Jeff Williams' Family - Biography

Jeff

Jeff is originally from Bangor, Maine. (USA) His parents became born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ through the faithful witness of a family friend back in 1971. Just prior to his seventh birthday, Jeff heard and understood the gospel for the first time in a backyard Bible Club sponsored by the United Baptist Church in Old Town, Maine. On July 18, 1972, Jeff wa saved and had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian school. The Lord used this experience of rubbing shoulders every day with thousands of unsaved students to burden his heart for world missions. After surrending to God's call to preach, Jeff attended Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. He graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Theology. The Lord later allowed him to earn a Master of Biblical Studies degree (1989) and a Ph.D. in Religion (1992) from the Bethany Theological Seminary in Dothan, Alabama.

Debby

Debby is originally from Fort Worth, Texas (USA). She was led to the Lord in her living room by her pastor at the age of eight. Though raised a Southern Baptist, Debby had the opportunity to attend a Christian school for her senior year of high school. She later joined the school's sponsoring church, Castleberry Baptist Church. While on a trip to church camp as a camp counsellor, the bus she was on overturned and caught fire in Colorado. The Lord used this incident in Debby's life from which she narrowly escaped to capture her heart for full time Christian service. Debby attended and graduated from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education in 1987.

The Williams' Family

Jeff and Debby were married soon after graduation from Bible college and worked for a year at the Lawton Street Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida, where the late B.H. McWaters was pastor. Jeff and Debby also taught at the Santa Rosa Christian School in Milton, Florida, during this time.

During the summer of 1989, Jeff and Debby were sent out as the first missionaries of the Berean Bible Baptist Church of Bangor, Maine, where Arthur Dean is pastor. During their two years of deputation, the Lord blessed them with thier first son, Caleb. They arrived in Dunedin, New Zealand for their first term in January 1991.

In April of 1991 services were held for the first time and in September of 1991 the Community Independent Baptist Church of Dunedin was born with seven charter members. The Williams' turned this church over to a Kiwi pastor, Bro. Nigel James, in 1994. The church is still continuing on today under its current pastor, Bro. Rob Rutta. God blessed the Williams' with a second son in 1992, named Luke.

The Williams' took their first furlough in 1994. God blessed this family with a third child named Joel, but the Lord in his wisdom saw fit to take this little fellow to be with him just three hours after he was born. During their furlough, God opened the doors for this family to change sending churches. Today Emmanuel Baptist Bible Church of Martville, New York, where J. Bryant Lagoe is pastor. Emmanuel Baptist serves as the Williams' family home and sending church.

In July of 1995 the Williams' returned to New Zealand for their second term. This time they began in the city of Blenheim at the northern tip of the South Island. God blessed the Williams' family with two daughters - Grace was born in 1995 and Beth in 1997. The first services of their second work were begun in August of 1995. In September of 1996 the Marlborough Bible Baptist Church was organized with nine charter members and today averages almost fifty in attendance.

Other ministries include the ongoing New Zealand Correspondence School of the Bible and the three-year, full-time Blenheim Bible Institute.

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