BTBAB is run by a team of Directors, supported by coordinators and covered by a board of advisors known as Trustees. Together, we come from a diverse expression of God’s family but with a common desire to see people experience the love of God in a practical way in the developing world.
Born in England to Nigerian parents and having spent most of his life in 3 different cultures, Femi is what many psychologists today would call a Third Culture kid. His exposure to different cultures has been challenging but used by God in a way that now enables him to relate to almost any culture in the world.
An Orthoptist (vision therapist) by profession, he has served the poor with his skills for over 20 years in the developing world (including successfully setting up an internationally recognised community eye health course in the Amazon in Brazil in 2007). He was Director of Operations for BTBAB for 14 years, during which he led 14 short-term mission teams and pioneered the ToolBox training program for BTBAB. Thereafter, he served as the Chair of the organisation for an additional 5 years during which he developed initiatives such as Gap Year Internships and our mentoring program to raise future leaders for the organisation.
Femi has always felt that one of the greatest gift God has given him to the Body of Christ is discipleship. To this end, he (along with Maria) have set-up a discipleship training programme that is now accessible to the Body of Christ (www.disciplersworkshop.com )
Married to Maria (Cidinha), they are blessed with two children and together they make their home in England (in the UK) where they have pioneered a new operational base for BTBAB.
Femi is the founder of BTBAB. He stepped aside from the Board of Trustees in November 2019 and currently serves as the patron of the organisation tasked with advising on the good stewardship of the legacy of BTBAB.
My name is Shirley. I am from Lancashire (England) but I arrived in Liverpool in 1990 after spending two years in South Wales. I came to Liverpool to help establish a team who would encourage people to step out into short/long term mission. I then went out from 1993 till 1999 to North Africa. I returned home in 1999 to pursue a Masters in Primary Health Care (something of a miracle) and then took a break from missions for several years during which I invested in my local church. Then in 2013, I went on my first BTBAB mission (which God used to restore my full passion for missions) and I have never looked back since.
Since joining BTBAB in 2013, I have been part of 8 teams (4 of which I have led). I held the post of Director of the ACI for 2 years helping to identify and sponsor young people into education up to university level, in the developing world. In 2018, the organisation began to experience a shift to developing people on the field (not just at home) and subsequently asked me to step in to champion this cause on the Board of Trustees.
I enjoy cycling and love reading...but most of all, I have a passion for people growing into their call.
Originally from Ghana, Yvonne has lived in the UK since 1978. She works as a Business Intelligence Analyst and has over 20 years experience as well as being fully involved in the life and ministry of her local church, St Saviours in Guildford.
Yvonne is drawn to prayer especiallly for nations and people groups, and as the BTBAB prayer advisor she has seen how God works in mysterious ways and how faithful He is no matter the circumstances or barriers in your way.
An accountant by trade working in the banking industry, Julie is the ideal person to be our treasurer on the Board of Trustees - a position she has held since 2011.
Brought up in a Christian home Julie is of Ghanaian descent but would also call Britain her home. She finds cultures fascinating and over the years has been involved in local community projects – most notably, teaching English to refugees coming into Britain.
Thomas Nelson migrated to the United Kingdom from Ghana in 2002 to study, and shortly after his studies in PGCE - Secondary Mathematics, appointed as a teacher for fourteen years in a college in Aintree, Liverpool. Following several years of teaching, Thomas decided to resign from his position as a teacher in December 2020 to work for himself in the financial sector. At the professional level, Thomas is working as an Executive Vice President in Genistar, a company with the mission to teach families how money works and to help them become debt free and financially independent. In church, Thomas is part of Church leadership at Grace Family Church in Aigburth, Liverpool.
Thomas has other academic qualifications in BSc. Computer Science, BA in Practical Theology, MSc in Management Studies from Universities in Ghana and England. In 2008, Thomas served as a trustee for a Charity, Chara Trust, for two years to support the trust in strategy formulation. His recent decision to quit teaching to purse a job in the financial sector dovetails his personal, professional and his ministry goals. The reasons are twofold. Firstly, financial education and financial freedom forms a critical element significantly responsible for separations and instabilities within the family unit. Though as a professional objective, I have always considered my role in the marketplace as a ministry and an opportunity to support families regain financial independence. Secondly, inherent in the position is the potential of owning my own franchise in future and more importantly the opportunity to have the much-needed time to pursue my God-given purpose and assignment in life.
In October 2006, Thomas was ordained a pastor in The New Life Church (TNLC) in Toxteth, Liverpool where He served in different capacities in church leadership including teaching midweek bible studies, discipleship classes and being a choir leader at the same time. In 2016, after completing a BA in Practical Theology from Grace Fountain Church in Wigan, an affiliation of Crossroads Theological Seminary in Texas, USA, Thomas accepted the opportunity to lecture in the same bible school after his graduation.
In his new role as a trustee in Blessed To Be A Blessing (BTBAB), Thomas is looking forward to working with the team not only to serve in his area of responsibility with passion but also to learn in spirit-led organisational environment. As a Pastoral Advisor, Thomas is seeking an increase in God’s grace and anointing that would allow him not only to minister to those in need of healing of the mind, soul and body but also to encourage others to serve in their God given purpose by spending quality time with the team through the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thomas is supported in Ministry by His wife, Eunice, their three children: Michael, Andrew and Jesse. Thomas’ ultimate desire is to is to see people fully embrace God’s love and walk in victory and power while experiencing the fullness of God’s promises.
Esther joined the BTBAB team in 2014 and held the post of Administrator for a numbers of years before being offered the opportunity for training into senior leadership. She accepted the challenge and subsequently was instrumental in helping to create an administrative structure for our new base. She is also the first fully trained worker on the field in the history of the organisation.
God called Esther to full-time mission in her early 20's, working with YWAM for 3 years. However, just as she was fully ready to do cross cultural missions, God told her to go back to Hereford. After a long break away, God has drawn her back to missions and she went on her first trip with BTBAB to Peru in 2014. She has since been on a further 9 trips to Vietnam, Peru, Thailand (x3), India & the UK (x2).
Esther was in Thailand as a Field worker for BTBAB and returned in March 2020. She has since taken on the role of UK National Director.
Tina’s first mission trip was to the Philippines in 2018 and whilst there she discovered that there was more to this than going on a trip. So started a journey with BTBAB! Since then, she has been on a trip to Thailand in 2019 and she led a team to Ethiopia in 2020.
Tina lived in the UK for 30 years - London for 19 years and Poole for 11 years - before returning to live in the west coast of Ireland. She has 3 grown up children - 2 boys and a girl and 3 grandsons. Tina is a fulltime career for her parents and works seasonal part time work as a receptionist in a local family run hotel.
Tina is the toolbox co-ordinator and looks forward to continuing to lead teams on short term mission trips wherever the spirit leads.
Jenny came into contact with BTBAB in November 2017, when she went on her first mission trip to Thailand. Since then, she has been on three more trips to India, Thailand (again) and South Africa in October 2019.
Originally from Hereford, she has lived in Scotland for the last 30+ years with two grown-up sons, a daughter-in-law and one granddaughter. She retired from full-time employment in April 2018 and like many, now wonders when did she have the time for work. She has now taken on the role of ACI Co-ordinator and looks forward to ‘working’ with BTBAB and developing the ACI ministry.
Colin has worked quietly behind the scenes for the last 2 years, serving BTBAB in many ways - leading worship at the base, producing our new logo and updating our marketing materials. Without prompting Colin, he built a new website behind the scenes which went live in October 2018 and has been busy rebranding and reworking our marketing materials.
Colin is a father to Joshua, lives works full time as a web & graphic designer in Gibraltar, a small British Peninsula at the southern most part of Spain.
Having already had a small taster of mission work years earlier in Israel and Brazil, Cathy went on her first mission trip with BTBAB to Thailand in 2019.
Cathy has recently been on her second mission trip with BTBAB in the UK and is now looking forward to seeing where God will take her next!
Cathy lives in Hereford with her family and after working with children for many years she has recently retrained and works in a hospital as a Health Care Assistant.
Cathy still enjoys working with children, helping out with the Children’s Work at her Church, and leads the children’s play date within BTBAB once a month.
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