To the Ends of the Earth: Making Disciples in the Jewel of Africa

As Amanda recalled, their first question was, “‘Where in the world is Botswana?’ We had to pull out a map and learn a lot about the country itself.”

At the time, they couldn’t anticipate just how much God had to teach them — not just about the country of Botswana but specifically about the people and the church there.

Today, Brent and Amanda have spent 16 years of their lives serving with their family in Botswana, which Brent described as “the Jewel of Africa.” There they have watched God transform their understanding of long-term ministry.

Yes, the labor is hard and the hours are long, but even in hard soil the gospel grows and gives life in ways they could never foresee.

“Once you get to know the people, you realize that when somebody comes to Christ, they’re usually all in,” Brent explained. “But it’s almost a cultural shift for them. It takes time for them to work out their salvation in fear and trembling, to think about it, pray about it, wrestle with it, and then come to Christ.”

One of Brent and Amanda’s greatest joys is seeing Batswana men and women come to faith and then share in their vision for Great Commission ministry.

“Just a few weeks ago,” Brent said, “I got a text from a young Batswana man who got that vision, and he was able to go and sleep in a village on someone’s floor. He did door-to-door evangelism for a month, and seven people were baptized into the local church there.”

This young believer is a graduate from The Baptist Convention Seminary of Botswana, an accredited seminary that Brent and Amanda, along with several pastors, helped establish to further theological education for local church leaders.

“When we originally came to Botswana, we were church planters,” Amanda said, “but while serving in the same ministry area for so long, we began to see the need for leadership development, and now that’s done through the seminary.”

“It’s small, so it’s certificate level right now,” Brent explained. “But every year we’ll run about 15-20 students through the program, and we just opened online access. That’s been a really big thing.”

Working alongside Southeastern Seminary’s Global Theological Initiatives (GTI), Brent and Amanda are excited about the possibility of offering full degrees in the future.  In fact, right now, five African pastors — four from Botswana and one from Zimbabwe — are working with The Baptist Convention Seminary and GTI to earn their Masters of Divinity from Southeastern.

Brent recalled a recent visit from Chuck Lawless, senior professor of evangelism and missions at Southeastern, who travelled to teach a week-long class for the five students along with several other Africans from Uganda who attended virtually.

As Brent has helped guide these men through their seminary degrees, he’s been reminded of his own time at Southeastern — his papers, classes, and professors.

“It’s difficult, but it’s so worth it,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed walking alongside them as an observer and a helper, watching these men have the same experience I did.”

Immersed in the Call to Go

In 2004, Brent and Amanda arrived in Wake Forest, North Carolina, where they would spend the next season of their lives preparing for overseas missions. They hadn’t yet decided on their place of service, but God was clear in his direction.

While pursuing a trajectory for medical missions in college, Amanda met Brent, who at the time had set his heart on pastoral ministry.

However, through a two-year Journeymen term overseas in Africa, Brent realized that God was calling him to serve on the mission field as well.

He realized that the next logical step, after returning home and marrying Amanda, was theological education.

“Serving as a Journeyman and then coming to seminary really helped put the classes in perspective and gave me a richer experience,” Brent said. “I was able to hold all of my classes up to an African light, and that was really helpful.”

Serving as a Journeyman and then coming to seminary really helped put the classes in perspective and gave me a richer experience.

One class in particular stood out in Brent’s memory as uniquely formative. Through Southeastern’s ongoing relationship with IMB missionaries, he had the opportunity to take an African-specific missions class with Sam Upton, a recently retired missionary who had spent years of his life serving on the field.

In that single class, Brent studied alongside five other students who would also end up serving overseas in Africa. He recalled the joy of reuniting with them years later at an IMB meeting, where they realized they had each followed in Upton’s footsteps.

For Brent and Amanda, Southeastern provided an educational environment that immersed them in the call of the Great Commission, constantly reminding them of Jesus’s command to go and make disciples. They had come to Southeastern with one purpose in mind, to return to the work of missions, equipped for long-term ministry. They left five years later to do just that.

The Work of Endurance

Since setting foot in Botswana 16 years ago, Brent and Amanda have seen their ministry change and shift in many ways, but God’s faithfulness and his mission have remained the same.

“When we first arrived on the field in 2009, we were part of a large team — 13 units — divided throughout the country,” Brent said. “Then, through some leadership changes, we ended up serving as the only unit left in Botswana. That really made us change how we did ministry. We knew that we couldn’t do it ourselves, and so partnership with our local African brothers and sisters in Christ became the most important thing. Instead of always looking inward, now we’re asking, ‘How can we look outward?’ and ‘How can we partner with you to share the gospel?’”

Instead of always looking inward, now we’re asking, ‘How can we look outward?’ and ‘How can we partner with you to share the gospel?’

In many ways, this is where The Baptist Convention Seminary plays such an important role, furthering theological education for local church leaders.

“The evangelical church in Africa is definitely growing,” Brent said, “but there are so many theologies that are fighting against it, like the prosperity gospel and neo-Pentecostalism.”

He shared a story about a young man named David who enrolled in the seminary and served as the pastor of a large, prophet-led church in the area. When the prophet visited his church, David would share with him the private details of his congregants’ lives so that the prophet knew what to prophesy about to earn the people’s trust.

“Halfway through our year-long seminary course,” Brent said, “David came to our leadership team in tears and confessed that he had been leading people astray and that he couldn’t go back to what he’d been doing anymore.”

The seminary leaders sent David back to his church, accompanied by one of their oldest and wisest pastors, and with his support, David confessed his sin to the church.

He told them, “Now, we’re going to follow the word of God and only the word of God.”

“Well,” Brent said, “about 50% of his church left and never came back. But to this day, David’s still one of our most gifted preachers in Botswana, and you can go to his church and hear that Jesus Christ is the only way and the only truth.”

Softened Hearts and Opened Doors

Over the years, the Turners have also seen God at work in the rhythms of their daily lives, opening their eyes to gospel opportunities and softening the hearts of those around them.

“I volunteer at a local hospital in the pediatric oncology ward where I help with play therapy, art therapy, and music therapy,” Amanda shared. “In the beginning, when I started helping out with the program, I couldn’t share the gospel, but I still enjoyed going and bringing smiles to the kids’ faces. So, I’ve been consistent through the years, and they’ve now allowed us to share the gospel on the ward with the parents, the kids, and the nursing staff. We now do a big Christmas party every year, and we’re openly allowed to share why we celebrate Christmas. It’s been really neat to see how consistency in ministry can open doors later on, even when they might be closed in the beginning.”

It’s been really neat to see how consistency in ministry can open doors later on, even when they might be closed in the beginning.

Similarly, Brent and Amanda have watched God provide unique avenues for gospel ministry through the lives of their children.

“When our oldest child started high school, there wasn’t a whole lot for kids her age to do in the area,” Amanda said, “so we started a program called Fusion. It began in our backyard with 15 students — basically our daughter and her friends from school — and that has now grown to about 80-100 kids. We’ve outgrown our backyard, but the U.S. embassy has an amazing recreation center, and we’ve been able to utilize that space. Non-believing parents are allowing their kids to come because they know it’s a safe space for them. And the kids are so excited and telling their friends.”

While raising a family on the mission field presents its own challenges, it brings with it many blessings and joys.

“We never pushed our kids to do ministry,” Brent expressed, “but we allowed them to join alongside us. It’s unique to see how our daughters enjoy one aspect, and our son enjoys another.”

An Ongoing Harvest

For the Turner family, gospel ministry in Botswana has not been quick or easy, and they continue to face challenges day by day. Yet God’s faithfulness remains, and his promises are true. In his grace, he has allowed them a glimpse of the fruit of their labors: the faith of Batswana believers.

The mission is not over yet, and Brent and Amanda have only grown in their understanding of the immensity of the task before them.

“We need more laborers in the harvest,” Amanda said. “We need people to come alongside us and help at the seminary, at the hospital, in church planting, and in the rural areas where there are unreached and unengaged people groups. We have so many opportunities — we just need people to come.”

They also ask for prayer for the local believers, many of whom are growing in their passion for the Great Commission.

“We’re seeing Africans going to unreached and unengaged groups of their own accord,” Brent said. “We’re seeing them become missionaries through African sending agencies. We’re seeing them taking the gospel across the river to places where they never would have gone because that’s a different people group, a different tribe — but they’re going, and it’s one of our greatest joys.”

 

Join us in praying for Brent and Amanda as they continue to serve the Lord and pursue faithfulness in ministry. Pray for the work of local churches and believers as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission. To learn more about how Southeastern’s GTI programs partner to equip global leaders visit sebts.edu/gti, or to learn how you can be equipped to go into the harvest, visit sebts.edu/degrees.