We have completed the 2025 missions trip brochure, which is being printed now. Below is a list of all the 2025 mission trip locations, dates, costs, and contact information. Check the VBM Website soon for more information!

We had a wonderful Y4tG last Saturday with around 50 young people from two churches. Pastor Wilkerson and the people at Southside hosted and provided us a good time!

We would love to have you join us at one of our upcoming events. Click here to find out more details.

Here are the last two for the year: 

• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• November 9 – Dalton, GA

We’ve been praying and working so that God would send future students, interns, and missionaries. Here are a couple of ways areas we’re getting the word out this fall:

1. Southwide Baptist Fellowship — setting up display at pastor’s fellowship as well as the below ad in their magazine. If you are attending come by our table and lets catch up.
2. Pensacola Christian College — Ty and Rebecca Pepperdine will be going in November to speak to students about missions.
3. Youth for the Gospel — Dr. Jim & Mrs. Sandy have lined up several of these events to see more laborers raised up for world missions.
4. Open House for future missionary students.
5. Booking up meetings to present the missions school in churches this fall.

If you work with a church or Christian school, please email me. I would love to come by and speak to your young people about the need for the gospel around the world.

jeff@visionmissions.com

This section is so you can learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working in alphabetical order, and the next missionary is Michael & Victoria Turner.

Michael:

When I was 17 years old, I was invited by Noah Wilkerson to Southside Baptist church. After going for some period of time, Josh Barton asked me “if you die today do you know if you would spend the rest of eternity in heaven or hell?” I said “I don’t know”, he then shared Roman’s road with me and then I asked God to save me. At the same time I got saved I prayed to God and said if you have your all to me then I will give you my all. From there on I started living for Jesus. About a year later, I took a missions trip to Mexico and was listening to a missionary preach on Isaiah 6:8. And I was reflecting on how God saved me and how so many others with never hear the gospel lest I preach it to them. So i surrendered my life to the mission field as I prayed “here am I, send me, I will go.”

Victoria:

I grew up in a godly home. At the age of 8 I attended a Christian camp where I heard about the reality of Heaven and Hell. That night I realized my need for a savior and that I was a sinner. I asked Jesus that night to save me. At the age of 15 I was diagnosed with WPW (a heart condition). At the time they were unsure how severe and if I would make it. The Lord gave me peace during this time reminding me of the hope I have in my salvation. Through this time the Lord burdened my heart for those who do not have that same peace and hope. I started to see souls in a different way. I became concerned about where others would spend eternity. After visiting the OG Summit in 2020 the Lord started to open doors and made it clear that he would have me surrender to missions.

Sam Wilson taught a module on Hebrew History to the students. He is a great teacher and tremendous asset to our faculty and students.

Noah Wilkerson baptizing a young man he lead to the Lord in South Africa. What a blessing! 

While at Y4tG this Saturday, I spotted this young man wearing a “Vision for China” shirt. Amen!! Love seeing young people influenced with the need of taking the Gospel.

If you are a young person (or know of a young person) interested in missions, the Open House is for you. Join us for this 3-day event and experience our distinctive missionary training program. You will experience classes, talk to veteran missionaries, and have fellowship with like-minded people.

Our special guest speaker will be Dr. J. B. Godfrey for BIMI. He will inspire and encourage us about the cause of the Gospel worldwide.

The following is an exert from chapter 6 of the book Missionary Guidebook For Ladies by Mindy Bush

(Photo is from our first furlough – Lydia, Adri, and Jo singing in a church) 

Some missionaries don’t do furlough. They don’t like coming back, setting up another house, traveling to churches all over the country, and leaving the ministry behind that they have worked so hard for several years. However, furlough isn’t about your own comfort and needs. There are many good reasons for furlough, but one of the most important is so your children can become comfortable in the USA. We like to say they are “bicultural,” but they really aren’t if we don’t take the time to allow them to get to know their home country. They only really know one culture if you never come back long enough on a furlough for them to adapt to the USA! When a MK has not had the opportunity to be on furlough, they come back to the USA for college and feel like they are in a foreign country. They are all alone when they go through culture shock. The parents are thousands of miles away. People talk about how weird MK’s are, but it doesn’t have to be this way! Parents can help their kids on furloughs to prepare them for this big step in life! 

Preparing them starts on the mission field! One of the biggest reasons MK’s may be weird is because they don’t know how to relate with people. The parents were too afraid to let them have friends. Just because you’re in a foreign country doesn’t mean they shouldn’t go out and play with other children. They need friends, and they need to learn the language. It would also be very sad if they lived there and couldn’t learn the language because they weren’t around other kids. Our daughter, Lydia, became best friends in Argentina with a girl named Mijhan. Their friendship brought our families together where I discipled her mother and Jeff the father and soon he became the pastor of the first church that we started.

Take them to parks where other children are out playing. Plan play dates with other mothers from that country. If you have American teammates, it’s tempting to always want to hang out with them, but you must intentionally try to build relationships with the nationals as well!

If possible, put them in a school, but ease them into it if they’re older! Help them to learn enough of the language that they don’t have to start grades below their peers or they get frustrated and hate it because they don’t understand. If they are in a school in your country, you must prepare them for when they come back to the States. Make sure they know how to read and write in English and know some US History. They should understand inches, yards, feet, pounds, miles, Fahrenheit, etc. They should know the names of the states, their abbreviations, and capitals. You can also plan on taking advantage of furloughs to show them different areas of the USA. They don’t just have to read about the Grand Canyon or the White House; they can visit these places!

Teach them the basics of running a household. If you have a houseworker who does everything for your child, your daughter will not learn to keep a home. I always told our houseworker that she wasn’t allowed to clean my kids’ rooms. They had to be responsible for their own messes. Work with them on housekeeping, meal planning, grocery shopping, etc.

When you are back on furlough, be around your home church enough so that your children can make friends stateside. They need these connections, especially as they get older. They are most likely not going to stay in your country for the rest of their life, and they need to be able to feel that America is also home. It is understandable that you must travel to report back to churches, but if your husband can go alone, you can help your children get to the youth activities and other events going on so they can feel part of their home church. This is one reason why furlough is so vitally important for your family, but this purpose for furlough can be totally destroyed if you are never at your home church where they can put down some roots. You want them to want to be in church when they come back as a young adult so help them build relationships there!

When you are on furlough, teach your child things they may not be able to learn overseas – how to get a job, how to drive, use an American washer/dryer, pump gas, budget, open a bank account, file taxes, etc. If your kids are younger, help them to experience the differences in America that were so normal to you! Our girls were fascinated with water fountains on our first furlough. They had never bought a soda from a soda machine or been through a drive-through! I really didn’t think about these basic things being so new to them until we did it! They were scared to death of the automatic flush on public toilets. Furloughs are good for them to learn these parts of America, simple as it may seem. Many MK’s can jump on a subway or a public bus and get down to the mall on their own, but when they get to America, they may not know how to do some of the things teens their age are doing everyday, just because they aren’t available in their country.

Another exciting Youth For the Gospel event last weekend! We were with Jon Canavan and Kanon Bloom. Praise the Lord for a great turnout.

We would love to have you join us at one of our upcoming events. Click here to find out more details.

THIS Saturday, Sept. 28 will be our next Youth 4 the Gospel in Knowville, TN with Southside Baptist Church, Pastor Luke Wilkerson. If you are in the area, join us.

Here are the next several: 

• September 28 – Knoxville, TN
• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• November 9 – Dalton, GA

We were privileged to have Dr. Rudy Smith and Pastor John Mix visit and teach last Friday for missions class.

PS: A special thanks to Jonathan Anderson for moderating the class.

This section is for you to learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working alphabetically, and this weeks missionaries are Graham and Olivia Young, missionaries in Nigeria.

Graham 

Although I grew up in a great church, I was not saved as a child. The things of God became very stale and boring to me as an early teenager. I did not believe the Bible was God’s Word. This caused a long struggle in my heart. I was outwardly a Christian and did not indicate to anyone that I was not a believer. I had a hard time living with this hypocrisy, so I determined that I would read the whole Bible through to give it a chance.  During this read-through, I was convinced and accepted Christ as my Lord. Shortly after being saved, I surrendered to missions at my church’s mission conference. I started the Training Center after I graduated high school. Olivia and I met while I was in Bible college and were married in August 2020.

Olivia

Until I was 13, I believed that I was a Christian because everyone around me was. I believed that God and Jesus existed and never remembered a time when I hadn’t. I had heard of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and believed it had happened. What I hadn’t understood was my sin or why it was important that Jesus died. In middle school, my family started attending Vision Baptist Church, where I was presented with the gospel clearly for the first time and challenged to think about my personal relationship with Christ. I heard things like, “You are not a Christian because your parents are,” and that before someone accepts Christ, they are enemies of God and condemned already. Never had I thought that I was separated from God or that I was his enemy. I thought I was born his friend. I realized that Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrifice for my sin and in my place — it was only by faith in Him that I could be saved. My own good works or my belief that I had always been a good person would not cut it. I believed on Him at camp one summer and felt The Lord moving me to become a missionary shortly after.

Mark Coffey, Field Director for Africa, visited Nate Wilkerson in Benin. Praise the Lord for what God is doing! Pictured is a Bible study. 

While Mark Coffey was visiting Benin, he took Clark Hall and Manjith (a young man from Grace Baptist in South Africa). Praise the Lord for these young men who want to serve the Lord! Please pray for them as they follow the Lord.

While visiting the missionaries in Asia, I was blessed to make several podcasts. I am super excited to share those with you soon! 

Click here to subscribe or look up Mission Post on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or RSS.com.

Brady Van Winkle visited campus to teach this week. Jonathan Anderson also did, though we did not get a picture. A giant thank you to both of them for investing in future missionaries!

Welcome back Abigail Cooke from her 6-month internship in Mexico!! Thank you to the Anderson family for hosting and helping her. 

The following is an exert from chapter 6 of the book Missionary Guidebook For Ladies by Mindy Bush

Life is crazy. Life in ministry is crazier. You will need to be intentional and make time with your kids count. 

Family should come before ministry, but family shouldn’t hinder ministry. Don’t use your kids as an excuse to not do ministry, but also don’t allow the busyness of ministry to strip away memories with your kids. Jump on the trampoline with them, teach them to ride a bike, roller skate, play hide-and-seek in the dark. If Dad wants to play soccer in the living room to spend time with his son, let him. Don’t just “let” him; encourage him. Get in on the fun.

You can still do ministry and spend quality time with your kids. Involve them in everything you do, if possible. They can go on visitation with you or help you make food or gifts for people. They can sit on your lap while you play the piano and practice for the church service. They can go with you when you do discipleship. If the other lady has children, it will be good for them to go and play with the other kids. Just because you have children doesn’t mean you can’t do ministry.

Invite them to sacrifice with you. Teach them to be generous. If the church has a special giving project, encourage them to get in on the fun! Let them have a little allowance so they can learn to give back!

How do you have quantity time with your kids? Have daily routines. Have a meal together once a day at least. In Argentina, our meal together was lunch, and then we had siesta time, as it was the culture there. We didn’t always take a siesta, but we used that free time to be together as family since you couldn’t do anything else in the country because everyone was napping. We would take a walk around our neighborhood and sing and talk. Jeff would take the kids around on his motorcycle. We would go to the park and let them skate.

Quantity time does NOT mean child-centered family where everything revolves around the child and what he/she wants to do. Children must learn that they don’t get to do everything they want to do. 

Sadly, there are some moms who just don’t want to be around their kids. Do you realize that they are God’s gift to you? What are you doing with God’s gift? A child left to himself brings his mother to shame. You will regret it later on down the road when your child doesn’t love Jesus or want to serve God. Do you find yourself looking for ways to “get rid” of your child, whether it is putting him in a day camp, day care, or anything to get him out of your hair? There’s nothing wrong with these things on occasion, but if you are a missionary wife, stay-at-home mom, there’s no excuse for it. Many years ago, it was common for missionaries to send their children off to boarding school so they could do ministry. One thing they didn’t realize is how much of an asset the children could have been for the ministry and how much their children missed out by not being with their parents. Families need to be together. In some countries that have a strong push for education, you might find yourself falling into the same trap that the kids must have the best education available. They could potentially be gone for ten hours a day, come home and still have schoolwork to do. Be careful to always re-evaluate your life and what is going on in your children’s lives.

What does the Bible say about how we should spend time with our children?

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Thank you to the many who participated in the Y4tG last Saturday in Calhoun. Above are some of the pictures. I rejoice in what the Lord is doing through these events!

We would love to have you join us at one of our upcoming events. Click here to find out more details.

THIS Saturday, Sept. 21 will be our next Youth 4 the Gospel in NY City at Living Hope Baptist Church, Bronx, NY. If you are in the area, join us.

Here are the next several: 

• September 21 – NY City, NY
• September 28 – Knoxville, TN
• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• November 9 – Dalton, GA

This section is so you can learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working in alphabetical order, and the next missionary is Noah & Tristan Wilkerson.

Noah:

I am very  grateful for a godly heritage. My parents made it a priority to keep me and my siblings in church from a very young age. I’m thankful for my parents, great Sunday school teachers and children’s church workers that took time to share the gospel with me many times. After a Sunday night message, I realized I was a sinner and was on my way to hell without Jesus Christ. My father showed me the Bible way to be saved that evening.

When I was 16 years old I surrendered my life to whatever the Lord had for me after a mission’s trip to Dalian, China to visit Mark Tolson. From that point on, I began to seek the Lord to find my place in world evangelism. Through various missions trips the Lord laid the continent of Africa on my heart. While on an internship under the Coffey family my wife Tristan and I surveyed the country of Mozambique just northeast of South Africa. We believed that is where the Lord was calling us to plant churches. After the birth of our daughter Alainey in October of 2022 we needed to re-evaluate where and to what the Lord was leading us. Due to the advanced medical care for Alainey, we had peace about moving to South Africa to serve with the team of missionaries there. We are enjoying learning much and serving here. We are currently continuing to pray about what God has for our future in Africa. It is a privilege to serve the King of Kings!

Tristan:

I grew up in a Christian home where my parents were very involved in different church ministries. My family was very faithful to any and all church events and I am thankful for the influence that a healthy church offered me throughout my childhood. After saving up some allowance, I was able to attend my first church camp. On the Wednesday night of camp, at 14 years old, I placed my faith in Jesus for my salvation.

At 19 years old, I began to really evaluate what my life looked like and how I was spending my time. It was then, that I started to take my relationship with the Lord more serious and I began investing more time in Bible reading, church ministries, and spending time with better influences. While on a trip to visit Eric and Rebekah Elrod in India, I surrendered my life to whatever God would have for me involving missions. Today, Noah, Logan, Alainey and I are thankful to be serving the Lord in South Africa. We are blessed the Lord has brought us this far. He is faithful. We look forward to welcoming baby #3 in October.

I rejoice with the missionary team in NYC for the two baptisms last week and for the three men who received certificates for completing discipleship. Amen!

Shawn Bateman preached chapel this week, and we’re grateful for it.

I am currently writing this from Asia, where I’ve been able to visit many the Asian team members. They’ve been kind enough to let me disrupt their schedules. I have been extremely encouraged to see and hear from each of them! I still have a couple of days here, so I will share more updates next week!

Justin, a Chinese man saved at team member’s church in NY City, visited over the weekend. 

Travis held another Missionary Finance Training class this week. I am very grateful for the many tools we are blessed to offer and serve our missionary team.

Emily Wilkerson teaching kids ministry in their yard. Amen!

We are thrilled to have Michael, Victoria, and Phoebe Turner as our newest missionaries to the VBM team. They are both graduates of the OGTC, have been working faithfully at Southside Baptist Church, and heading to West Africa. Welcome!! 

Each week at the training center, the students help lead the chapel time. Students get to participate in various parts of the service. Here are a few of the students helping last week.

1. Damaris Alma led the study of the country of the week, which was Antigua and Barbuda. 
2. Laadan Schooley opened and gave introductions to chapel.
3. Grant Snode was the 5-minute preacher.
4. Truman Sink led the music. 
5. Beau Carpenter was our guest speaker. It was a blessing having a former graduate and current pastor. 

THIS Saturday, Sept. 14 will be our next Youth 4 the Gospel in Calhoun, GA. We would love to have you join us for one in your area! Here is a link if you would like to register.

• September 14 – Calhoun, GA
• September 21 – NY City, NY
• September 28 – Knoxville, TN
• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• October 26 – Dalton, GA

Ethan LeCroy was a big blessing! His teaching was very challenging and refreshing.

If you would like to know more about his ministry, click here.

​This section is so you can learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working in alphabetical order, and the next missionary is Nate & Emily Wilkerson.

Nate
Christ is life. The Lord Jesus Christ has been so overwhelmingly good to me. Jesus Christ saved me when I was 5 years old after hearing the Gospel clearly and repenting of my sins and calling upon Jesus Christ to save me. I grew up going to a Christian school where I wanted so badly to share the Gospel but everyone around me already claimed to be a Christian. The Lord showed me how I could share the Gospel with the lost through Instagram so I started Christ is life on there and began to preach His Word. Many souls from all over the world would reach out and ask questions about the Bible and several souls made professions of faith in Christ for salvation! The Lord called me to missions when I was 13 and prepared me to come to the Our Generation Training Center after graduating high school. He introduced me to my wife Emily at the our generation camp and we got to know each other for a few months in the training center before getting married and he allowed us to serve in Burkina Faso for 2 and a half years where we learned French and on the field ministry and had 2 of our 3 children. We have been in Benin since January 25th of this year and the Lord has been working in exciting ways by opening the doors to start 6 Bible studies and has called several men into the ministry! We are learning Fongbe and hope to be able to understand and communicate conversationally by the end of March. 

Emily
I grew up going to Christian school but not a Christian environment at home. My parents separated when I was 9 and there were many problems in my life. I ran from the Lord until I was 16 when God radically changed my life! I met Nate at the our generation camp and the Lord built our relationship at the Our Generation Training Center where we were later married and accepted as missionaries. The Lord has been very good to me and I am thankful for all He has done and is doing. There have been many ups and downs but the Lord is always faithful and I am honored to be able to serve Him and teach my children to love and serve Him on the mission field in Benin.

We often get calls/emails at the office asking for missionaries on deputation or furlough. To aid in connecting churches with available missionaries, we have put together a list on our website for those on deputation and furlough who are booking meetings. You can view the list HERE.

Weekly we hold a staff meeting to discuss what is being accomplished, how we can best represent the Lord, and how we can best serve our missionaries and supporters. God bless each one of you as you serve the Lord. Keep up the great work!