Mark Gillmore: Welcome once again to our GoMission podcast. I’m Mark Gillmore. Sitting with me today is a man who has led a ministry for a number of years called “Make a Timothy Today.” It’s Brother Bob Landis. Welcome to our GoMission podcast.

Bob Landis: Thank you. 

Mark: Good to have you here with us. And I know you’ve got a great heart for young people.

Bob: Yeah. Yes, I do. 

Mark: You wouldn’t have the ministry that you have if you didn’t believe God could touch young people’s lives in a significant way. How did God begin to give you that kind of vision for young people?

Bob: I guess that starts back in the early days of my conversion and being discipled by a Christian art teacher. This was back in the 60s. And that man actually discipled me, brought me along in the early years of my life, and he was kind of my Paul in the faith. Whereas by, he saw that, you know, God could use me. And so he gave me opportunities to travel with his chalk art team that he would take out, and he would let some of us young guys go along. We would help him, play our instruments, sing, and he would give us opportunities to preach every now and then. So it was a training, preparational type thing that you don’t normally get in college. It’s kind of like, you know, you’re just learning how to do things from the goodwill of somebody else that sees something in you that you don’t even see yourself.

Mark: Yeah, so you would have been at what age at that time?

Bob: At that time, I would have been about 14 years old. I got saved when I was 12 in 1965. So it was at that time that Bill saw me as a young person that God could use, and I was very thankful for it.

Mark: So you were in your mid-teens, and a man connected to you in that personal way drew you into his life and his ministry and gave you those kinds of opportunities.

Bob: It was, I grew up in a Lutheran church. If it wasn’t for the fact that my mother got saved through an Oliver Big Green tent revival meeting, we might have never left the Lutheran church. 

Mark: So God saved you out of that dead religion and brought you into a relationship with Himself, but He also brought you into a relationship with someone who loved you and was going to mentor you.

Bob: Exactly. 

Mark: And I’m thinking, young people, as you’re listening, can some of you think of someone who God has brought into your life, even now, maybe through a Thee Generation event, through an outreach, maybe there’s a local church, maybe there’s a youth pastor? Think about the opportunity and the potential in that relationship, and I encourage you, young people, to draw close to whoever God’s putting in your life, because out of that will become some amazing life change and opportunity.

So God gave you that opportunity, but then you began to turn around and do the same for others. How did God lead you in that way?

Bob: Well, it was a number of years later, and I know that my wife and I had been very actively involved in our local church. We were asked to take the youth group of our church and work with them. So we agreed to do that. In the process of doing all that, we had had some training ourselves about being more than just going out and getting involved, but actually learning how you could learn the Bible. Then, how you could take the Bible and apply it to your life, and how you could see God work in your own life through the applications that are in the Bible.

As a result of that, we decided to go ahead and set some goals. It was goal-oriented. We decided to take some mission trips in the early years, back in the early to mid-’90s. As we began to take these mission trips, the young people had to achieve certain things to qualify to go. So we didn’t just throw the fleece out and say, “Come on, let’s go. You go with us et cetera.” They had to do certain things. They had a book to complete, memorizing verses from the Bible. We were trying to get them involved through the scriptures to get them to a point where they felt like they could be used in an effective way.

And so, we started doing that, and after the first couple of three years of doing that, we began to realize that, you know, we could take this to another level, but we didn’t know exactly how to do that.

So, I was given some advice about the possibility of going and putting something that we were wanting to do as far as getting young people, young people from different churches that would be interested in doing missions, and how could we make this work? And so what we did was we went ahead and started getting things put together. We took our first couple of three teams out.

After we had done that, we had some young people that it looked like God was directing them to go to a Christian college someplace. But we had talked to a couple of different people about that we thought it would be great if we could start this in a little bit larger way. And so we were advised to possibly put what we were wanting to do underneath a mission board.

Of course, we tried to do this. We actually went to a couple of different mission boards, and everyone was real excited about this 25, 28 years ago, but they were saying that underneath their mission board, they really didn’t have anything set up at the time to do what we were wanting to do, which was more in the line of youth ministries.

So, we were given advice underneath Baptist World Missions a number of years ago from Dr. Fred Moritz and Dr. Jack McClanahan. They said, “You need to go ahead and start your own board because that’ll be something that you can go ahead, and everything can be earmarked underneath what you’re wanting to do. And that way, you’re not under the guidelines of a mission board that they’re looking at overseas missions; they’re looking at the possibility of long term, and of course, you’re doing short term mission trips so that doesn’t fall under those guidelines.”

That’s how we actually started this. So, my wife and I prayed about this; we were told to come home and write a number of pastors, men that are in the ministry, and ask them if they would be willing to serve as an accountability board to start our own board that we could have something that would be effective.

We wrote a number of letters. We had a number of pastors that said we would love to serve on this board that you’re wanting to start. And so that’s how it all started off back in 1997. I actually met with Dr. Bob Jones III in his office in 1997 and I told him exactly what we were looking at wanting to do, and he gave me some unbelievable advice. So we followed that, and we had no idea what God was going to do other than the fact that we knew that God was going to be doing something.

Mark: Really that was a big step of faith, wasn’t it? Step out where you’d never been before, but you had a vision in front of you. And folks encourage you to follow that vision. 

Bob: Yeah. 

Mark: And the challenges are there, but I love that you stepped out into that vision.

Now your ministry is called Make a Timothy Today. Why did you call it that? Make a Timothy Today. 

Bob: That’s interesting. I’ve had a number of people said, did you name the ministry? I said, no, as a matter of fact, I didn’t. Our ministry was actually named by an Awana missionary from the state of South Carolina. And he’s the one that actually said, “Why don’t you consider MTT, Make a Timothy Today?” And we thought, you know, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to produce a generation of Timothies that will go out and will carry the gospel and do what needs to be done to whatever capacity, evangelism, pastorate, missionaries abroad, whatever.

And so, in one of the Scriptures that we based that on was that of 2 Timothy 2:2, that says, “And the things that thou hast heard of me amongst many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others.” And so, and we realized that was exactly what we were wanting to do.

Our mission teams are much different than many other mission teams that go everywhere. 

Mark: Yeah, well, tell me about that. How are your mission teams different? I know you’ve got a boot camp, then you’ve got your trip. So explain how that works.

Bob: Okay, everyone that is accepted, everyone goes through an application process and we have approvals, pastors, several references. And once they are accepted onto a team, then they are told a certain time that they will report for boot camp training, which basically is going to be preparing them for everything that we’re going to be doing while we’re on the mission field.

Now, I coordinate everything with the missionaries that I know in different countries around the world. So when we go there, it’s not a matter of showing up and saying, “Hey, what would you like us to do?” Because we already know what we are planning on doing with that particular missionary.

Mark: Yeah, right, right.

Bob: Or pastor. 

Mark: Right, so you might hear, as a young person here, bootcamping and think, oh wow, they’re gonna just put me through the paces, but what… what’s so exciting that’s not about it yes you’re going to go through the paces but you’re going to be equipped so that when you show up on the field you will have practiced what you’re going to do. You’ll actually know what you’re going to speak and because you’ve been equipped you’ll be the one doing the ministry. 

Bob: Exactly and that’s what’s unique about this because I have young men that are showing up they’re getting opportunities to preach the gospel sometimes they’re preaching the gospel in different languages that’s being translated.

However, everyone learns their testimony in the language. So we actually have people that come in and do linguistics with us and the young people are learning how to give their testimony in Portuguese, Spanish, German, perhaps wherever we’re going. And some languages are quite difficult you know.

Mark: That is awesome! Some of them would have to be written out phonetically and you might be familiar with, you know, if it’s Spanish or Portuguese, a little more common.

But if you’re learning phonetically some other Asian language, you know. 

Bob: It’s not easy.

Mark: It’s not, but it’s cool. I mean, to me, like, I’m not just going to go watch another country. I’m gonna go engage another culture, you know, and I’m gonna communicate in this way. 

Bob: What’s really nice about this, and this gives you an example. In 1999, I took our very first team that I had ever taken out overseas, and that was to Romania.

And it was a big team. I don’t recommend big teams unless you’re equipped to do that, but we had 22 on our team. So, we ended up in Elba Iulia, Romania, and our team had really put a lot of effort in. We were fortunate to have a Romanian couple that went with us but put a lot of effort into learning testimonies.

Just one example of this one young lady, she’s about 42 years old now. However, we ran onto her probably about a year and a half, two years ago, and her father’s pastoring a little church out in Utah. When we got a chance to chat a little bit, she said, “You know,” she says, “I still remember my testimony in Romanian.” And she began to give me her testimony. Now, this is after 20 some years. But it was so effective. And so, and it’s just a lot of effort that has to be put into this.

So it’s more than just pay the money and go someplace and get involved. It’s learning how to be effective as a witness for Christ. You’re a missionary, and you’re going to give the gospel in whatever way you possibly can. And we know for a fact how this has had a long-reaching effect on people everywhere, all over the world.

Mark: Who were just under the ministry of these young people. 

Bob: Yes, yeah.

Mark: And then you’ve participated, and your story puts my mind back to a trip I took in 1989 down to Brazil and literally there was a phrase I learned to stand on the street corner that would say, “Here’s an invitation for you.” And it’s still in my brain from that trip. But you know, if I had learned more than that, which I didn’t, what if I’d learned to give my testimony in Portuguese? What if I’d learned a little bit more that could have stuck with me? But even the little I did is with me. So tell me then, about these young people, who are trained ahead of time and using the language; they’re not gonna go just kind of watching the professionals do it. They’re not gonna just watch the missionary or the professional world traveler. They’re going to do the ministry.How has this changed their lives? 

Bob: Well, I think because it’s put a lot of these young people in a position of leadership that they perhaps would never ever have envisioned themselves to be in. Obviously, when you go to college, you have a whole new system of life being dumped on you, and you’re learning so many different things. But when you’re going to a different country, you’re learning that you have to adapt to where you’re going. To adapt means to learn how to do things that are perhaps way outside of your normal realm of living.  

We know that it has had an effect on a lot of the young people because after being there and being involved with this, many times we would have our share time at night. We would share about what is God teaching you? What have you learned? The comments of how frail I am and like, it’s hard to believe that God can use something as simplistic as this, but yet use it in my life and how I’m able to be effective for Christ. What you learn in the early stages of your life, you’ll never forget. It’ll stay with you. I’m very, very thankful for a man that saw something in me that I had no idea back in the 60s of where I would be. I never thought that I would be doing what I’m doing right now. But sometimes people see things in you and give you opportunities to do things that you don’t even know you can do yourself.

Mark: There’s that training method that leads you from modeling, watching someone, to assisting, to actually doing it yourself, and now you’re launched into doing it. That pattern is what you’re really employing in the lives. 

Bob: That’s one of the things we’re doing. I mean, because when we go out, our ministry has to deal a lot with youth ministers. Everything from doing Vacation Bible Schools, to running youth rallies, and ministering on the streets. Lots of times we’ve just set up on the street and played hand chimes. Perhaps while hand chimes were being played, one or two others would go out and pass out tracks or invitational type things, inviting people to come in for a special meeting or something we were going to have. The young people get a chance to get a lot of hands-on and plus communication.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, communication. So, you know, I’m sure your team is willing to do anything that they’re asked to do. But you’re not going just to build a roof or dig a well; you’re actually engaging in gospel ministry. You’re communicating your testimony, and like you said, in the Vacation Bible School setting, the youth ministry. 

Bob: We’re probably one of the few organizations that actually have Vacation Bible School for teenagers. When we have a VBS, I’ve had as many as 40 and 50 teenagers show up for Vacation Bible School, and people say, well, are they helping? No, they’re showing up to participate. Obviously, we gear it differently because they are teens. So, we’re not going to have it on the same level as you would for the primary, pre-primary, or juniors. However, it’s another aspect of outreach ministry. When you can get some young people that are focused on saying, this is a group that I want to have an impact on, that’s where the rubber meets the road. We have found this out. As a matter of fact, even over the years, there are young people that have gotten saved at a Vacation Bible School who were teenagers, and then God ended up moving them and putting them in a position to where they have now traveled with MTT, and they’re going around the world giving the gospel. So that whole process of multiplication starts over and over and over again.

Mark: So what age of young people are typical in joining you on your trips? 

Bob: Well, we usually take, they have to be the age of 15 years and above. There are some ramifications for that because of getting young people; parents have to sign to allow them to be able to go out of the country, etc. And so there’s a lot more detail that has to be taken care of. But we’re not just looking for warm bodies. I’m looking for somebody that has a heart to want to serve God somehow.

Mark: So you’ll take someone as young as 15, which in my opinion is kind of young for a team member, but then you’ll also take college students who are often a part of your trips. 

Bob: Yeah, I had it this past summer. I mean, you know, it’s nothing uncommon to have high school students, you know, sophomores, juniors.

Mark: Where did you go? Where did you go this past summer? What was your trip? 

Bob: Oh, this past summer, we took a trip to Singapore in Malaysia and… I did not realize at the time that we were going to be incorporating another country during that time. But we actually left and we went over to Singapore and then drove on up into Malaysia. We were in Kulong, which is a very, very heavy Muslim country. But there is a pastor that’s up there that has been in that part of the world over there for about 35, 40 years. And he had started the little church up in that area.

So we went in, and we were doing a Vacation Bible School with children, some children, that could not speak English. And so we were in a situation where there’s a lot of translation work, things like that going on. But we were giving, you know, teaching the Bible lessons and everything else, and everything was being translated into Malay. And there were a couple of different cases where we had Mandarin that it was being translated in. It was being translated into Malay. And so you have kids that are coming from different backgrounds. But that was great. 

Mark: That’s an incredible bold gospel adventure. 

Bob: Yeah.

Mark: Now what other places are typical for you to travel to? 

Bob: Oh well, we were there and we came home after about five weeks, six weeks, I think we were over there. Then we ended up coming back and then we took another team and it went up to eastern Canada. And so I don’t know if you’re familiar with that part of the world or not, but there are a lot of missionaries up there. We actually have some supporting churches up in that area as well. So we took a team there with the intentions of doing some Vacation Bible Schools. We were doing youth ministry outreach. And so, and then we were just being able to do special services in churches. 

Mark: What other countries? I know New Zealand. 

Bob: Oh, yeah, we’re going to be going to New Zealand this summer and looking forward to being in New Zealand.

Mark: Africa? 

Bob: Africa, yeah. We’ve been in Ghana, West Africa. I have two of my Timothes that are pastoring churches and they’re planting churches in Ghana, West Africa. And so we have been to places over in Europe, Romania. And we’ve been to England, Scotland, Ireland. We traveled in New Zealand. We’ve even, we’ve been to the most southern part of the world. Invercargill and that is the most southern part of the South Island. You say are there people that live down there? A few. So, but yeah, it’s tremendous…

Mark: How many trips normally in the course of a year? 

Bob: We usually take about three trips. Our summer trips are usually, our teams are a little bit longer because we spend anywhere from… four to six, sometimes as much as seven weeks with the team. And so we usually have two of those. We do it during the summertime and Christmas because that’s when college students, high school students are gonna be free.

Mark: As you think of those who’ve gone through what your opportunity has, can you see that there are folks out even in the mission field presently in their adult life, in their ministry life that were touched by what they experienced on trips?

Bob: Let me give you an example of one. In 2000 to 2003, I had a young man who was married, had two little girls, and was attending Ambassador Baptist College. He was there because he had heard a missions presentation from a missionary from New Zealand. And he really felt like, you know, that sounds like a really needy place in the world to go to. So he packed up everything, and his family went to the college. I met him during a time when we were there recruiting, missions emphasis week. As soon as he saw my display and saw I was going to New Zealand, he lit up. He said, “Hey, this is what I’m thinking about, the possibility of maybe where I may end up going.”

Lewis ended up applying. He traveled with me, his wife, and their children; they were all from around Maryland. They all went back to Maryland during the Christmas holiday break, but he ended up going down with me. I think what probably changed Lewis’s whole mindset was when I was holding some meetings in a little town called Turangi. It’s a pretty heavy Māori ethnic group of people there that lived in that area. We were heading down for a service, and as we were leaving Taupo and going down that way, there was an accident in Turangi. So they had to redirect the traffic. Our van decided to go a different route to get to the church we were going to.

In the process of going there, we noticed there were ambulances, police cars, and everything everywhere. Lewis said to me, “Stop, hold on a moment.” So we pulled off, and Lewis jumped out of the van. He ran over to where there was this man on the ground, obviously dying, choking in his own blood. Lewis went ahead and tried to give him the gospel, telling him he needed to be saved and what he needed to do to have eternal life. Right there on the ground, this man died in Lewis’s arms. That’s what sealed it for Lewis, realizing these people are dying. Somebody’s got to take the gospel to them. This missionary I’m telling you about is still in New Zealand today. I plan on working with him this summer. He’s a soul winner, wants to see people come to Christ. 

Mark: God will literally direct circumstances to give someone the experience they need that will change their life and perhaps make clear a call.

Bob: Exactly. 

Mark: And I’ve seen even in my own life, some folks will say, you know, a mission’s trip, it’s just a trip. People kind of live in a bubble for a couple of weeks, and then they return to life, and it’s just normal. It doesn’t really change their lives. It’s just a parentheses that ends up being almost a false experience. What do you say to that?

Bob: Well, you know, it’s like anything else. There are a lot of things that happen in our life that change our whole dimension on how we think about what we think. God has a way of getting our attention, perhaps in ways we would never want to experience, but we do experience them. Many people are serving on the mission field today, and it was more because of a presentation they heard, but it was something that God literally put some hands on there and directed them in a way. 

Mark: I’m thinking of a young man even right here in this week as we’re recording this, who’s on his way to a Central African country. A couple of years ago, I helped connect him to that region, and he visited it. That taste, that moment is still guiding and directing his life. Kind of like Jesus who said, “Come, follow me, I’ll make you fishers of men.” He took them from village to village, and they got a taste. All those 12 apostles, those 11 apostles, were determined, “We’re leaving Jerusalem. We’re not staying.”

And history is that after about 12 years, there, in the book of Acts, they were dispersed all over. 

Bob: You know, there’s one thing, and I’ve mentioned this before. The reason why we have the gospel ourselves today is because there were a few men that heard Jesus command them to take the gospel into all the world. And because those men took seriously that very command that Jesus said, you and I have salvation today because it was handed down, handed down, and handed down, and handed down. And sooner or later, it came 360 degrees full circle. It came to us at a specific time. And it’s because those men took seriously the command that Jesus told them to go into all the world. 

Mark: The gospel begins with “go.” 

Bob: Amen. It does.

Mark: And we’re saved because someone obeyed that command. Amen.

Well, I just am thrilled with the vision. And in the program notes for this podcast, you’ll be able to find a link to Brother Landis’ ministry, Make a Timothy Today. And I want to invite those of you listening, click into that website. And if God directs some of you to join Brother Landis on a trip, get on board. I wholeheartedly recommend this man and his ministry, the opportunity. Maybe there will be some other thing you’re connecting. Maybe your church is putting together a trip. Maybe your own youth pastor. Maybe you hear about a Thee Generation trip or I lead trips myself. Be led by the Spirit, but jump on board, and it will really change your life.

So Brother Landis, thank you for what you’ve shared.

Remember the only way to stay at peace in a world of turmoil and uncertainty is to stay on mission with Jesus in his GoMission.