Edgardo was a young man from a Catholic family on a path towards destruction in a small Honduran village. Pressured by ungodly friends, he became involved in theft at a young age. In 1996, out of curiosity Edgardo and his cousin went near the EFM church in Nueva Celulac. The church was holding revival services and was packed with people. That night, God spoke to that 15 year old young man and saved him. Four months later, he was baptized and preached his first message. In 1997, EFM missionary Merton Rundell came with a group of students from Instituto Teologico Emanuel (EFM’s Bible School) to promote the school, and God opened the door for Edgardo to go to San Luis and study to be a pastor. It was there that he met his wife, Elda, who also studied at the Bible school. God transformed his life and placed in him a hunger to share the gospel. As a missionary, we have worked together serving suffering people and sharing the love of Christ. Tiffany and I had the privilege to be a part of his wedding, and we’ve watched his family grow. God has blessed them with 20 years of marriage and three wonderful children. Edgardo has served the Honduran church in various ways for 29 years of ministry, and in early 2025, he was asked to be the Director of our Radio Ministries in Honduras (started by EFM missionary Don Moore.) Now his radio ministry is impacting thousands of people.
For the past 115 years, Evangelistic Faith Missions has been making an eternal impact around the world evangelizing and training leaders like Edgardo. Ever since Lewis Glenn and his team boarded a boat to Egypt in 1905, the missionaries of EFM have been quietly but effectively sowing Gospel seed. We indeed have a rich heritage!
I believe we also have a bright future! Since the EFM Board has asked me to fill the role of Interim President, I have been planning the path forward and asking God for wisdom. There are two primary areas where I believe we must focus. First, I believe that we need to redouble our efforts to recruit and to send long-term, residential missionaries. There is a lot involved in making that happen. Identifying, training, equipping, sending, and supporting missionaries is the historic work to which EFM has been committed. I know first hand how important that supportive relationship can be.
Second, we must reinvest in the established mission fields that have defined EFM as an organization, building on the solid foundation for an even greater harvest. While the mission work in Honduras is established, we still have opportunities for expansion into new areas and to train new leaders. Instead of sending missionaries to “fix problems,” we want to send them to develop new church planting networks! In partnering with our national church, what fruit could that bear?
With Zach and Sarah Robbertts now living and working in Costa Rica, we are on the verge of developing new leadership leading to new churches. Our impact in Guatemala could expand with more educational missionaries coming alongside established churches to train teachers and to plant satellite schools.
What is needed? The same thing that is needed everywhere – people. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Nothing gets done without someone leading and making it happen. Across the years, EFM missionaries have been leaders who made things happen.
- Don Moore took his passion and knowledge of amateur radio and turned it into “Light and Life Radio” which has spread the Gospel message for nearly 40 years to the people of Honduras and beyond.
- Tonweya Sherman took the concept of a coffee shop where evangelistic conversations with Wayne State students in Detroit might reach people who would never enter a church, and he made it real.
- Other EFM missionaries like the Tyndales are working to extend the Gospel in places and ways that are dangerous for us to share even in our publications, but they are happening! Often they are the only Christian witness in their area.
EFM continues to exist because God’s people prayed and gave so that missionaries could extend the Gospel. We know that our work is a partnership. Some give, and some go; some plant, and others water, but God gives the increase.
Your gift of $100, $500, or even $1000 or more could make a huge difference both now and in eternity. Would you prayerfully consider making your very best gift to this incredibly important work? God has placed us together at this unique time in history to make an eternal difference through His work at Evangelistic Faith Missions. As I step into this new role and EFM enters a new season, I invite you to join us. Thank you, friend, for praying, giving, and believing with us for a future where EFM continues to extend the Gospel even further around the world.