptist University in Calgary Baptist Church in Watertown, WI, about two or three weeks. And our theme for that meeting was the world at our doorstep and all of the conference speakers and the workshop leaders. And Dr. Sinclair was one of those talked about the need of having truly ethnically integrated churches here in the United States that have a strong.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

Theological and practical basis for their local church ministry. Now what I mean by that is that you know our world is. Changing and there are immigrants, and so, you know, we need to have in our fundamental Baptist churches, we need to have white folks. We need to have black folks. We need to have red folks. We need to have Hispanic folks and they all need to be part of one body in Christ. And loving one another and training one another for reaching their communities. You know, one of the dilemmas that we’re having here in the United States is a lot of churches. I’m sharing my thoughts on this. OK. This is Bud Stephen speaking. I’m not speaking for anybody else, but you know, a lot of our churches have started Hispanic ministries with the idea of having a Hispanic church. But if that church stays. Spanish speaking that church that’s established the next generation and their kids are going to be English speakers. And where are they going to go to church? So truly a church that is not integrated biblically will be a one generation. Church because in America, with English being the national language, second generation, wherever they’re from, they’re going to be English speakers primarily. And so I think here in America, we need to have churches that are vibrant. And a kaleidoscope of what their community looks like. In other words, if you’re in rural Iowa. Probably 99% of your folks are going to be a middle class white American. Helens. But if you’re in Washington, DC or the suburbs. You need to have a kaleidoscope of people to reach the suburbs. You know my wife and I were in. I think it’s called Leesburg a number of years ago. There’s a big mall there. It’s outside of DC, is at Leesburg. I think the name of it. Yeah. And we went there to the outlet mall and we heard no one speaking English.

[MCG]

Yes, that’s correct.

[Bro. Steadman]

Probably 75% of the people that we saw there were Chinese or. Asian and I said to my wife and this was several years ago, you know, I wonder who’s reaching these people for Jesus Christ in this community.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

So I think that is important because you know, if we understand in the United States, if we have strong churches in the United States that are reaching their communities for Christ, then they’re going to be stronger on the mission field. But if you have and I’ll just be very honest, if you have a guy from Iowa that has never met. A Chinese person and you send him to China as a missionary. He’s gonna land. In that country and be really behind the 8 ball as far as really ministering to those people now he can do it if God calls him, but we need to be understanding how the world’s changing and we need to be strengthening our churches in that area.

[MCG]

Yep.

[Jay]

Yeah, definitely. In addition to that need, Brother Steadman, what are some other needs that if they were filled, it would make the task of missions church planting your task of mentoring missionaries a lot easier. What are some of those other needs that you think the church should probably be thinking?

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, I think obviously the pastor and the deacons of the church having a biblical philosophy of missions, you know, one of the things I’m doing with Baptist world as a missions mentor is I’m helping a number of churches with their missions philosophy. And I’ve told multiple churches. I’ve said before I come and talk to you about your mission philosophy. You, as the pastor of the Deacons, need to read Doctor Sinclair. Book about missionary partnership because you need to have the screen upon which we’re going to play the scenarios of what your mission philosophy should look like. And so I think an educated leadership of the church in what missions philosophy should be is very important. Having a written missionary philosophy, for example. I think every church should have it written down in their constitution and their bylaws, whatever that we believe that the primary role of New Testament missions is church play. Because you’re gonna have people come to your church and I’m going to start an orphanage over there in that country. Would you support me? Well, orphanages are wonderful things, but they should be started out of churches that have been planted on the field, not as a separate entity that we call missions. So I think there’s a lot of confusions about what missions is. And I think the church having clarity on. That is really important. And then, you know, having people in your church trained for ministry, can I just brag on one of the ladies that serves at Baptist world. We have one of our staff. I call her a staff accountants. She might call herself a bookkeeper. She doesn’t have a formal CPA, but she was a Christian School teacher. And the tidewater of Virginia. And loved math. She taught math in the Christian schools. She was a numbers person. She kept the books for the church. She was the financial secretary for the church. She was trained to do that, did a great job. And God put it on her heart when she found out that Baptist world needed an accounts payable clerk. That that’s what God wanted her to do. She was already trained by her church to step into the role, to be able to serve our missionaries. And she is a treasure to Baptist world mission. But she was trained in her local church to do that kind of ministry.

[MCG]

Would she mind if you mentioned her?

[Bro. Steadman]

Name. No. Her name is Suzanne. Suzanne is wonderful. So.

[Jay]

Shout out to Suzanne.

[Bro. Steadman]

I will give you your last name because somebody might try to steal.

[Jay]

Sure.

[Bro. Steadman]

Her away from that world. But Suzanne is great. We have other folks. Let me mention Beth and Suzanne and others. They’re tremendous.

[MCG]

Alright so. So get in trouble now, brother. Well, definitely. So if you end up listen to the episode, at least you gave her flowers. Alright, well, let’s go into a little bit of a break.

You’re listening to the room of embarrass podcast. We’re sitting down with Dr. Bud Steadman, a missionary mentor to missionaries all around the world. We’ll be right back.

[Jay]

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[MCG]

Alright, brother Steadman, let’s go into a little bit of fun section and find out some of your favorites. What is your favorite scripture verse?

[Bro. Steadman]

Psalm 37 five says that we are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We commit our way into him. We trust him and he will bring it to pass the word, commit that, use their commit by way. To the Lord means to roll the direction of your life over on the Lord, and as a young man I learned that verse and I committed my way into the Lord I trusted in him, and he has brought it to pass. He’s been so faithful and so that probably is my favorite verse. If I had to have a life. Verse yes, yeah.

[Jay]

What is your favorite historical biblical account?

[Bro. Steadman]

Well, you know, I love all the biblical narratives, but there is one that every time I come to it in my Bible reading or I preach on it, I tend to weep over it. And that is Joseph revealing himself to his brothers.

[Jay]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

And you know, I think there’s several reasons for that. Number one, I have an unsafe brother and you know, the idea of him coming to Christ just stirs my heart. And I pray for him that he will be safe. But when Joseph sends everybody else out and he reveals himself to his brothers, I just get really teary eyed through that. That’s probably my favorite. Narrative in the old test, of course. Christ is my favorite overall, you know.

[Jay]

Wonderful.

[MCG]

A type of Christ from those testament, right?

[Bro. Steadman]

Yeah, he really is. He really is, yeah.

[MCG]

Yep. What is the most convicting scripted passage to you?

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, I would say probably when Christ says that he preaches the gospel to the poor.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

Because my wicked affluent American Heart, and that’s true of every American, by the way, all you have to do to understand how wealthy we are is just go to places like St. Lucia and walk those trails to those cardboard shacks. But my wicked, affluent heart.

[Jay]

True.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

Struggles with identifying with Christ, preaching the gospel to the poor. You know, I see the guys by the side of the road that are panhandling, and I realize that some of them are charlatans. And that makes me hard. But I try to have a tender heart toward people who are in real need.

[Jay]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

I think that’s one of the struggles here in America is who are the folks in need? But you don’t have that trouble on the mission field usually. Can I tell you a story? We have a young couple, Joe and Lindsey Rice singer, that our missionaries in Uganda. They were both as children, brought up in our ministry in Indiana. I baptized both of them as children. They grew up and got married, and then eventually went to the mission field. I was with them.

[MCG]

Alright.

[Bro. Steadman]

My wife and I last year and we had a meal in the Hut, the African Hut of one of their church members. It was a very simple meal. And I sat there and was so convicted that this very impoverished family was serving me, probably the only chicken that they had.

[Jay]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

And it was tough.

[MCG]

Right.

[Bro. Steadman]

It was tough, so I said to Joe afterwards, you know, what can I do for these folks without offending them? Because it’s obvious they’re poor and they probably think of me as the rich American. You know, I don’t want to make rice Christians. What do I?

[Jay]

That’s.

[Bro. Steadman]

You do and Joe said. You know, if you took them a bag of beans, it would probably mean a lot. So I came up with an idea. I went out and bought about a 25 LB. Bag of beans. You know, it cost me probably 5-7 dollars and I took it to their home and I went to the door and I approached them in the African way that. You do and I said to the lady I said in America it is customary when you eat in someone’s home that you bring a Hostess gift. When I was here the other night, I did not have my Hostess gift for you. But I have brought it back with me today. And here is my gift to you for in appreciation for the wonderful meal you provided. She was almost in tears. I mean, those beans probably fed them for a couple of weeks and she accepted that. Because I put it in the context that this is what we do in America and I want to do it out of appreciation for you. And the Lord just made it a very sweet thing that was easy for my heart because I knew this was someone Christ preached to the poor. But I struggle with that here in the US, and that’s probably the most convicting. When I read my devotions and I get to those passages, I really get convicted about that. So may the Lord help me.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely. I can conquer with you a little bit, I. Was able to visit Papua New Guinea when I was in college Christmas of 2008 to January 2009 and I saw people living in huts as well and wearing grass skirts. If you had asked me before that if there were anyone in the world still wearing glass skirts, I would say absolutely not. But the joy that you see in these people, the simplicity that they have in life. And stuff like that. It rivals when you you look at America and we have so many things. You know, I’m from the Caribbean and sometimes we will joke. My wife and I will joke and say ohh this person have a a first world problem because you know a lot of times people don’t have the luxury of worrying about half of the things we worry about in the US.

[Bro. Steadman]

Right, exactly.

[MCG]

It’s survival is where my next meal is coming from. It’s not whether not my AC’s working, or whether not the government is a little bit too hard or making this law is real. Yeah. To the metal kind of stuff. And you’re right. We have so much things. But even I was a poor college student. But my network then. It was 1000 times more than you know what they were living on in 10 years. You know, they sustained themselves on pennies per day.

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, it’s very interesting. Louise Champlin, who is Darrell Champlin’s widow. She lives in Surinam. She’s in her 90s. She said that when she and her husband went for the first time to Central Africa in the 1950. These there wasn’t a lot of difference because they grew up in rural America and they had a wire hanging down in the center of their house with a light bulb on the end it and they got over to Africa and the houses over there had a wire hanging down with a light bulb at the end of it. And she said it wasn’t that different. But she says now. You know the differences of people who are being raised in middle class America today, going to a mission field where there’s a light bulb hanging down in the middle of the room. Those are radical differences. And so, you know, it is a challenge, the affluence that we have is a challenge, and the Lord needs to help us to overcome that.

[MCG]

Right.

[Jay]

Yeah. What would you say is the most comforting scripture for you?

[Bro. Steadman]

The most comforting for me is Jesus saying I will never leave you. And I will never forsake you that he is with me. You know David Livingston, that was probably his favorite comforting passage. And of course, he claimed those verses in a jungle Hut in the middle of Africa. You know, I claim it at a different context, but it really is the key that the Lord.

[MCG]

Hey man.

[Bro. Steadman]

He said he’ll never leave me and he’ll never. Forsake me.

[MCG]

All right, for this next favorite. Be careful, brother, because we might just ask you to saying, what is your favorite hymn of the fate?

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, there is a hymn that has a phrase in it. That is my favorite phrase in any hymn, and it’s very classical and it’s very highbrow. And some of the theology of it would be more reformed. And I would not agree. That, but there is a phrase that is my favorite phrase, and it is this Jesu joy of man’s desire.

[Jay]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

And that is my favorite phrase in any hymn that I’ve ever heard. Because Jesus is the joy of our desire and he is absolute satisfaction. It’s about him. And so, you know, if I had to pick a phrase, it would be that. My favorite hymn might be a newer hymn doctor Frank Garlock and Ron Hamilton of course were ministers for the Lord and Music from the Greenville area. They’re both with the Lord now, but a number of years ago our church in South Bend IN hosted the music college that they put together and they premiered.

[MCG]

MHM.

[Bro. Steadman]

At that music college, the hymn bow, the knee, and we had about 400 people in the choir. In our church there. Of course, there were many churches that had.

[MCG]

Alright.

[Bro. Steadman]

Come together. Our church wasn’t quite that large to have 400 the choir. But we have 400 in the choir in our auditorium and they sang that. And at the end we all knelt down on our knees. Doctor Garlock had us bow the knee and probably that would be, you know, that would be the one that when I think about something that still stirs my heart that would probably. Yeah.

[Jay]

Lovely him absolutely. We talked earlier in the podcast about the giants of the Missionary trail. You shared some of the ones that moved you the most that have gone on to be with the Lord. What would you say is your favorite giant of the faith and the scriptures?

[Bro. Steadman]

Yes. You know, I mean obviously the answer is always the Lord Jesus, but after him it would be the apostle Paul. You know, I cannot imagine.

[MCG]

Hmm.

[Bro. Steadman]

I cannot imagine the courage that Paul had to withstand Peter, when Peter was dissimulating over the Jewish Gentile issue, I cannot imagine Paul’s bravery in, you know, facing the Jews and standing before kings. I mean, he was a chosen vessel of Christ.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Bro. Steadman]

Paul, John the Baptist there’s none greater than him, Christ said. But I’d have to go with Paul.

[MCG]

Alright brother. What are some of the biggest barriers, missionary face and deputation, especially maybe the first three years and the deputation number go about 2436 months. So what are some of the biggest barriers for missionaries while they’re out there, going from churches to trying to raise? Funds.

[Bro. Steadman]

I think communication is probably the biggest barrier and that is churches that don’t answer their phone, or pastors that don’t return calls. You know, missionaries have to be very diligent and we found that a lot of our missionaries have done the best, obviously in working relationships not with individuals because I believe churches. Support missionaries. But you know, getting pastors to refer them to other pastors so that they’re not a total cold call stranger. But I think the communication is still the biggest issue for them.

[MCG]

Right. Yeah, probably the biggest issue for us to get missionaries no podcast as well, yeah.

[Bro. Steadman]

Yeah, exactly. You know, on the missionary side, on the field, the biggest barrier is interpersonal relationships. When you get 2 families together that are made-up of four adults, that probably all have strong personalities. They could be a challenge.

[MCG]

Alright.

[Bro. Steadman]

And that’s where understanding, teamwork and roles. In your relationship are very important, so the barrier of communication is important on the mission field as well.

[Jay]

What are some of those things that we can do to tackle that barrier of communication? How can that barrier be removed so that we can have one less hindrance in sharing the gospel with the world that desperately needs it?

[Bro. Steadman]

You know, I think pastors need to be willing. To practice courtesy and returning phone calls or returning emails, you know, I’m sure you have the same thing that I have. I am on the site LinkedIn. I get regular emails from people who want me to subscribe to their service for this or that or the other and. Many of those I do not answer because they’re basically phishing for business leads. I feel fine doing that. But when a missionary would write me and say, Pastor, I really would like to come to your church and present my work. When I was a pastor, I really felt obligated to write back and say to him, yes, no or maybe. And, you know, we had a procedure that we followed where the missionaries filled out an application, and we followed through. I managed that all myself when we were in Indiana, our church, when we came with Baptist world, our church was running about 700. I had five assistant pastors. We had a large Christian. Dual, but I still managed all of my missionary correspondents with new missionaries. Now we have a system for those that we supported whereby, you know, we have secretaries that help me out with that. But I still wanted to be the guy that, you know, made the contact with the missionaries. If we’re going to enter into a relationship with a missionary. That could last for 30 to 40 years of supporting them and praying for them. I wanted to be. On that, engage them. And so I would answer emails. I would answer phone calls and it was a lot of my time, but that’s how important missions was to our church. And yeah, I think that’s one reason the Lord put me at Baptist world because we made missions a big deal. And I think they saw that from our church. And I was invited on the board. When I was a board member as a board member, I made missions a big. Deal. And so we need, we need to have the common courtesy of, you know, communicating graciously and effectively with those who reach. Out to us.

[MCG]

Yeah, definitely, brother Steadman, it was indeed a pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the removing various podcasts.

[Bro. Steadman]

Thank you for what you’re doing. I appreciate it so much. I love being with you folks there and may the Lord keep his hand a blessing upon.

[Jay]

You. Thank you. Amen. This is the removing barriers podcast. If the podcast or the blog were a blessing to you, leave us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform. And don’t forget to share the.

[MCG]

Amen.

[Jay]

Broadcast with your friend. Removing barriers, a clear view of the cross.

[MCG]

Thank you for listening. To get a hold of us to support this podcast or to learn more about removing barriers. Go to removingbarriers.net. This has been the removing barriers podcast. We attempted to remove barriers so that we all can have a clear view of the cross.