About Us

 Zach Viola

When I was living in a small town in Arkansas, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior at the age of 10. However, I did not have the chance to follow the Lord in baptism until I was 17 due to my mother always moving from state-to-state and not caring about going to church. Due to not being connected to a church, I quickly fell away to my own devices and sin throughout High School. God then showed me that I was on the same path as my mother. So I prayed for the Lord to get me off that path and back to Him, and He did! God then brought me back to the Florence Baptist Temple (FBT) in Florence, SC, where I had lived when I was 12 years old. The first Sunday I was back in town, I went to church and got right with God and was baptized a few months later. Afterwards, I began serving in the youth group and other areas.

The summer before my senior year of High School, I attended my first ever youth camp; it was there that I surrendered my life to serve the Lord in full-time ministry. The day I arrived home from camp, my mother said that it was time to move again. I knew that if I went with her, I would not be able to stay on the path God wanted for me. So I chose not to go; she then packed her things and left. I stayed with my grandmother until I went to Boston Baptist College (BBC) to prepare myself to serve God in the ministry. As the 2016 BBC graduation approached, Pastor Monroe asked me to come back and serve an internship at FBT, with the goal of preparing for the mission field by gaining ministry experience at FBT. After a two year internship, I was then asked to serve as the Children’s Director & Missions Director of FBT.

I am thankful for God’s blessings in my life and for the experience He allowed me to gain at FBT. But now I am excited to move into missions, which has always been the burden of my heart. I am thrilled that the Lord has granted me this opportunity to go and serve with the Sherwood’s in Panama and be an answer to their Matthew 9:37-38 prayer.

Maria-Jose

I come from a good family where my mother taught me about God and His word. As I grew up,  I searched for God and I was curious to know more about Him. Then at the age of 12 my brother presented the Gospel to me and I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I was then baptized by Pastor Gene Gray in 2013 at the Guadalupe Missionary Baptist Church of Costa Rica. Over time, I tried to do the right things according to God’s Word and was committed to my goals; my friends soon realized that I was a Christian. When I was 18, I attended a youth camp and even though I knew I was saved, I realized that I did not have a continuous growing relationship with God. So, it was in that moment that I prayed to God, telling Him that I would do whatever He wanted in every area of my life.

My family and I then moved to Santo Domingo and I started attending Bible studies at a new church plant that was started by the ministry of a BBFI Missionary, Santo Domingo Baptist Church, where I began serving in the youth ministry and Bible study groups. During that time, I felt the desire to serve God even more and my relationship with Him continued to grow each day. My greatest desire is to continue serving Christ with my husband. I am very excited that we will be taking the Gospel of Christ to the lost people of Panama. Pray for us as we prepare to go to the white harvest fields of Panama.