www.danandbeckybennett.com
Dan’s Testimony
I was reared in a Christian home, but was not saved until I was 22 years of age on June 26, 1983. I was baptized the following Sunday. My oldest brother, David, led me to the Lord in his back yard one Sunday afternoon. He and his young family were getting ready to leave for the mission field of Brazil for their first term.
After I was saved, David talked me into going to Bible college for the very spiritual reason of finding a good Christian wife. I met Becky while preparing for the ministry, and we were married on December 23, 1988. It was at Bible college during a missions conference where God spoke to me about surrendering to the call of missions. I made a survey trip to Brazil in 1985, and while there I fell in love with the people of Brazil. I prayed and sought God’s will for a year and a half after I returned from Brazil, and one day while having my devotions, God gave me peace about going to Brazil as a missionary.
I finished my Bible training with a B.A. in Pastoral Studies in 1993. In 1994, Becky and I were accepted as missionaries to Brazil with Baptist International Missions, Inc. In January of 1995, two weeks after the birth of our third child, we began full time deputation. After four long years and many miles behind us, we arrived in Brazil for our first term on May 12, 1999.
Becky’s Testimony
My father led me to the Lord on March 13, 1975 when I was seven years old. Being that my father was the assistant pastor in our church, he was able to baptize me the very next Sunday. I have always had a tender heart toward the things of the Lord, and even when I was very young I remember wanting to serve him somehow.
My mother had a profound influence on my life and service for the Lord. She was the interpreter for the deaf in our church. I grew up learning and eventually using the sign language. After graduating from high school, I began Bible College. I became very involved with the deaf work in the church where I attended. I loved the deaf and they quickly became a part of my life. On a quick trip home during college break and during one of my home church’s missions conferences, the Lord began dealing with my heart about being a missionary in Brazil. That night I surrendered my life to the Lord. I returned to college with a whole new outlook.
It was during this time that I met Dan. We began to date and after some time realized that God wanted us to serve Him together. We were married on December 23, 1988. In June of 1989, we took a survey trip to Brazil and while there God impressed upon our hearts the enormous need for the gospel in that country.
After our third child was born, we began full-time deputation and 4 years later, on May 12, 1999 we arrived in Brazil for our first term. We love Brazil and Brazilians and desire to see both the hearing and the deaf in this great country saved, baptized and serving the Lord. Missions in Brazil…what a great life we have serving the Lord!
About the Bennetts
We are the Bennett family, missionaries sent from Southside Baptist Church of Rock Hill, South Carolina, and serving with Baptist International Missions, Inc., in the country of Brazil. God has blessed us with seven precious children. We are independent and fundamental, taking a conservative Baptist position. We use only the King James Version of the Bible in the English language. We have a very good translation of the Bible in the Portuguese language, using the Hebrew Masoretic and Greek Textus Receptus texts, translated by the Trinitarian Bible Society.
Our first term in Brazil was spent in learning the Portuguese language, and also working with Dan’s brother, David Bennett, at the Bible Baptist Church in São Paulo. This church was started to reach the deaf of the city with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While serving here, we also learned the Portuguese sign language which is completely different than American sign language.
During our second term in Brazil, God led us to plant a church in Osasco, a suburb of the city of São Paulo. By God’s grace, we started the Igreja Batista da Bíblia (Bible Baptist Church) on October 1, 2004. We were able to turn this church over to a national pastor in October of 2011.
We have now finished our third term in São Paulo, after having served in the Deaf church in which we ministered during our first term in Brazil.
We are currently on furlough to report to our supporting churches, as well as visit some new churches in the United States in 2016. If your church does not support us already and is considering the possibility of taking on new missionaries, we would count it a privilege to meet you and to show you what God is doing in São Paulo.
