Though the Gunter family agreed its calling is to the Dominican Republic, they’re happy to bring that calling home to Alabama.
Alabama natives John and Dana Gunter, along with sons Daniel, 13, and Luke, 9, have served for seven years as International Mission Board church planters in the Dominican Republic, the eastern portion of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean.
But now, while on a yearlong stateside assignment, the Gunters are living in Dothan and sharing their heart for Dominican missions work at various engagements around the Southeast.
“While we’re here, we want to create missions awareness,” John Gunter said. “We want to let Southern Baptists know what they’re supporting and give people a firsthand look at where their missionary dollars go.”
A portion of Baptist’s missions offerings go to help the Gunters start churches in the Dominican Republic and minister to Dominicans as part of the Esperanza, or “Hope,” Team in Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital.
They have helped plant five churches, each begun by something the Gunters call “saturation evangelism.” They first search out areas populated by their target people group — the working class.
The missionaries, often accompanied by volunteer teams from U.S. churches, visit the target area every day for a week, prayer walking, talking to residents and distributing testimony tracts translated into Spanish.
After gauging community interest, they visit again, asking questions and gathering contact information. They also display Christian videos on screens on the streets and begin Bible studies.
For worship services, they meet outside and baptize new believers in rivers or swimming pools. Dominican believers serve alongside them, preaching and leading the singing.
According to the couple, Dominicans identify themselves with Catholicism because of their nationality, though they do not devoutly practice its rituals. Once a Dominican becomes a baptized believer, however, the person takes his or her faith seriously.
Though the concept of international missions might seem unthinkable to many Alabama Baptists, the Gunters view themselves as “a normal family who answered the call to go overseas and share the gospel,” John Gunter said. “People talk about it being a tremendous sacrifice, but we don’t think so, especially with helpful technology like e-mail.”
John Gunter grew up in Piedmont, while his wife’s hometown is Dothan.
They met and got to know each other through their involvement at Auburn University’s Baptist Student Union and Lakeview Baptist Church, Auburn. They graduated from Auburn in 1987 and married in 1988.
“We miss our family in the States, but we have a peace in knowing we’re where God wants us to be,” Dana Gunter said. “There are some tough, frustrating days, but when you think about people who might never hear the gospel, it’s a small price to pay.”
The ministry growing under the Gunters’ leadership in the Dominican Republic is a family affair. Daniel Gunter has often acted as an interpreter between volunteer groups and Dominicans, and Luke Gunter was baptized alongside four new Dominican believers. Their sons also help during worship services from time to time.
In the Dominican Republic, the boys attend a private American school with students of many different nationalities.
While in Dothan, they are attending Providence Christian School, where Daniel Gunter plays on the football team.
John Gunter said every Christian has a mission, just as his family’s mission is to work to start new churches in the Dominican Republic.
“God is calling all of us to be obedient,” he said.
The Gunters’ vision is “that every working-class person in Santo Domingo will have the opportunity to hear, comprehend and respond to the gospel in their cultural context, resulting in a church planting movement in the Dominican Republic and extending to the ends of the earth.”
Their mission is “to work hand in hand with Dominican and other Great Commission Christians to impact lostness in such a manner that those without Christ are won to faith in Him, discipled to maturity and trained as reproducing leaders.”
For more information about the Gunters’ ministry, visit their Web site at http://www.drmission.com/gunter.
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