HAPPY 37th BIRTHDAY, BESI !

Barbara Smith, Richard and Kathy, and Harold Smith

OUR FIRST BOARD MEMBERS IN 1986

Richard McDonald, Harold Smith, Lawrence Trumbower, 

Calvin Lowder, and Gary Bowers 

 HAROLD, BARBARA, KIMBERLY SMITH;

LAWRENCE TRUMBOWER;

SHARON AND GARY BOWERS AND BOYS

OUR MOTHER, FAITH MCDONALD

Our very first BESI Board Member

KATHY AND RICHARD MCDONALD

(At the time of this photo in 1983, Richard was recovering 

from surgery on torn retinas in both eyes, and was basically, blind.)

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Believer's Express Service, Inc., (BESI) was founded on March 11, 1986 on the campus of Toccoa Falls College (TFC) in Toccoa Falls, Georgia by Harold and Barbara Smith. The Smiths were attending TFC in preparation for missionary service with HCJB World Radio in Quito, Ecuador when Richard McDonald, brother to Barbara Smith requested that she and Harold consider helping them to begin an independent missionary ministry in the Democratic Republic of Congo then known as Zaire, Africa. The McDonalds arrived in Congo in 1974 to join Kathy's parents, Fred and Millie Bahler who had been serving since the 1940s. 

The Smiths prayed and the Lord redirected their plans for service to assist the McDonalds in their desire to remain in Africa but to step out in faith in a new direction.

And the rest is history. You can read more about their lives (www.besi.org) and how God directed them in 1983 after Richard was blinded by torn retinas to open the country of Zaire, now DRCongo to free radio and media. At that time is was against the law to even HAM radio out of the country. This was a big undertaking as they would need the permission of President MOBUTO. BUT GOD....