David and Barb Snyder

President and General Director of BIMI

TESTIMONY
I was saved on April 11, 1976, at the age of eight and baptized shortly thereafter. A couple of years later, at the age of ten, the Lord called me into missions while I listened to the presentation and preaching of a visiting missionary. In December 1989, I graduated from college and married Barb, whom I had met during my freshmen year at college. Barb and I were accepted as missionaries with BIMI in June 1990. After completing deputation, we departed for the field of Alaska in May 1993. Since that time, the Lord has blessed my wife and me with two wonderful boys, Caleb and Kyle. We have been privileged to serve the Lord in Alaska, assisting in the planting of a church in Juneau and then planting a church in Talkeetna. I was appointed as the Far North Director on January 1, 2004, and served in that capacity until June 2010. Since that time, I have been serving as the President and General Director of BIMI.

EDUCATION
I attended Christian schools almost all of my life. In 1985 I graduated from high school at West Side Christian School in York, Pennsylvania, in 1985. After completing high school, I attended Tennessee Temple University (TTU) and graduated with a Bachelor of Religious Education degree in December 1989. My major at TTU was missions. In May 2008, I graduated from Louisiana Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Theological Studies degree. Additionally, I received a Doctor of Divinity degree from Virginia Baptist College in May 2009.

MINISTRY IN ALASKA
We spent May 1993 through April 2003 planting churches in Alaska. Our first place of service was in the capital city of Juneau, which is only accessible by boat or plane. During our two and a half years in Juneau, we worked with another BIMI missionary family (the Andy Hall family) in order to acclimate ourselves to our new surroundings. Sensing the Lord’s direction to branch out on our own, we traveled to the Lower 48 for a short five-month furlough. The Lord had already revealed our next place of service, which was Talkeetna, Alaska. Talkeetna is about two hours north of Anchorage and is considered the “bush” of Alaska. The Lord enabled us to see Talkeetna Baptist Church planted in just seven years. We completed two different building projects (Phase I and Phase II of the same building) and left the church with their own pastor, owning a building and two acres of property debt free.

PRESENT MINISTRY
In December 2009 the Executive Board of Baptist International Missions, Inc., asked me to consider becoming the next President and General Director of BIMI. After much praying, reading God’s Word, and seeking Godly counsel, it was apparent that God would have me to accept this new ministry position. Consequently, during BIMI’s 50th Anniversary Celebration Service on June 8, 2010, I officially assumed the position of BIMI’s President and General Director. Since God has expanded our ministry from the Far North to the entire world, our prayer is that God would use us greatly in the days ahead.