The Marine motto, Semper Fidelis, means “always faithful.” It’s a principle that former Marine Bob Whatley and his wife, Betty, have exemplified in their 50 years of changing lives through Christ’s power in Peru.
From their earliest years, the Whatleys have been always faithful to grab hold of gospel-sharing opportunities. Because of this, Christ rules in the hearts of men like Miguel Tresierra. Due to a shaky marriage, Miguel and his wife, Pilar, sought out Bob. He shared the gospel clearly, and the Tresierras became saved, fervent followers of Christ. Miguel, Pilar, and their late son were among the first students at BMM’s Bible school. Miguel went on to start a completely Peruvian church that owns its own building and has a pastor Miguel himself trained. Now at age 75, Miguel helps the Whatleys’ son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Barbara, in their church plant in Árin, Peru.
There have been others, such as Valerio Blanco, a former Seventh-Day Adventist missionary who received Christ and became Bob’s right-hand man in ministry. Another man, Santiago Salcedo, was highly influential in Seventh-Day Adventist churches. Saved through Bob’s witness, he spread the gospel in the churches he had started. Whole congregations received Christ and put up new Baptist church signs.
Betty Whatley has been faithful in her own right. Her ministries have included homeschooling their seven children, conducting ladies and children’s ministries, assisting in visitation, and operating a Bible bookstore. Even when health issues keep her home, she gives her all to support Bob, whose stamina and visionary spirit still keep pace with missionaries much younger than his 75 years.
Coworkers describe Bob as an unstoppable trailblazer, one willing to go anywhere—whether Peru’s jungle or highest mountain villages—to complete the Lord’s tasks. The Whatleys’ main work has been church planting, but they have also helped start several radio stations and two seminaries.
One of Bob’s best-known projects has been ¡ARRIBA! a one-year internship giving college students an all-out missionary experience in Peru. This intensely hands-on program has trained dozens of college students, many of whom have returned as missionaries.
As Bob and Betty take the bittersweet journey to retirement this year, Bob still has several irons in the fire: a Creation museum composed of fossils he and others discovered in Peru’s Andes Mountains and a project to restore a cemetery that inters an early Baptist missionary. Many pioneering Baptists in Peru suffered great persecution. Like these missionaries, the Whatleys were willing to follow God’s call over the past 50 years … and to remain always faithful.