“Leave your country and your people,” God said, “and go to the land I will show you.”
(Acts 7:3)
“Very seldom have I had a verse grab me by the throat like that,” Dr. Richard “Dick” Stagg says.
He came across the Scripture during his Quiet Time, just two days after finding out he’d have to leave the office where he practiced family medicine. It was the final push he needed to accept God’s call to enter the mission field.
“He asked me to pray about it, but I knew I was where the Lord wanted me to be (then),” Stagg recalls.
However, the verse in Acts — on top of a notice to vacate his office and the visit from Dr. Olsen — soon convinced him otherwise. Stagg and his family were headed to Bangladesh.
He was excited to follow the Lord to Bangladesh, but to be a successful teacher, counselor, and missionary, Stagg knew he needed the depth of Scripture immersion that few places can provide. He and his wife, Carol, enrolled in the Bible Institute and moved their family to Schroon Lake, excited to delve into God’s Word.
At the Bible Institute, Stagg could practice Word of Life’s discipleship, ministry, and personal growth approach without distraction.
“I had nothing to do but study God’s Word,” he recalls. “It was very enjoyable and satisfying — something I never thought I’d be able to do.”
The Stagg family also helped with Snow Camp and spent the following summer on staff at the Inn. Then it was time to load a plane to the Middle East.
Stagg, his wife, Carol, and daughters Kathy, Karen, and Kristen were thrilled to begin their new lives as missionaries. The girls — ages 11, 10, and 7 at the time of the move — had been included in the prayerful decision-making process of entering the mission field and were excited for the adventure of a new home thousands of miles away.
The country, about the size of Wisconsin, was home to approximately 75 million people when they arrived. “It was one of the poorest countries in the world and the most crowded,” Stagg notes.
He, Carol, and the girls adjusted to a new culture, different customs, and not having a mall or grocery store nearby. They spent 15 years abroad with a furlough only every four years, during which they’d stock up on everything from birthday cards and anniversary gifts to clothes and shoes for their growing daughters.
Though the cultural difference was significant, Stagg says adjusting to his role as a missionary doctor was his greatest challenge.
“Once, six men came in from a machete fight in which they’d crushed one another’s skulls,” he recalls. “I was in surgery from nine that evening until noon the next day. Five of the six lived.” Considering the injuries, he adds, “I thought that was pretty good.”
“People knew their physical need, and by addressing it in a kind, loving, and competent way, they were then more willing to listen about the spiritual need they hadn’t been aware of,” he says.
Stagg deems this outreach the most satisfying aspect of his time in Bangladesh. The doctors, nurses, and physical therapists he worked with shared this commitment to ministry, and the group helped one another stay focused on their goal of shining Christ’s light in the predominantly Muslim area.
“Being so oppressive, it drew us all together,” Stagg says. “We were forced to depend on God and each other, which strengthened our spiritual resolve.”
Realizing the need for biblical training of Bangladeshi Christians, Stagg took a leave of six weeks from his medical responsibilities to help establish an institute for biblical learning. He began by teaching the book of Romans at both Memorial Christian and at ABWE’s headquarters in Chittagong. Today, the school is known as the Baptist Bible College of Bangladesh and has campuses in both Chittagong and Malumghat.
Stagg recalls a young student named Provanjan, who came to know the Lord through a nurse who worked at Memorial Christian. Provanjan had grown up in a Hindu family but fervently embraced the hope of the Gospel. He was handpicked to attend the Bible college, and in addition to studying, working full time, and caring for his family, he traveled to a nearby village at least once each week to witness. He eventually started teaching Bible classes and helped establish a church in the village. Stagg says he’s never met anyone more committed to serving God — and Provanjan was the first person he met who tithed his time as well as money.
The Stagg family returned to the U.S. in 1988 when Carol’s failing health became worse, and Stagg began working as an emergency room doctor at a hospital in Ohio. Within five years, ABWE was in his life once again. The international ministry had moved its headquarters from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its president offered Stagg the part-time, unpaid position of medical director.
“Of course I said yes,” Stagg says, chuckling.
He worked at a local hospital and was ABWE’s medical director for 17 years, retiring in 2010 at age 72. He now lives in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, with his second wife, Linda, whom he married four years after Carol passed away.
Upon his retirement, Stagg returned to Bangladesh for the first time in more than 20 years. He and Linda were thrilled to find Bangladeshi Christians further spreading the good news to a community in great need.
“It was so satisfying to see nationals running the school and teaching the classes,” Stagg says. “I never thought I’d see spiritual fruit in Bangladesh in my lifetime.”
After such a clear sign to pick up his family, work through intense Bible study, and go to the mission field, Stagg has also seen the obvious proof that God was ready to bring a harvest.
Editor’s Note: Word of Life is aware of allegations concerning ABWE. Dr. Stagg’s ministry is not a part of any of these allegations.
No comments:
Post a Comment