Jimmy and Shelley Dinsmore Missionaries to Guatemala
According to their own words, Jimmy and Shelley both knew as children they would be missionaries; it was just understood. They met According to their own words, Jimmy and Shelley both knew as children they would be missionaries; it was just understood. They met at Trinity Baptist College, married and prepared for their next step in God’s plan. Shelley is a product of Trinity Baptist Church and the daughter of Steve and Kaye Carswell, faithful members here for many years. Trinity is the Dinsmores’ sending church, so it can be seen how integral Trinity is in partnering with Jimmy and Shelley as they bring the message of God to the people of Guatemala.
Jimmy and Shelley have been in Guatemala since August of 2006. They are parents to twin boys, Jonah and Silas, daughter, Eden, and the youngest, Titus.
In addition to planting churches in their hometown of Peten, the Dinsmores have been given the vision of establishing a Pastor’s Institute to meet multiple needs in this area. The institute features a 3-year program for the purpose of training national Christian men to become self-sustaining pastors. The program further calls for the graduates to go throughout the country planting new churches. The current goal is to train 150 pastors for 150 villages over the next 10 years.
Committing to 3 years at the institute can be a daunting challenge for these student pastors. They use their personal resources plus borrowed funds just for passage to arrive at the institute. Like missionaries, they leave behind their climate, culture and families, as well as jobs, to attend the studies that will eventually prepare them for pastoring and church planting. Unreached villages are almost always hostile to the gospel as the graduates go from a structured environment to less than friendly under-developed backwoods settlements.
Currently, the Pastor’s Institute is dealing with a major situation due to the rainy season, Hurricane Eta and poor drainage.
Subject to frequent flooding, the student housing units and church building are riddled with water damage. Poor drainage has resulted in the need to rebuild the houses, all of which have been affected. Getting this situation under control is especially critical since January 19, 2021 will start a new educational year with new students arriving, and housing must be ready by then.
Plans are in place to fix the drainage problems, repairing the parking lot and replacing wooden housing supports with concrete columns which will last much longer and hopefully alleviate future water damage.
Jimmy and Shelley state: “By fixing these houses, the students won’t have to worry about their books and shoes being ruined if it rains too hard during their preparation time here. We don’t try to change their culture by building something beyond what they are accustomed to, but we do want to build it well.”
A construction project of this scale does not come without a large price tag, especially in an area where construction supplies are difficult to obtain. Many of the students themselves are willing and eager to handle much of the labor. The Dinsmores are in the processing of raising funds for this much-needed reconstruction event but need assistance. As a sending and giving church, Trinity Baptist Church has provided them with additional funds to go toward their present need. This is fulfilling our mission to give to worldwide ministry in a very real way. Celebrate with us the incredible work that we as a church are helping to accomplish, not only in Guatemala, but around the world.
If you would like to participate in giving to this and other worldwide ministries, you can go to tbc.org/give and check World Mission Giving under the Choose a Fund tab.
We look forward to hearing of the successful completion of construction work needed at the Bible Institute in Guatemala and pray for Jimmy and Shelley Dinsmore as they continue to lift the name of Jesus in this far away and foreign land.