References

Here is what some leaders across the nation have said about our ministry:

Subject: Spurdle Ministries Recommendation                                                              Dec. 2010

Thank you for taking an interest in Spurdle Ministries and in bringing the Gospel to Japan. As you may be aware, the Japanese are one of the largest “unreached” people groups in the world.

I’ve been privileged to know Dave Spurdle, a highly effective missionary serving in Japan, since 1992. Dave attended Grace Fellowship Church in Danvers, MA while attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; and my wife and family also started attending this same church in August 1991. Around February 1992 Dave spoke at one of the church’s home Bible studies about his passion to bring the good news of God’s salvation through Jesus Christ to Japan. Dave and his family would be leaving for Japan soon, and I sensed a prompting from God to stay in touch with Dave and to be supportive of his ministry.

Dave is blessed to have a God-given gift for evangelism which enabled him to share the Gospel and see people respond positively even in the first few years the Spurdles were in Japan learning the Japanese language.

In the late 90’s God stirred in Dave a vision to work with Japanese pastors to do evangelism and church planting in cities where there was very little Gospel witness and few or no Christian believers. I was privileged to meet one of those pastors, Yoshi Nagamichi, when he visited here and stayed with us in 2004.

It’s been amazing to see what God has done through Dave and his ministry colleagues over the past ten plus years. Eight churches have been planted in different suburbs outside of Tokyo. Also, in the past few years, Dave has trained numerous short-term teams coming from the U.S. in evangelism. Together they have become an integral part of new churches being started.

As someone very active in missions administration and support for the past seventeen years, I’m pleased to be in partnership supporting this ministry.

If you have a similar interest in helping support effective missionaries bring the Gospel to “unreached” people, then I encourage you to be supportive of Spurdle ministries and/or someone you know planning to go on a short-term missions trip with this organization.

Thank you.

Ken Thornton,

N. Andover, MA


“On Aug 2, 1806, five young men prayed under a haystack in a ranging rain storm for World Missions. One of the first missionaries sent out

from America was a relative of David Spurdle, Dr. Adoniram Judson. David and his family have forsaken all to join the ranks of those who desire to bring the Gospel to the World that has yet to hear.
I personally invite you to partnership with one of the finest students I have ever taught in reaching the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Jesus commands us to “throw out” (Greek=ekballo) laborers to reach the nations. I fully recommend supporting Dianne and David in the pioneer work they will be doing in one of the least evangelized nations in the World, Japan.

Dr. J. Christy Wilson Jr.
Proff. Of Missions and Evangelism
Gordon-Conwell Theological. Seminary
South Hamilton, Mass.

David,

You have always been an inspiration to me and my family. We pray for you several times a week. I remember all the way back to Seminary when you did 10 minute Bible studies during breaks at UPS and led 12 people to Christ that year. First and foremost you are a called and gifted Evangelist with a great heart to serve the Lord. I have almost never been somewhere in public with you that we have not seen someone pray to receive Christ. Whether it was a hitch-hiker we picked up on I-40 for or the waiter in Chili’s Restaurant who got on his knees at our table and accepted Jesus! We both have a passion to share Jesus with lost people!

You have always demonstrated a radical faith in the Lord Jesus – lived out in radical obedience to Lord like no one else I know. You are a modern day (but old school) pioneer missionary who goes fearlessly into difficult, dark and unreached places to share the Gospel often with nothing in hand and only the clothes you are wearing. The world would be evangelized already if there were more people like you.

It is amazing how God has used you to plant churches in Japan something like 7 churches in 10 years when many missionaries do not even see one convert in 10 years when they are in places or cultures like Japan. Thank you again for inviting my son Wheeler to come work with you when he was 16. that experience and that opportunity will continue to be a great influence on his life (and hopefully his ministry) as he approached college and adulthood.

Every blessing to you in the Lord Jesus Christ as you pursue His will in your life and ministry!

MARTY

Martin H. Dupree, Team Leader
Evangelism & Church Growth Team

 

 

“It is said that history is made by people confronting overwhelming needs, holding deep convictions, dominated by compelling vision and willing to take great risks.

The foundation of SM-INTERNATIONAL is the result of the calling, the faith, the vision and the commitment of the founder David Spurdle. I have known David for the past twenty years. In all of my 70 years of missionary ministry, David has been one of the greatest examples in life and ministry, of a humble Spirit filled man of God. It has been my privilege to work with David and observing his passion and enthusiasm for the Japanese people, but more so, for the Lord Jesus. This has been a tremendous impact on me as well as thousands of others.

I encourage you to become involved in the ministry of SM-International in prayer, in sacrificial financial giving and in giving of your life for the cause of Jesus.

Rev.Ernest Kilbourne
Third generation missionary born in Japan
Grandson of one of the founders of One Mission Society
(formerly The Oriental Missionary Society)

 

I’d like to be counted in David Spurdle’s corner. I met Dave nearly 20 years ago now at a youth camp in Ithiel Falls, VT. He was there to speak on missions and I was the youth camp speaker. God used David at a critical point in my life to give birth to a new commitment to a life of prayer. David is a charismatic, inspirational leader who fleshes out his faith in the everyday challenges of life. Like all of us, he has his quirks, shortcomings etc., but unlike many he is offering himself up to God in a “hands-off”, living sacrifice manner.
I have immense respect and appreciation for David and am thankful for his influence in my life.

 

Rev. Karl Ingersoll
Coram Deo