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Between ages 4 and 5, I had a spinal meningitis which caused me to lose my right hearing completely but my left hearing partly.  My parent got me out of the pubic school when they discovered that I didn’t do well and can’t hear the teachers.  So I attended North Carolina School For The Deaf in Morganton, NC.
My Uncle, Jesse Bowman who is hearing asked me to come to the church where he was ministering to the deaf at First Baptist Church in Granite Falls, NC.   I had no way of going to the church except my dad drove me there when he felt like it on Sunday morning.  I had no idea of what they did in church and why did we go there.  I loved the movies and ice cream that the church provided once a month for all deaf people to come for a short devotion which I didn’t know what it is at first.  My uncle sometimes explained and taught me who Jesus was but I didn’t understand fully.  The only thing that I kept in mind was for me to be a good person and to make my parent proud of me.  And I thought this what Jesus would wanted me to do.

There was one thing that dwelt on my mind when I saw a movie on TV which I don’t recall the name of it on Easter Sunday.  It was a man who did nothing wrong as I watched him being nailed upon the cross.  I woke up my dad while he was taking his nap after lunch at home asking him who was this man that died on the cross.  My dad woke slowly and said, “ Jesus”.  He went back to sleep ,again.

Years goes by as we are married and attended a church where we believed God wanted us there that had the deaf ministry.  In 1986, Rev. Bailey Smith was preaching at our church for a revival asking us this question at the end of the invitation , “ Do you know for sure where you will go when you die ?”  That night I finally understood who Jesus was and why He died on the cross after all the years that I was willing to teach Sunday School class and taught at the North Carolina School For The Deaf at the chapel every Wednesday night for the Bible study among the students.  So I reviewed my life back to the time I was teenager at the Mount Home Baptist church walked up the altar to knee down and prayed as I cried but I don’t remembered asking Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my life as my Savior and Lord.  That night at home , I decided to surrender my life over to Jesus asking him to forgive me of my sins and trust Him as my Savior and Lord over my life.  I was about 26 yrs old, the most happy day of my life, knowing for sure that if I died I would go to heaven being with Jesus.  And my wife , Deborah accepted Jesus that night, too.

“ Biography”
Debbie and I are graduates of NC School for the Deaf.  I am a student of Tri-State School of the Theology for the Deaf, seminary extension of Southern Seminary and working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree with Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina.

We teach a Bible study every Wednesday night to deaf students on the campus of North Carolina School for the Deaf.  I am the director of the deaf camp at Camp Caraway each year.  I also lead  international missions with the deaf people from North Carolina every year.  We had served as short term IMB Missionaries to the Deaf in South Africa (10 times), Puerto Rico (2 times), Russia (2 times), Guatemala (1 time), Quito, Ecuador (4 times),  Urkaine, Taipei,Taiwan (Deaf Olympic) and Honduras (11 times).  I worked a full time job as an advanced CNC machinist for almost 25 yrs at Sypris Techologies, Inc. I also work a part time job serving as a deaf evangelism events coordinator under the Baptist State Convention of NC. I had served as an associate pastor for three years to the deaf at First Baptist Morganton Deaf Mission in Morganton, NC.  April 30, 2007, I became a full time evangelist and I no longer work for Sypris Techologies,INC.

I received a Certificate of License from Pleasant Hill Baptist church in Morganton, North Carolina on January 24,1993. Then later on, I received a Certification of Ordination to be a full time evangelist from First Baptist Church in Morganton, North Carolina on May 4th, 2008.

“Call To Christian Ministry”
Back in 1986 after we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we begun to follow wherever He guided my life.  By the time , Tom Lineberger asked me to teach deaf Sunday School class on every other Sunday at Burkemont Baptist church where we were the member.  I was willing to do it.  I started writing lots of notes from the Bible as I studied and prepared.  I didn’t think I taught well at first.  But Tom Lineberger know what I could do since he had heard from the deaf people in the community that I could do drama.  He discussed with me and encouraged me to try the drama from the Bible.  He also suggested that I looked thru the Bible and find the story that I could do well at first.  I chose the first biblical drama was John 8:1-11.  I acted out the drama during the Sunday School class without looking at the notes.  I felt blessing to do this!  My wife, Debbie also could sign some songs into ASL (American Sign Language) for the deaf people to worship the Lord during the services.  She learned many songs as she worked with Marsha Lineberger changing them into ASL songs.  Many of the deaf in the Sunday School class learned and enjoyed the lessons thru drama and visual objects as I used the masks, costumes, wooden heart, mimes, many object lessons and pictures.  As years go by , the Lord increased all these things in our mind to use for us to share the Good News among and within the deaf communities and the “Lost People “ out in this world whom may get to know that Jesus Christ is the only way, truth and life for salvation.  This has been put on my heart that the Lord wants me to be evangelist.  I really enjoy this mission and I believe this is the call for me to be the evangelist.  Plus back in 1993 at Pleasant Hill Baptist church by Rev. Larry Cline, I was licensed to preach the Good News.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Every penny given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is used to support more than 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries as they share the Gospel overseas. This year’s offering goal is $175 million. The 2010 emphasis is a celebration of what God has done in recent years, praising Him for allowing Southern Baptists to be a part of His work. Are we there yet? Not yet, but reaching those who remain untouched by the Gospel is a doable task. They will be the hardest to reach, requiring that we pray, go, partner and give as never before. The 2010 Week of Prayer for International Missions is Nov. 28-Dec. 5.

By Don Graham

PRAGUE (BP) — Never underestimate the difference one person can make.

Mark and Vesta Sauter came to the Czech Republic to start churches among the nation’s 50,000 Deaf. But the missionaries weren’t seeing a lot of interest until God brought them an unlikely volunteer — 90-year-old Lillian Beard.

Lillian was a pioneer for Deaf work among Southern Baptists and a life-long mentor to Vesta. The women shared a common bond; as hearing children of Deaf parents, both learned sign as their first language.

Despite protests from friends, Lillian was determined to go to the Czech Republic to help the Sauters, even if it killed her. Vesta arranged for Lillian to speak at a Deaf community center in Prague, where her testimony touched a particularly hard-hearted Deaf Czech named Anna Smolkova.

Anna was the matriarch of a large Deaf family that was well-connected within Deaf Czech circles. Vesta knew that her conversion could catalyze the Sauters’ efforts to plant the country’s first Deaf church, but so far Anna had been very resistant — even hostile — to the Gospel.

“She said, ‘I want to make very clear to you that I don’t want anyone in my family to follow this Jesus,’” Vesta remembers. “She was just a bitter, angry woman.”

But Anna had never met someone like Lillian.

“The Deaf people [in the community center] were shocked [that a 90-year-old had come from the U.S. to speak to them],” Anna says. “I was amazed at how beautiful [her countenance] was, how she radiated. Something touched me inside about her, and I went and I knelt down before her and said, ‘What is it? Why are you so beautiful? Why do you radiate?’ And she signed to me, ‘It’s the love of Jesus.’ That struck a chord in my heart and a conviction, and I couldn’t run from it.”

Anna gave her life to Christ and quickly became the Sauters’ church-planting partner. God used her influence to lead dozens of Deaf to Christ, including many of her own family. What’s more, there are now six Deaf churches scattered across the Czech Republic as a direct result of Anna’s efforts — and Lillian’s obedience to God’s call.

The Sauters also credit much of the success to Southern Baptists’ commitment to pray when their ministry was a focus for the 2001 Week of Prayer.

“If every Deaf believer in the Czech Republic could stand before you today, their first words would be ‘Thank you, Southern Baptists,’ for making possible the spreading of the Gospel through their families and their communities,” Vesta says. “Today, we have Deaf-led churches because Southern Baptists gave, because they prayed, and because they even came as volunteers.”

Today, 10 years after Lillian’s visit, Anna continues to share Christ among Deaf Czechs and speaks fondly of her American friend who led her to Jesus. Lillian died in June of 2010 at the age of 101. She was an active advocate for the Deaf and for her Savior. God has since broadened the scope of the Sauters’ work — they now lead IMB’s global efforts to reach the Deaf.

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Don Graham is a writer for the International Mission Board.

By Emilee Brandon

RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)–A sometimes forgotten people group has stepped into the spotlight as one of IMB’s (International Mission Board’s) affinity groups. The Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf celebrated this milestone, along with its first commissioning service honoring eight IMB missionaries, July 26 during its annual meeting at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.

Seven of the missionaries were recommissioned to another term of service; the eighth is going to the mission field after short-term volunteer service.

The missionaries are among more than 5,600 other Southern Baptist personnel worldwide, including 32 missionaries who use sign languages from various countries to share the Gospel with Deaf peoples. Of the 32, eight are Deaf.

The Deaf are one of nine affinity groups — large groups of related peoples that share similar origins, languages and cultures — outlined in IMB’s reorganization.

Matthew and Virginia Stuart,* veteran missionaries and Deaf affinity group leaders, want to recruit Deaf to serve in ministry, empower them to reach other Deaf communities and then go to places with the most need. Within five years, they hope to increase the number of missionaries to the Deaf to 200, including at least 150 Deaf workers.

“We are committed to … lead efforts to bring Christ to every corner of the Deaf world,” Matthew said.

The identification of the Deaf as an affinity group has not only opened doors for more outreach to the Deaf, it also has opened the hearts of Deaf who never thought they could or would be involved in missions.

“When we first moved to Russia, Deaf Russians told us they couldn’t have a Deaf church,” signed Tex Winsome,* one of the missionaries commissioned at the service. “When we asked them why, the answer was always, ‘the hearing people tell us we can’t because God doesn’t call invalids into ministry.’”

Tex and his wife, Margaret,* have spent more than seven years trying to discourage this mentality. “We planted a Deaf church, and as a result, three more Deaf churches have been established,” Tex said.

For years, the people the Winsomes worked with lost hope because they focused on what people told them they couldn’t do instead of what they could do. “Today the Deaf of Russia have begun to understand that there is hope that the Deaf can,” Tex said.

IMB President Jerry Rankin told conference participants that “your deafness is not a handicap. It is a gift from God to be used to reach others for Christ with that uniqueness that only you have.”

With this unique gift, Rankin said, each person has the potential to reach multitudes of Deaf for the Gospel. Jason Shifflett, one of those attending the conference, hopes to fulfill that potential.

Although Shifflett is not Deaf, he grew up between two cultures — his mom is hearing, his dad is Deaf. “My first language (was) sign language,” the 20-something said.

“It’s really given me a unique position,” he said of his dual upbringing. “I don’t want [it] to go to waste, ever.”

Shifflett, who attends Deaf Fellowship Church in Grove, Okla., came forward after the commissioning service to learn more about Deaf missions opportunities abroad.

Learn about the affinity groups, including the Deaf, at imb.org/main/aroundtheworld.asp. E-mail deaf@imb.org to find out how you can be involved in sharing Christ with the Deaf around the world.

*Name changed

Amy Dixon talks with her hands. As a missionary to the deaf in Moscow, Russia, it’s an occupational necessity. Your Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gifts cover a variety of Amy’s expenses, including her transportation, food and any medical attention she may need. The Lottie Moon offering also provides her with a place to live. In Moscow, apartment rent can run about $2,000 a month.

Throughout the year, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides encouragement. Despite Moscow’s sheer size and days that are often cold and gray, Amy is thankful that she doesn’t have to work an extra job just to make ends meet. The offering lets her devote all her time to ministry. And there’s plenty of it to do.

One such ministry is the OneStory project. The goal of this ambitious project, Amy explains, is to translate the Bible into sign language so deaf people can “see the Gospel.” Another uses texting on cell phones as a way to do Bible storying (sharing Bible stories in chronological order). As a deaf person herself, Amy is committed to the task.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — One people group — numbering 30 million worldwide — will never hear the good news of God’s love, even if a missionary knocks on their door.

They will never hear because they are Deaf. Isolated socially and immersed in a culture radically different from the hearing world, the Deaf have little hope of even learning about Christ, much less understanding the gospel and receiving Him as Savior.

That’s why five leaders from the Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf met with International Mission Board leaders March 7-13 for the first Global Summit Meeting on Deaf Church Planting.

In that meeting, the SBCD task force and IMB leaders forged a partnership to direct more missionary outreach to Deaf populations worldwide. They discussed the possibility of developing training methods and creating a center to prepare Southern Baptists to witness more effectively to Deaf people. They talked about setting up a network that could match missionary requests for outreach teams with church teams ready to serve.

Members of the 73 Deaf Southern Baptist congregations and 555 Deaf ministries probably don’t realize how powerful their witness overseas would be, said Phillip Easterling, pastor of Birmingham (Ala.) Community Deaf Church.

“Deaf to Deaf witnessing is most effective because of the understanding of the language and the culture that Deaf people share,” Easterling said. “Sometimes it’s hard for a hearing person to win Deaf people to Christ but when it’s a Deaf person to another Deaf person, it’s much quicker. It’s like a magnet, something draws them.

“I have been to Romania six times for missions projects,” he said. “Each time, Deaf people would listen to our Bible teaching for four or five hours on a Sunday morning, then eat lunch with us and come back for more teaching. They would follow us to our rooms at night and sit on the floor and listen to our stories, stay until the early hours of the morning, sometimes even sleeping on the floor, because we were all Deaf.”

Deaf people have a credibility with other Deaf that hearing people will never gain, no matter how well they speak sign language, said Jeff Jackson, pastor to the Deaf at First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Fla.

He recalls a hearing missionary who served among the Deaf in Haiti and saw a dozen saved in 10 or 12 years. When an outreach team of Deaf Christians came from the United States, however, 100 Deaf in the community came to Christ in just one week.

Members of a Deaf club in the Czech Republic were fascinated when an elderly American Christian came to visit them and share her testimony in sign language, Easterling said.

The group was stunned that 90-year-old Lillian Beard would travel all the way from Houston, Texas. They wanted to see her passport to prove her age and took pictures of her because they knew others wouldn’t believe them.

Several of the Deaf noticed Beard demonstrated an unusual spirit of joy. One of them, an older woman named Anna, knelt in front of her and asked, “Why do you have that glow on your face? Older people here don’t have that.”

When Beard replied that her joy came from having Jesus in her life, Anna said, “I want that,” and prayed to receive Christ.

“We want to encourage Deaf churches to move up to a new level, become more focused on missions,” said Aric Randolph of New Life Deaf Fellowship in Fort Worth, Texas. “We want them to move past the stage of supporting missions and learn how to work in missions themselves.”

“Deaf Southern Baptists can reach their own people through their own language,” added Daniel Johnson, a minister to the Deaf at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Wilson, N.C.

“The Deaf are empowered to witness to their own people and plant churches. They don’t have to depend on hearing people to do it. They can do it themselves.”

Testimonies about Deaf outreach http://www.imb.org/ime/gods_world/bp/deafword.htm

Search missionary needs for Deaf outreach http://www.imb.org/FPNeeds/assignment.asp

Find out how God can work all around the world through you http://www.imb.org/you

The International Mission Board (www.imb.org) is a Southern Baptist Convention entity supported by the Cooperative Program (www.cpmissions.net) and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (www.imb.org/ime/LMCO).