"The purpose of this church is to glorify God through the salvation of the lost and the edification of believers.”

It is the vision and goal of Northfield Baptist Church to carry out the command of Christ's Great Commission. Therefore, we view missions as an integral ministry of our church and of our individual members.

Northfield Baptist Church has the opportunity to support many who share the Gospel of Jesus Christ both in our country and throughout the world by meeting financial needs, offering encouragement and through prayer. Following is information on people as well as ministries that NBC supports.

Below, all of the missionaries and ministries are listed that Northfield Baptist Church supports. Here are some ideas of how you as a church member can support them.

1. Be aware of their needs, prayer requests and praises provided through the prayer letters.
2. Pray for our missionaries and ministries regularly.
3. Send them special offerings through funds collected in the ABF groups. Requests can be sent to the Treasurer through the church office.
4. Send them notes or cards of encouragement.
5. Spend time with missionary families when they are in our area on furlough.

Included here is a prayer list of praises and requests for our current missionaries.

Nate and Maam Beckman in Thailand

• Praise the Lord that Hudson passed his driving test and is now settled in Iowa! Pray for him as he works with the desire to save enough money to attend Appalachian Bible College in the fall.
• Praise the Lord that Nate was able to renew his visa until June 2025 with no issues. The process was a bit delayed as he was sick with a mild case of Covid.
• Praise the Lord for the safety in travel as Maam and Nyah returned to Thailand.
• Pray for clear direction for Nate and Maam as they seek opportunity to plant another church. Pray for them as they transition back into ministry after furlough. Pray for Maam in her homeschooling of Nyah that she will find the needed resources and that the time they share together in teaching and learning will be effective.

Dave and Jeannie Ferguson, Baptist Mid-Missions

• Pray for His work to advance
• Pray for more lives surrendered to His call, for dedication to service in the lives of His children, for more laborers for the fields that await
• Pray for the health struggles of their adult children and grandchildren

Joe and Esther Keim, Mission to Amish People (MAP)

• MAPs often has interns serving in various capacities. Alex has been a great help to Joe and Esther as all three have travelled and shared the ministry. He has also invested many hours in editing and preparing their Plowman’s Academy Bible study workbooks for their website. Alex would like to continue on in the ministry at MAPs. Pray for the needed funds to provide a salary for him now that the unpaid internship is coming to an end.
• Praise the Lord for the ten individuals that gave Joe and Esther a year to be under discipleship as they went through a Bible study course that taught all the doctrines of the faith with Joe and Esther. As the teaching has come to an end, pray for these individuals to share what they’ve learned by discipling others.
• Pray for the group of individuals from Joe & Esther’s discipleship study as they make plans for a mission’s trip to Germany in October. Pray for this team as they raise funds through selling pizzas.
• Continue to pray for Joe and his team as they continue to develop the Growing in Christ Academy, which provides online Bible and ministry courses. Pray that many Amish will sign up and study the scriptures, drawing them into a closer relationship with our Savior.

Ken and Amy Lowe in Portugal 

• They are currently at 86% of their support. Pray for the needed funds to come in.
• Pray as Ken and Amy as they transition to the field in Portugal.

Bill and Becky Petite in Japan

• The greatest burden of their hearts is that the Japanese people, especially those in Izumi, might be saved. Pray that people will not passively reject the gospel message but instead will repent and believe.
• Praise the Lord for the opportunity Bill and Becky had to attend the ABWE Conference for Missionaries in Asia in the first half of June. They were grateful for the reminder of the Lord’s faithfulness to them through the years and the privilege of representing Him in Japan.
• Pray for the Lord’s leading for a young couple who is considering coming to lead the church in Izumi. Pray for God to clearly reveal His plan for them.
• Continue to pray for Chizuru, Shuichi, Hiroyuki, Masaaki, Mrs. Uchizono, Hiroe, Mayumi, Hitomi, and many others, who have heard the gospel repeatedly, to trust in Christ.
• Pray for healing for Mrs. Urakami, who has had a recurrence of her cancer.
• Pray for reconciliation among two women in their church.
• Dr. Kazuo Ishikawa, their friend and daughter-in-law’s father, passed away in June. A memorial service will take place in July. Pray his many unsaved friends that attend would believe.

Dave, Ruth Ann and Andrea Rogers, ABWE Chile

• Praise the Lord their support level has been maintained, even with changes taking place over the last few months. With the loss of some supporters, the Lord has provided new ones to join their support team!
• Praise the Lord for the encouragement Dave and Ruth Ann have received as they have visited area churches and witnessed the demonstration of their passion for the Gospel and a love for the Savior. Dave and Ruth Ann look to network with them as they reach Chile for Christ.
• Praise the Lord for the growth and commitment they have found in the Baptist Bible Theological Faculty and the Logos Baptist Bible Seminary. Dave has the opportunity to teach online for the Logos Bible Seminary and will have opportunity to teach an onsite class for the Baptist Bible Faculty next year.
• Pray for the GROW training & Publications projects – new director, new sales outlets, expansion to other countries.
• Pray for Andrea's transition to Lancaster Bible College in August.
• Pray for expedient and efficient processes in the transfer of properties to the local churches and ministry that ABWE has planned.
• Pray for open doors to interact with the unsaved, the skeptic, the doubter, and the lost.

Josh, Rachel, Nate, Anna Stewart in Taiwan

• Praise the Lord God's grace continues to sustain them through sickness, pain and ministry.
• Praise the Lord for the opportunity Nate and Anna had to attend a camp for missionary kids. They were able to make new friends and hear preaching in English to challenge them in their personal spiritual walk.
• Pray for the church there that each person would stand strong in faith, unsaved family members would be saved, and a pastor would be found for the church.
• Pray for Ren to follow Christ.
• Pray for them to have wisdom and love as they continue to reach out to their neighbor, Zoe, whose husband passed away in November.

Michael and Sherri Vanek, Faith Baptist Community Church and Center

• Praise the Lord the basketball court is now complete! The plan is to begin using it this spring with some pick-up games to welcome and get to know more of the youth and young adults in the neighborhood.
• Praise the Lord that the youth room is also now mostly complete. This will allow their youth ministry to expand.
• Praise the Lord also for gifts that will enable an update to the security systems allowing them to monitor it all remotely. 
• Pray for Sherri as she continues to deal with the daily pain and rigidity from her rheumatoid arthritis. 
• Continue to pray for Michael as he deals with Parkinson’s disease. His walking and balance are a constant struggle.
• Pray for Emily and the opportunity she has to minister in Italy on a young adult missions' trip. Pray for safety in travel and fruit in their ministry.

Chris & Darcy Vergiels, Brazil with BMM

• Praise the Lord for the uniting of Corrina and Steven in marriage on June 15. The wedding was a blessing. This fall, Corrina and Steven will start working as contracted staff at The Wilds Christian Camp in North Carolina.
• Praise the Lord for the time Chris and Darcy were able to spend with their entire family while in the States.
• As they are now back home in Brazil, pray for their Winter Vacation Bible School the week of July 22nd. Warren & Lara have trained their intern, Sid and his wife, Fran to lead the VBS this year. Pray for the Lord’s blessing.
• Pray for their Father/Son Barbeque scheduled for August 10th that many unsaved fathers will attend with open hearts to hear the Gospel.

Joel and Sarah Wagner in Myanmar

• They continue to have challenges with their visas with misinformation, mistakes and waiting - keeping them from obtaining their visas. They are reevaluating their visa options, including other countries.
• Joel is now teaching GED classes to local Myanmar students. Pray for good conversations and a stable place for them to grow academically and spiritually.
• Praise the Lord for the various needs being met with their team of translators from visas issued to funds sent to meet workshop expenses and printing costs.

Rob and Penny Whitty in Ghana Africa

• Pray for health and strength for both of them. Penny has had to play with her medicine to overcome a flare-up of her immune issue. It affects her joints but praise the Lord, she is managing it well. Rob needs prayer for the usual aging process/issues. 
• Pray for people to respond to the Gospel message. They have multiple opportunities to share so pray for the spirit to produce genuine fruit.
• Pray for funding for the Emmanuel Baptist Christian School construction project. They are truly grateful for all God has done and are looking forward to the completion of this project.
• Pray for Rob as he is working on a Master of Ministry project.
• Pray for the growth and maturity of the Jinijini and Brenyekwa churches.

Cameron and Kerry Woolford, Servant Leaders International

• Pray for the launch of Missions Certificate in Nicaragua.
• Pray for new church plants in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
• Pray for Cristina Torres who is being sent from Ecuador to Spain.
• Pray for 2-3 new local church ministry interns in Latin America and Germany.
• Pray for the Wachter family as they continue to raise support for a desired departure to Southern Germany in 2024.

Nate & Maam Beckman

Serving in Thailand

Serving Missionaries in Asia & The Pacific

Baptist Mid-Missions

Nate grew up in the Central African Republic as the son of BMM missionaries Larry and Paula Beckman. Nate later served short-term in Thailand, where he met his wife, Maam. They joined BMM in 2001 and serve as church planters in Bangkok, Thailand.

Dave & Jeannie Ferguson

First Vice President and Administrator for Missionary Services

Baptist Mid-Missions

Dave and his wife, Jeannie, served as BMM missionaries with Campus Bible Fellowship from 1987 until 2002, before Dave joined our home office team as Assistant to the President/Director of Special Projects. He took his current position in 2017.

As Administrator for Missionary Services, Dave is responsible for administrative oversight and coordination of the Missionary Services working group, which is comprised of the following services: Missionary Finance, Field Administration, Special Projects, and Crisis Management.

Steve & Beth Gault

Field Administrator for Africa and Europe

Baptist Mid-Missions

Steve grew up in Central African Republic as a BMM MK. In 1991, he and his wife, Beth, joined BMM and served as church planters in his homeland. Civil wars caused the Gaults to relocate to Côte d’Ivoire and then to Cameroon. In his last 11 years in Africa, Steve also served as BMM’s Africa coordinator before joining the home office team in 2015.

Steve serves in a pastoral and consulting role for the missionaries serving in his fields. Steve and Beth come alongside missionaries to help them thrive in life and ministry.

Joe & Esther Keim

Mission to Amish People

Joe and Esther Keim were both born and raised in the Old Order Amish Community. They had been taught that only by keeping the Amish ordinance would they be able to get to heaven. Through the testimony and prayers of his friend, Paul, Joe realized that it was only through accepting Jesus as his Savior that he would get to heaven. Both he and Esther came to know the Lord, were married and soon became outcasts of the Amish for their new beliefs. Though they became involved in church and began to serve, they were burdened for the Amish and the desire for each to hear the clear message of salvation. The result of this call is Mission to Amish People. The three-fold purpose is to 1) Evangelize and disciple Amish and former Amish people; 2) Assist older teenagers and young adults who have already left the Amish culture by providing basic life skills; and 3) Expand MAP all over North America.

Ken & Amy Lowe

Serving with Faith Global Missions in Portugal

Ken and Amy have extensive experience working in Portugal. The Lowes worked in Portugal for over 15 years before returning to the States for the last 10 years. They are now desiring to return to Portugal to focus upon Biblical Counseling training and leadership development with local Portuguese churches. This is a key time of resourcing leaders in Portugal as churches strive to grow and reproduce. Ken has been ACBC certified since 2007 and his D.Min focused on leadership development through the local church. 

Bill & Becky Petite

Serving in Japan

Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Bill and Becky Petite are serving in Southern Japan and are involved with church planting, English teaching, the Living Hope Gospel Choir and Bill is Field Council Treasurer. They also teach English and Bible Classes, interpret for the deaf.

Dave & Ruth Ann Rogers

Serving in Chile

Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

Dave and Ruth Ann Rogers serve in Chile. Dave focuses on partnering with Chilean believers to plant churches (presently New Life Baptist) and equip leaders through the Seminary, overseeing the publications ministry, and field team leadership. Ruth Ann emphasizes the discipleship of women and teaching.

Josh & Rachel Stewart

Serving in Taiwan

Baptist Mid-Missions

The Stewarts joined BMM in 2010 to serve in Asia. Their current ministry is in Taiwan.

Michael & Sherri Vanek

Faith Baptist Church and Community Center

Baptist Mid-Missions

Michael and Sherri Vanek serve at the Faith Baptist Church and Community Center in inner-city Cleveland, Ohio. The church and center exist to preach the gospel, teach the Scriptures, and helping people grow into productive servants of Jesus Christ as He builds His church in inner-city Cleveland. To accomplish this mission, the Church & Center offer a variety of programs and free services including meals, a clothing store, medical services, pregnancy services, parenting classes, addiction classes, men’s, women’s and children’s programs, and church services.

Chris & Darcy Vergiels

Serving in Brazil

Baptist Mid-Missions

Chris was saved from a Catholic background in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Darcy was born in Brazil to Baptist Mid-Missions missionaries, Bob & Corrine Jones and trusted Christ as her Savior when she was five. We met in grad school at Bob Jones University and sensed God’s call in our lives for Brazil in 1991, joining the BMM in 1993. After our deputation ministry, we arrived in Brazil in January of 1997, where we worked in team ministry in metro Sao Paulo. After 6 years, we moved to the interior of the state of Sao Paulo to start Victory Baptist Church in Osvaldo Cruz. After this church graduated, the Lord moved us an hour away to the city of Presidente Prudente in 2016. Presently, we have a group of believers and meet in a rented facility. We are looking forward to purchasing property and constructing our church building. This is especially important in a Catholic culture because they look at the building as the church. Once our building is constructed, that barrier will be removed and more will come to hear the gospel preached and respond to accept Christ as Savior. We are excited to be part of God's work, building His church here in Presidente Prudente!

Joel & Sarah Wagner

Serving in Myanmar

Bibles International

Baptist Mid-Missions

Joel & Sarah Wagner serve in Myanmar with Bibles International, the Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions. Joel is the Field Translation Consultant. His role is to train nationals, biblical exegesis and linguistic analysis. Their goal is to assist nationals to bring God's Word to their own people in their own language. Currently, they are based in Chiang Mai Thailand and able to continue our translation work from there while they pray for the situation in Myanmar to be resolved.

Rob & Penny Whitty

Serving in Ghana

Baptist Mid-Missions

Our story is really our journey of becoming the "living sacrifice" mentioned in Romans 12:1. We are both products of a Christian home, but we both struggled as teens to find our way in the Christian life. We married on October 27, 1984, and God richly blessed us in the succeeding years with five wonderful children. Early in our journey we committed to the local church and to our own personal growth. It was in the arena of the local church that God planted the desire for Him deep in our hearts.

In the Spring of 1995, we committed ourselves to ministry, knowing it would be the mission field but not certain of the location. After several years of deputation and several bumps in the road, we landed in Ghana in the fall of 2003. Looking back we sense that God used every step of the journey to prepare us for this ministry. Even when we didn’t know where we would be, the Lord knew! Right now we are privileged to serve the Lord in the Bono Region. Here we have helped a national-led church expand its ministry and, in 2019, the church opened a Christian school. We cannot believe how God has directed and led through all these events!

Cameron & Kerry Woolford

Church Planting through Church Multiplication

Servant Leaders International

Our family has been involved in Church Planting and Leadership Training for 25 years. We have participated in 7 church plants working in the United States, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. We are grateful that God has given us the privilege to see His church become a light in communities where confusion and spiritual darkness reign. We look forward to seeing how God will use our family in the years to come to further His Kingdom.