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From the Memo Board: June 2019

Dates to Know

June 7 – The Office will be closed for a staff outing

June 17 – 20 – Family Fellowship Week in Edinburg, VA

July 1 – Revised pay date for those who normally receive funds on the 29th

July 1 – May financial reports will be due

July 4 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Independence Day

August 1 – June financial reports will be due

New Missionary

We are pleased to welcome Jackie and Brittany Elwart to the World Wide family. Bro. Jackie has served as the assistant pastor to Tim Daniel at the New Testament Baptist Church in Kinston since 2012. His wife, Brittany, has also served as the church secretary at New Testament. They are preparing to begin deputation in September to plant a church in Big Bear, California. The Elwarts have three daughters: Charlotte (12), Audrey (10), and Sadie (8). Pray for them as they sell their home in NC and begin deputation.

New Baby


Valiana Faith Jenney was born on May 1. She weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces and was 20 inches long. Valiana is the first daughter of Stephen and Charity Jenney, who are church planters in California. The Jenneys have three boys: Judson (4), Samuel (3), and Noah (2). Pray for them as they have just begun holding services for their new church.

New Engagement

Colton Lee and Melodie Bloyer are engaged to be married in November. Colton does short-term evangelistic missions trips several times a year to different locations. He recently served as furlough replacement for Michael & Nora Deatrick in the Solomon Islands, and will soon travel to Yap to replace Paul & Sherry Zimmer for three months. Pray for this couple as they prepare to be married and make plans for their future together!

50th Anniversary Celebration!

Danny and Darleen Whetstone will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on June 7th. The Whetstones met when they were eight and nine years old in Panacea, FL. The Lord has blessed them with four children, 16 grandchildren, and 1 great-grandchild. The Whetstones served together in pastorates in Greenville, SC, and Greeneville, TN, before being called into missionary service. They minister in missions conferences and revivals, as well as make visits to missionaries around the world. This year, they have moved back into a travel trailer, as they spend some 330 days of the year on the road. If you would like to send congratulations to them you may do so by email to [email protected].

Summer Intern


Lauren Boyer spent a week with us in May, completing a portion of her internship requirements for Ambassador Baptist College. One of the ministries our staff enjoys being a part of is training students for whatever the Lord has called them to do, whether on the mission field or in a ministry office. Please pray for Lauren as she serves the Lord at the Wilds Christian Camp this summer and returns to finish her education at ABC this fall.

Visitors in the Office

We love visiting with our missions family! If you are ever in the area, please drop in to see us. Here are some recent pictures.

Kris and Rose Marie Blumer serve in Peru.
Matthew, Colleen, and Aiden Dundon are on deputation to reach the deaf in Philadelphia.
Elsa Ramirez serves in Mexico.

Uplift Podcast

The following recordings were recently published on uplift.wwntbm.com. You may access the site by entering the username: wwntbm and the password: gospel. These recordings for our missions family contain the Uplift calls in their entirety, including prayer requests and challenges to our missionaries. We hope they will encourage your heart.

Lessons from a Woman Who Needed Healing by Jeremy Lockhart

Organizing Missionary Financial Reports by Ernie and Nancy Wyrick

Affliction Causes Growth by Gene Krachenfels

The Joy of Soul-Winning by Bruce Rhew

How to Treat Your Wife on Deputation by Jeremy Lockhart

Choose Charity! by Markie Bullock

The Compassion of Christ by Edgar Feghaly

Making Effective Calls on Deputation by Leland Johnson

The God of All Comfort by Michael Grove

Full of Grace and Truth by Andy Bonikowsky

Making Cold Calls on Deputation by Nick Stelzig

For His Name’s Sake by David Landers

Ten Best Practices on Deputation by Doug Carragher

What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do by Josh Town

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From Our President: June 2019

Danny Whetstone

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.

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Prayer & Dates: June 2019

June Prayer/Praises and Special Dates

Click the link above to download a PDF of prayer requests and praises as well as the birthdays and anniversaries for June. Note: You will need to login to SecureCloud in order to view this document. Once you have logged in, click on Files, Shared, then Headquarter Happenings, then scroll to the month you would like to view. This step protects people with WWNTBM in restricted access fields.

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Prayer & Dates: May 2019

May Prayer/Praises and Special Dates

Click the link above to download a PDF of prayer requests and praises as well as the birthdays and anniversaries for May. Note: You will need to login to SecureCloud in order to view this document. Once you have logged in, click on Files, Shared, then Headquarter Happenings, then scroll to the month you would like to view. This step protects people with WWNTBM in restricted access fields.

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From Our President: May 2019

Danny Whetstone

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.

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From the Memo Board: May 2019

Dates to Know

May 27 – The Office will be closed in celebration of Memorial Day

June 1 – April financial reports will be due

June 7 – The Office will be closed for a staff outing

June 17 – 20 – Family Fellowship Week in Edinburg, VA

July 1 – May financial reports will be due

Family Fellowship Week

This year’s Family Week will be hosted by Pastor Chad Estep and the Valley Baptist Church in Edinburg, VA. Family Week will begin with registration at 4:30 p.m. on Monday evening, followed by a relaxed meal in the outdoor pavilion of the church. Come in your modest travel clothes and enjoy the church’s activity fields and facilities! A relaxed evening service will immediately follow. We ask that missionaries plan to attend all services of the week, starting with Monday evening and ending Thursday evening. Missionaries will be housed at the Holiday Inn Express in Woodstock, VA, which is approximately 10 minutes from the church. Please watch your email for more details as the week approaches.

Prayer Letter Services

Holly Minion is no stranger to our World Wide family. She served on our Office Staff from 2010 to 2015. Since that time, she and her husband Andrew have managed our websites and social media. Holly is once again helping us with our prayer letter processing. If you utilize World Wide to publish your letters, please continue to use the email address [email protected] to ensure that Holly and Rebekah Tolley can process your requests quickly and efficiently.

Website Updates

World Wide has a page for each of our missionaries on our website at wwntbm.com. We do our best to keep your information current, so supporters can stay up to date with your ministry. Please take a moment to review your information on our site, and contact Naomi Torberson if you need us to make any changes.

New Babies

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”

Aiden Jude Dundon was born on April 2nd. He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 19.75 inches long. Aiden is the first child of Matthew and Colleen Dundon. The Dundons are on deputation to plant a deaf church in Philadelphia.

Kezia Florence Deatrick was born on April 2nd. She weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. Kezia is the first daughter of Michael and Nora Deatrick and joins her older brother, Corban, who is two. The Deatricks are missionaries in the Solomon Islands.

Hudson Taylor was born on April 3rd. He weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces. He is the first son of Kevin and Hannah Taylor. He joins three sisters: Tirza (7), Hadassah (5), and Alethia (3). The Taylors are on deputation to go to Mexico.

2019 Graduates

Several in our missions family are graduating this spring. Please be in prayer for them as they make transitions in their lives and seek the Lord’s will concerning future plans. Click here to see the list of graduates.

Uplift Podcast

The following recordings were recently published on Uplift.com. You may access the site by entering the username: wwntbm and the password: gospel. These recordings for our missions family contain the Uplift calls in their entirety, including prayer requests and challenges to our missionaries. We hope they will encourage your heart.

Contacting Churches by Stephen Ashmore

God Can Handle Our Adversaries by Chad Estep

Be A Servant by Jeremy Lockhart

Three Truths from John 20 by David Fulp

Trusting God in Trouble by Fred Daniel, Jr.

Make a Difference Where You Are by Jeremy Lockhart

Don’t Try to Do This Alone by Danny Whetstone

Three Principles for Overcoming Temptation by Joel Dickens

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From the Desk of a Friend: Where is Jesus?

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:20

Our text gives us a promise from the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Many of His soldiers have had to reclaim this promise on the mission field or in a difficult place of service. In times of hardship or opposition, the old man can descend into doubt and wonder, “Where is Jesus?” Whether we acknowledge it or not, Jesus’ promises never fail. Sometimes we fail to recognize the promised eternal presence of our Savior.

What is the most common reason? Probably denying His identity. John 1:11 states that even His own people “knew Him not.” Even when they were in His presence, His person and purpose were not acknowledged. Thus, these people did not enjoy the full blessing of being in the presence of the Son of God. In Matthew 23:37, Jesus even states He would have gathered His people to Himself as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But they refused. This mentality robs a person of the blessing of Jesus Christ’s presence even when He is present and seeking to reach them.

At times, even believers and faithful laborers fail to recognize His presence. Circumstances, fear of danger, or lack of faith can blind us from recognizing His presence. Mark 6 tells the story of Jesus’ disciples out on the sea at night when a storm arose. The wind blew “contrary” to the effort of travel to the other side of the sea. They no doubt became heavily occupied in rowing and trying to accomplish their assignment. They knew Jesus remained behind on the shore and not in the boat with them. In the challenge of the task before them, they forgot Jesus’ power. He just fed more than five thousand people with the lunch of a lad. So, either Jesus was not on their mind, or they thought that Jesus was too far away to help. The Scripture states that though Jesus was on the shore “He saw them toiling” (Mark 6:48). Jesus does not assign a task and then leave the laborer alone. He comes to them even if He must walk on water. It must have been a great comfort to them to hear Jesus speak and tell them, “Be of good cheer. It is I; be not afraid.” Whatever the task and wherever He calls us, Jesus sees us toiling. He comes to our side bringing cheer and peace. As He promised, He will be with us even to the end of the age. We serve the same Jesus Who walked on water.

Sometimes things do not go the way we plan, or we misunderstand God’s plan. We fail to understand how God’s plan differed from our understanding. In Luke 24, two men headed to a village called Emmaus. As they traveled, they discussed the recent events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. One expressed his misunderstanding of the mission of Jesus. He thought as many did that Jesus was come to “redeem Israel.” As they journeyed along, Jesus joined them. Their “eyes were holden (restrained) that they should not know Him.” These men did not know they walked in the very company of the resurrected Savior. They focused on the disappointment that their plan was not accomplished to “redeem Israel.” Jesus informed these men of their wrong expectations (vs. 25-26). He pointed them to the Word of God, which foretold the mission of Jesus. The Scriptures of the prophets spoke of the death and the glorification of Jesus Christ. Because they misunderstood the Scripture, they were with Jesus and did not know.

If we are serving Him, we need to know His plan. We will not be disappointed or come to the wrong conclusion about how things happen. We need reminding that He always carries out His plan. God announced His plan back in Genesis 3:15. What if Jesus was not present to inform these men? He is always where His people are laboring and serving to keep us on the right course. Oh, what a comforting fact to know Jesus will not only comfort and protect us, but He will lead us in the right plan.

If Bro. Hurst’s article is an encouragement to you, please email him to let him know. You may also visit ebarnabas.org to make an appointment with him for encouragement.

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From the Desk of a Friend: An Anchor of the Soul

For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Hebrews 6:13-19

The problem of drifting away from God and His commands has existed since the fall of man. In our day we observe the influence of trends and ideas. A practice or teaching arises and becomes popular. Right or wrong, biblical or not, there always seems to be some who fall in ranks and drift away. These instances are observable all the way back to Noah’s day. Believing God and living a godly life was not the popular thing to do. In this age, we have an excellent and preserved Bible. It is accurate; God’s hand is upon it. He has used it to save souls and build lives and churches. Then, along came men claiming they had something better. Slowly but surely men who trusted that we had the Word of God began yielding to the enticing popularity of the new thing. We used to sing from old songbooks, the music that reaches down in the soul and honors God. Then there were those who thought the world’s music was entertaining and attractive to more people. While we remain thankful for modern conveniences, technology, communications, and the comfort of buildings, the principles mentioned above have changed in purpose. In varying degrees, the purpose changed from primarily honoring and worshipping God to pleasing and satisfying the carnal hunger of mankind.

It seems we need to reset our anchor. An anchor not solidly set on an immovable object or principle tends to drift under pressure. In our text, we see that the Christian possesses a hope produced by God Who cannot lie. This hope, according to verse nineteen, is an anchor to our soul. We need to set our hope in God and His promises and position ourselves on a steadfast, immovable anchor.

God made a seemingly impossible promise to Abraham. At seventy-five years of age, even in his day, fulfillment of this promise would be humanly impossible. God promised Abram he would become a great nation, yet he fathered no children. God told Abraham to leave his land and go to an unknown destination. Abraham believed God–not the possible doubts and questions of the human mind. God swore to him by “two immutable things” (v.18): the immutability of His counsel and the impossibility for God to lie. Because Abraham anchored not in the place of his nephew Lot, he was blessed. God counted him righteous because he simply believed God. Because Lot anchored elsewhere, he lost his wife and his testimony in the judgment of God.

Jesus established principles and standards while He was on earth for how and what He expected of His church. He also stated that not one jot or tittle of His Word would pass. So why do some think we can adjust and conform more to the world and be successful? It is an indescribable blessing that we are permitted as Abraham to believe God and simply become a child of His kingdom. His promise will not change, and our soul is anchored in an immoveable promise, not drifting with the tides of the contemporary values. Thank God for a secure Anchor of our soul. We may be out of style or unpopular by some standards, but our anchorage in Jesus puts us in the right place when He comes for us.

If Bro. Hurst’s article is an encouragement to you, please email him to let him know. You may also visit ebarnabas.org to make an appointment with him for encouragement.

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From Our President: April 2019

Danny Whetstone

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.