Around The Corner (Our Home Missionaries)
Nidal & Wisam Arnouk
Nidal was born into an Orthodox family in the country of
Syria. His parents were not religiious people; but by the grace of God, he heard the gospel from a classmate and was saved at age eighteen. Later that year, Nidal felt the Lord's direction to become a Sunday School teacher; and over the next few years, he founded a new Sunday School program for a church which eventually grew to become the largest in Syria.
In 1982, he became a youth leader, and it was about
that time that God called him to preach. He studied in three different seminaries for a total of eight full-time years of Bible education.
Nidal started many churches in Syria but is currently
being used of God to minister to Iraqi refugees in Austin, Texas. It is his desire to plant churches in various cities of America where there are substantial populationsof Arabic-speaking people.
Nidal and Wisam have been blessed with two daughters:
Meray, and Reem.
Ake & Daphney Bowonzong
Ake was saved in June of 1988 in New Guinea through
the work of a missionary. On the day of his salvation, Ake was burdened to preach.
Back in his hometown, he became a member of Faith
Baptist Church. From 1989 to 1997, Ake workedin the church from assistant youth director to interim pastor. In April of 2000, with help from a preacher in New York, Ake learned about Marietta Bible College.
Since then hehas graduated from Marietta and
Cornerstone Baptist Temple began supporting Ake in March of 2004.
Ake and Daphney were married in December 2010 and
they have one child Eranu.
John & Henra Clark
John was born in Tremont, Mississippi, and reared in a
Christian home. Due to a serious ear infection at age three, he became deaf. Henra, who was also born in a Christian home, was born with hearing impairment. John and Henra were high school sweethearts at Mississippi School for the Deaf and were married in 1956.
In 1965, they moved to Chicago and attended First
Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, where John served as a deacon for eight years and taught a deaf Bible class. He then surrendered to the call of God to become an evangelist and has traveled extensively, preaching in revivals, camps, and various meetings.
John pastored two churches in Georgia and Nebraska
before 1995 when God burdened his heart to become a full-time missionary to the deaf world. After John's passing in 2018, Henra has continued for be a blessing to the deaf community of Dayton.
Dave & Carole Ross
Dave and Carole Ross are both from Dayton, Ohio,
natives and long-time members of Dayton/Cornerstone Baptist Temple. In a mission conference here in 1974, they surrendered to go to the mission field and after just two years of deputation, they, along with their two young sons, David and Steve, arrived in Indonesia. Dave and Carole have now faithfully served there for thirty-seven years.
During the first five years of their Indonesian ministry,
they set up an ACE school for missionaries' children. They are now involved with work in a Bible Institute where Dave is the advisor and Dave and Carole are both teachers. They also work with three local churches.
The Ross' sons are now grown and married. David
works in commercial real estate; he and his wife, Sue, and their eleven-year-old son, Alex, live in Columbus. Steve and his wife, Jody, are both physicians and reside in Pennsylvania with their four children-Cory, Ben, Maggie, and Katie.
Marilyn Pitzer
In April 1961, Marilyn surrendered her life to do anything
the Lord wanted; and then the year before she graduated from Bob Jones University, she surrendered to go to the mission field. A few years later, the Lord burdened Marilyn's heart for those who did not have the Word of God in their own language. She obtained information on various ministriesof that nature and found one that she felt suited her ministry desires. Because of her excellent response on her doctrinal questionnaire, she was able to begin the missionary process immediately and was not required to take a further year of Bible training. Marilyn gratefully credits Pastor Gerald Flemming's good, solid Bible teaching for this.
She left for the field of Venezuela in 1972 and has
remained there ever since, serving under missionary pastors in various ministries of the churches. She has been asked to teach a Sunday School teacher training class for women upon her return, as well as attempt to begin a children's choir and orchestra.
Marilyn has since retired from the field but continues to
serve God to the best of her abilities.
Stetson & Sandy Planck
Stetson was reared in a Christian home and attests that
some of his earliest memories were of his family attending church together as well as kneeling as a family to pray before bedtime. He received Christ as Savior at the tender age of eight.
Though Sandy was not born into a Christian home and
was subjected to the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration, she genuinely desired to know the truth. It was after college and through the providence of God that she visited Grace Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio, and there she received Jesus Christ after hearing seven months of sound doctrinal preaching.
Stetson yielded to God's call for ministry in March of
1999, but it would be nine years before God would give him a specific direction of his call to preach the Gospel in Italy. The Plancks have been serving in Italy since December 2011.
Stetson and Sandy have two children- Isaiah and
Pearl.