Team GLBM
Favorite Hymn: Like A River Glorious
Life Verse: Psalm 71:17
Dr. Bob DeWitt
"BaGyi Bob"
GLBM Founder/Executive Director
Staff Evangelist
LBC Horseheads NY
Dr. Bob DeWitt was saved in 1969 at the age of thirteen and surrendered to the Gospel ministry two years later. He says, "Being a preacher is not what I do; it's what I am." After 30 years of full-time ministry and having preached the Gospel in many different countries around the world, Brother Bob traveled to Myanmar, or Old Burma, for the first time at age 52. He knew that God wanted him to go there, but he didn't know why. The country had been closed and isolated from the entire world since 1962. There in the large city of Old Rangoon, now known as Yangon, truckloads of soldiers rolled up and down the boulevards, guards with AK-47s stood at every intersection, and two bombs exploded within the city soon after he arrived, Brother Bob stood on the street one night and, looking up into a dark sky said, "OK, God! I'm here. But I don't know why. Please show me what you want from me!" It was then that God began to inject His love for the Myanmar peoples into Brother Bob's heart.
Now, sixteen years later, Brother Bob has traveled to Myanmar two to four times each year and prefers to be there. He studies the people groups, their histories, and geography of the country, and has written GOLDEN LAND CHRONICLES, a book that includes twenty true stories of his adventures and ministry in Old Burma.
Some years ago, a family member of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, a leader in the country, said to Brother DeWitt, "You love our people so much, you need a nickname: you will be 'BaGyi Bob" - an honorary title and term of endearment meaning "respected, older uncle" or "grandpa," People all around the world now call Brother DeWitt "BaGyi."
Evangelist Boyd Collins
GLBM-KENYA Director
Staff Missionary-Evangelist
Mountain State Baptist Church
Summersville, West Virginia USA
Raised in the mountains of East Tennessee, Boyd met the "love of his life," Jeannie, before he met the lover of his soul, Jesus Christ. But together, they have served the Lord Jesus for many years and faithfully sought souls for Him. For the past thirty years, Boyd has had a ministry called Over The Mountain Tent Ministries, traveling the US and helping churches from coast to coast. At the same time, he has been Assistant Pastor at the Mountain State Baptist Church in Summersville, West Virginia and coordinated the bus and children's ministries there. But, after a certain tent revival in Hagerstown, Maryland, Boyd soon took gospel tents around the world to the Golden Land with BaGyi Bob and GLBM. Thousands of souls have been saved and thousands have been fed.
In 2023, BaGyi Bob asked Boyd to pray about traveling with him to Kenya. More than 400 souls were saved in the first ten days and GLBM-KENYA was begun. Boyd is aggressive for the ministry and in the past year, thousands of Kenyan people have been saved and baptized, five new churches have been birthed, three new church buildings have been erected, and a Christian school has been started. Boyd and Jeannie seek your support and prayers as they lead this great new part of the GLBM ministries.
Favorite Hymn: In The Garden
Life Verse:Psalm 62:5-8
Pastor G. Richard Hack
GLBM President
Senior Pastor
Lighthouse Baptist Church
Horseheads, New York USA
Originally from Rochester, New York, Pastor Hack was raised Roman Catholic but heard the Gospel of Christ while working at Kodak, a major producer of cameras and film. He and his wife, Ellie, grew in the Lord quickly and surrenderd their lives to serve Him full time. After graduating from Bible college, they returned to New York State and started the Lighthouse Baptist Church, where he has been its Pastor for thirty-plus years. The Hacks have five children and several grandchildren. Pastor Hack's driving passion is to live for Christ, teach others to do so, and seek lost souls for Him. That passion led him to follow "BaGyi Bob" to Myanmar where God put the Burman peoples in his heart and brought a new dimension to his life and pastoral ministry.
Favorite Hymn: Come Thou Fount
Life Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:57-58
Miss Anna Hack
GLBM Administrative Assistant
Anna is the youngest daughter of Pastor Richard and Ellie Hack and a faithful member of Lighthouse Baptist Church. She serves in the choir and Sunday School. She is a musician, a trained bookkeeper, and assists BaGyi Bob in the everyday administration of Golden Land Baptist Missions.
Favorite Hymn: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Life Verse: Matthew 6:33
Matthew Mayer
Lighthouse Baptist Church Deacon,
Sunday School Teacher, a genuine Barnabas Encourager, and GLBM Financial Secretary
Matthew & Ann Mayer are faithful and constant workers at Lighthouse Baptist Church. Matt has traveled twice to the Golden Land with BaGyi Bob and devoted himself to making sure our national pastors receive their monthly support on time.
Favorite Hymn: At The Cross
Life Verse: Psalm 118:24
John Early
Assistant Pastor
Music Director
GLBM Consultant
Lighthouse Baptist Church has one of the premier music ministries in New York State. Pastors come from all over to our annual Missions Revival to hear the preaching, but the music is a big attraction. It is undoubtedly because of Pastor Early's innate ability, his study of music, and love for Christ. He is an accomplished musician, being a concert pianist and an amazing choir director.
Pastor Early and his daughter, Grace, traveled to Myanmar with BaGyi Bob and directed a music seminar for Pastors and Bible college students: He taught music theory, song leading, choir harmony, and a Biblical philosophy of music. Pastor and his daughter are anxious to return to Myanmar and work with our people again.
Favorite Hymn: It Is Well With My Soul
Life Verse: Psalm 32:1-2, 11
Michael & Alyssa Vigil
GLBM Office Staff
From the time they joined the Lighthouse Baptist Church, Mike and Alyssa have been faithful members, workers, and witnesses for Christ. They have demonstrated their love for Christ and an interest in the work of GLBM. Joing the office staff, they are a big help in finances and mailings.
Thaung Ngain Lian
Pastor/Founder
Bethany Baptist Church Ministries, Yangon
Missionary Church Planter
GLBM Field Representative
After graduating from a Philippines Bible College, and knowing he would be persecuted, Thaung Lian returned to Myanmar and started the Bethany Baptist Church. Indeed, Pastor Thaung, like many other GLBM pastors, has been stoned, beaten, and jailed for the ministry which he has built by faith. Bethany Baptist Church is a growing ministry that includes a Christian ACE school, an orphanage, the Cornerstone Baptist College, and two businesses that assist in church planting. Thaung is tireless, selfless, and totally dedicated to winning lost souls to Christ. There are so many ways in which he assists GLBM, but along with his family and church members, he is indispensable to BaGyi Bob and GLBM.
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Samwel Nyangweso
GLBM Field Representative - Kenya
Samwel was trained in an Independent Baptist Bible college. And, yet, he became the pastor of a Pentecostal church in Western Kenya and a denominational Bishop. Following BaGyi Bob on Facebook for thirteen years, he became convicted that his own people and ministry needed what GLBM was doing in Myanmar. For two years, he begged BaGyi to come to Kenya and patiently waited, trusting God to fulfill his dream.
Very reluctant and having replied "No" to, not only Samwel in Kenya but, hundreds of invitations to India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, and many other countries, BaGyi was confident God wanted him to stay in Myanmar.
Then chatting through Facebook Messenger, BaGyi said, "Even if I came to Kenya, we are not the same and I don't work with Pentecostals. Samwel replied, "You don't understand. We want to follow you and become what you are - Independent, Fundamental Baptists.
BaGyi thought it was all hogwash and fought the idea of going to Kenya for two years. Finally, traveling there with Boyd Collins in June 2023, he witnessed true Holy Ghost revival, repentance and public confessions of sin, and more than 400 saved.
Nine months and four missions trips later, thousands have been saved, hundreds have been baptized, four new churches have been planted, unchurched remote villages have been reached, many thousands of gospel tracts have been distributed, two new church buildings have been erected, forty-some preachers who have paid a high price for adopting Baptist distinctives and abandoning their denomination and doctrine have been and continue to be trained, and a Christian school has been started,
Samwel has proven his character and convictions, his ability to organize churches and preachers, and is being used mightily by God to bring a new movement of evangelism and church planting, not only in Kenya but the neighboring countries of Uganda, Tanzania, and beyond.
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