Our family is preparing to celebrate the 94h birthday of a true pioneer of world missions– my father-in-law Bill Skinner.  Already a member of the Greatest Generation by virtue of growing up during the Great Depression and then serving in the Navy during World War 2, he spent the next 39 years in the heart of South America as a medical missionary.  “Great” is an understatement.

The end of the war marked the beginning of the most profound missionary movement in history– sometimes called the “golden age of evangelical missions.”  He was not just a foot soldier in that movement– he was a pioneer, a pacesetter, and a role model.

My wife, Peggy, was born in Paraguay; the youngest of four Skinner children.  Like her siblings, most of her memories of growing up were in a culture so different from mine in the USA.  She was bilingual from day one.  Football and cheerleading were strange to her, but soccer was her daily exercise.  Dr. William and Frances Skinner raised four children outside the bubble of the American dream, and inside the heart of a third-world South American culture. They are both extraordinary just for preparing their children to be successful in two worlds, not just one.

Bill and Frances were appointed as missionaries in 1950, assigned to help establish a Baptist Hospital in Paraguay’s capital city of Asuncion.  At the time, Paraguay was probably the poorest and most backward country in all of South America– ruled by a constant stream of dictators.  It was an entirely Roman Catholic country heavily influenced by indigenous tribal spiritism and animism which mixed freely with Catholicism.

Evangelicals were barely tolerated, and certainly not trusted.  In fact, the religious authorities did not permit Bibles in the possession of the local people.  Bibles distributed by evangelicals were sometimes burned, and a person could be severely treated for bringing home a Bible.  Though it was not government persecution, it was a form of persecution just the same.  Most people feared Bible-believing evangelicals, and resisted their gospel message.  The establishment of the Baptist Hospital had one primary purpose– to share the gospel with every patient; to show the people of Paraguay that Jesus Christ loves and cares for them– not just in word, but also in deed.  There were never better messengers of that truth than my in-laws. Bill and Fran Skinner.

Peggy’s mom, Frances, recently wrote a book brimming with memories of their ministry years in Paraguay.  The following is a story she placed in the book, Adventures in Paraguay: Our Story.  She recorded the incident in the words of Dr. Skinner himself:

“One of the first patients that was ever admitted to our new Baptist Hospital was a woman who had just lost a baby and was bleeding severely.  I realized she needed blood, so I found her blood type and then located a relative that could give blood for her.  It was her only hope.  

While in process of giving her the badly needed blood, another emergency patient arrived.  A Paraguayan “neighborhood doctor” had brought in a pregnant woman.  He had been taking care of her, but when she began hemorrhaging, he brought her to us and left her there.  I sent someone to find Dr. Fowler to help me.  We determined that this was a dangerous case of placenta previa.  The fetal heart tones were elevated, and we knew the baby was in severe distress.  We worked and prayed all night amist blood, sweat, and tears.  There was little hope for the mother and for the baby, but we were doing everything we could possibly do.  The lives of mother and child, AND the reputation of the new hospital was as stake.  

Toward dawn the next morning, as the sun began to rise, the requests to God broke into thanksgiving as the two women and the new baby were resting quietly in their beds.  God had put His stamp of approval on the Baptist Hospital that night.  From then on our hospital gave a positive witness to the love of God as patients began to come for help.  Its testimony broke down many walls of predjudice against evangelicals and the gospel.”     

The work of the Baptist Hospital in Asuncion helped not only Baptist churches, but all Bible believing denominations and fellowships– Assemblies of God, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Church of God, and many others.  Today Paraguay is teeming with evangelical churches throughout the land, and making deeper inroads into the indigenous population as well.

Bill Skinner’s call to Paraguay was a call to share Christ, not just to practice medicine.  He was, and still is, a soul-winner first and a doctor second. Without fail he shared Jesus with EVERY patient he saw, and with countless others as well.  He is more than a fine doctor.  For those of you (over 40) who can understand, Dr. Skinner is a Christian Marcus Welby— times a thousand!

He is an evangelist, a disciple-maker, teacher, visionary, church planter, counselor, prayer warrior, inventor, administrator, pediatrician, surgeon, tropical disease specialist, family physician, and missionary doctor.  And on top of what he does, he is honest, compassionate, wise, and faithful.  Bill Skinner is a living legend and doesn’t even know it!   He is one of the greatest of the Greatest Generation.  And he’s about the most incredible father-in-law a guy could ever have.

Happy 94th Birthday, Doc.

  “…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”    Romans 10:13-15