2024 LEGACY MISSIONARIES: Bill & Jeanette Gibson

By Holly Meriweather

      Executive Editor’s Note: The Gibsons and the Dicksons were honored this year as the 2024 Legacy Missionaries for BMA Global. This is the story of Bill & Jeanette Gibson. The Dicksons’ story will be shared in next week’s issue.

      Honoring our legacy missionaries is a priority for BMA Global, and whether deceased or alive, learning from their lives and ministries is important to their incredible legacies. Through family testimonies, archived articles, and ministry partner stories, understanding the ongoing work in their former fields impacts future generations. Bill Gibson is one of those legacy missionaries.

      William L. Gibson was born Jan. 17, 1942, in Jonesboro, to a family of farmers. He and Jeanette were the same age, their families farmed within five miles of each other and they went to church together. Bill and Janette were both saved at an early age and began showing interest in each other at 14 years of age. Later on, Bill began picking Janette up for church services every Sunday at Big Creek Valley in Jonesboro, pastored by G.E. Jones.

      Bill graduated from high school in 1959 and attended CBC for a year but dropped out to join the National Guard. He trained at Fort Knox, Ky., then Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., while Jeanette went to Jonesboro Business College for a secretarial degree. They were married in 1961, and Bill farmed with his dad for a while.

From Pastor to Missionary: Costa Rica

      Then God called Bill to ministry, and he returned to CBC to complete his studies. Just like many “preacher boys” at CBC, he pastored a church while there — Fairview Baptist Church in Violet Hill. After graduating in 1966, he began pastoring Bethel Baptist Church in Forrest City, then served as a missionary pastor at Missionary Baptist Church in Wichita, Ks. It was there that he felt the call to missions work in Costa Rica.

      The family, including nine-year-old Bill, Jr. and four-year-old Monica, traveled to Costa Rica to visit Missionaries Duane and Francis Heflin and to seek their counsel. The visit confirmed his calling, so in 1971, they bought a Volkswagen bus named “Herbie,” and loaded the van and headed to Costa Rica on Sept. 29.

      Some of the best missionary stories are about a family’s travel to a new mission field, and the Gibsons’ story is no exception. On the way to Costa Rica, four-year-old Monica became ill in Mexico City, and they had to stop to see a doctor and then wait two days to recover at a hotel. Two famous wrestlers were also staying there. One of them was professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, who taught nine-year-old Bill Jr. how to swim in the hotel pool.

      The journey to San Jose was long, especially for the children, but the ride was made easier due to the generosity of Francis Heflin, who gave Bill Jr. and Monica presents for the children to open on each day of travel. The Heflins continued that love and care for many years.

      Attending language school was the only training offered to new missionaries in that era, so Bill and Jeanette spent their first year in Costa Rica at language school in San Jose while the children attended school with their Spanish-speaking peers. The Gibson children were always part of their ministry: Bill preached, Bill Jr. led singing and Monica helped in Sunday School.

      They also built relationships with Costa Ricans by handing out flyers and inviting everyone they met to church. Even the children participated. During one of those outreaches when Monica was five years old, she handed a lady an invitation, but the lady said, “No, thank you. I’m Catholic.” Monica replied, “That’s okay. Anyone can come to our church.”

      Bill was known for his genial nature and never-met-a-stranger attitude. He willingly met people’s needs on the mission field, loading up Herbie, the little Volkswagen, and went where he was needed. If someone said, “I need you to go to my family’s hometown up in the mountains,” the family would load up and head to the mountains to meet needs. If someone said, “I want you to go talk to my family,” or “We want a church,” he was faithful in meeting with them.

      In addition to planting churches, they established a Bible Institute during their 20 years in Costa Rica. By the time they left Costa Rica, Bill Jr. and Monica had graduated and moved back home.

      Herbie stayed with the Heflins.

Eastern Europe: Czech Republic

      After the Berlin Wall fell and communist countries opened up, Bill was one of the many missionaries who seized the opportunity to share the gospel with the unreached. So, in 1992, the Gibsons left Costa Rica for the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia), basically moving from a friendly Latin culture to a cold, unreceptive one. The Gibsons had a hard time with the Czech language, and people weren’t responsive, but Bill met a man named John, and that one contact has kept the work going.

To the States, Then Back: Honduras

      In 1994, they returned to Jonesboro and began pastoring Cottage Home. Five years later, Bill was asked to serve in Honduras as Bobby Bowman retired from his work at the BMA Bible Institute there. Bill and Jeanette went to Honduras, where he served as administrator of the BMA Bible Institute in Sula from 1999 to 2007.

Final Mission Field: Chile

         The Gibsons went to Santiago, Chile in 2007 where they planted Metropolitan Baptist Church. One of the first people Bill met in Santiago was Pablo, their water delivery man and neighbor. He was also a pastor, and when Pablo saw Bill’s Bible, they hit it off immediately. The Gibsons began attending the church where Pablo pastored, and then they worked together to plant a church. Today, Pablo’s son and another young man have gone farther south in Chile, where Pablo Sr. and his wife, Miriam are now. Currently, there are thriving churches in the cities of Tibas, Santa Ana and Villa Colon.

      The Gibsons returned home in 2012 when Bill was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. He died Oct. 29, 2015.

The Work Goes On: Multiplication

      When missionaries start a work and plant a church, there are many unknowns. Regardless of the preparation, location and fervent prayer for success, there’s always the question, “Will this plant take root?” God perfectly fitted Bill to be an encourager and exhorter and give sound advice to everyone he knew, particularly if there was a question about ministry. When Bill’s son-in-law, Randy Stimach, told Bill, “I’m afraid God’s calling me to the ministry.” Bill replied, “Well, don’t be afraid, just do it!” Those who served with him said he was always direct and to the point but loved and cared for people.

      Former Missionary Phil Knott served with Bill in Costa Rica for many years and tells a story of the two men handing out flyers to invite people to church for a week-long revival. When Costa Ricans heard they would also be fed, even more people came. Bill was footing the bill, and one person was saved out of the entire week, and Bill had spent a lot of money. Always the optimist, Bill told Phil, “Whew, that was an expensive soul!”

      Monica said, “My dad would’ve died on the mission field if he could have. At his funeral, letters came in literally from around the world talking about the impact that both my parents had on them. They truly fulfilled the Great Commission.”