TAKING THE GREAT COMMISSION LITERALLY - 8,500 MILES TO ANOTHER PART OF THE WORLD

When considering Jesus Christ’s Great Commission to “ go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), we understand this doesn’t necessarily mean having to travel thousands of miles away A potential disciple might live next door or work in the next office

However, sometimes going to another part of the world is exactly what the Lord has in mind for us This has been the case in recent years for Kent Kusel In January, he completed his seventh trip to Bangladesh, helping to take CBMC’s vision and strategies to aspiring business and professional people in that densely populated South Asian nation

Kusel, who served for seven years as CBMC’s Director of Trusted Advisor Forums and Area Director in Boston, took five other businessmen with him on the journey of 8,500 miles to Bangladesh’s capital city of Dhaka Part of their mission was to present Building Spiritual Reproducers (BSR), CBMC’s video training series on making disciples

Response to the training was “fantastic,” he said, with a dozen men and women participating Kusel and his companions spent seven days in the city of more than 23 million people, also building relationships and identifying individuals to begin discipling through Operation Timothy

The national language is Bengali, but since many of the citizens speak English, language did not present a significant obstacle for Kusel and his team. Having a major developing market economy – including being one of the largest textile manufacturers in the world –Bangladesh is very much pro-business Marketplace training is welcomed

“Lots of people in Bangladesh want to get involved in business, but have no idea how to get started,” he said “Even though the nation is predominantly Muslim, it’s open to any religion and as we presented business principles, it was acceptable for us to talk about God”

This adventure had its beginnings in 2013, when Kusel’s church sponsored a missionary couple to go to Dhaka. Then in 2016, he was one of three businessmen traveling there with the goal of establishing marketplace connections

“Not long after we arrived, I received a phone call from the pastor of a church in Dhaka, saying he had heard I was with CBMC He told me a CBMC group had been there at one time and asked for help in getting it started again"

“When I went back in 2017, the pastor brought a couple of business guys to meet with me and we got CBMC relaunched We began discipling men and women in 2018, and my first Timothy was a man with the interesting name of Roderick ‘King Kong’ Roy, an official middle name he had received while still in the womb At one time he had served on the staff of Campus Crusade in Bangladesh” When he finished OT, he then began discipling Titu, the first local Timothy to be discipled by a local Paul.

With the availability of video communication resources like Skype and Zoom, being separated by thousands of miles did not presented a problem as they continued through OT

The growth of the ministry in Dhaka has been enhanced by interactions with other CBMC leaders In 2019, Kusel and several men from Dhaka attended a CBMC Asia conference in Cambodia, where they met with CBMC staffers Mark Hofert and Paul Johnson, along with Jim Firnstahl, then President of CBMC International

“This helped to build vision for the impact CBMC could have in Dhaka and other cities, and enthusiasm grew for using Operation Timothy as a discipling tool,” Kusel said “And in 2020, with the help of a man we met from Bangalore, India, we collaborated to open a business development training center "

“Basically, I have been trying to do the same thing I did as Area Director for CBMC in Boston, introducing ministry tools like Operation Timothy, Living Proof and Building Spiritual Reproducers”

"Classes at the training center are all taught by Christians," he said, "although they are careful to avoid any appearance of proselytizing" “When a person there converts from Islam to Christianity, it’s at a high cost They can be disowned by their family or worse The material we present is all based on biblical principles, however.”

Seeds planted back in 2016 have been growing steadily, according to Kusel “King Kong and I finished going through OT, and he’s now the coleader – the secretary – for CBMC in Dhaka We now have about 75 people involved with CBMC, and three Connect3 teams meet regularly

“On our last trip we picked up seven new Timothys, and some of the men in Dhaka are starting to disciple others We have awarded 10 people with certificates for completing OT, and 14 more are now in the process of being discipled The impact has been phenomenal – the people are so committed, so transparent”

One byproduct of the relationships built in Dhaka has been helping Michael ‘Arko’ Roy – King Kong’s 18-year-old son – come to the United States and enroll in Gordon College, located just north of Boston “A number of people from our church have been involved,” Kusel said, “including assisting to raise money for Arko to get here in January"

“At age 17 Arko was discipled by Dave Roccia, who was on our CBMC Boston area leadership team before he moved to Texas, but they have stayed connected by phone and Zoom” They completed OT together in late 2021, our first next generation spiritual reproducer from Bangladesh

Kusel said the plan is to continue expanding the ministry in Dhaka in years to come In March 2024 he expects to be joined by 3-5 Gordon College students and a professor who heads the college’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

“We have also been considering translating OT into the local language of Bengali, but we haven’t seen enough momentum to get that accomplished yet”