A Legacy From a Small Town to Nations - Arch Bonnema
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I grew up in a small town of about 500 people in rural Minnesota. Both sets of grandparents lived there, and I grew up seeing them all the time. Both had a heart for missions but were involved in different ways. One was a businessman who gave generously to support missions. The other was a farmer/businessman that sold his farm/business at 51 to be a self-supporting missionary. He stayed in the mission field until his health gave way in his 60s and moved back to Minnesota but continued ministering in a drug/alcohol rehabilitation center until he died at 74.
In 1972/73, at 19 yrs old, I made a solo trip around the world. I flew, hitchhiked every type of vehicle imaginable and walked a lot. I visited many missions and missionaries in 34 countries. Some were very disappointing and a waste of resources, but most were very inspiring and accomplished great things. When I got back, I knew I wanted to be involved in missions, but I didn’t know how.
Fortunately, I married someone with the same passion as me. I started in business and my wife and I supported many missionaries. I remembered my travels at 19 how some were great storytellers but didn’t accomplish much. Others accomplished far more than the world knew. In my late 30s my wife and I started taking trips to see what we were giving to. A few were disappointing, but most were very inspiring. Soon we found ourselves traveling somewhere every month.
I worked at my business for 3 weeks and spent the 4th in ministry. That continued for 27 years, and then Covid hit and our traveling was severely restricted. But technology changed and ministries in restricted areas asked if I would preach live online. It soon went to a couple times a day,7 days a week.
One day a recently retired pastor joined me and found in 4 months he had seen more people saved than 40 years of pastoring churches. He is a great preacher and started telling his friends. We now have 12 of us preaching and a team of 14 interpreters and workers in the fields. I’m 72 and still working because I’m still a self-supporting missionary.
Since we’re not spending money on travel, we’re able to buy audio Bibles for villagers and Study Bibles for pastors. In 2025, we were able to give out 20,338 Pastor Study Bibles, 23,908 audio Bibles, saw 20,649 people saved and 10,294 people baptized. The most amazing thing to me is that all workers in US and foreign countries are all volunteers. No one gets paid, and no one even gets reimbursed expenses. Many of our pastors have even helped raise Bible money.
My wife and I have made over 350 trips (my wife missed 2) to 108 countries. It was very time consuming and cost a lot of money over more than 3 decades. We don’t regret a day or dollar spent, God has blessed us tremendously.
The best part? We now have 2 grandchildren with their spouses who are full time missionaries in Africa. The Legacy of my grandfathers continues.
