The Jesse Armstrong Next Generation Fund makes it possible for more people to take the next step toward career missions.

Jesse Armstrong had an unswerving focus on missions. He and his wife, Lisa, and their four sons spent eight years serving in a Creative Access Nation. It was both a challenging and spiritually rewarding ministry, one they intended to devote their lives to. However, in 2006, Jesse began experiencing strange neurological symptoms. Doctors confirmed a shocking diagnosis: Jesse had ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). This incurable disease quickly turned Jesse from a healthy, energetic 37-year-old into a wheelchair-bound man. Within a year, he was almost completely paralyzed.

Even as his physical body grew weaker and weaker, his spirit remained as courageous and God-honoring as ever. Jesse wasn’t going to let illness derail the reason God put him on earth. Using his remaining strength, he preached in church and shared the gospel with other ALS patients. Through his testimony, at least two people received Christ as Savior.

Jesse joyfully entered heaven’s glory on May 7, 2009, at the age of 39. His chosen epitaph was: “My work is ended. His work continues.”

Continuing His work

Jesse had a deep burden to see more people follow God’s leading into missions, and that led him and Lisa to make a profound gift. They arranged to donate a portion of Jesse’s life insurance funds to create the Jesse Armstrong Next Generation Fund. Today, this fund assists those who are seriously considering career missions by allowing them to investigate fields of service. 

The fund helps cover travel expenses in three tiers. For college students ready to take a BMM FirstLook summer trip, the fund covers a portion of travel costs. As people progress toward career missions through extended short-term ministry, the coverage increases. And those taking field survey trips during final missions preparations receive the largest tier of help.   

Travis Gravley (Administrator for Enlistment) is BMM’s first line of contact for students and older adults exploring missions. He explains that people come into missions from a variety of circumstances. Many are college students working to pay off school expenses. Some may come from a small church with limited resources, or they have limited personal contacts. These circumstances create concerns about who will be able to back them financially. Missions is a spiritual endeavor at its core, but earthly concerns can lead to discouragement and distractions from a person’s calling. Thankfully, the Jesse Armstrong fund can help. 

Led back to Africa

Anna King is one of several who have benefited from the fund. From June 25 to July 20, 2024, Anna traveled with a Bibles International (BI) team to Chad, Africa. Her goal was to learn about Bible translation and literacy ministry under the mentorship of a BI missionary. It was eye-opening to see the needs of the local people—from visits to a rescue home for vulnerable girls to visiting Obed and Lacy Berasngar’s orphanage to learning about BI’s literacy and language projects. The trip sealed a confirmation that God wants her to serve full-time in Africa. Anna plans to work with orphans, widows, and young girls, by reaching them with the gospel message, discipling, providing counseling services, and teaching them a trade.

Anna thanks God for making this trip possible so that she could better know His will. And as an international college student from Côte d’Ivoire, Anna was grateful that the Jesse Armstrong fund enabled her to buy plane tickets.

Engaged with Scripture

Another student, Grant Hague, participated in the same trip as Anna. Grant’s interest in BI’s work began two years ago on his first missions internship. After learning about translation consulting, Grant was drawn to another facet of BI: Scripture Engagement, a ministry that helps nationals make the most effective use of their Bibles. 

Through the Jesse Armstrong fund’s help, Grant completed a second internship focusing on Scripture Engagement. He found the experience, “phenomenal and extremely impactful” as he learned the potential of this field, created contextualized Bible messages, and conducted a sociolinguistic interview with one of Chad’s language groups. 

Grant now plans to serve with BI after earning a master’s degree. He expressed his gratitude: “Being a student, it is not easy to afford opportunities like what I did last summer. This scholarship took the pressure off of raising support among the many hours of school and work I was doing. It allowed me to participate in this internship which, in turn, God has used to give me a further burden for international missions and the work of BI.
To God be the glory!”