Missionaries

Here at First Baptist we a passionate about the great commission. We desire to help people make disciples all around the World. We commit 25% of our yearly budget to supporting International, U.S, and local missionaries. 

geometric map art

Get to Know Our Missionaries

FBD Summer Camp

FBD Summer Camp

FBD Summer Camp Here at First Baptist Durango, we have the tradition of facilitating and staffing our own Summer Camp every year, currently hosted by Hesperus Baptist Camp. Summer Camp provides opportunities for all ages to develop a greater understanding of God’s mercy, grace and truth offered to us through the person and work of Jesus Christ. FBD Summer Camp is dedicated to the Gospel and sharing it with kids of all ages. All Camp programs, staffing camp counselors, & activities will be managed by First Baptist Durango. Please pray for a time of encouragement, fellowship, and growth in the Gospel during this years camp! Visit our website for more information https://www.firstbaptistdurango.org/whispering-pines-bible-camp/.

Dima and Olya Tamkovich: Campus Crusade

Dima and Olya Tamkovich: Campus Crusade

Hello! We are Dima and Olya from Belarus. The student-led ministry reopened in Minsk after the Campus Crusade office was closed by  the government in 2008 and most of the staff had to leave Belarus.
After the 2020 Presidential elections, according to United Nations reports, torture and other ill-treatment are widespread and impunity prevailed. 270 NGOs had been closed down. At least 37,000 people were detained. And there are about 1500 political prisoners.
Currently, there are only 3 full-time staff missionaries in our team and about 12 student leaders. Our movement is not official because  our  government will not allow us to get it registered.
Our ministry involves personal evangelism, including  evangelism  in  student  dorms  and  at outreach  events,  as  well  as  follow-up work and discipleship for new believers in partnership with local churches.
Please pray with us for:
1. Our evangelism kayak trip for students on July 17-24.
2. Non Believing Students to come to Christ and new Christian students to be encouraged to do evangelism and discipleship.
3. Our oldest daughter Vera (3-year old) who stays in Belarus with grandparents.
Malcolm and Leah Hillewaert

Malcolm and Leah Hillewaert

Malcolm and Leah Hillewaert serve with Master Plan Ministries at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO. They build relationships with students on campus and share the gospel. Many Christian students also partner with them to share the gospel with their fellow students and also to grow in their own discipleship and walk with Jesus. Please pray that their ministry would grow as they continue reaching students with the gospel and pointing them to the Bible. Please also pray for healing, endurance, and clear direction, as Leah battles cancer.

Kat Marks – Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Kat Marks – Fellowship of Christian Athletes

Kat Marks is the Southwest CO FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Area Director and oversees the ministry of FCA in 7 counties (Rio Grande, Mineral, Archuleta, La Plata, Dolores, Montezuma, and San Juan). Right now, we have SW CO FCA huddles in 4 of those counties. FCA’s mission is “To lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ & His Church.” In Southwest CO, we have 18 huddles at the middle school, high school, and college level that meet regularly to unite faith and sports and share the Gospel each week.
A HUGE answer to prayers is that we started a FCA huddle at Fort Lewis College this spring. Praise God!!!
Prayer Requests:
  • Needing huddle leaders (adult volunteers) for Fort Lewis College FCA
  • More people to join our SW CO FCA staff team
  • Looking for more people to join our SW CO FCA Board
  • Raising funds this summer for more FCA staff and huddle funds
If you are interested in getting more involved or want more information, please reach out to Kat at kmarks@fca.org
Willie & Miledys Santiago

Willie & Miledys Santiago

Willie and Miledys Santiago run the Cuba Connection Ministries, which works to connect Cuban churches with the rest of the world to bring the hope that is in Jesus Christ to the Cuban people. CCM is committed to combining social work with preaching the Gospel in Cuba, to helping and equipping those who are on the front line. We do this through our ministry farm, which provides work and food for families in need, like single mothers and families of children with disabilities. We also hold seminars to equip and train pastors, to encourage them in their service to their congregations.

Tim & Marci Miller

Tim & Marci Miller

Tim Miller joined Cross Bar X in May 2006. Tim serves alongside his wife Marci, daughters Addie, Whitley, Cora, Della, & Thea, and sons Elias & Allan. Tim has served in camping ministry for over 20 years and has an undergraduate degree in Youth Ministry from Colorado Christian University and M.A.’s in both Executive Leadership and Professional Counseling. Tim’s passion is to communicate the transformational truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to help families thrive as they live life together!

Mike & Rachel Wall

Mike & Rachel Wall

Mike and Rachel work with Christian Challenge, a college ministry at Fort Lewis College. In over 20 years of ministry at FLC, this has been one of the most exciting school years since the pandemic. They’ve seen students make decisions to follow Christ and be baptized. They also had a successful mission trip over spring break to Juarez, Mexico. Their adoption is moving along as well, and they will be traveling to Thailand to pick up their son at the end of May.

Jonathan & Ryan Helvoigt

Jonathan & Ryan Helvoigt

I grew up attending First Baptist Church with my parents Chuck and Cindy Helvoigt. It was during this time that the Lord saved me. Later, after getting my education and meeting my wife, I joined a church plant called Gospel Church Durango where I’ve been serving for over a decade. I am now one of the pastors at Gospel Church and am being sent by them to plant a church in the Denver area. My family and I are moving up at the end of May, and are woefully underfunded at the moment, and have a very small team. We know that God goes before us and will provide. That said, please consider joining the mission. Please visit us. Please give to the mission. Please pray for us. We love you First Baptist, and are grateful for how God has used you in our lives.

Sean and Angie Mckelvey

Sean and Angie Mckelvey

Sean and Angie have been working alongside others in southeast Asia for ten years to establish a business that enables church planters to engage unreached coastal villages with new hope. One hope is economic development in villages where, other than the arrival of the internet through cell data service, little has changed for many decades. The more significant hope comes as our staff lives and works alongside the villagers, many of whom have probably never seen what faith in Jesus really means in the life of someone they know.

We are excited that the business is on track to become self-sustaining by the end of 2023. Please pray that God would, through our team/staff, bring the growth for that to become reality. One of the most exciting developments in the last six months has been seeing villages investing in what is needed to work with us and we are regularly approached by individuals, communities and buyers who are excited about working with us. Please pray that God would provide more local church planters who can be the primary interface with the villages and the partners in them.

Gersan and Betty Valcin

Gersan and Betty Valcin

Gersan and Betty Valcin are missionaries to Haiti. Haiti is going through a very difficult time, as there is not an organized government and the people are under constant threats from the gangs. In spite of all that is going on, God is at work and has grown the Valcin’s ministry. At the Village Church, they recently celebrated the church’s 7th anniversary and had 600 people attending the service. Additionally, they participate in a radio ministry that brings the preaching of God’s Word to those who cannot travel to church for safety reasons Jacob’s Well is the final part of the Valcin’s ministry. Through Jacob’s well their vision is to bring the hope of the gospel to families and youth of Haiti.

Prayers:

  • The safety of the Village Church as they gather in fear of the violence and kidnappings. May God continue to bless their ministry and protect them as they gather.
  • Logistical issues at Jacob’s Well. This week, Gersan is traveling to Mexico. Please pray that the roads will be open and their truck will be able to come to Port-au-Prince to carry ministry specific items back to JW.Continue to pray for the situation in PAP as the city is becoming more dangerous.
  • Praise God for the return of radio station CIEL 98.7 FM to the air. With the stress level and uncertainty in the country, the radio is playing a greater role in bringing hope to their 
Hleb Yermakou

Hleb Yermakou

Hleb is married to Sasha and has eight children. They lead a group of Slavic believers in Albufeira, Portugal.

Hleb’s ministry is connected with translation through Encouragement International Inc. and the Bible Mission. As a part of Encouragement Intl, He visits Slavic congregations in various European countries and offers translation to these congregations with high-quality Bible teaching. 

As a part of the Bible Mission, he connects ministries in the former Soviet Union with English-speaking groups and churches by translating all the communication that goes on between them. Hleb will be in  Tajikistan in April helping with a conference, as an administrator to the visiting speaker.

Finally, Hleb also has a significant translation ministry from English and Portuguese into the language they understand including the Slavic group at International Church of Algarve in Portugal. This ministry includes a Bible study for the Ukrainians and Belarusians.

Prayer:

  • Assimilation of Ukrainians and Russians to Portugal. These people are experiencing significant Portuguese prejudice.
  • Hleb is busy. Good time management for the family and the translation work/ministry.
Daniel and Janna Ross – First Love International Ukraine

Daniel and Janna Ross – First Love International Ukraine

   We have seen and heard so many stories of people giving and loving sacrificially during this brutal war. Even though there is so much suffering, Ukrainians are bonding together and making sure that no one has to go through this suffering alone. We, along with our partners, get to be a part of this. We plan to stand with Ukrainians until the end, and be there to help rebuild. We have already been able to help people out with rebuilding. So many Ukrainians have been so grateful for the ways that we have been able to help meet needs, and have specifically said that when we help, it is a powerful example of how they are still seen when they are going through their hardest times. There is no more powerful reminder that God hasn’t forgotten you, than when his people are able to tangibly show that. We simply get to help people, show them that they aren’t forgotten, and tell them that God hasn’t forgotten them either. Right now, our Ukrainian partners are the ones doing the real work, and sharing the hope of Christ. We are just getting them funds and supplies and trying to be an encouragement.
Daniel, Janna, and Oliver Ross
First Love International
Nick & Tracy Brothers – Cross Bar X

Nick & Tracy Brothers – Cross Bar X

                The ministry of Cross Bar X is more than just a ministry to disadvantaged kids.  Throughout the years it has been exciting to see how God has worked in the lives of our staff.  It was a number of years ago that Jonathan Helvoigt, Christina, and Tanner came to counsel at Cross Bar X.  While counseling at Cross Bar X Jonathan made a decision that someday he would go into full-time mission work.  Christina and Tanner later got married and moved to Kansas to do social work.  The three of them kept in contact.  Recently God put on Jonathan’s heart to start a church in Denver Colorado.   He asked Christina and Tanner if they would help plant a church in Denver and they agreed to move out and help him.

                 We use to get inner-city children from Denver through churches in lower-income neighborhoods, but those churches have changed or moved through gentrification.  There is a possibility that Jonathan may plant a church in an area that has a high number of homeless people and near the new ‘inner-city’.  We were really excited to hear of his passion to plant a church and that God had put this on his heart while he was at Cross Bar X.

                We need summer counselors.  If you or you or someone you know would like a meaningful, challenging and spiritually rewarding summer, please check out the camp at crossbarx.org or contact me personally at [email protected].

Kyle & Christine Ricedorff

Kyle & Christine Ricedorff

Kyle and Christine serve in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland with two primary focuses: evangelism and training. Kyle and Christine serve in a local church having spent the first two years of their ministry focused on learning the Polish language.  Recently, the Christian Education Center, which has focused in equipping and training Christians, will begin teaching in September.

How to pray for the Ricedorff’s:

  • They are expecting a new child at the end of May.
  • They were recently able to buy a house.
  • Christine’s health is still a challenge, pray for God to help them respond well and to find good solutions.
Cindy Aden

Cindy Aden

This last year has been a year of travel. Even though I am living in Targu Mures, Romania I have spent as much time away as I have here. Traveling for furlough, training others, staffing retreats for missionaries, debriefing missionaries and helping missionaries in their locations have been most of my travels.

The theme for this year has been to keep your eyes on the Lord. As I help so many affected by the war. That is the only thing that can sustain them for the long haul. It is also what sustains me as I hear so
many horrible stories. Christ is our Refuge and Hope! I enjoy being able to pass on things I learned in South Sudan to help them.

Worship With Us

Sundays at 9 AM & 10:45 AM

Location

332 East 11th Street
Durango, CO 81301