As missionaries wrap up ministry for 2021, it’s good to look back on how God was at work around the world. He equipped our missionaries with two special tools to keep the gospel moving forward: ingenuity and perseverance. Ingenuity led Nathan and Rachel Waldock to find a way to assemble their church family again (cover photo, p. 15), and it opened doors of witnessing for Europe missionaries (p. 11). Perseverance kept Joel and Beverly Shoaf praying like never before for revival (pp. 6-7), and it motivated Penny Whitty to not give up on her call to start a Christian school (pp. 12-13).

Just as trials lead to perseverance and ultimately to hope (Romans 5:3-4), hope did not disappoint in 2021. This issue of Advance is just a sampling of BMM missionaries’ ingenuity and perseverance that led to victories in the spread of the gospel across the world this year.