Category: From Our President

I want to thank Pastor Chad Estep and the Valley Baptist Church for doing an amazing job hosting Family Fellowship Week last month. It was a great blessing to see so many of you in Edinburg. Brother O’Malley and the staff did a wonderful job preparing for the week, and so many components came together for a seamless week of fellowship.

So many things have changed over the years, and we are continually making adjustments to deal with those changes. Nothing is so staggeringly different than the way we communicate. I can remember a time when if a problem developed, it was a long process. A missionary would write, and it would often take weeks to get an answer as the letters would crawl slowly around the world. However, that is the case no longer. Instantaneously we can communicate with the other side of the globe. It leaves no time for us to reflect on our response to a particular situation. Since we are not required to take time for thought, perhaps it would be advisable to take that time on our own. Restraint is not always easy. Our emotions compel us to reply with everything that is on our mind. In those times might I suggest that you write the email and then just let it rest in your computer for a couple of days before sending it to where it can never be recovered and changed.

Consider this with me also: posts on social media. Sometimes it is what we say, and other times it is how we say it. I oftentimes read things on Facebook from missionaries that we are associated with that cause me to cringe. Statements that come across so arrogant it is as though the writer believes that he is the only one that has ever had that thought and therefore has the only correct answer. If we knew the truth, we would probably be amazed at how little others care about our dogmatism. You can be correct and still be wrong! You can be wrong in your disposition even when your position is right. But there are those also that word a statement in such a way as to gender strife. This should not be.

And then there are those pictures! Please use caution when you are posting photos online. We are all aware that there are differences in convictions. Yes, we do indeed have liberty in Christ, but we must not use our liberty to offend a brother in Christ. Look carefully at those pictures before posting them. Look at modesty. Look at the surroundings. Then ask yourself how important is it that this is published for public consumption.

I trust that our Lord will give you a wonderful month in your ministry and family.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

This month we will meet in Edinburg, Virginia, for the annual Family Fellowship Meeting of WWNTBM. I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to those that have contributed so much to see this work go forward.

God very clearly chose Pastor Bill Wingard to get this mission underway, and he has been at the helm serving the Lord faithfully from the beginning. Pastor Wingard is the founder and serves as the Chairman of the Executive Board. He is the heart of this mission. He has steered us through some troubled seas through the years, and we will always be grateful for his leadership. On a personal note, I would like to thank him for allowing me to serve with him in this ministry for the last thirty-four years. Many of you are fairly new to the mission. Perhaps you have not had the opportunity to spend much time with Pastor Wingard. When you get to the meeting in Edinburg, make sure that you go out of your way to meet him in a personal way.

My memory would fail me to list all of the board members who have served this work since the beginning, but we would not be what we are today without these faithful pastors that have given of themselves to serve World Wide in so many ways. These men love this mission. I would encourage each of you to get to know them personally. All of these servants of our Lord are approachable.

It was twenty-six years ago that the Lord blessed WWNTBM by leading Dr. John O’Malley to join us in this work. Brother O’Malley now serves as the General Director of the mission. For many of you, he is your first contact with this ministry. If he was not your first contact, you have learned very quickly that he is your advocate. He deals with the day-to-day operation of the mission under the leadership of Pastor Wingard and the Executive Board. It would be impossible to adequately tell all that Brother O’Malley has added to the operation of the mission.

Brother Jeremy Lockhart has joined the team and is working alongside of Dr. O’Malley. Brother Lockhart serves as Director of Deputation. We certainly appreciate the Lockharts and thank the Lord for sending them to this ministry for such a time as this.

Words cannot express our thankfulness for Mrs. O’Malley and the ladies that work so diligently to serve the missionaries of World Wide. Please look for opportunities to share with them your appreciation for their endless labor on our behalf.

This mission exists to serve the missionary families who have chosen to go to the mission field with the assistance of World Wide. We are here for you. This is your mission. If for any reason you are not proud to be associated with WWNTBM, please give us a chance to work on whatever troubles you. We are grateful for the privilege of serving you in your calling.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

Tithing! Yes, tithing. Surely there would not be a missionary who has surrendered his life to serve the Lord who would be unfaithful in giving at least a tithe to the Lord. Hopefully that was settled in your heart a long time ago, but are you teaching tithes and offerings to those that you minister to every day?

My travels have taken me to sixty-five countries. I have visited several different mission works in some of those countries, and have traveled to some of those countries many times. It is not obvious to me that tithes and offerings are taught in many of those places. Make no mistake about it, every born again believer can tithe. Sometimes it is easier to depend on funds from the outside. I am no more against fundraising in the United States for a work in another part of the world than I am against Macedonia sending funds to help in Jerusalem. However, this is not to be at the exclusion of the local people giving for the Lord’s work.

Tithes and offerings are biblical means by which every believer should both support the local ministry and help evangelize the rest of the world. It would be impossible to teach the Bible without getting around to giving.

I have witnessed some of the poorest people in the world support the local work by tithes and offerings. Those same churches have reached beyond themselves to start churches in other places. It is all done without any outside assistance. Again, nothing prohibits help from other sources, but that should come after the church understands that it is obligated to get involved in giving. The promise of blessings to those that do not rob God is worldwide and knows no boundaries because of income.

We are blessed to live on offerings that others have given to the Lord. I never want to forget that people are going to jobs every day, and often they don’t even like the work they are going to do. Then they will give tithes and offerings to the Lord. They give money that they could use in many different ways, but they will not. How ungrateful we would be if we did less then give and teach others to do the same.

The people of Israel had been slaves for hundreds of years serving the Egyptians. God delivered them from their bondage. While in the wilderness, when no jobs were to be had by these recently released slaves, God put them into a building program. He required the best of materials. Israel rose to the occasion in such a way that Moses had to restrain their giving. The success of the offering had more to do with their heart attitude than it did with their possessions. Don’t rob the Lord’s people by expecting less from them than the Lord does.

May the Lord bless you, your family, and your ministry with His divine presence.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

Since new families are coming with World Wide, it is necessary to cover things about which all of us need to be reminded. It is very obvious that we are an Independent Baptist agency, and we make that abundantly clear in every stage of the application process. As time goes on the same questions always seem to reappear. One of those questions is, “Where can we seek support?”

The Lord graciously saved me when I was thirteen years old. I did not even know there was such a thing as an Independent Baptist Church. It happens that I was saved in a Southern Baptist Church. I will forever be grateful for the pastor who preached the gospel to me as I grew up in the church. Darleen and I married in 1969. We moved to Tallahassee and eventually joined Maranatha Baptist Church. It was my introduction to Independent Baptists. Pastor George Clark opened a whole new world for me as week after week he preached the Bible. There was no way to know that in time the Lord would call me to preach, pastor, and then go into missions. When I started deputation the church I was saved in took me on for support. I did not ask them to, but because they loved us, they wanted to participate. Many of these people are relatives. We love and appreciate each of them, but we could not with good conscience accept their support. We would be laboring with an Independent agency, and working to see Independent Baptist Churches planted.

This is all made clear in the application process. We do not accept support from denominational churches. We are not at war with any of them. World Wide seeks support from Independent Baptist Churches and Bible Churches that are Baptist in doctrine. There are no exceptions. In our database, you might come across a church that does not fit these limits. If you do, please make the office aware of that. There have been occasions when one was added without our being aware of their position.

In every way, we want to be kind, but we also want to maintain the course set for us from the beginning. If for any reason you cannot abide by this it would be best for you to make that known and establish a new direction for your ministry. Trust me, I do understand the limitations are not always easy to work with, but we are convinced this is right. Our steadfast desire to keep the direction that we started with draws fire from the right and the left. However, we are not the ones that have changed. It is our sincere desire to continue as we started.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

We are constantly dealing with changes. It has always been that way though. World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions has attempted to maintain a steady as she goes approach in the midst of these ever-changing times. Personally, I am not as concerned with things changing around us as I am with changes among us. It seems necessary from time to time to remind ourselves that we wish to continue with the heading set for us when the mission was born. We did not start out as Calvinists, Reformed, Elder Rule, or any other description that has regained popularity in recent days.

We are traditional Independent Baptists. It is understood that many in our ranks have made major adjustments to their course. One of those changes has been the use of elder rule in the church. We believe that God has given the congregation of each local church the authority to choose its direction. The Lord calls pastors to give guidance to the church, but He does not make him, or any other group in the church, dictator over the congregation. We contend that the terms elder, bishop, and pastor speak of one office in the church. Obviously, a church can have as many assistants to the pastor as it wishes, but that pastoral group does not dictate to the congregation by any means. We reject the idea of elder rule.

Recently I have read a number of articles dealing with the subject. My conclusion is that you can use history to prove any position you wish to take. My objective is not to argue the subject, but simply to say that we are not changing our position to accommodate present changes. We are not persuaded by Reformed Theology. We are not persuaded by Calvinism. We are not persuaded by Arminian Theology. If you have changed your mind since joining WWNTBM, it would only be right that you inform us of those changes, and find someone with whom you are in closer agreement.

We are not attempting to start a fight with anyone. We are not attempting to argue with anyone. However, we cannot walk together if we are not in agreement. In my reading, I underlined so many statements that I agreed with and an equal number that I disagreed with. It was tempting to use names that sided with each argument. I then concluded that this was not my purpose in writing this article. Yes, I did read the verses that some used to substantiate the idea of elder rule.

If you are not starting churches in the tradition of the present-day Independent Baptist, it would be best for all of us if you would declare your intentions, and we can part ways peacefully. The churches that support missionaries associated with World Wide expect no less of us. These churches want to be duplicated in other parts of the world. If we are going to do otherwise the only honorable thing for us to do is to inform them of any change in direction. However, we have no intentions to change in part or the whole.

May our Lord bless your labor of love for His glory.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.
Psalm 19:14

This simple verse is so convicting to me. Knowing that my Lord knows the thoughts and intents of my heart is a challenge for every moment of every day. We are to lay aside every weight and the sin that besets us. It is easy to recognize the words and thoughts that are sin; however, words and thoughts that are “weights” are not always so easily identified. Well, not before we say them at least. Then comes the phrase, “be acceptable in Thy sight.” The question is not, should I say it? The question is, once I have said it is the Lord pleased?

The problem has been intensified with the rapid delivery of social media. When no one is sitting in front of us, it seems we feel the need to express every thought and opinion. Very often this is without considering how our opinion might affect someone else. Consider this, please. Not everything thought necessarily needs to be said or written. We all have opinions, and very often we feel strongly about them. But still, that does not mean we should blurt them out for public consumption.

It would appear that often we have a message that we want to convey to someone specifically, but we lack the quality of character to go to that individual personally. So a broad net is cast in the hopes that they will get the picture and conform to our wishes or appreciate our opinions. Everyone influences others for good or bad. Let’s use that influence with words fitly spoken in an effort to provoke one another to “love and good works.”

There are many things that the Scripture does not speak of definitively. Therefore, we can all develop thoughts that are contrary to those of others. Where the Bible has spoken clearly, we should speak boldly. But where opinion rules rather than absolute fact, shouldn’t we be less aggressive? Why would we want to offend a brother unnecessarily? The answer is simple: pride! There are many that I disagree with over a range of subjects, but that does not make them my enemy. However, those disagreements can be used to create an enemy or hurt a brother without cause.

James has some excellent advice for us in James 1:19, 26, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:…If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” We can do more damage with our tongue in a second than we can repair in a lifetime. I should know. I am certainly more convicted by the things that I have said than I am by the things I did not say when everything in me screamed to let it out.

Respect for the ideas of others will go a long way toward dodging uncalled for arguments and debates.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

There is an ever-increasing difference between light and darkness. As I reflect over the years of life and ministry, I am struck with the clarity of distinction between the two. It appears that for many years gray was the most pronounced color. Right blended with wrong. Just blended with unjust. It appears that the difference between the two is becoming increasingly clear. Everyone is taking sides! Yes, the world is divided. It is indeed true that America is divided. Is this a bad thing? I think not.

As much as in me is possible I want to live at peace with all men. But, I do not wish to do so if it requires me to live in “gray.” To make a definite decision to do right will divide us from lifelong friends. Sometimes it will divide families. We will find ourselves choosing. Will it be right, wrong or gray? Are we coming to the end? Is this the day in which all men must come out of the shadow of gray and declare to walk either in light or darkness? If this is that time, then I say, “Praise the Lord.” Let’s make our declaration clear. Let’s be determined to walk in the light. Let’s cry out against the darkness. Let’s offer the world a distinct choice between the two worlds that exist, and refuse to live any longer in the gray area of life.

God does not mince words when making a case for light and darkness. Even a cursory reading of the first chapter of Romans makes His declaration clear. It seems that much of Christianity has lived in “gray” in an attempt to influence the world toward light. I suppose that the idea would be that gray is better than black. Is it? That would not be God’s way of thinking, and should not have ever been ours. We must offer the unsaved world something clearly different. Yes, it is the narrow way. Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Oh yes, we must become all things to all men, but not at the expense of light. We must not invite the world to gray. The invitation should be with grace and love; however, the invite must be clearly to light.

We are entering some of the darkest days the world has ever witnessed. Will we be distinctively different? Will we offer the unsaved a notable difference. Salvation is not a halfway house for the condemned. Salvation is a light in which is no darkness at all. We must be dedicated to passing on God’s offer to the world. We have no right to offer anything else in His Name.

I have witnessed the years of mean, heartless offers of Christianity. I have also witnessed the years of soft, lifeless offers of the same. Grace and truth. There is no other way to represent God accurately. Yes, God is love, but His love will never abandon His holiness. What will it be for you this year? Light, darkness, or gray?

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

For those of us that know the Lord, this is a very special month. Many families get together at this time, and maybe it is for the only time in the year. We exchange gifts with our family and friends. However, so does the world! The thing that distinguishes our celebration from the rest of the world is the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is understood that we want to worship the Lord every day, but we emphasize His birth at this time. It really is not important to me that we have the exact day, but that we set aside a special day to remember the price that our God paid to redeem us from our sins.

In all of the hustle and bustle of this Christmas season, let’s take time on purpose to praise the Lord for His unspeakable gift to us. No one else could have accomplished this but Christ. We had no way to access heaven apart from His coming, living, and suffering for our salvation.

This is also a wonderful opportunity for us to share our faith in the Lord with others. Special gospel tracts are written just for this time of year. Christmas is on practically everyone’s mind. Even if it is simply to them Xmas it still opens the door for us to share Christ with others. What better gift could we give to the Lord than to extol His name to a lost world? If we are not careful we will see Christmas in our rearview mirror and realize that we did everything but worship and serve Him.

Darleen and I want to take this opportunity to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In reality it is one day following another; however, it creates a time in our year that we can evaluate the past year, and then dedicate ourselves to the year that is ahead. Let’s dream big for the coming year. Let’s purpose in our hearts that we are going to make more of Christ than ever before. Whatever our best has been, by God’s grace we can do even more. The world can be changed one soul at a time. At the same time, each of those souls that we reach with the gospel of Christ will be changed forever.

May the Lord richly bless you, your family, and your ministry this day and every day in your future.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Philemon 1:9

Paul has had an amazing ministry by the time he gets to this “aged” place in his life. We look back through the Scriptures and read of the work accomplished by this faithful servant of Christ. He is now in a perfect position to exhort the young preachers coming behind him. It is probably true that he cannot maintain the exhaustive efforts of years gone by, but he doesn’t have to with so many young preachers now hanging on to his every word. It has been my practice through my ministry to fellowship with older preachers that have gone before me. I have always loved hearing them describe the journey that the Lord has taken them on, and I have learned from their experiences. Oftentimes it has saved me from many pitfalls along the way.

There seems to be a feeling among a few young preachers today that the “aged” should be set aside. That they have somehow outlived their usefulness and are not worthy of the support of the Lord’s people. I say that the very opposite is true. If we ever needed the “aged,” it is in these years. In some ways, they can help us more than ever before. The experiences that they have had, the lessons that they have learned, the battles that they have fought, all of these things and more make them the most qualified people that we have in the ministry today. Instead of setting them aside we should give them a raise in pay. They are worth far more to us now!

To those of you that have plowed a straight furrow year after year: don’t quit now when we need you desperately. I challenge you, young preachers, to hang around these faithful servants and listen more than you speak. You will probably find that the education you get will surpass anything that you got in school.

If you are among the “aged,” and you are feeling the pinch of lost support, I will do anything that I can to help you remain in the Lord’s work if that is what you believe He wants you to do. If the Lord should lead you to retire from your present work, that is between you and Him, and it is honorable. If you believe He wants you to stay in the harness, then that also is honorable.

In His Service,
Danny A. Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.

In our ongoing and growing in these Christian lives that we live we have many responsibilities. With every passing day, we are constantly growing in understanding of our place in this world as Christians. Our Lord did many wonderful and amazing things during His earthly journey. However, He declared His purpose in coming. He said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15).” Then in John 20:21 Christ said, “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”

It would appear that our God is supremely concerned for the souls of men, and desires that we be also interested in individuals and their need of a Savior. It seems that witnessing of the saving grace of God is a primary responsibility of every Christian, not just every pastor, missionary and evangelist, but every believer in Jesus Christ. Witnessing has been expressed in so many ways. I am not referring to “pressure evangelism.” It is God that saves sinners by the work of the Scripture, the Holy Spirit and believers that share the way of life. I do believe in “confrontational evangelism” so long as that simply references personally sharing the gospel of Christ.

With those things in mind let’s be reminded that we are indeed ambassadors of Jesus Christ. There are so many other things involved in living the Christian life, but no one can deny that Christ has commissioned us to go to every soul on earth with the good news that they can be saved. We have so many avenues through which we can share the gospel. So the question is simple: Are we doing it?

The obligation rests on the shoulders of every Christian, but it seems it is even more imperative in the lives of those that have been dispatched by the Lord to a specific people in need of the gospel message. As a missionary, you have many personal and ministry responsibilities, but you must not allow this personal responsibility to be covered under a heap of activity, even if those activities are good things.

I hope we will be fervent in our desire to share what we know. In the hope to be transparent, permit me to say that I battle this every day of my life. But we must get beyond our hesitation to be forward and press on with sharing the way of salvation.

May the Lord bless you with opportunities to be a bold and compassionate witness for our Lord.

In His service,
Danny Whetstone

If this article has been an encouragement to you, you can email Bro. Whetstone here to let him know.