Bill and Lydia Allshouse

Bill: The Lord spoke to my heart during a mission conference and told me, “It’s not your ability that I need, it’s your availability. And if you’ll say yes to me, I want to use you in a special way.” That started me down a road of following Him step by step in faith. Together, Lydia and I found peace in trusting the Lord to guide us even if we weren’t sure where He was leading.

Lydia: I grew up on the mission field, seeing firsthand God’s love for people and my parents living out that love. Christ commands us to go to the nations, to teach, and to make disciples. He gave His all. What if we give our all? 

In 1991, God called us to Mexico, and His peace kept us there through the challenges and blessings of loving the people, Bible studies, church planting, church and community development projects, field leadership, and vision casting for a Christian school. Genesis 12:1 says, “The Lord said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you’” (NIV, emphasis ours). That was our verse as we left our home to share Christ’s love in Mexico.

In 2019, God began stirring our hearts in preparation for a change He wanted to make...not in His call to share Christ’s love but in our location. The verse He put on our hearts was Genesis 31:3, “Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you’” (emphasis ours).

We were invited to join WGM’s Americas Region Team in 2020 and are involved in a more global outreach (including Mexico). The region includes the WGM fields in the USA, Mexico, and Central and South Americas, with over ninety missionaries under the leadership of regional directors David and Debbie Hawk.

Our ministry is to share Christ’s love wherever we are, to make disciples, and to collaborate where needs arise throughout the Americas through accounting and ministry projects.

Our son Luke and his wife live close to us in Clarksville, Tennessee. They have one daughter. Our daughter Ariel and her husband live in Akron, Ohio, and have a son and a daughter. The nearby Nashville airport provides easy access to all states and countries that the Americas Region Team serves.