We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God. II Timothy 3:15-17.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:4-6.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. John 1:1-4; Matthew 1:23; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 1:1-4 & 4:15; Acts 1:11 & 2:22-24; I Corinthians 15:3-4.
We believe that, for the salvation of lost and sinful man, repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ results in regeneration by the Holy Spirit and that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Titus 3:4-7; Luke 24:46-47; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 14:6; Acts 4:12.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit whose indwelling enables the Christian to live a godly life. Galatians 5:16-18; Romans 8:9.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment. Revelation 20:11-15; I Corinthians 15:51-57.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and that all true believers are members of His body, the Church. Ephesians 1:22-23; I Corinthians 12:12, 27.
We believe that the ministry of evangelism is a responsibility of both the Church and each Christian. Romans 10:9-15; Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:18-20; I Peter 3:15.
Mission Statement
Across Borders, a servant ministry to Jesus Christ, exists to glorify God through obedience to the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-21).
Our mission is: Planting, strengthening, and partnering with churches in Colombia and as God directs. We are convinced that God’s primary means of relating to and transforming the world is the church. Where there is no church, we work to start one. Where there is a church, we seek to work together. Our ideal church-mission relationship is a dynamic, interdependent partnership that reaches out together to love the unreached world. In this effort, we will evangelize the lost, disciple believers into churches, equip churches to fulfill Christ’s Commission and minister to human needs.
Evangelize: We believe that mankind is lost and needs to be redeemed through Christ Jesus, whom we proclaim as Savior (“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. Romans 3:23). All of our ministries are motivated by this belief.
Disciple Believers: This involves teaching the Word of God, helping people to discover their God-given gifts, enabling them to serve others, and helping them become mature in Christ.
Into Churches: Our focus is on the church. We always seek to plant churches or partner with a local church wherever we work.
Equip Churches to Fulfill Christ’s Commission: This involves challenging the church to obey Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. We seek to provide leadership training and practical help to enable churches to establish new churches or send other mission agencies. We desire to be a church-planting mission and a mission-planting church!
Minister to Human Need: We acknowledge that the ultimate human need is to know God. We also believe that He has called us to compassionate, holistic service in this broken world. Jesus is our example as we minister to people who are suffering because of poverty, illness, or natural disaster.
Board of Directors
Brad Williams
Mr. Williams is a 1983 graduate of Baylor University located in Waco, Texas. His business career has spanned over 35 years and includes various executive leadership positions in several Fortune 500 companies, most recently as Chief Accounting Officer for one of the largest emergency revenue cycle companies in the United States. Mr. Williams retired from this position in September 2018, and now devotes his full time to ministry work. Mr. Williams is married to a beautiful citizen of Colombia with whom he has two children, Jared and Serah. Mr. Williams has committed himself to be a servant of his Lord Jesus Christ. He takes seriously God’s Great Commandment to GO and make disciples of ALL nations. Mr. Williams has been involved in five mission trips to India where on his last trip he led a regional crusade. In addition, Mr. Williams has taken the Gospel to Brazil seven times and has been leading several mission trips a year to Colombia since 2008. Mr. Williams has a passion to reach Colombia with the Good News of Christ. As such, Mr. Williams formed the ministry “Across Borders Ministries” with the vision to evangelize, plant churches, train pastors and key leaders and provide humanitarian assistance to the peoples of Colombia. Mr. Williams’s desire is to finish strong the race that God has given him.
Pastor Truman Herring
Pastor Truman Herring retired from the pastoral ministry in 2019. His pastoral leadership spanned over 49 years and included senior pastor roles at Mt. Hood Baptist Church in Gresham, Oregon where he served for eight years and Boca Glades Baptist Church (BGBC) in Boca Raton, Florida where he served for 31 years. During his tenor at BGBC, Pastor Herring trained and led numerous mission teams to India, Brazil and Colombia. In both India and Brazil, Pastor Herring was used by God to reach thousands of people with the Gospel through regional Crusades.
Pastor Herring currently serves as President and Founder of Truman Herring Ministries and is an accomplished writer authoring over eleven books, including the “Journeys Series” and “Battles of the Lords Series”. Pastor Herring has also been a well-respected speaker at many Pastor Conferences in India, Africa, Brazil and Colombia.
Pastor Herring and his wife, Connie, have been happily married for over 50 years and are blessed with three children and four grandchildren. Always a man of humility, Pastor Herring simply wants to be known as a follower of Jesus Christ with a desire to evangelize, make disciples and encourage the Church of Jesus Christ.
Dr. Greg Kappas
Greg became a Christian on May 7, 1975, near the end of his sophomore year in college. He loves Jesus Christ! He was born (1955) and raised in the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati, Ohio region. Greg met his wonderful wife, Debbie, in graduate school in 1981 and was married in 1982. Greg and Debbie currently reside in greater Phoenix. In addition to two beautiful daughters, they are now grandparents and love every moment of this life stage. The family is rounded out with an energetic lab mix, Porsha. Greg enjoys reading, sports and dates with his family. His favorite Bible influencers are Jesus, Daniel, Joseph and Paul. Greg is Greek and communicates with a lot of passion. He currently assists in missional leadership with Team Trinity in the starting of The Trinity Church, one of the fastest growing church plants in the Western USA.
Greg starred for a national championship baseball team (1972) and was a record setting pitcher for Marshall University (1973-1977) where he graduated with a B.A. in Speech. He was inducted into the Marshall University Hall of Fame in 2012. Sensing a strong call to preach, teach and train others in the Word of God, Greg turned down a free agent contract with the Boston Red Sox (1977) and went into full-time ministry with CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ). Dr. Kappas has served the Lord full-time in Christian work since 1977. He has three earned graduate degrees, M.Div., Th.M. and D.Min. from seminaries in Southern California and Oregon. He has studied with his wife in Israel and Greg has worked as a teaching and executive assistant for two seminary presidents. Greg has served some of the evangelical world’s most dynamic ministries as pastor, coach and consultant/strategist.
Dr. Kappas was selected by his peers as one of the top 100 U.S. evangelical influencers in leadership development (1999, Leadership Network). He has taught and partnered with many ministries, including Gateway Seminary – Arizona, Grand Canyon University, Exponential, Leadership Network and Grace Global Network. He has served on the adjunct faculty of numerous evangelical seminaries and universities teaching Pastoral Ministry, Pastoral Theology, Christian Worldview, Hermeneutics, Preaching, Bible, Theology, Leadership, Church Planting, Church Health and Growth. He is a cofounder of the International Church Planters Summit. He also is a cofounder of Heart of Grace Ministries (heartofgrace.com). Greg has led, pastored and served on the Executive and Preaching teams of some of America’s fastest growing churches and consults with churches around the world, including strategic mega churches. Dr. Kappas has coached evangelical business leaders of oil, aerospace engineering, insurance, investments/retirement planning and construction to integrate their faith and corporate work with Scripture.
In December of 2004, Greg founded Grace Global Network and serves as President. This national and international church planting movement is seeing remarkable favor from the Lord. GGN partners with other evangelical reproducing church planting movements in multiplying new churches around the globe (graceglobalnetwork.org), including the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX). GGN also assists turnaround churches to greater health through a creative process of ministry.
Greg served as the Vice President and on the Leadership Team for The Timothy Initiative (ttionline.org) from 2009-2016 and has served on the Grace Fellowship Executive and Preaching Team (2009 – 2013), both in West Palm Beach, FL. He is humbled by the grace of God upon his life.
The Holy Spirit has graced Greg as an international leader in the fields of church planting, discipleship/mentoring and leadership development. He has been a leader of leaders in personally coaching thousands of church planters/pastors and hundreds of church planting movement leaders. He is an influential communicator, both orally and in written form. Greg has authored or co-authored numerous works, including the highly regarded Twenty-five Questions for Planting a Healthy Church, Five Stages forMultiplying Healthy Churches, Recapturing the Art of Shepherding and Somewhere Inside the Rainbow. He served as General Editor and author for The Timothy Initiative’s Foundational 11 book curriculum which has over 15 books and 700,000 plus volumes in print. He has had a fruitful ministry in training national and international influencers in multi-ethnic, cross-cultural and multi-generational local church ministry. There are over 80,000 multiplying evangelical churches started and 2 million plus people have come to Jesus Christ through Grace Global Network and its various partnerships.
Greg provides individuals and ministries with free weekly videos, called Leadership Lifters that can be found on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, along with the website graceglobalnetwork.org.
Pastor David Nelms
David serves as Founder and President of TTI. He casts vision and gives direction to TTI as we impact the world for Christ. David is a former senior pastor and has had success in growing three different churches in Maryland, Iowa and Florida. He has served as a trustee on the board of Luther Rice Seminary and taught all over the world. David received a Master of Arts from Moody Bible Institute, a Master of Divinity from Luther Rice University and his Doctor of Ministry from Luther Rice University. David is married to his lovely wife, Loretta. They have three grown children and five grandchildren.
Pastor Marshall Walcott
Pastor Wolcott has been a Christ follower since 1982 and has served in many leadership positions as a lay person before being ordained as a full time pastor in 2009. Pastor Wolcott also has a strong calling to share the Gospel throughout the world and has participated in numerous mission trips to several countries on multiple continents, including India, Brazil, Angola and Colombia. In India and Angola, Pastor Wolcott was used by God to reach thousands of people with the Gospel through Regional Crusades.
Pastor Wolcott is currently the senior pastor at Crosswalk Ministries in LaPine, Oregon, a role in which he has served in for over eleven years. Pastor Wolcott also serves on the Board of Directors of Colombia Grace Foundation, which oversees an orphanage in Turbaco, Colombia.
Pastor Wolcott has been married to his wife Rhonda for 46 years and has two children and three grandchildren. He was formerly a homebuilder and enjoys fishing, hunting and being a grandfather.
Juan Padilla
My name is Juan Manuel Padilla. I was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. I am an International Relations major, currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Teaching Languages at the University of Indiana. For over 10 years I have been serving the Lord in missions, volunteering with several ministries as an interpreter and fellow evangelist in my home country of Colombia. For the sake of the Gospel, I have also served as an evangelist throughout South America and the United States, including leading teams to Brazil over 5 times.
Tom McDonald
Tom McDonald has been a missionary since 1999. His service to the Lord has spanned over five continents and included such countries as Russia, Zambia, Colombia and the United States.
Mr. McDonald and his wife Lynette are the privileged parents of Peter and Julianna. They own their business serving families and developing leaders. Mr. McDonald is active in his local church and enjoys the outdoors. Tom and Lynette bring joy and laughter wherever they go and seek to encourage others in their walk with the Lord. The McDonald’s live in Loxahatchee, Florida and have been married since 2013.
Ministry Partners
Crosswalk Ministries
Crosswalk Ministries is a La Pine, Oregon based ministry led by Senior Pastor Marshall A. Wolcott. It is a ministry of imperfect people serving a perfect Savior. The Ministry’s purpose is to proclaim the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ locally and to the ends of the earth. ABM is pleased to partner with Crosswalk Ministries in proclaiming Christ to the nations. Crosswalk Ministries is located at www.crosswalklapine.com.
Fellowship Tract League
The Fellowship Tract League is a local church ministry of the Fellowship Baptist Church in Lebanon, Ohio. This specialized ministry is reaching the world for Christ through the printed page. FTL provides the material that is needed for God’s people all around the world to fulfill his command. ABM has distributed over 25,000 tracts produced by FTL in Colombia. FTL ‘s website is www.fellowshiptractleague.org.
Fellowship Travel International
Offers travel assistance for Christian ministries around the globe. ABM has been well supported in its overseas travel plans by Fellowship Travel. Fellowship Travel website is www.fellowship.com.
The Timothy Initiative
TTI is an international church planting organization which was established with the purpose to train and equip “Timothy’s”(Pastors/Church Planters). TTI specifically targets church planters who lack the means and/or availability to receive a balanced Biblical and theological training throughout Asia, Africa and the Americas’. Each church planter trained is expected to plant at least one multiplying and reproducing church. AMB and TTI have partnered together to train 12 directors and open 4 pastor schools in Colombia. TTI may be found at www.ttionline.org.
Grace Global Network
In December of 2004, Greg Kappas founded Grace Global Network and serves as President. GGN partners with other evangelical reproducing church planting movements in multiplying new churches around the globe (graceglobalnetwork.org). GGN also assists turnaround churches to greater health through a creative process of ministry.
Heroes Ministries
Heroes Ministries is a nonprofit organization focused on sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ anywhere he leads. The ministry uses many ways to get to people’s hearts so they can grow in their faith. Teaching how to share the Gospel, training the church, doing outdoor public worship, one on one conversations, partnering with other ministries, and translating for foreign missionaries are some of the ways the ministry uses to serve, train, equip and share about Jesus Christ. Heroes share, they love, and they worship (Instagram.com/heroesministries). ABM has partnered with Hero ministries for many years to provide translation services to its mission teams. Heroes Ministries has been ABM’s voice to Colombia.
Redeska
REDESKA is an Association of 35 Wayuu Churches ministering in La Guajira, Colombia. The Wayuus are the largest indigenous group in Colombia with a population of over 400,000 people. The Wayuus are considered an Unreached People Group (‘UPG”) by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. ABM has been working with REDESKA for over five years to evangelize, disciple and plant churches throughout the District of La Guajira. ABM is also actively showing God’s love through its Well/Church projects. Working through REDESKA , ABM sponsors the digging of wells and the construction of churches in remote Wayuu Rancherias. Together we are able to provide both physical and spiritual water to the Wayuu people. In the desert, water is LIFE……..
Truman Herring Ministries
Truman Herring Ministries (“THM”) exists to help challenge Christians to mature in their faith, and to encourage pastors and Christian leaders not to be discouraged and to remain faithful to their calling even in the most difficult of times. THM also partners with others in evangelism, discipleship and missions. THM seeks to accomplish its mission through the writing ministry of Pastor Truman Herring, by preaching in churches, on social media platforms, and at pastor conferences and teaching through such virtual platforms as Zoom, Skype and Webex. Pastor Truman, the Founder and President of THM, is an active member of the ABM Board of Directors and provides encourage and mentoring to the ministry. THM has also been generous in supporting the ABM Well/Church project.