CBC Colorado Sends Team to Belize

CBC Colorado recently sent a mission team to serve in Belize. (Click to enlarge)Craig and Tina Rumbley, Co-Directors of Charis Bible Institute (CBI) in Belize recently hosted a mission team from CBC Colorado. The nine-person team led by CBC instructors, Lawson and Barbara Perdue, spent a week with the Rumbleys ministering and sharing the unconditional love and grace of God with the people of the small Central American nation.

While on the ground in Belize, the team had the opportunity to minister in a variety of settings. They participated in door-to-door evangelism, hospital visitation, and visited an Evangelical elementary school as well as a youth hostel (a prison for teens). The CBC team shared the Gospel with elementary school children.
(Click to enlarge)In addition, the team was thrilled with the opportunity to minister at three churches, the Bible School, and on a secular radio station.

“Great seeds were planted during this trip. We saw walls come down that we have been working against and praying against for a long time. The students were such a blessing,” Tina explained.

One former Mennonite pastor, whom the Rumbleys have been working with for two years now, experienced a breakthrough in his legalistic mind-set while listening to the CBC students' testimonies and Lawson’s teaching on grace from the book of Galatians. He came forward at the end of the service to share his heart transformation. The team was able to minister to the children after the service. Here the boy in the orange stripes is receiving Christ as he prays with CBC student Mark Anthony. (Click to enlarge)“Hallelujah!” Tina said, “We had been telling this pastor the same thing for two years, but when Lawson spoke, his heart was softened and he repented! Praise God. We believe his church will grow in a new direction now!”

While at the youth hostel the CBC team ministered to teens charged with murder, theft, and rape; kids in desperate need of God’s unconditional love. The missionaries and the CBI-Belize students spent some time doing skits and sharing the Gospel, and then followed up their presentations with questions. If the kids were willing to answer the team's questions, they were rewarded with pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. The team had the opportunity to minister in a youth hostel (a prison for teens). There they saw the Word of God melt the hearts very troubled kids. (Click to enlarge)Following the group meeting, the prisoners were ministered to one-on-one, and some received Jesus as their Lord. Some of the teens were given Bibles, but many more were requested than the missionaries had available. Later in the week the team went back to the hostel to deliver Bibles for all who had asked for one.

A CBC-Colorado student named, Mary Jane, shared a highlight from her time at the youth hostel, where she was able to minister to a young man approximately seventeen-years-old. He shared an experience where he had been trying to get away from the police by swimming across an alligator infested canal. As he swam he realized he wasn't going to make it across, and he cried out, CBC students and team leader, Lawson (blue shirt) prayed for many during their visit to Belize. (Click to enlarge)“If there is a God, please save me!” The boy gained stregnth and energy and got across to the other side unharmed. He asked Mary if she thought it was truly God who saved him. As Mary ministered to him about the unconditional love of God, the young man decided he wanted to receive Jesus as His Savior and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Praise God!

At the elementary school, another CBC-student, Mickey sat outside and ate lunch while the children played. A seven-year-old girl came and sat down next to him and smiled. Loice smiled back and prayed in tongues over the girl. Some of the young ladies at the elementary school. (Click to enlarge)When the bell rang to go inside, Loice told the little girl that Jesus loves her, and the girl hugged him and then ran off to her class. “There is a saying, ‘preach the Gospel, and if necessary, use words,’” Mickey said.

During door-to-door evangelism, Craig and several CBC Colorado students were able to pray for a very weak, sickly man. He lived in a small, dark and dirty shack and was lying on a bed made from a wooden shelf. The following Sunday, the man showed up at church with his mother, and he appeared to be much stronger and healthier.

The Belize trip was a fantastic display of God’s unconditional love. The CBC mission team, Craig and Tina and their students, were all abundantly blessed by sharing the nearly-too-good-to-be-true-news of the Gospel, and seeing the lives transformed by its power.

Bottle Fed to Spirit Led

Tina and Craig Rumbley, Directors of CBI-Belize and founders of First Fruits Ministries International.
(Click to enlarge)

During the mid-1990s Craig and Tina Rumbley found themselves hungry for more of God's Word. Tired of being bottle-fed by their pastor Sunday after Sunday they began studying the Bible for themselves. As the Rumbleys attempted to feed their insatiable hunger for more understanding, they came across Andrew's Gospel Truth radio program. They remember agreeing with most of Andrew's teaching, but their denominational background prevented them from fully receiving from his messages. Their studies coupled with Andrew's teachings only raised questions; questions to which their pastor could not provide
scriptural answers.

Instead of giving up, the Rumbley's unquenchable desire for a closer relationship with Jesus only grew stronger, and they pulled away from their denominational background and church. After two years of searching, they finally found another church to call home, New Life Family Fellowship in North Carolina. At New Life, Craig and Tina were discipled and set free from the bondage of legalism, and both received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost.

CBI-Belize is located in Belize City, Belize in Central America.
(Click to enlarge)Through their new church fellowship they began to attend a Bible study hosted by friends, Tom and Cindy Boyd. The Boyd's used some of Andrew's materials as the basis for their group study. Thanks to their new found freedom, the Rumbleys were able to fully receive from Andrew's teaching.

The Rumbley family became active in their church and their community; however Craig and Tina still felt limited in their effectiveness. Although they continued to study the Word on their own, and were in church up to five times per week, they realized that their appetites for the Word were not being fulfilled.

The Rumbley family, missionaries to Belize (Click to enlarge)After attending a Gospel Truth Seminar in Atlanta Craig and Tina sensed the Lord leading them to go to Bible college, but neither shared the idea with the other. God continued to speak to them until one day Tina told Craig she thought they were supposed to go school. To her surprise Craig agreed. The couple flew to Colorado Springs to attend the Charis Bible College (CBC) Expand Your Vision weekend, a weekend tailor made for those contemplating attending the school. Their weekend experience confirmed the desire in their hearts and led them to pack up their their five children, and move to Colorado. To lighten the load for the relocation of seven people, the Rumbleys sold or gave away the majority of their belongings before crossing the country.

Tina leading a Discipleship Evangelism class in a rural church.
(Click to enlarge)After their first year at CBC the Rumbley family was asked to spend the summer in the Dominican Republic (DR) running a mission team house for some friends who needed to return to the States. While in the DR, they served the needs of visiting short-term missionary teams. The Rumbleys learned a tremendous amount about life on the mission field from several seasoned, long-term missionary families. It was during this time that the entire Rumbley family realized they were called to foreign missions.

Craig teaching in a church in Belize. (Click to enlarge)Craig and Tina sat down with their children to discuss their thoughts, and found that they only had two requests: First, they wanted to be in an English speaking country so they would not be hindered in their relationship building. And second, they did not want to serve in Africa because they felt it was too far away from their home and their extended family. Keeping these requests in mind, the Rumbleys began seeking God about where they would serve after graduation from CBC.

Craig ministering to a man convinced the he would go to heaven because he is honest and doesn't steal.
(Click to enlarge)In 2008, after graduating from the two-year CBC program, the Rumbleys agreed to serve as part of an eight member missionary team being sent to open a new CBC extension school Charis Bible Institute (CBI), in Belize, a country that fit both of the Rumbley children's requests. Seven months after their arrival, the CBC staff in Colorado asked if the Rumbleys would be willing to take over as the Directors of CBI-Belize, the Rumbleys gladly accepted.

"There is such a hunger for the grace message here. Many have brought religion to Belize and many can quote entire chapters of the Bible, but very few people understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are blessed to have the privilege of not only living in a relationship with Jesus, but to share His mercy and His grace here in Belize," Tina said.

Baptism in the Siburn River.
(Click to enlarge)Craig, who prior to attending CBC, worked long hours with his father in the family's custom automotive upholstery shop, had this to say about his new life in ministry, "We go and share the love of God with confidence now. We can reach out to folks and trust that we have an understanding of the Word of God that will allow us to minister to anyone that God puts in our path. We know the voice of our Shepherd, He speaks clearly, and we share what He says."

Craig and Tina's pursuit of intimacy with Jesus led them to freedom from the grip of legalistic religion. They sought for themselves the Kingdom, and the Lord has been faithful to guide them each step of the way.

For more information about CBI-Belize contact Craig and Tina via email: charis.belize@yahoo.com.

To keep up with the Rumbley's ministry visit their blog Belize for Jesus.