Todd and Sue Nelson Missionaries Training Future Missionaries About
Welcome to our website! We’ll use this page to tell you a bit of our story…
About our family… We have been married since 1981. We have 
three adult children:
Amy is a graphic designer in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sara is married to John Sharp since July, 2009. They live in Chicago, Illinois. Sara is a stay at home mom, and John is an artist – working for a non-profit organization. Our granddaughter’s name is Aria.
Danny is a graduate from Judson University in Elgin, Illinois, with a BA in Architecture. He is currently working on his masters degree.
We had been married about 10 years when we began to attend Ganson Street Baptist Church in Jackson, Michigan, where we heard the Gospel and got saved. We got involved in the ministries of our church. The Lord laid on our hearts the desire to take a family mission trip, so the five of us traveled to Honduras for two weeks in 1999. Two years later, we led our youth group’s ten-day mission trip to Mexico. The Lord was opening our eyes to the mission field of the world.
Bible School! Faithful friends from church excitedly shared all that they were learning in Bible classes at New Tribes Bible Institute (NTBI) in Jackson. We were encouraged to check it out, so we began taking “a few” classes at NTBI in 1999. Intrigued by the “chronological Bible teaching” starting with Genesis and the Old Testament, we gained the foundation needed for correct understanding of God and why He sent His Son to be our Savior.
NTBI is more than a Bible school; it is the first phase of training with New Tribes Mission (NTM). The “Bible Basis of Missions” class taught us from God’s Word that God’s heart is for all people of the world to know His love and His Son Jesus. The Lord used these four years in His Word to challenge us to serve Him as full-time missionaries. We each graduated with Associates Degrees in Biblical Studies in 2003.
Our training continued at the Bible School over the next six years. Sue was employed part-time by the school as an Administrative Assistant to the Dean of Students. Todd taught classes on The Parables of Jesus, Christology and Foundations for Learning as an adjunct teacher. Having the desire to be involved in missions full time, we left our jobs in July 2009.
Missionary Training! In August, 2009, we moved to Missouri to attend the Missionary Training Center (MTC). This is the second phase of training, designed to equip missionary candidates with tools they will need to go into tribal locations all over the world, learn the language and culture of the people, teach the Bible and tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ. We took classes such as Foundational Bible Teaching, Romans, Phonetics, Animism, Teamwork, Missionary Technology and International Health and Wellness. We graduated from the MTC on May 19, 2010. We spent the rest of 2010 raising our financial support.
Our field of ministry… We are serving at New Tribes Bible Institute in Jackson, Michigan! We are excited to be full time missionaries serving at NTBI as trainers; serving with other missionaries to train students to be the next generation of tribal missionaries.
What we are doing… Todd is serving as the Business Manager at NTBI Jackson. This ministry gives him discipleship opportunities with students, helping them learn money management skills, Biblical stewardship of their time and finances, and most importantly how to trust God with their lives as they follow Him by faith. Todd is also doing what he especially loves: Teaching God’s Word – continuing to teach the classes he has previously taught, plus a few more.
Sue is serving in the Student Life Department at the Bible School as a trainer. Her role is similar to a school guidance counselor, discipling and mentoring female students. She will come alongside the ladies, helping them apply what God is teaching them in their Bible classes to their own life experiences.
We have already been involved with NTM for a decade. Our stack of prayer cards, photographs and names of former students is growing – friends who are now in ministry all around the world. These are friends who sat in the seats next to us in classes, students that Sue had the privilege of getting to know when she worked in the Student Life Department, and students that sat under Todd’s teaching. We are excited to be part of training more and more people to scatter all over the world sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We know that we will see tribal people in heaven because these dear students have been obedient to God’s command to go and tell them about Jesus.
