REMEMBERING JOHN ABEL, THE AFLC’S FIRST MISSIONARY PASTOR
BY PASTOR CONNELY DYRUD
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18
PASTOR JOHN ABEL was a visionary. The first time I heard him speak was at our first AFLC Annual Conference in Fargo, N.D., in 1963. I was a young college student at the time, and John spoke about opening a mission in Brazil for the AFLC, but that was just the beginning. He then laid out a missionary vision for evangelizing the southern part of South America— something he called “Our Tri-nation Vision.” Using southwestern Brazil as its base, AFLC missions would then move west to Paraguay and south to Argentina. But in order to do this, there would have to be five missionary families willing to go to Brazil as soon as possible. That night the Lord spoke to me. Yes! I would be one of those five families. After graduating from our seminary in 1969, my wife Carolyn, daughter Shannon, and I left for Campo Mourão, Brazil, where John had acquired land for a Bible school and seminary. We spent much of our 35 years as missionaries at these schools, and we watched John demonstrate his love for the poor and the suffering by bringing them the gospel of Christ through his tent meeting ministry.
Most of our congregations in Brazil began as a result of this ministry. John would bring students along with him to help put up the tent. He watched as they grew in their faith, and eventually he would have some share the speaking with him. Today, many of these men have become the leaders of AFLC Brazil (ILLB). And though the Tri-nation Vision did not materialize in John’s time, God has His own time. Today, some 50 years later, John’s grandson, Matthew Abel, and family are now in Paraguay working to open an AFLC mission. John and I were more than friends—we were family. There is a special bond between our families, and to the end, all our children referred to him as “Uncle John.” Today, John Abel, George Knapp, Frances Grothe, and my wife, Carolyn, are at home in heaven, together with many Brazilians who are also there as a result of John’s vision, all members of that greater family forever. Dyrud, Maple Grove, Minn., an AFLC missionary for more than 40 years, served in Campo Mourão, Brazil. July 2020 7
